| Day 8, Sunday, January 6, 2002
This was a day we spent entirely at Disney Quest. We got up a little later, because Disney Quest doesn't' open until 11:30. We took our time, and got to the door of Disney Quest by 10:45, so that we would be sure to have a ticket this time. Disney Quest didn't really seem busy enough to worry about it this time. While we were waiting for Disney Quest to open, it was raining pretty hard, and we took shelter under the umbrellas over at Wolfgang Puck's. When they opened, Nick and I went inside. I was planning to just get some drinks, but he wore me down. After all, they had pizza here. Nick and I had a coke, and Debbie a cappuccino. And we shared a small pepperoni pizza, which was really quite good. It was raining hard in the morning, but once we got inside Disney Quest, we weren't back out until supper time. So, it is hard to say what the weather was like most of the day. It wasn't raining when we came out for super, but it was cold and the ground was damp. On the way home (close to 11 p.m.) it had warmed up pretty well again. |
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We got our money's worth out of Disney Quest. We got a substantial
(20%?) discount for being DVC members. So, it was about $60 for the
three of us for the entire day. Nick and I stayed until 10:45, and
Debbie left about 9:30 (they closed at 11:30). Even if this was an
average arcade, you would drop far more money than that in a long day,
and here you have the virtual reality stuff.
At opening, Disney Quest was pretty busy. But, it seemed to slow down quite a bit around supper time. At 9 p.m. they put the tickets on half price, so shortly before 9 it gets really dead (noone new is coming in, because they are waiting). After 9, it booms again. So, the best time to play (especially if you have already bought a day-long ticket) is between supper time and 9 p.m. Nick really loved CyberSpace Mountain this time. I've got a brief introduction to this and some other Disney Quest attractions at the bottom of one of my trip reports from last time. It's at the bottom of the page, near the picture of us on CyberSpace Mountain. Anyway, the simulation on Cyberspace Mountain is pretty darned good, and the idea of riding your own creation is compelling. |
| Oh, yeah, Bill Nye makes an appearance as the host of the interactive
program you use to design the coaster. Overall, it's a neat prototype
sort of ride.
It sounds a little intimidating, but Nick was up to the challenge this time, taking four rides (he would go back here after doing other things for a while). I rode the first time with him, but he did the rest himself. Also, be aware this ride can be kind of a tight fit, due to the size of the seat and the nature of the shoulder harness. But, I didn't have much trouble this time. I doubt that they have changed the should harness, but it didn't seem as hard to get in. One of the other terrific attractions here is the "Pirates of the Caribbean,
Battle for Buccaneer's Gold". We did pirates four times (all
three of us). Again, we would return after having gone off and did
something else for a while. Our score started at mid level,
then we achieved the next level up, then the highest! (Kings of the
High Seas). The fourth time, we were Kings again. We shared
the game this last time with a cute young couple and had an even higher
score. I piloted each time. Once again, this is a great attraction,
with a good VR system, and terrific props. We had a blast here!
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I did "Ride The Comix" twice, once with Nick, once with both Debbie
and Nick. This is a great attraction where you wear a VR helmet,
that lets you turn your head, and see all around a virtual room, while
holding a light saber with which you fight off villains. I had high
score in our group both times. I felt like I did very well.
Now, here's something to note--the liners which hold the helmet on your
head are adjustable, but they are *NOT* all the same size. One time,
I traded liners with Nick, and ended up with a slightly larger one, the
other time I had one that was really too small, but I worked hard with
the adjuster and got a tolerable fit. Without a good fit, the helmet
will slip, and you won't enjoy this attraction at all.
The three of us played Invasion (based on Extraterrorestrial Encounter) together. We had a lot of fun, and did quite well, coming back with 18 of 24 colonists (my driving), and pretty high shooting scores for Debbie and Nick. I did the Aladdin VR ride twice, once with Debbie and once with Nick. We did well (I freed Genie the second time), and I managed to get the headgear (the same as in Comix) to fit me very well. This is very enjoyable VR experience, if you have a good fit on the gear, and you kind of get the hang of it. BTW, in this ride, you steer a magic carpet around Agrabah, while wearing a fully immersive VR helmet (the same as comix). In Comix, you get to swing a sword, here you get to drive the carpet. It's a load of fun. I rode Buzz Lightyear once with Debbie, and twice with Nick. I enjoyed it, although Debbie didn't care for it, and we did have car trouble with Nick the second time. Still, this is a good game (ride?), and it was worth doing. |
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I did the Virtual Jungle Cruise once with Nick, and once with Debbie. Nick said he did it once himself. It's a fun ride, but I'm sure after watching (while standing in line at Pirates) and riding that the paddles don't do a darned thing. Nick and I played Treasure of the Incas together. This really is a lot of fun, and I love the idea that you are actually driving a physical (remote controlled) car around. We ended up collecting a lot of treasure. But, they aren't giving tickets here anymore. Nick did play briefly in the Zone where they give tickets and award prizes. This is the only place that charges to play in Disney Quest, but five bucks was way more than enough to satisfy Nick, and to get enough tickets for some fair midway prizes. We walked around in the "regular" arcade. Nick and Debbie did some driving games, and I played some of the fight games. Here they have all of the games you would expect to see today in any standard arcade. But, remember, everything is included in the cover charge, so these things don't eat quarters. It was quite a bit of fun. But, I think we had more fun playing foosball together. I really wanted to play some air hockey, but the table was always busy. Nick and I played for a while on the Living Easels in the Create Zone, but we didn't print anything out. But, we had a good time with the gross stuff and the doom and gloom, and mixing themes and palettes together. Down in the Replay Zone, I found an old Asteroids game, and Debbie found Burger Time. It felt like the good old days, I can remember spending a lot of time on Asteroids and Space Race. It's fun to play the big old arcade machines again. |
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At lunchtime, we had some snacks at Food Quest. Food Quest is
much better than I remember, and is nice for a quick meal or snack if you
can't tear yourself away from Disney Quest. Debbie had a burger,
I had a polish sausage, and Nick had some pepperoni pizza. Pizza?
Nick? Really? BTW, he reported that the pizza here was very
tasty.
I also had a strawberry smoothie here which was very good. We left Disney Quest late in the afternoon (about 6, I think), and walked over to the House of Blues (right across the sidewalk) to see if we could get a table. We didn't have much of a wait, and were soon seated. The food here was terrific! I and Debbie both enjoyed the jambalaya, with it's spicy rice, and good, fresh shrimp and chicken. Nick had pizza. I was surprised. The key lime pie was wonderfully tart, but the slices, be warned, are enormous. Debbie and I each had one, and would have split just one if we knew. In any event, we had a great meal, and the atmosphere is pretty darned cool as well. One little tip about Disney Quest is to take advantage of the coat check if you are stuck wearing a coat into the place for the weather. Actually, you can check a backpack as well, so you are free to play without being encumbered, and still have access to your essentials. We had a really great day at Disney Quest, and a lot of good food at Wolfgang Puck's, House of Blues, and inside Disney Quest. The weather didn't matter much today, and we had what turned out to be an excellent Disney day. |
