DisneyQuest

So after my bad luck with trying to Star Rate the Philadelphia attractions, I'm worried my review won't be so good here, either. However, I was privileged (okay, I paid money to go to) in being able to go to DisneyQuest last night - Disney's All-Indoor Amusement Park!

So I will now attempt to discuss it as so:

Price: $40. I stayed for about 3 1/2 hours, although I could have stayed much longer if I had wanted to revisit some rides or play some video games. Therefore, I believe this attraction could cost between $5 and $12 an hour. These prices are in line with many attractions like mini-golf and movies. They are also in line with the Disneyworld Parks themselves - $75 for one day works to somewhere less than $10 if you stay the whole day. Also, because the park is indoors, I think you have less chance of tiring out, getting hot, and needing a break. You are more efficient, and less likely to buy expensive drinks.

Theme Park of the Future: I was very impressed with the concept behind DisneyQuest. In a way, it is like Dave & Busters or ESPN Zone, where you play video games. In fact, some of the video games were the exact same ones as I have seen in both of those venues. However, with the entry price, the video games were all free - so there was no fear about wasting time or a token on a video game you didn't like, or that you lost, etc. In fact, most of the park was designed with this competitive spirit - even games you stood in line for, like virtual reality lightsaber fighting, gave you scores and rankings. Yet there were no prizes, so no one can really get too upset about their scores. Other rides made me feel that this could very well turn into the theme park of the future - besides the virtual reality games. We designed roller coasters and then were put into roller coaster simulators to ride the ride. I went on a jungle cruise in a blow-up boat that used sensors to feel the movements of our paddles. So we could determine where on the ride we traveled to. I don't know how these rides compare to other Disney rides in environmental safety or cost to the company. However, it's a great idea for pioneering the amusement park of the future - there may be a time where all parks are indoors, or even brought to the comfort of your own home.

Drawbacks - So there were two main drawbacks. The first was the ickyness of it. Amusement parks are pretty icky anyway - if you think too hard about it, you may get creeped out. People sitting in and touching everything you sit in and touch. The possibility of being in a car that had vomit in it not two trips before you. And it goes one. However, the ickyness here was a little worse because we had to wear virtual reality helmets - lice? - that had been disinfected but still felt gross...The other drawback was the time. I will admit, the lines for the attractions were all between 5 and 10 minutes, which is short for DisneyWorld. It felt longer, however, because the attendents many times could not be seen - they would take people down the hall to set them up. Also, when there were attendants, the rides seemed very people-heavy. Every person had to be personally set up in their ride, told what to do, etc. So getting onto an attraction was both time consuming, and resource consuming. The virtual reality was the worst because the attendant had so much to do! She had to clean off the helmets, pass out the helmets, explain the ride, and set people up in their rides and turn them on. All this, and she always had open spots, so the people in line were that much more likely to become a little antsy.

Overall, given DisneyWorld's standing ***** Rating, I would give DisneyQuest a ***3/4.