Are Disney Escape Rooms Coming to Disney Springs?
DisneyQuest has closed forever, and its would-be successor, NBA Experience, failed completely.
Over the past few months, Disney has used this building for a paid Star Wars interactive experience on Meta’s dime.
Photo: Disney.wikia
However, recent permit filings hint at something different coming to this space soon…and I think you’re gonna love it.
Is the old DisneyQuest building about to add one or more Disney themed escape rooms? If so, which themes should Disney pick?
Photo: Disneytouristblog.com
About Escape Rooms
I’m confident that you’re well aware of escape rooms. The premise is simple. You enter a small building filled with a series of rooms.
You must solve the various puzzles in the applicable room to escape with your life. Many escape room facilities host multiple rooms to maximize revenue.
Photo: NY POst
Escape rooms vary in skill level and quality of the build. Most places are literally a single room you escape from, while others feel like a nesting doll of puzzles.
Pop culture is inundated with escape room storylines these days.
Photo: Sony
There’s an Escape Room horror film franchise, while shows like The Big Bang Theory and Schitt’s Creek have set episodes here.
One network, NBC, even aired a Celebrity Escape Room episode:
NBC actually stole borrowed this idea from Geek & Sundry:
I say all this to point out that escape rooms have become a staple of modern entertainment. After all, millennials and Gen Zers famously love experiential activities.
So, escape rooms work well as group social activities wherein friends learn to work together as a team to solve a mystery…after yelling at one another for an hour.
Photo:worldofescape.com
Escape Rooms in the Tourism Industry
Since I live near a tourist trap, Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg, escape rooms are ubiquitous in my area.
The most recognizable one of them, The Escape Game at The Island, hosts five different escape rooms. Each one costs $37.99 per person.
Photo:mypigeonforge.com
Let’s say that a party of five chooses this tourist activity. They’re paying $190 for an hour-long puzzle at a place that hosts five different rooms.
So, the company is likely earning somewhere around $1,000 an hour for an entertainment option that requires minimal staffing. It’s a high-profit business model.
Photo: skillastics.com
The escape room voted the best in Orlando is The Escape Effect. It boasts about the “longest” room in town, a two-hour escape room called A Knight to Escape.
Guests pay $69.95 on the weekends to visit this escape room. Meanwhile, shorter experiences like a 75-minute escape room cost $49.95 on the weekends.
Photo:worldofescape.com
Seriously, tourist traps can make a LOT of money from escape room revenue.
How popular are escape rooms among consumers? Here’s a tips and tricks video for beating escape rooms:
Did you notice the viewer counter? Yeah, 27.2 million people have watched that. And I can even do you one better. Here’s Mr. Beast’s escape room:
That clip has 122.7 million views…which is more people than watched this year’s Super Bowl.
Coming Soon to Universal Orlando Resort…
Not coincidentally, Universal CityWalk Orlando recently announced its latest editions. The entertainment complex will add escape rooms this fall.
Specifically, Universal will transform one of its CityWalk locations into a pair of offerings. These are escape rooms based on Back to the Future and Jurassic World.
Soon, guests will enter rooms designed to trap them with dinosaurs and that jerk, Biff Tannen.
Photo: Click Orlando
The signs for these places went live in mid-June. Two months later, we suspect they could open by the end of August or the start of September.
Universal advertises them as:
“Universal’s Great Movie Escape will bring two distinct and extraordinary escape adventures to the heart of Universal CityWalk.
Image Credit: Universal Orlando
Through state-of-the-art interactive missions, captivating storytelling, and intricately detailed sets, guests will be swept into the dinosaur adventures of Jurassic World or the time-traveling chaos of Back to the Future as they solve their way through a multi-sensory experience like no other.”
You should already guess where I’m going with this. If Universal Studios is committing to escape rooms, Disney is at least considering the idea as well.
Photo: Universal
The Hot Disney Springs Rumor
Technically, any company could pitch Disney on an escape room at Disney Springs. However, Disney would like one of its stories involved.
You may recall that the company got burned by an augmented reality company that misled Disney about the use of its intellectual property (IP).
Photo credit: http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Downtown_Disney
The VOID closed at Disney Springs in 2020 after Disney had already shuttered the one at Downtown Disney. That situation turned adversarial.
So, Disney is unlikely to risk history repeating itself by having someone else run escape rooms using Disney IP.
Instead, recent permits hint that Disney might just do an escape room itself in the former DisneyQuest building.
I’d previously indicated that Meta and Disney might work out a deal to make the current Star Wars augmented reality offering permanent.
Photo: Instagram/Disney Springs @dwmdigital
While that could still happen, Disney has apparently plotted a different strategy. It could turn this building into a series of escape rooms.
Let me be clear on this point. We’re not talking about just one. Instead, several Disney IPs would turn into escape rooms.
Photo: Attractions Magazine
This idea makes sense for several reasons. First, audiences don’t share the same interests.
Some people might love a Figment/Dreamfinder escape room, while others would not.
Also, guests will have more reasons to visit if they find multiple escape room experiences at the park.
Photo: Disney
Finally, Disney could use escape rooms to highlight new IPs. For example, a Hocus Pocus escape room based on the upcoming sequel would do quite well.
Recently, Disney could have built temporary rooms for Lightyear, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as well.
Photo: Disney/Pixar
The creative potential is endless.
Which Escape Room Themes Should Disney Pick?
Here’s the most challenging question. If you had your pick of all Disney stories ever, which escape rooms would you select first?
I decided to limit my initial list to five, and I arbitrarily ruled out Star Wars since it was just available at this building.
So, my picks are Adventurer’s Club Haunted Mansion, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, and Toy Story.
I’d like to include any number of others, like DINOSAUR, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, and something Snow White/Evil Queen-related.
However, I’m sticking with five for now, and I want a mix. The Nightmare Before Christmas and Haunted Mansion walk that fine line between funny and scary.
Photo: Disney
You could help Jack Skellington save the day and then avoid The Bride’s hatchet-related shenanigans.
The theming in each room would feel unique, while the puzzles would emphasize the danger you face in your current predicament(s).
Imagine what Disney Imagineers could do in designing an immersive escape room! The walls could feature digital projections to enhance the illusions, too!
More Picks
I’d also take the Tower of Terror because the Hollywood Tower Hotel provides the ideal setting for an escape. Of course, that’s basically what you’re doing on the ride anyway!
With Toy Story, I recognize that you’ll find many storytelling options here. I’m prioritizing one over the others, though.
Specifically, I envision an attempt for you, as a toy, to escape from Sid’s room before he disfigures you into some abomination!
Photo:Themeparktourist.com
Finally, I think one of the rooms should emphasize the Adventurer’s Club because that’s the spirit of the premise!
Society of Explorers and Adventurers (S.E.A.) members live for mysteries like these! Imagine all the fun you could have proving that you belong!
Photo:Disney Wiki-fandom
Disney could even offer (fake?) memberships to guests who complete this escape room!
Friends, I think this rumor is happening. The only questions are when and which rooms!
Thanks for visiting MickeyBlog.com! Want to go to Disney? For a FREE quote on your next Disney vacation, please fill out the form below and one of the agents from MickeyTravels, a Platinum level Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, will be in touch soon!
Photo:
Instagram/disneysprings@sirjamesphoto)
