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Disney Pulls Plug on Virtual Theme Parks

LOS ANGELES-Entertainment giant kills the once-touted DisneyQuest concept and will close its Chicago-area facility. The company had planned to open 20 of the indoor parks around the world.

By David W. Myers | Updated on July 06, 2001

LOS ANGELES-After spending millions of “real-life” dollars, Walt Disney Co. says it will close its two-year-old DisneyQuest facility in Chicago and has canceled plans to open several similar virtual theme parks around the world.

The DisneyQuest concept was launched in 1998 as a way of using technology to bring the excitement of Disney’s theme parks to people who didn’t have the time or money to visit the parks themselves. The company planned to open up to 20 of the indoor theme parks, which would feature computers and other cutting-edge technology to make visitors feel like they were actually riding popular attractions at DisneyWorld or Disneyland.

Though the Burbank-based entertainment giant will keep operating its DisneyQuest facility in Orlando, FL, the company says it will close its Chicago facility on Sept. 4 and scuttle plans to build complexes in other parts of the world. A Disney spokesman says the company will try to move some of the Chicago park’s 270 employees to its local ESPN Zone restaurant or one of its 14 area Disney Stores.

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