UPDATE: NBA at Disney Springs Cancelled? Will DisneyQuest Close Soon?
Hey kids, remember this?
DisneyQuest was removed from annual passes and other tickets it used to be included with and it seemed like May 2016 was going to be the closure date for the attraction so the NBA experience could move in. Now we’re over 13 removed from the announcement of the project and Disney has never mentioned it again and DisneyQuest remains open. So, what happened?
Well, it seems NBA and Disney hit a snag after negotiating that they would go forth on the business venture, mostly arguing about the overall plans for the space. According to sources, Disney did not want to embark on another lengthy construction project that would be an eyesore on the West Side, visible to any guest driving by Disney Springs as it is not blocked by a parking structure. They also wanted a faster turnaround on the conversion to complete the project by 2017. Well, NBA wasn’t interested in using the existing DisneyQuest structure and paying to rework it, they wanted to build a custom, brand new building for their new home. That’s where the story ends a few months ago.
While everything has been quiet on the project, that doesn’t mean that Disney and NBA won’t ever happen, it just certainly seems that it is indefinitely delayed at this point. Disney has left the original announcement up on the Disney Parks Blog, which leads us to believe it isn’t completely dead, it just hasn’t made any progress since the initial announcement. Whether or not it ever will, well, that remains to be seen.
As for DisneyQuest, managers at Disney Springs have been told a closure will happen, it’s just a matter of when a tenant finally agrees to the space, whether that is NBA or someone else. So don’t expect DisneyQuest to be added back to any tickets anytime soon…