they actually have a really great group of guys who repair all the arcade and pinball games in all the resorts on disney property.

i had a stuck ball because of a broken rubber on tron once, and the guy came over, opened it up and replaced the rubber, and gave me a couple free games. really good service. they don't like having a bunch of games out of service, makes it look junky

Eric

Disney has a VERY high standard, so something like this doesn't really surprise me. They're very good at making sure the Disney image isn't tainted!

Nice to see that LE being treated like the king it is

WAT? Doesn't look like an LE. No plaque. Don't see tubes on the ramps.

This is shocking and a welcoming sight, but who knows what they're really doing.

Lets not get carried away, very high standard or not, their pinballs have been totally neglected over the years. There have a been a few examples or a newly acquired pin that will play great, but more often than not the majority have been unplayable with major problems. Example: RCT with a broken mini flipper, IJ4 that the ark dumps 1 ball, Elvis with no slingshot rubber, etc etc.

I have been to Disney World 50+ times (lost count), and it's rare to find one you can actually enjoy. Not surprised with the traffic Disney does though. This topic has been covered many times.

Disneyland has the Tron LE out to play

My bad...got them mixed up...heard so much about the Tron LE at Disney I didn't look at the pick that close

The LE can be easily identified with the chrome package. I dont believe this was a LE.

I can't agree with you. Have you seen Disney Quest? It's where pinball machines and classic arcade games go to die.

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/disney-quest-pinball

http://keepingmycool.blogspot.com/2012/10/pinball-at-disney-quest.html?m=1

They USED to have high standards, but no so much anymore. Lots of 'declining by degrees' so to speak, from food quality to new rides and attractions, Disney has slipped. (This coming from a HUGE Disneyland fan too)

I actually didn't know Disney Quest still existed. That's sort of depressing that they've gone to hell like that.

My wife and I love Disney and haven't really noticed too much of a quality decline. Then again, you may be right in that they haven't really kept some of their older stuff up to snuff. I also may have incorrectly extrapolated their attention to detail and QA/QC to something as "mundane" as an arcade. Maybe they aren't as focused on that side of entertaining? If the statements on Disney Quest are legit, then that may in fact be the case.

On Disney quality, 2 words. Cars 2.
But man, playing some well-maintained A list Williams pins in the 90s at DQ, that would be sweet!!

Not an LE for sure, I had the high score on that exact pin a couple years back at french quarter (It was the nicest and best kept Tron on property).

I am actually at DisneyQuest right now. Pins are beyond sad. Spiderman isnt even playable, and this pic is with a flash because otherwise you cant even see the playfield. If we didnt have the 10 bonus days on our park tickets, I would have been pissed if I had spent $40 per ticket to get in here.

image.jpg

Why anyone would stop and play pinball at disney is beyond me.

Personally, we spent 15 hours at the Diz parks on Sunday, then Universal on Mon and Tues. my feet are killing me, I am sunburnt, and the sun and 90 degree weather are killing my husband's chronic migraines. We wanted to do something indoor, with less walking, and we bought park hopper tickets with 'free' bonus days so we got in Quest free. We have been before, last year in fact, and knew the pins were crap. But since there are NO pins in the wild anywhere in our home town, we got to see pins we've never seen and stay indoors so we can recuperate and head back to the parks again tomorrow and/or Friday. Not everyone has pins available in their home towns and so we have to take what we can get when we come across them.

Last time I was at Disney World (I assume RDReynold's are from Disney Land) there was a very nice Tron LE outside Space Mountain, with lots of other 80s arcade games including their Fix-it Felix fakes. The only other pin was a broken Cyclone though.

hi,
it was outside space mountain (Disneyland), but the #xxx of #400 plate was ripped off of it
here it is...

tron-LE-pin-disneyland-spaceMountain.jpg

did they at one time have an EM gallery ?

Agreed, not worth it.

Was just there - they have a sweet Tron at the Polynesian that is dialed in pretty good.

I have no idea why you'd do this, but unless it resets I'd assume the Tron at the Art of Animation still has my initials on it somewhere. I spent a little time and money on it and ended up more than doubling the high score to date on the machine.

As for the machines there being broken or whatever and people complaining, remember - these get TONS of play, and the pins are guaranteed the most maintenance-heavy machines they have there. I definitely saw some good work done to some of their pins when I was there - notably, at least one in the contemporary had some tweaks to it to keep it running better including some strategic LEDs which I was really surprised to see - but when the games have people on them pretty darn regularly from open to close, it's hard to maintain them all perfectly working.

Also, Disney has peak seasons with tons of guests and off seasons with far less. It's impossible to hire people especially in that market to do a skilled job like pinball repair cheaply enough for the three or four times of they year they need them the most. Visit in the off season or just as the on-season times start, and you're much more likely to see things in much better operating condition.

With the exception of Disneyquest (I think), I am all but certain that the rest of their equipment is "routed" by an outside operator with an exclusive contract there. Regardless, Disney's quality control at Disney World isn't quite what it used to be or what it is still for the most part at Disneyland. Different markets expect different things, and World draws people much more infrequently who don't generally notice little things that aren't quite perfect, but without going too much into detail, having worked in the industry World shows a lot more wear than Land does. I'd say that the job they do maintaining their pins is actually really solid.

Uhh, because some of us are college graduates that can't afford their own machines at home?

I mixed up the Disneys! Guess that's what happens when you've been to DL and DW too many times. I saw the nice Tron LE and broken Cyclone at the Starcade at Disneyland, not Disney World.

I really do enjoy Disney, though I wish they'd stop ratcheting up their prices and maybe put a few billion into park infrastructure. They've been kind of slacking for the past decade or so.

Disneylands Main Street arcade used to have some EMs, along with a couple of pitch and bats, shooting games, and some woodrail bingos. This was back in the day of the E ticket, so when those ran out, the arcade was a nice place to kill some time.

Don't forget about Teddi Barra's Swingin arcade. That had a BUNCH of EM games that were customized for Disneyland.

That's so awesome!

Refresh my memory here. Was that in Bear Country or Critter Country?

Bear country, and was removed at some point after splash mountain opened to put in a store.

This is something I noticed in 2003 when I went to Disneyworld, comparing it to the previous most recent time I went in 1996.

Parks closed a lot earlier than back in the day (in the 80s/90s they regularly stayed open till 11 or midnight, even during off peak times such as the last week in August when Southern kids were already back in school)

A lot of rides were closed, especially in the Magic Kingdom.

The older rides weren't kept up as well.

Some of the "magic" was just gone.

In case it rains. In case you're tired of walking. In case you're a pinball fan and you get tired of standing in long lines.

Just got back from Disney World and dropped into the arcade at the hotel we were staying at, Contemporary Resort. After a long day with kids I needed a few minutes by myself. They had 4 pins set-up... Tron, I wasnt impressed, played it 5 times, couldnt get into it. Pirates of the Caribean, liked it, though I had a hard time getting anywhere in a few games. Elvis, kinda got into it but display plastics were broken off and hanging on by a single bolt. Id like to play it more though. Finally Avengers... Hulk drop targets were all broken, always down. Ball got stuck almost everytime I hit it anywhere near Hulk. Was hoping for better overall condition from the machines but enjoyed playing them anyways.

Realized this is old, but whatever

Part of this can be attributed to the fact that they HAVE to cycle the rides off for refurbs, so if you hit them at the right times you will end up with a decent number of them down. They have done a good job at making it so that the non-peak seasons are still pretty busy, which makes it harder for them to take down the rides to get them maintained at the right times.

But some of that can definitely be attributed to them trying to save a few cents here and there. And, unfortunately, that is starting to hurt their product. Universal is starting to absolutely eat their lunch, and although I'm a ridiculous Disney nut, if I was heading down there again soon, Universal is where I'd want to be the most. That really, really says something.

Disneyland is kept up much better, in large part because their general visitor there is from the local area and is more likely to come often and complain about things not being right. It remains my favorite park. I somehow convinced my wife to let me have a framed Indiana Jones Adventure park ticket from the opening in our living room!

Disneyland is kept up better I agree, but they are slipping over there too, not just from maintenance, but presentation as well. Last time I was there in Sept, half of the animatronics were broken or removed in Splash Mountain, including most of them on the huge steamboat finale.

IJ had a bunch of broken effects, from the door gag at the very beginning (doors did not change, or even close) to the rolling boulder at the end.

The latest 'overlay' is the Jingle Cruise. Xmas decorations in the queue, and a few new jokes. That is it. Disney is advertising this like it is the Haunted Mansion Holiday or Small World Christmas.

Back to the pinball:

Played the IJ when I was there last. Game was working pretty well, and not terribly dirty. If I could just find a cheap, badly faded IJ I would do the cab like the one there in a heartbeat!

I would normally have thought this, as their standard is very high in general for most things. However, I just got back from a week down in Disney World, and I have to say, the pins at the Disney Quest in Downtown Disney are a horrifying mess. Here's some pictures of the play field of their TFLE. Their Avengers was also an LE and was equally dirty, as was their X-Men Pro, which was so dirty you couldn't even tell the Hero Indicators were surrounding a white circle. It was horrifying.

IMG_3332.jpg

Wow...

I was at the magic kingdom and art of animation in Florida a few days ago, all their pins were filthy, beat, and some were turned off also. They make a bunch more money selling food, soft drink packages and souvenirs than pinball revenue and just don't care.

It seems like the cold hard facts are that these pins are constantly played, maintained by an contracted company and just dont bring in huge revenues. Still, it makes me sad to see them in this condition. A simple occasional wipedown could prevent this kind of nastiness.

Thats what blew me away. Could you just have one of the kids who turns them on and off each day pull the glass and wipe the play field center with a rag once a week? Even that would be a massive improvement.

I stopped at the Contemporary arcade one afternoon during lunch and just happened to go at the same time the pinball tech was there cleaning machines. I bluntly asked him why the machines were so dirty and broken, was the budget too small to keep them nice? The guy was actually very forthcoming and pulled me over to the pirates machine he had just cleaned which was beautiful.. he showed me all his parts and his preference for mill wax he took off the machine and then hit me with the shocker (to me at least)... he did that routine once a week. He showed me the logs to prove it, those machines get SO incredibly much rough play they just get really really nasty fast. The guy really loved his machines he was responsible for and each one looked just like the avengers pic above, I went back later in the week and noticed that the once spotless pirates was already starting to turn black. It's crazy, but that's the reality.

I heading to Orlando this week. Any good pinball spots outside of Disney in the area?

Unfortunately, zippo ;(