Walt Disney World Tomorrowland Arcade 2015

Well, it finally happened. The arcade in Walt Disney World is now a thing of the past. If you haven't been listening to our podcast we did a whole episode about it. Recently Florida put in a new law saying machines are not allowed to award prizes worth over 75 cents. It turns out some senior centers and VFW Halls had some illegal gambling going on and they where trying to skirt Florida's gambling laws of instead of winning money they'd give out stuff like gift cards for gas or supermarkets. The problem is the language in the bill that was passed is so vague it can apply to arcade redemption games. So places like Dave & Busters are fighting it and continuing business as usual meanwhile Disney seems to not want to take part in any of it so they just shut the whole thing down.

So when you get off of Space Mountain you're now emptied into a MUCH smaller gift shop.  Even when you take the Walt Disney World Railroad you used to be able to see the back of the arcade with these giant bubble windows. The windows are still there but you can't see inside anymore. There's a lone door that leads inside. I'm not sure if they left the whole inside empty or even what they're planning on doing with the space. I'm kinda surprised they didn't keep it open to do some character meet and greets with characters like Buzz Lightyear and Stitch that usually hang around Tomorrowland, but for now what was the arcade is now boarded up.

This also bodes the same for the Pizza Planet restaurant in MGM Studios/Hollywood Studios. (I still refuse to call it "Hollywood Studios" when they haven't gotten rid of many of the original MGM elements in the park.)  While you can still get a bite to eat of their disgusting pizza and sit down, the arcade games are all gone, which is kind of stupid to have a place based off a Chuck-e-Cheese's/Showbiz Pizza and not have ANY games. From the rumors it sounds like the whole place is going to get shut down anyway in favor of the Mos Eisley Cantina from Episode 4, which I'd rather have anyway, so we'll just have to wait and see.

What's the future hold for arcade gaming at the other resorts? Well I checked in with a few of them so this Wednesday look for an updated look at The Game Station!