Main Street Penny Arcade

yensid retlaw · #1 03-03-2002, 10:29 AM

[img]graemlins/mickey.gif[/img] Hello I'm new to the board, but, a longtime Disney fan. I grew-up in the campground (100 loop) & the parks from about '71 through '89. Then back in '98 to introduce my wife to the parks. Again we went in 11/01 to introduce our daughter and my mother-in-law. We are gearing-up for another trip in may, staying at the Coronado springs.

I would like to know what happened to the games from the Penny Arcade on Main Street? Does Disney still own them? If so where are they? Are there plans to sell any of them? Anybody know anything about the Arcade or its games?

Thanks for any info. [img]graemlins/mike.gif[/img]

brer frog · #2 03-03-2002, 10:33 AM

[img]graemlins/clappy.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/muscles.gif[/img] WELCOME TO INTERCOT!! [img]graemlins/muscles.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/clappy.gif[/img]

do you mean the arcade that is next to space mountain???

yensid retlaw · #3 03-03-2002, 10:38 AM

Glad to be here. Thanks.

The arcade I'm talking about isn't there anymore. It used to be on Main Street, about 2/3 down on the left hand side heading towards the castle, I think. I used to spend hours in there on $10 back in the 70's and early 80's.

Nom · #4 03-03-2002, 12:16 PM

I LOVED the penny arecade- I was really mad when they got rid of it during the time in the late 90s when main street was transformed from a really fun place into a glorified gift shop. UGH!

[img]graemlins/shakehead.gif[/img]

But off the soap box now, some of the old games from the arcade are in the main street train station. Actually on my trip last may, my cousin and I had a lot of fun playing the old fashined football game while we were waiting for the train. Be warned though the train station has very few of the games- they also have some of the old penny flip-card movies you could look into.

That is a good question though- I wonder what happened to all the rest of the games?

SpecJoe Magic · #5 03-03-2002, 01:51 PM

I miss the Penny Arcade too.

It gave Main Street, U.S.A. more of a turn of the century look that it was meant to have. I think that Walt would not have approved of what Main Street has turned into since Main Street is based on Walt's home town in Marceline, Missouri.

Marker · #6 03-03-2002, 04:41 PM

I agree, the Penny Arcade was a great bit of nostalgia that added to the atmosphere of Main Steet. For me, it was just a constant "Hey, I remember that game, I've gotta play it, I haven't played that since I was little".

I hate loosing, low key, atmosphere adding, attractions like that for the sake of another gift shop. I wonder how financially beneficial one more gift shop really is.

CJDDS · #7 03-03-2002, 08:28 PM

The penny arcade was a great low tech diversion in a high tech place. My wife used to leave me there while she shopped and knew I would be entertained for as long as she took. In fact, she had to drag me out! It was a great day care for husbands. I sure miss it!!

rokinrayfrompittpa · #8 03-04-2002, 11:36 AM

The best of all the games, the baseball game, is near one of the windows on Main Street in the ESPN store. I miss the arcade too, but a trip to Disney has always meant more than coin-operated machines to me.

tiggerrrific · #9 03-04-2002, 01:20 PM

I loved that old Penny Arcade! As an arcade nut anyways, it was great to get to play some of the ones that started it all.

As far as themeing goes, that was a brilliant idea. You have a "turn-of-the-century" Main Street with an arcade with period games, and then over in Tomorrowland you have an arcade with the latest, most futuristic games.

As others have mentioned, there are some of the games hidden around the train station and Main Street shops. Last month I did quite well on that baseball machine.

I'm guessing that the whole arcade was retired just because it was a maintenance headache. The old mechanical games probably broke down a lot, and replacement parts would have to be made from scratch.

It'd be great to show kids today how cool a game can be *without* computers! Ironically had Y2K actually been a real problem, this would have been the only arcade still working!

Ah, memories!

TTFN

P.S.
For you other arcade nuts, and lover of old games: A few years back I found a great arcade near Clearwater. I can't remember the name, but if you follow the main drag up out of Clearwater, it was on the N/E corner (sorry I didn't write it down).
It was about five or ten bucks to get in, and after that it was free for as long as you stayed in there. The bonus was that they had games from all eras, and had some stuff I hadn't seen in decades.