The NBA Experience

[Nick]

Anecdotal evidence tells me that the actual store is doing very well and is constantly busy with people buying stuff and not just window shopping. The Experience itself is empty much of the time, but I almost wonder if the true play here is to sell a stay afloat via the store. The NBA Experience runs on very few staff so they aren't paying a ton in labor. I do think if they closed The Experience and just kept the store, they would be making big profits.

At the end of the day, Disney isn't the one losing money on this venture, but they are going to be the ones who have to find a new tenant in the not too distant future i'm gonna guess. The only thing I can think of that would work here is an ESPN Zone, but now with City Works open next door, even that would be redundant.

 

[SeventyOne]

At the end of the day, Disney isn't the one losing money on this venture, but they are going to be the ones who have to find a new tenant in the not too distant future i'm gonna guess. The only thing I can think of that would work here is an ESPN Zone, but now with City Works open next door, even that would be redundant.

Barring the quick-serve on the 4th floor, which might not even be there anymore, you'd have to put in an entire kitchen for an ESPN Zone (or a chocolate factory restaurant). I just don't see that as an option after the money they already put into this. Plus Disney Springs feels pretty sated with table-service most of the time, not sure another giant restaurant could survive.

Of course, if the store is a draw, it's safe to assume the NBA as an IP is as well. Probably make more sense to drop the price to the $15ish "cost of a movie ticket/mini golf" range. Especially once the rainy season arrives in June. Free kid ticket with paying adult would do about the same as well.

 

[Disneyhead]

Time to hand the building over to Imagineering and have the create a massive uber-cool indoor mini-golf course.

 

[GadgetGuru]

It feels like this would be a slam dunk at the right price point.

If you asked me if I’d rather do a mini-golf course or NBA for $15-$20, I might say NBA. More bang-for-your-buck, it’s indoor, and I might learn some fun bar trivia facts.

 

[Legacy]

It feels like this would be a slam dunk at the right price point.

If you asked me if I’d rather do a mini-golf course or NBA for $15-$20, I might say NBA. More bang-for-your-buck, it’s indoor, and I might learn some fun bar trivia facts.

Mini-golf, all day. If NBA Experience was $10 and mini-golf was $30? Mini-golf. Even as someone with a passing interest in the NBA, there is not a thing that entices me about the place.

 

[Scott W.]

Mini-golf, all day. If NBA Experience was $10 and mini-golf was $30? Mini-golf. Even as someone with a passing interest in the NBA, there is not a thing that entices me about the place.

As somebody with no interest in the NBA, even free, I wouldn't go. I'd even go so far as to say I couldn't be paid to go into it.

 

[GAcoaster]

Apparently all the CMs working at NBA Experience have been laid off. Doesn't look promising for it ever returning...

On the bright side anyone who wants NBA merchandise can find tons of it on discount at the outlets now. Between NBA Experience and all the crap they made for the NBA Bubble that didn't sell, there are bargains out there if that's your thing.

 

[Nick]

Apparently all the CMs working at NBA Experience have been laid off. Doesn't look promising for it ever returning...

On the bright side anyone who wants NBA merchandise can find tons of it on discount at the outlets now. Between NBA Experience and all the crap they made for the NBA Bubble that didn't sell, there are bargains out there if that's your thing.

This was a bad concept all around. It could've been good, but they just really made it so it had little appeal to anyone who isn't an NBA fan. They should've made it more accessible to casuals and made it more of an arcade with NBA stuff as well. The price of admission isn't worth it at all.

On the merch side... yeah, I saw the bubble merch they made and while there was a few things that I may have been interested in, the price is obnoxious and I could tell nothing was selling and it would be at the outlets soon enough.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

So when can I pick up the Adam Silver wax figure and go all Weekend at Bernie’s with it?

 

[RevFreako]

So when can I pick up the Adam Silver wax figure and go all Weekend at Bernie’s with it?

I just want the Mickey Mouse Celtics Tervis, is that so wrong

 

[awhen]

So when can I pick up the Adam Silver wax figure and go all Weekend at Bernie’s with it?

Man that thing is creepy.

 

[Tobias]

This was a bad concept all around. It could've been good, but they just really made it so it had little appeal to anyone who isn't an NBA fan.

Hearing reviews from those who are NBA fans, it didn't even appeal to them. That is the mark of a total whiff of an attraction.

I really feel for the CM's laid off, but sad to say this felt inevitable. The core concept just didn't work, unlike Disney Quest which could've kept going if they put in money/effort to update things, especially when the Void came around since that would've been ideal. Yes, Covid would've still put a dent in things, but a concept that works still would've had a chance instead of the mercy kill the NBA Experience looks to be getting.

 

[Nick]

Hearing reviews from those who are NBA fans, it didn't even appeal to them. That is the mark of a total whiff of an attraction.

I really feel for the CM's laid off, but sad to say this felt inevitable. The core concept just didn't work, unlike Disney Quest which could've kept going if they put in money/effort to update things, especially when the Void came around since that would've been ideal. Yes, Covid would've still put a dent in things, but a concept that works still would've had a chance instead of the mercy kill the NBA Experience looks to be getting.

I’m an NBA fan, I went once and left a review in this thread. I actually think it was mildly positive. I had fun for sure, but we went because my sister is big into AAU basketball and wanted to go. There wasn’t many activities there that she couldn’t just normally do at her basketball practices.

 

[HandsomePete]

Does this go down as the worst investment Disney has ever made? Obviously it's not a done deal that it's closed forever, but surely between lack of demand pre-Covid, mediocre reviews, lack of crowds post-Covid, and Disney's history of letting things sit forever, I'm struggling to think of something that was a bigger crash and burn.

Surely Rivers of Light or Stitch is up there too, but that's just a nighttime show in a park that has a bunch of other things for people to do and not a single, stand-alone experience.

 

[Nick]

Does this go down as the worst investment Disney has ever made? Obviously it's not a done deal that it's closed forever, but surely between lack of demand pre-Covid, mediocre reviews, lack of crowds post-Covid, and Disney's history of letting things sit forever, I'm struggling to think of something that was a bigger crash and burn.

Surely Rivers of Light or Stitch is up there too, but that's just a nighttime show in a park that has a bunch of other things for people to do and not a single, stand-alone experience.

Disney’s just the rent collector here, so no, not even close to their worst as they didn’t invest in it. This is all on the NBA.

 

[BigHouseFootball]

Does anyone have any idea of the rent prices Disney gets from stores at Disney Springs? And is that all they collect? They dont get any percentage of sales?

 

[shiekra38]

Does this go down as the worst investment Disney has ever made? Obviously it's not a done deal that it's closed forever, but surely between lack of demand pre-Covid, mediocre reviews, lack of crowds post-Covid, and Disney's history of letting things sit forever, I'm struggling to think of something that was a bigger crash and burn.

Surely Rivers of Light or Stitch is up there too, but that's just a nighttime show in a park that has a bunch of other things for people to do and not a single, stand-alone experience.

Euro Disney or California Adventure are hard toppers

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Does this go down as the worst investment Disney has ever made? Obviously it's not a done deal that it's closed forever, but surely between lack of demand pre-Covid, mediocre reviews, lack of crowds post-Covid, and Disney's history of letting things sit forever, I'm struggling to think of something that was a bigger crash and burn.

Surely Rivers of Light or Stitch is up there too, but that's just a nighttime show in a park that has a bunch of other things for people to do and not a single, stand-alone experience.

I'd say it's the a big pet project failure like The Disney Institute (original concept) since Iger personally went after it once Uni bounced.

As for the worst investment... I mean... Rocket Rods.

 

[Nick]

Does anyone have any idea of the rent prices Disney gets from stores at Disney Springs? And is that all they collect? They dont get any percentage of sales?

They do get a %, so a tenant struggling is not ideal obviously.

 

[tielo]

So, again, maybe time for a Walt Disney Museum?