WDW Ends Arcade Prizes, Playing via Card, "The clawwww", and The Tomorrowland Aracde

[Goofy4TheWorld]

I simple cannot believe my eyes, but here it is from the Orlando Sentinel

Walt Disney World plans to stop dispensing prizes at its hotel video-game arcades, and Florida's ban on Internet cafes may be to blame..

Prize redemption counters at the resort's hotels, where kids turn in game points for toys and candy, are being closed. The hotels and other spots in the resort are also losing claw machines, the joystick-maneuvered games that inspired one of the most famous scenes in "Toy Story."

Disney acknowledged it is shutting down the redemption counters and claw machines but wouldn't say why. Some in Florida's arcade industry, though, say Disney appears to be avoiding the threat of legal action after the state's 2013 legislation banning Internet cafes. In its wake, opponents of the legislation have sued Dave & Buster's and Chuck E. Cheese's, arguing their arcade games also violate the broadly written law. Final rulings not been made in those lawsuits.

"I'm sure Disney's the last place in the world that wants to get accused of operating a gambling house," said Michael Wolf, an attorney representing the Florida Arcade and Bingo Association.

The law spells out that people can't win more than 75 cents' worth of prizes for each game played, and that the games have to be operated by coins. Like many other family entertainment centers, Disney's arcades are activated by cards. With each game they play, people can accumulate credits on the cards that can be exchanged for things such as Hello Kitty plush toys, Disney princess purses and mini-air-hockey games.

James Harhi, whose company JFH Technologies fills and maintains arcade games at the resort, said Disney told him "it's in their best interest to close these," because it fears legislation could be interpreted as outlawing the video games with prizes.

Harhi said that because Disney is removing so many machines that dispense prizes, he is laying off several of his company's employees, who make $15 to $17 an hour. Two have already been let go, he said, and he will probably have to lay off two or three more.

Disney is not laying off any of its own workers. A union representative said 22 employees who staff the counters are being put in other positions in mid-February.

Already, the Note'able Games arcade at Disney's All-Star Music Resort has gotten rid of its redemption counter. Disney still has the prize counters in five other hotels, including the Contemporary, All-Star Sports, All-Star Movies, Pop Century and Art of Animation. The Magic Kingdom's Tomorrowland Arcade is closing Feb. 8, and games from there will be going into the hotel arcades to replace the ones that issue prizes for points.

The impending removal of prizes "kind of stinks," said Johannah Palasky of Philadelphia, whose 8-year-old son, Connell, played in the Contemporary's Game Station last week.

The Contemporary's Game Station offers dozens of electronic games, including Pac-Man, Frogger and Monopoly, and many of them issue electronic "tickets" for prizes. The more tickets you get, the better the gifts.

Connell wanted to save up points on his card for one of the bigger rewards.

"My son loves it," Johanna Palasky said. He wins "average arcade stuff, but they're happy to get anything."

State Sen. Kelli Stargel, a Lakeland Republican, filed legislation last week that would loosen restrictions on family entertainment centers, including allowing machines to be operated by cards, not just coins, and increasing the allowed value of prizes. Stargel tried passing similar legislation last year, but it did not make it through the Legislature.

Stargel, whose district includes Disney World, said Disney's lobbyists had not spoken with her about the issue. Stargel said she had spoken with other businesses, including one in her district, along with Chuck E. Cheese and Dave & Buster's. Those chains still offer prizes.

Mike Abecassis, who owns several family entertainment centers called GameTime in Florida, said he hopes Disney might wait to remove the machines in hopes the legislation will pass.

"We'd prefer for them to not take that away," he said. "It just makes our business less relevant in the state."

The 2013 ban on Internet cafes came in the wake of a multistate probe into Allied Veterans of the World, an operator that billed itself as a charitable organization for veterans but which gave only about 2 percent of its profits to veterans groups.

The legislation also limited arcades that catered to senior citizens and offered low-stakes bets and paid off in things such as Publix gift cards. Many of those "senior arcades" — represented by the Florida Arcade and Bingo Association — ended up closing.

Wolf, the arcade and bingo association's attorney, has subsequently filed lawsuits against places such as Dave & Buster's. Those are on hold pending the results of a related federal lawsuit, he said.

"For the Legislature to think gambling for kids is OK but not for adults was pretty hypocritical," he said. "That was essentially what we were setting out to show."

Shortly after the law passed, the arcade association also sent an investigator to check out Disney's hotel arcades. The investigator, Carlos De Varona, made a complaint to the Orange County Sheriff's Office about the games. A report said the Sheriff's Office contacted the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation, which said there were no gaming-law violations. Suing Disney, said arcade association President Gale Fontaine, would have been "like trying to go after Goliath."

Still, Disney is likely showing "an abundance of caution" by getting rid of games for prizes, said David Ramba, a lobbyist who used to represent the arcade association.

"If I was their lobbyist, I would have told them to get rid of the machines too," Ramba said.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busin...110-story.html

[Goofy4TheWorld]

For humor, I couldn't stop picturing Mr. Potato Head screaming "we're getting thrown out you idiot, that's what's happening!" to all of those toys from the arcade being canned.

But then this entire article made me so mad I really had to exercise a lot of self restraint to keep myself from intentionally misspelling words on here to get around the profanity filter.

This change has left me amazed at the level of legislative incompetence demonstrated in this law.

I don't blame the other affected entities for going after Disney, Dave & Buster's, and Chuck E. Cheese's in order to demonstrate the ludicrousness of this law, I blame the morons in Tallahassee.

[NJGIRL]

What about Disney Quest...they have or used to have the claw games.

Universal has boardwalk type games.

Does Florida have a lottery? That should be outlawed too then.

This whole thing IMO is so stupid. Why do these representatives feel the need to tell you how to spend your money.

It's a little silly, in NJ you can go to a casino and gamble with large sums of money, but in FL you can't play BINGO....And look what you can do in CO now. They even have vending machine dispensers! It's sad.

[mickeyman42]

good to know this is the biggest problem the Florida legislature has to deal with, as we all know arcade games are a gateway to more problem gambling.......

[Mrs Bus Driver]

This makes me sad. Taking my kids to a cheep arcade for a summer afternoon was a great way to waste some time. I have fond memories of doing just that. I really feel for the owners of these arcades as well. I hope FL fixes this mess soon!

[AgentC]

It's a little silly, in NJ you can go to a casino and gamble with large sums of money, but in FL you can't play BINGO....And look what you can do in CO now. They even have vending machine dispensers! It's sad.

You can play Bingo in Florida.The article really didn't make it clear. It's pretty prevalent. The Internet cafe issue is complicated. There was a lot of corruption ad it led the the Lt. Governor resigning because of a connection to one of the companies. it also gets complicated because there are placed that really were just for entertainment with small prizes and there were places that were really like full fledged mini casino which were against the previous law and were also causing issues with the state's contract with the Seminoles.

I'm not really sure if the Sentinel reporter is reaching on the reason Disney is doing this. From what I can see one vendor is stating that is the reason.

The law was passed in 2013. A bill was introduced to make modifications in 2014 which died. A bill is being introduced again this year to modify the law. Chucke E Cheese still has prizes as well as many of the skating rinks, family fun center etc. None of them have been threatened by any authorities and the law suits by the internet cafe owners are still pending.

[Janmac]

Does this also affect the Fossil Fun games at Animal Kingdom?

Jan

[yankeesfan123]

For years, certain casinos have been trying to move into the Orlando area.

Disney has lobbied hard to make sure they stay out.

It looks like they are fighting back or trying to prove a point.

[Ruprect]

As a parent who has spent far too much time standing at the redemption desk while my children debated the merits of picking one 10 ticket prize over another only to lose what they finally picked in the car on the way home I could not be happier.

Also thrilled with the closing of the Tomorrowland Arcade. I'm so tired of paying hundreds of dollars in admission to a theme park (any theme park) only to be harassed to shell out additional money to play video games - we never let them and they never stop asking.

[AgentC]

As a parent who has spent far too much time standing at the redemption desk while my children debated the merits of picking one 10 ticket prize over another only to lose what they finally picked in the car on the way home I could not be happier.

I feel your pain. We recently went to a birthday party at an arcade and my daughter spent 5 minutes debating if she should spend her last 10 tickets on a popper or an eraser. Luckily the employee took pity on me and let her have both!

[Goofy4TheWorld]

Wow, I am surprised to see a lack of outrage, or at least sadness, over the change. I was never an arcade kid growing up since I was too tight with money to gamble, but my boys really enjoy their time at the arcades at both Disney and the beach, it's time they really get to be in charge while the Mom and Dad just lounge around at the exit doors and wait for them to go broke (I love that the Disney arcades are a dead-end room with only one way out). My oldest loves the independence of having his OWN card he can swipe, and he is very good at paying attention to game costs and his card balance, and my youngest is as happy as he can be spending tickets on junk candy from the prize collection. Now that these two components are as illegal as booze during Prohibition, I feel sad for the loss of these regular parts of my vacations. I have a budget sheet for vacations that I have used on every vacation since 2007, and one of my 11 categories is "Games & Arcades", the cost is just a part of the plan for my family. In addition, I would much rather my kids gamble away a few bucks Grandma gave them instead of always having to spend our resort time swimming, the last time I was at Disney my little one ended up in the ER after having a near-drowning incident and so pool time is high-stress for me!

There are a lot of things about raising kids that leaves me exhausted to say the least, but I really do enjoy every minute of arcade time with my boys, from the youthful frivolous spending of money (and let's not pretend that adults don't have our own frivolous things) to watching them agonize on how to spend those magical points they won.

Maybe I just have too many happy memories that have "checked" some really bad memories from Disney, but I am genuinely saddened about every part of this change.

[gsimpson]

In Arizona a lot of this type of legislative nincompoopery is brought about by the Native American Gambling lobbyist who simply do not want to see a single dime that might go into a slot machine at their casinos spent on some other property. They feel that anything that might in the slightest way be construed as a prize should come through them or at least they should get a cut.