Later in the 90’s, they began work on a new project known as DisneyQuest which eventually launched 1998. They constructed various creations such as Aladdin Mark I placed in Epcot Center, and Aladdin Mark II which was installed at Starcade in Disneyland. Meet the Disney Virtual Reality Studio or VR Studio for short, a team formed in 1992 by Jon Snoddy responsible for creating virtual reality components for theme park attractions. But, there is far more to this story than meets the eye, and this is just one piece to a huge puzzle. Given their strong history in the video game department at this time along with a growing market in the MMORPG area, it was obvious there was a good chance for them to reach out even more. However, Disney knew much more was able to be done during this time. Disney would go on to use this opportunity to begin selling their products through an online store, appropriately named. It was clear to the public that there were big changes coming along with the evolution of the Internet, and the big corporations knew this as they were going to try their best to create the next big thing to lead the Internet ahead.ĭuring the late 90’s Disney was investing in the Internet with their “go.com” web portal for popular websites such as, , and of course: itself. These allowed for more social activities to occur over the Internet making people start spending much longer periods of time surfing the web, emailing and chatting with friends, along with watching flash cartoons pioneered by people like John K of Ren & Stimpy fame with his many original cartoons, along with other popular cartoon shows such as WhirlGirl and JoeCartoon. Examples include Google launching in 1998, Napster, PayPal, eBay, Hotmail, Yahoo! Groups, among many more and even more to follow. Not only were MMOs just starting to bloom around the time of the late 90’s, the Internet itself was beginning to expand and change in ways never seen before due to it becoming more accessible and more commercialized by larger companies. Spawning many other MMOs to follow such as EverQuest, RuneScape, and of course the incredibly-popular-even-to-this-day World of Warcraft, it was obvious that this particular genre had much potential for huge success for years to come and was definitely here to stay. A once hugely popular fantasy computer game that had roughly 250,000 subscribers in the year 2003, this title created a strong foundation for future online games with its subscription-based model and massive world where you can interact with real people over the Internet throughout the game’s various servers.
Now flash to the year of 1997 when a game that popularized a still very new genre of video games, called massive multiplayer online role playing games or MMORPGs for short, titled Ultima Online developed by Origin Systems was released. When people saw a Disney game, they could expect quality. Disney proved that they could produce fun and well-made titles to the videogame medium, making effective use of their endless library of unique and original characters. Disney partnered with Capcom to produce high-quality classics throughout the 80’s and 90’s such as DuckTales, Chip n’ Dale Rescue Rangers, Goof Troop, Aladdin along with many other favorites. With video games blasting off in popularity during the 80’s thanks to Nintendo’s NES, which brought families together to jump over some turtles and shoot some ducks, Disney had an obvious opportunity to bring their well-known characters and stories to this now popular form of entertainment. With great movies and profitable theme parks, it is obvious there are going to be hundreds upon hundreds of tie-ins to further expand the Disney empire. Films, merchandise, theme parks galore! Disney is a name everyone knows, a name that sparks memories of a lovable red-shorts wearing mouse and his animal pals. A man whose legend touches the hearts of millions even today, created the empire that is the Disney Corporation.
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