July 18th, 2006
SPECIAL REPORT: MagiQuest’s Family Vacation Inside a Video Game
By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
Ok - let me simplify this, because it took about an hour of digging around to figure out what on earth this was about. A company called Creative Kingdoms has come up with a way to meld the geeky wands and magic of MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role-playing games) with the physical family vacation.
How it works: Instead of giving your kids some dollars for the hotel video arcade, you take them to MagiQuest and the whole family must participate in problem solving, duels, magic spells, and so on. Worse for your wallet is the MagiQuest Marketplace shop where you must first buy and customize your wand - the more features the greater powers and tricks it does. The shop is where you also adorn your kids in capes and hats, and basically get fleeced like you do at Disneyland or any other place that caters to parents trying to entertain their families once a year. Ca-ching.
Creative Kingdoms holds a number of patents and licenses the MagiQuest platform as a franchise for family-themed businesses. While they launched some initial sites like one in Myrtle Beach last summer, the big news comes today as Great Wolf Resorts, Inc. just announced that it was going to begin rolling in MagiQuest into a number of its Great Wolf Lodge properties. Great Wolf Lodge (an American chain) is like a family hotel on steroids, from crazy kid-themed bunk beds, to huge indoor waterparks and wacky theme restaurants, these lodges are like Vegas for kids. They are massive.
“We’re changing the face of family resort entertainment with the launch of MagiQuest,” said Dale McFarland, general manager at Great Wolf Lodge. “It is truly amazing to see how this game brings families together. It’s a game that is as much fun for the parents as it is for the kids and it achieves our goal of creating lasting family traditions - one family at a time.” Guests play using a controller that signals simple effects, including opening treasure chests, winding clocks, and creating music. Many quests can only be completed through teamwork with other participants, including family and friends. Families can choose to stay in a “Quest Master” suite, where the power of their wands will manipulate the appliances within the room. Source: NextGeneration
Pricing: The only info I could find was this, but you can bet it varies from location to location. Buy 2 hours of play for $13.99 and receive a free duel - a $3 value! This means, that for 3 hours, a family of five racks up about $210 in game playing fees, not counting meals, wands and other accessories. I would call this a $500 afternoon activity. And when you consider the Wolf Lodge announcement, I can only wonder what the “Quest Master” suite goes for so Junior can control the TV and microwave with his wand.
We Say: Ok - so I don’t have kids and would rather poke a magic wand in my eye than ever visit a place like this (think of the shrieks and noise level). But to those who have kids - we have to know. Does this appeal to you? On the one hand, I can see how it would have a family doing things together, and it makes the video game an active not passive sit-by-the-TV activity, but I have no idea. Sounds like it could really add up if you are a family of five and lord only knows what the cape and wand costs are. But then again no family trip is cheap.
Thoughts?
Amanda says:
Yeah, I don’t plan to have a family of FIVE… I’ll stick with one rugrat and keep it a happy three. I’d do this, not only would I be looking at a price tag that’s considerably less than $500 but my hubby and I would be right in there with the fun! It’s a real life RPG and a gaming family’s dream come true! (Yes, I’m a geek!) Puzzles are good, interaction is awesome… it’s good clean fun for children.
I’m with you on the noise though, but that comes with having a kid in the first place so no diff to me. My question is, can you bring back your wand/cape/stuff to play again? Or do you have to buy all new things to play again? THAT would be BIG a turn off for me.
July 18th, 2006 at 11:31 am
Alice says:
Hi Amanda - thanks for the perspective. I guess it is more fun if you can play too.
Another update: They said on their dicssion board that an online version was “coming soon.” Not sure how that ties to the business model but it would be a good way for them to earn even more money year-round and for people to try it out and practice.
In terms of the wand - let me dig around some more. I would imagine you activate your wand whan you buy time, so once you have a wand it’s yours to use again and again (or -re-activate when you run out of time.) It would be a total rip if they make you buy one each visit.
July 18th, 2006 at 11:37 am
Keith says:
I have a small family, and this sounds like another way to ripe off the consumer. $500 plus to walk around and solve puzzle with a fake wand. I can think of far better ways to spend a family evening. Do not get me wrong, I love video games, and so does my kid, but this sounds weak.
July 18th, 2006 at 11:40 am
Everett says:
I do have a family, and this is something that I would consider as worthy of my money as any other “family vacation.” I haven’t looked in to this very much, but I imagine like most things that Great Wolf lodge probably offers a package where this is included in the deal. I’d imagine it be something like $2000 for a 2 night stay, several hours of game play, access to the water parks or whatever other crazy things they have for the whole family.
That’s about on par with Disney et al.
July 18th, 2006 at 11:41 am
Amanda says:
Found more info at www.creativekingdoms.com if you go through the Retail Walk Through, it tells quite a bit more than the MagiQuest site.
July 18th, 2006 at 11:47 am
Snopesman says:
Poking around the site, it looks like it’s something like $15/hr. I’d imagine that includes the wands and stuff to play the game. That’s not so bad, considering that movie tickets are $10-11 in my area (Boston), not to mention the price of snacks/drinks. Other similar family events would be similarly expensive — think about taking the family mini-golfing (probably $8-10 each), to a local fair ($1/each to get in, plus a few bucks each for each game), and so on. Disney/other theme parks are going to get you for $50/day for admission alone, not to mention food, drinks, hotel, etc. Plus if you are in Mytle Beach and it starts raining while you are on your vacation with your kids, do you want to hang out in the hotel with the kids bouncing off the wall all day? This might be cheap compared to the cost of therapy (or bail
)
July 18th, 2006 at 12:09 pm
Alice says:
Thanks Amanda - I will update the link to the creative kindoms site in the posting. (I thought I did that.) The retail section also said a wand has a permanent id number so it sounds like you can re-use it.
July 18th, 2006 at 12:10 pm
Lissa says:
Hmm.. Sounds neat to me .. but It would have to come down in price before I’d jump in that wagon.. I would have a great time with being able to play with my kids.. But I’d also want to know what the difficulty is.. is it easy enough(and/or entertaining enough) for really young kids? Like age 2-4 and at the same time hard enough and entertaining enough for older kids & adults? I think the wands and dress up stuff is a good idea.. it’s an automatic souvenier.
July 18th, 2006 at 12:56 pm
hollox says:
I live in the Myrtle Beach area, most of the people I know who hang out here are teenagers on psychedelics.
July 18th, 2006 at 4:00 pm
Troy says:
I’ve always loved games. I’ve always loved MMORPGs. My two kids (9 and 6, both boys), love MMORPGs.
I wouldn’t do it. I can think of better things to do for $60/hour (family of four) plus accessories. It’s a bit too geeky, even for me, to be prancing around in a robe waving a toy wand at fake chests (innuendo not intended).
Don’t get me wrong. It sounds like it could be fun, with the right people, but if I wanted to run around with a bunch of teenagers screaming, “Can n e 1 buff me plzzzzzz!??!!?!?!?,” I’d play WoW.
If the price were lower, I might consider it. You’d have to play for at least a few hours to really get into it, and at $15 *per hour*, that’s just too much.
July 18th, 2006 at 4:31 pm
hollox says:
Since the attraction is at broadway at the beach, a large outdoor shopping venue, the idea is to drop the children off at this establishment while the parents enjoy dining and shopping throughout the rest of broadway at the beach without said children under-tow.
July 18th, 2006 at 5:42 pm
James Schumacher says:
Many of you dont understand magiquest. You dont have to buy wand addons or capes etc they will not change anything about the game. However you CAN if you want to. You only have to buy the wand once its $10.00. Its $8.00 for for 1 hour of play. So you only end up paying like $18. I am magi Sin Killer J one of the magis of the creative round table and i am the one making the vitural magiquest. If you have any questions about magiquest i encoruge you to vist my site http://asksin.googlepages.com and i hope my post will set the record straight. HOMEROWED!!
July 20th, 2006 at 11:57 am
Liann says:
I went to magiquest earlier this week and had a lot of fun. The only part that was kind of obnoxious were the ill mannered kids that had been allowed to run free and would cut in lines and get in your way every opportunity they had. My nephews and neice had a blast. It was enough fun that a larger chunk of my family is wanting to go back now, and I don’t have to get anohter wand. I just take my wand with me, pay $7.99 an hour and pick up right where I left off before while my family members are getting started on whatever adventures they choose. All in all it’s good fun and we don’t have to worry about keeping the kids still or quiet and standing in long lines.
July 21st, 2006 at 10:45 am
James Schumacher says:
Im sorry you had a bad experince in the lines next time it happens i would sugest you talk to one of the helpers. Also its better to go at night the lines drop down to 0-2 people and you have a lot more fun. Also some things can be done while other people are doing them such as znort so while at those areas dont think someone is cutting. You wouldent happen to be the one who got ticked of with my friend tocpe at the couldren would you?
Once again if anyone has a magiquest question vist my help line here and it will be anwserd very quickly: http://asksin.googlepages.com
July 22nd, 2006 at 4:43 am
James Schumacher says:
never mind the tocpe thing he was there a diffrent week
July 22nd, 2006 at 6:49 am
buy steroid says:
buy steroid buy steroid
July 27th, 2006 at 10:19 pm
Joe says:
Ok how many of you have actually been to MagiQuest? Because, I have! Frankly, I am surprised that, Alice, you would write an article on an event that you haven’t even been too! But I regress….I live in the Myrtle Beach area and I recently went with a few friends. I am 24 and I will admit that at first I was skeptical of appropriate age levels. And let me say that it is not cheap! But it was worth it! In fact I am going back this week. I found it truly exciting and entertaining. The prices are as fallows:
The Wand: $9.99 (required to play the game)
One hour of game play $7.99
Everything in the marketplace and elsewhere is completely optional. The wand can be reused as many times as you wish. I will admit that in my opinion it is suited for kids between 6 and 15. But even as a hardcore table top RPGer, I was still impressed and am planning another trip. I could definitely see that it would be expensive for large families but after the wand purchase it is no more than a movie ticket. Also during game play you can collect “gold pieces” that can be redeemed in the market place as a coupon for merchandise. I would definitely recommend this for anyone visiting the beach.
July 31st, 2006 at 8:58 am
Mr. Morris says:
Just got back from our Myrtle Beach vacation and one of the destinations we made a point of going to was MagiQuest. I concur with Joe on his opinions of the game and I’d add that our 7 year old son and my 9 year old nephew had a blast. Noise levels were not that bad, despite the fact that it was packed the times we played. What was the worst were all of the clueless adults standing in the middle of the main walk areas, clogging up the paths and generally making themselves an impediment…on more than one occasion, I saw one kid followed by mom, dad, a set of grandparents and lord knows who else. This created some serious congestion around the various “hot spots” where you’d finish quests or attempt to start a new one. If I were advising Creative Kingdoms on the layout of this attraction, I’d suggest a slightly larger venue and include an area to “park” parents or other adults while the kids are playing. Cost wasn’t too bad, when you consider what other family activities in Myrtle Beach cost…and at least you get to keep the wand for use next year since it “remembers” what quests you’ve completed. One of these would go over great in Orlando, or even here in Atlanta…I know I’d probably plunk down the money to have my son’s birthday party there (which they will accommodate, according to their website). Another complaint is how “wordy” some of the characters get during the course of the game. The dragon in particular ran his mouth far too long after we beat him, and when you’re playing by the hour, this seemed like a bit of a scam to run out the proverbial clock and make you buy more time. Overall, I love the concept…hopefully they’ll branch out of Myrtle Beach soon.
July 31st, 2006 at 7:12 pm
James Schumacher says:
they allready have branced out to the great wolf lodge hotel chain and there is a dinoquest in santa ana ca. you can skip the videos on the touch screens by tapping them.
Once again if anyone has a magiquest question vist my help line here and it will be anwserd very quickly: http://asksin.googlepages.com
August 1st, 2006 at 4:55 am
hotel discount.com says:
hotel discount.com hotel discount.com
August 2nd, 2006 at 1:56 am
Charles says:
We took our 4 year old son to the MagiQuest in Myrtle Beach last year. I think we spent about 3 hours doing different quests. It’s not that expensive, you are only required to buy the “wand”, the other stuff is optional. I don’t remember the hourly charge exactly, but I know it was far from $15 per hour. We had plenty of fun without buying anything extra. My son has asked “When are we going back?”.
August 2nd, 2006 at 10:38 am
D.J. & Karen says:
Our family went to the original Magiquest at Broadway on the Beach, Myrtle Beach, SC last summer and our four year old had a wonderful time (as did my wife and I). The cost down there for two hours was very reasonable when you consider the cost of a 2 hour movie for a family. Readers should also consider the fact that in this venue you and your kids are ACTIVELY participating in a series of problem solving activities that allow the family to have fun together. And it’s not just for parents or grandparents being towed along behind their kids; we saw quite a few teens and those “young-at-heart” as well and all seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. I will say that some of the little “goblins” should have been kept on their leashes as they were noisy and rude as they jumped into lines and pushed others as they raced past but the Helpers at the Castle quickly put them in their places once notified of the little “demonspawn”. But I guess you get that everywhere… it all comes down to parenting (or the lack thereof).
The Myrtle Beach castle was so well set up, I would have probably dragged my wife through even if we didn’t have two boys (one was too young to play that time and had to be wheeled around in his stroller). We bought a few of the options for the wands there but drew the line at the costumes (kids grow out of clothes so quickly). The fact that the wands can be reused at different Magiquest locations and that everything else is optional make it a good bargain in my book. Though I could definitely see that if a family got carried away with their purchases it could get very expensive very quickly. Just know when to say “No” to your kids. Once they get inside and get into it, it won’t matter to them whether they have a $30.00 tunic, a $10.00 belt and a goofy hat. They’ll wear their tee shirts and jean shorts but in their heads they’ll be brave little magi. So the costumes are more for the grown ups who usually need that little extra push to get their imaginations fired up. (Just think how often your kids played with the box that the $200.00 toy came in rather than the toy itself — imagination is a wonderful thing.)
We went to Great Wolf Lodge in the Pocono Mountains of PA last fall and everything there was great too. We were surprised when we journeyed there again just last month (July) and discovered that they now have a Magiquest site throughout the lodge. It’s not quite as “cool” since it’s not in a custom built castle like at Myrtle Beach but it is definitely worth playing as you get to play your entire stay at the Lodge for one price… no pay by the hour thing there. I believe it was $10.00 or $11.00 for your entire stay and all you had to do was show your room bracelet for that price.
I agree with Joe above in wondering how Alice Hill could write a news article about something she hasn’t seen or experienced. The only thing positive I can say about this article is it allowed others who have participated in a Magiquest adventure to set the record straight with their own experiences. I just saved my “digression” for the end. Enjoy it with your family and loved ones as that’s what it’s about… that and making some money for Creative Kingdoms. (But if they keep coming out with stuff like this… then that’s okay with us.)
August 3rd, 2006 at 1:52 pm
search engine says:
search now
August 6th, 2006 at 3:29 am
Dawn says:
I went to the Great Wolf Lodge with my kids and was outraged at the cost of two wands, toppers and then was told there was an additional fee to add the game onto it. In total, I spent $81 and some change. I thought that was alot for two fake wands. At this point, I knew nothing of how the game was played. My kids are 9 and 11. Well, it turned out to be the best $81 I had ever spent. My kids spent the next six hours running around the hotel on their Quests. They went to bed EXHAUSTED that night. When they got up in the morning, they ran out to continue their quest. They loved it even more than the water rides at the lodge. My kids said it was the most fun they have ever had!!! They should explain it in more detail to parents. I would not recommend this for parents with small kids that have to be chapperoned. It will tire YOU out!
August 31st, 2006 at 6:50 am
Dawn says:
Oh, and yes, your wands are reusable, but you do have to pay an additional $9.99 to put another game on it once you’ve finished all your quests. And no, from what I can tell, the one in Myrtle Beach would NOT INCLUDE the wand. The wand is always yours to keep, but you must purchase it to play the game.
August 31st, 2006 at 6:55 am
Jodi says:
My husband and I just got back from our Myrtle Beach vacation. We stumbled onto MagiQuest at Broadway at the Beach. At $8 a person for an hour of play and just $11 for the wand you can use again and again - it was a great deal especially considering the prices of most things in Myrtle Beach (like the small bottle of water for $2 at Alligator Adventure!!).
We don’t have kids but we are technophiles and enjoy a good computer game – so that’s probably way MagiQuest appealed to us. The place wasn’t crowded at all and we even went back a second day. The workers at the Myrtle Beach location were very nice and helpful too – I would definitely recommend this game to all ages! This was one of the highlights of our vacation!
September 9th, 2006 at 10:23 am
Jessica M. says:
Jessica M.
I’m sorry for little off-topic, but I want to ask you about design of this site. Did you make this template yourself or got from any templates website? Looks pretty cool for me
September 30th, 2006 at 1:40 am
Camille & Phil says:
Just went for the second time to Magiquest with my family. Our 3 year old girl and 5 year old boy love it, even though my daughter tires out after about an hour so it cuts things short. This second time in my wife and I purchased wands and toppers for ourselves because we had such a fun time helping the kids last time, which was the weekend before. We live in Charleston, SC and wish we could open up a version here as well…maybe a Pirate themed version
The price isnt bad at all when you consider other family attractions in the area and this is something you can work on together as a family which is really quite fun. You keep the wands and all so its actually less expensive to come back and play later. We plan on going back soon to play a little more too.
October 10th, 2006 at 6:41 am
Elaine says:
We just returned from our vacation at Great Wolf Lodge in Pocono Mtns. PA and our kids had a BLAST playing this game! It is something they will always remember. My husband even got into it by defeating the dragon! It was tiring for us as well as the kids. It was worth the $50 for the game and wands for our kids. We would definantly do this again!
February 2nd, 2007 at 5:33 pm
donna says:
My kids (13,11) and I went last summer as something to do on a rainy day in Myrtle Beach. Well, I have to say that I became a little obsessed with the place. My kids and I figured out riddles together, searched for clues and worked together for hours until we finished all the quests and adventures. We are planning a trip back in a few days to figure out the 3 new quests and 1 new adventure. It’s very, very exciting. You get to use your brain and think. I’s not for little kids, unless their parents figure out the clues. The adventures become more and more challenging as you progress. It was like being in the “Amazing Race”.
February 15th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
Shemp says:
We just visited the Great Wolf Lodge in PA this weekend and when we got home, I spent an hour online with my 8 year old looking for other places to play Magiquest. We absolutly loved it. It was 15.99 for the wand and 9.99 for the game unlimited time. At an indoor waterpark you can’t stay in the water the whole time and this was an awsome way to spend the dry time together and have fun.
March 22nd, 2007 at 6:17 am
Cathy says:
I just returned from the Great Wolf Lodge with my four kids, and ran to the computer to check out Magiquest. Great Wolf has MagiQuest set up to play for the duration of your stay. I total we played for about 7 hours over two days. My kids thought this was better than the Disney Cruise we took in February. How about that for an indorsement? I think I need to buy stock in this company.
April 8th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
Ricky says:
All I can say is, having found out about Magiquest, and being 54, female, and with no kids … I want to go there and SOON!! It sounds like so much fun. I wish there was one in Texas so I wouldn’t have to travel so far, but somehow, someday, I am sooooo going there!!
May 8th, 2007 at 8:45 am
Karen says:
Just got back from Myrtle Beach. My kids LOVED Magiquest. We went two times during the week we were there. We’ll definitely be going again!!
July 1st, 2007 at 2:19 pm
Lee Ann says:
I am speaking as a person that just came home from a vacation in Myrtle Beach last night. My family of 5 spent 3 funfilled evenings in Magiquest and trust me, we did not spend the $1500.00 for the 3 evenings as is being suggested here. Yes, the first evening was the most expensive since we had to buy our wands. My husband and I went in as spectators and paid a spectator fee. The total for the first evening was $94.40. That included a wand, 90 minutes of play time and 3 duals for EACH of my three children. We had so much fun we came back a second time. The second time my kids wanted to adorn their wands, so I let them with their own allowance money. That cost $11.74 for each of the wands. The admission for the 2nd night was $40.68. Therefore, the total cost of our 2nd night there was $75.90. Again, having so much fun we went back a 3rd night. After the 2nd visit, the spectator no longer pays. Our total cost of admission for the 3rd night was $32.10. I don’t know if any of you guys ever take your family of five to the movies, but when I do it costs almost 50 bucks just to see the flick. To put this in perspective, we also went to Ripley’s Aquarium and we spent $$74.95 just to get in and let me tell you…BORING! We also went to Le Grande Cirque and that was $86.00! It was a good show but I’d rather have spent my money at Magiquest. So to sum it up our total for our three evenings at Magiquest was $202.40. That’s an average of $67.00 per evening to totally entertain my family of 5! THAT IS A BARGAIN. No we did not get roped into buying the outfits and all of the accessories. My kids understand that the fun is in the game, not what you wear while playing it. The only reason why I found this website was because I was searching to see if there were any facilities near my home in NJ. As for not being able to get information, you’ve got to be kidding me. All I did was pick up the phone and ask!
July 29th, 2007 at 5:44 am
Carly says:
I’m a tiny bit offended by this article. MagiQuest is exceptional- the only repulsing aspect is the adults congesting the walkways and the kids that have not been taught to wait their turn before casting at an object. My family and I go back every year, and the outrageous costs that you describe are not anywhere close to the actual costs. You only have to buy the wand once, and if it happens to break (which is extremely rare, these things are pretty tough) they will give you a new one, free of charge, and they will transfer all your information. My 7 year old stepsister bashed hers on the crystal cluster a couple times. I’m 17 years old and I have a great time every time, and I get very anxious to go back.
PS- If you get fed up with the ill-mannered kids, try this: as they go to cast their wand at the object you are obviously working on, look them in the eye sternly and say “Excuse me..” They back off, trust me. =)
July 30th, 2007 at 10:58 am
Kimbely Hunt says:
My 15 year old son had a fantastic experience at the Myrtle Beach location. The cost for play is reasonable for a resort area. I just put a limit on the “extra’s” He bought his wand and an upgraded orb and then just play time. We went back twice to play and are looking forward to returning again.
August 2nd, 2007 at 10:42 am
Kimbely Hunt says:
My question is can you go and play Magiquest in the poconos in PA without staying at the Great Wolf Lodge? My son loved the Myrtle Beach location we visited several times on holiday, and would like to visit the PA location as we live in NJ?
August 2nd, 2007 at 10:49 am
Hannah says:
Hey peeps, i am a real player and i really enjoyed it. my cousions told me about it, and me and a bunch of friends went out. It was kinda dorkish at first but it’s something that we all want to do again because we all had afew good luaghs and could make fun of uorself and our nerdyness. i had fun, but hey, i wasn’t the one paying!!! (lol) i am a teen and rally had fun. it is soooooo worth going to!!!!
August 3rd, 2007 at 4:36 am
Randy says:
We just stayed at Great Wolf Lodge and I have to agree with the other posters in that my kids loved it! We paid for a Gamers Galore package which gave two wands, 100 tokens in the arcade and minigolf plus the water park. The thing my kids loved the most was running around the hotel poking their wands at stuff to see what it would do. We stopped in the middle of a quest to eat and by our table was a tree…. kids poked their wand at it and it lit up lights all through the branches, everyone around thought that was cool. And they were ecstatic to turn on the Magiquest TV channel and see their code names on there for 7th and 8th place in the daily standings. My wife made robes for them to wear before we came but no one else was dressed up so they didn’t care anyways. We let them get one topper each ($9.99) and they picked one rune decoration ($3.99) with their own money. But you don’t have to, most kids we saw didn’t have the toppers. Anyways, they had a blast and want their next vacation somewhere they can play Magiquest. My wife and I both wish we could build one because we thought it was cool and families seemed to have so much fun doing it together (although all the parents look exhausted
).
August 7th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Hollie says:
We just came back from the Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg, VA and before our stay I hadn’t heard much about MagiQuest. Let me just say that my kids (7 & 9) had a blast!!! It truly is as fun and magical as the other posters have described! It is a fun and affordable way to spend time with your children, as compared to the cost of sitting at the movies and eating popcorn, etc… We live an hour away from Myrtle Beach and this weekend I plan to take the kids to MagiQuest there! I hope that this does catch on and will become available at more places soon!
August 10th, 2007 at 8:33 am
Deb says:
My family is currently staying at the Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City. We decided to let our daughters, ages 7,11, & 15 participate in the Magiquest game. It was $15 each for the wands and $10 each for the game. They could take as much time as they wanted up to 4 days to complete all of the quests and adventures. The kids played for almost 2 hours before the game was shut down for the night. They had a blast and we (the parents) had fun helping them. At the Lodge, the things they have to find are spread throughout 3 floors of the hotel. We got an amazing workout going up and down the stairs and and through the halls.
The staff said it would take us 3 to 5 hours to complete. I’m leaning toward 5 after seeing what we completed tonight. The kids can’t wait to finish tomorrow and are already wanting to know other locations where they can use the wands.
The shop here had costumes, but we didn’t see any kids wearing them. There were also toppers to customize the wands, but most parents just bought the minimum to be able to play. This would only turn into a $500 day if you went crazy with unnecessary costumes and accessories.
I did some searching and saw that other locations charge by the hour. I still think it would be worth the hourly rate to have them playing a game that encourages physical activity and develops their logic skills and ability to follow directions. We look forward to doing this again in the future.
August 14th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
Stacy says:
I don’t know what the experience is like at the original in Myrtle Beach, but this was the best part of our weekend getaway at Great Wolf Lodge in Mason, OH. The experience had just opened, so it was a complete surprise to us. We’d gone to visit the waterpark and Nick or Treat at King’s Island, but neither was as much family fun as MagiQuest. It created much less conflict than the waterpark, made it easy to monitor everyone, and even our two year old could appreciate the fun of seeing sparklies.
We spent $25, $15 for a wand and $10 for a game that would allow us to play for 6,000 real-time minutes. The wand is reusable, as others have mentioned, so when we go back we’d only need to download a game for $10. The reality is, we’ll probably buy two more wands so that we can play right along, though. You don’t need to buy the separate toppers for the wands or any of the runes or costumes. So, a family of 5, if they all felt they had to have a wand (and mom and dad could walk along without one and still enjoy the experience), would spend $125 for an activity they could do over about four days. Single-day amusement park admission would be more than that, and this involves a lot more actual fun rather than waiting in line for three hours for a two-minute thrill. And since the MagiQuests at the resorts are open to the public, the family could also run over to a McDonalds rather than feeling trapped by amusement park food prices. Of course at either venue, you can always pack food if that’s a concern.
There was so much interactivity, lots of problem solving and great camaraderie among most of the people playing. It gave everyone a chance to chat, and everyone seemed to be having a great time. There was a single trio of very rude boys wandering without parental supervision, but that can happen at any sort of activity, unfortunately.
Plus, as a pair of teens who ran past us mentioned, it came with a free workout. The clues were placed in various locations over three floors of the hotel, and it was just too much fun to wait for an elevator.
October 22nd, 2007 at 10:42 am
Alecia Moore says:
We did this this summer in Myrtle Beach and had a blast!!!!! It was well worth the price. We all wanted to do it again. My children couldn’t stop talking it. I enjoyed it myself. We were in that place for about 3 to 4 hours and if my sister didn’t come and our time wasn’t ending we would have been there longer. It was packed and started off complicated but they provided alot of help.
I only bought some of the unfiorm so for the three of us it was under $200.00.
This is an attraction that you can’t pass up. My children just ran all over the place and had a blast! I highly recommend it!!!
October 22nd, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Mallory says:
I went to the Magiquest in Myrtle beach with my parents and my little brother and i honestly think it was an awesome time…we kept it at a minimum and just got the wands with nothing special added to them and we had a blast….it ended up being a competition for us and i would definitely go back anytime!!!!
November 6th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
Anonymous says:
I know a lot about the other side of MagiQuest. Every year that passes, technical progress decreases. Every patch that comes out produces more bugs and goes for months without fixes. The wand itself is of poor design and I feel they charge way too much for it. There also was a problem with the accounts where in the middle of game play, the wand re-linked to a new account. Fixing wand problems take time waiting in line because there are NO open POS terminals. So after you experience a tech problem it’s compounded by the time it takes to fix it. By no means am I blaming the employees, there are simply too many people in one place.
My advice to anyone going to the Myrtle Beach location is stay away during the summer! It is a crowded zoo that usually maintains capacity all day. The POS system of a piece of crap and corrupts the database all the time. From what I recall the game goes down several times a day. The worst days during the summer are on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The customers are herded through admissions, training, and game like cattle. The customer and the employees are both frustrated with the flow of traffic into the kingdom. Given the current operational procedures, I do not recommend visiting during the summer. It’s just too crowded, and with only an hour to play it’s not worth the frustration. Go to the beach or the new Hard Rock Park; don’t waste your time fighting the masses.
The prices have gone up a few dollars after Joe’s post.
January 6th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Max A says:
They just opened a venue near me and I can’t wait to try it out. I’m planning on going during a low traffic time so it doesn’t get over crowded so I think I’ll have a great time.
March 24th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Melanie says:
My daughter (10 yrs old), her friend, my mother and I went to MagiQuest while in Myrtle Beach…although it was not at all cheap…neither was the experience! It was so neat to watch my daughter use her wand and try so hard to complete these missions…we played for 90 minutes and I think we could have played for another 90 if we had time. This is so great for the whole family. You all work together and spend the quality time that families need!
April 9th, 2008 at 10:50 am
Rebecca says:
I took my family to Magiquest in Myrtle Beach, SC for the first time while visiting and they had a blast! I left my kids there while the adults (the kids are older and responsible) went shopping and browsing! WORTH EVERY PENNY!! Only wish we had more time and they would have stayed longer! You can reuse your wands, save up points and use them later, you can buy cosutmes if you want but we didn’t and my 15 year old loved it. My 11 and 12 years olds thought it was way cool! This is an experience that they won’t forget. As I understand it, after you finish a quest, you can get more so it is always different. This is better than a video game room where you get some tickets after spending about the same amount and get cheap junk trinkets…this is much better for the $ and way more fun!!! Thanks
April 12th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Lisa Lewis says:
Well, some of your information is incorrect. The wand was $14.99 and game play was $9.99. This was for the entire time of our stay at Great Wolf in Traverse City, Michigan. (2 full days). We only needed one wand, which our son got to keep and it is good at other locations. He had a ball. Even beat the Goblin on a bigger adventure. The exercise we got traveling through out the Hotel, steps, etc. was great and tiring. All the kids there seemed to have a great time with this and since our son has eplipsy and can not play real video games, he was trilled.
April 13th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Ray-Ray says:
This game is sooooo awesome!:) If anyone needs help on the magiquest thing at great wolf lodge you can ask me because I am a master magi there.
May 26th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Ramsey Rye says:
We just got back from a two day vacation at the new Great Wolf Lodge in Washington state.
I literally said the words “this is like Vegas for kids” while we were there.
They had MagiQuest at the resort and my 4 and 6 year old both played, as did I and my wife.
It cost about $80.00 for the wands and the game-play for the two days.
It was a bit cheesey, but we had a lot of fun trekking around the hotel looking for clues and interacting with all kinds of fun, random critters, paintings, books etc.
Besides the fun you actually get a great work-out traversing stairwells, elevators and hallways. I am tired, but my family and I had a great time.
September 15th, 2008 at 12:24 am