Level99 Opens Tomorrow at Disney Springs—Why Disney’s Newest Entertainment Bet Could Change How Guests Spend Their Evenings
- Jetsetter

- Jun 28
- 4 min read

Tomorrow, Disney Springs welcomes one of its most anticipated additions in years as Level99 officially opens its doors. At first glance, it’s another entertainment venue arriving at Walt Disney World’s shopping and dining district. Look a little deeper, though, and it becomes clear this opening says just as much about where Disney Springs is headed as it does about the company moving in.
Occupying the former NBA Experience building, Level99 brings nearly 47,000 square feet of interactive gaming, physical challenges, puzzle rooms, dining, and nightlife under one roof. It also becomes the largest Level99 location anywhere in the country—a distinction that feels intentional.
Disney didn’t simply find a tenant for an empty building. It found an experience that reflects how people increasingly choose to spend their vacations: doing something together rather than simply buying something.
News Breakdown
Starting tomorrow, guests visiting Disney Springs can explore 63 challenge rooms that blend physical activity, problem-solving, teamwork, and friendly competition. Rather than committing to a single escape room or attraction, players move through the venue at their own pace, deciding which experiences they want to tackle next.
Some rooms test agility and coordination. Others reward observation, communication, or quick thinking. Most only last a few minutes, which keeps the energy high and encourages guests to try “just one more” challenge before heading home.
An RFID wristband tracks progress throughout the visit and saves achievements for future trips, creating a reason to come back instead of treating the experience as a one-and-done attraction.
The venue also includes a full-service restaurant, a two-story bar, Detroit-style pizza, burgers, cocktails, and locally brewed beer, making it just as easy to spend an evening there as it is to stop in for a couple of hours between other plans.
Context: More Than Filling an Empty Building
For Disney fans, this address has become something of a question mark over the past decade.
DisneyQuest developed a loyal following by offering interactive entertainment that, in many ways, was ahead of its time. NBA Experience, despite arriving with plenty of fanfare, never managed to build the same connection with visitors. Its basketball-focused concept appealed to a fairly specific audience, and after the pandemic closure, the venue never reopened.
Level99 takes almost the opposite approach.
Instead of centering the experience around a single sport or franchise, it leans into something broader: shared experiences. Families, friends, coworkers, and couples can all walk in and find challenges that match their interests without needing any particular skill set.
That wider appeal could prove to be exactly what this location has been missing.
Why This Is Really Happening
Officially, this is another entertainment option for Disney Springs. From a business perspective, it’s also a reflection of how guest behavior has changed over the last several years.
As Walt Disney World vacations become more expensive, many travelers are building slower-paced itineraries. Not every day is spent inside a theme park anymore. Families often schedule pool days, arrival days, or evenings away from attractions to recharge while still making the most of their trip.
Disney Springs has quietly become one of the biggest beneficiaries of that shift.
A venue like Level99 gives guests another reason to spend an entire evening on property—playing games, grabbing dinner, shopping afterward, and extending their visit without ever stepping through a park entrance.
There’s another business advantage that’s easy to overlook.
Unlike a traditional attraction that funnels everyone into one queue, Level99 spreads guests across dozens of independent experiences. That keeps crowds moving naturally while allowing visitors to play at their own pace. From an operations standpoint, it’s a remarkably efficient model because capacity is distributed rather than concentrated.
It’s also built for repeat business. New visitors can enjoy the experience immediately, while returning players have an incentive to beat previous scores and unlock additional achievements.
What This Means for Travelers
For vacationers, Level99 fills a gap that Disney Springs has been missing.
It’s not just another restaurant, and it’s not another store. It’s something guests can build an evening around.
Families traveling with teenagers may find it especially appealing since everyone participates together instead of watching from the sidelines. Couples looking for something beyond dinner and drinks suddenly have a more interactive option. Even convention attendees staying nearby now have another nighttime activity that doesn’t require purchasing a park ticket.
The biggest surprise may be how much time people end up spending there.
A visit that starts with a 90-minute gaming session can easily stretch into dinner, shopping, and live entertainment around Disney Springs. That’s likely part of the appeal—not only for visitors, but for Disney as well.
What Travelers Should Do Next
Opening weeks are almost always the busiest, and Level99 is unlikely to be an exception.
If your Walt Disney World vacation is already planned, reserving a play session ahead of time is worth considering, especially for evenings and weekends.
Comfortable shoes are another smart move. While you won’t be running a marathon, many of the challenges involve climbing, balancing, crouching, or moving quickly between stations.
If your schedule allows, consider visiting on a non-park day. You’ll be less rushed and can enjoy the rest of Disney Springs without watching the clock.
The Bigger Trend Behind This Shift
Perhaps the most interesting part of this opening isn’t Level99 itself.
It’s what it says about where travel entertainment is heading.
Across the industry, destinations are investing less in passive attractions and more in experiences that encourage participation. Travelers increasingly value activities they can do together—whether that’s interactive gaming, immersive dining, themed competitions, or hands-on entertainment.
Disney Springs has gradually evolved into more than a shopping district, and Level99 feels like the next logical step in that transformation.
Don’t be surprised if similar concepts begin appearing at other major tourism destinations over the next few years. Operators are recognizing that today’s visitors aren’t simply looking for somewhere to spend money—they’re looking for memorable ways to spend their time.
Final Thoughts
Tomorrow’s opening is significant for more than the guests eager to be among the first through the doors.
It represents another chapter in Disney Springs’ evolution from a retail complex into a destination that can easily occupy an entire evening, even for travelers who never set foot inside a theme park.
If Level99 delivers on its promise of replayability and social competition, it could become one of those places that guests work into every Orlando vacation rather than checking off once and moving on. That’s a difficult balance to achieve in a market filled with one-time attractions—and perhaps the strongest indicator that Disney chose the right concept for this long-empty space.



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