diff --git a/ui/src/data_explorer/actions/view/index.js b/ui/src/data_explorer/actions/view/index.js
index 0fcdc17a9..f79fc537a 100644
--- a/ui/src/data_explorer/actions/view/index.js
+++ b/ui/src/data_explorer/actions/view/index.js
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ export function createPanel() {
   return {
     type: 'CREATE_PANEL',
     payload: {
-      panelId: uuid.v4(), // for the default Panel
-      queryId: uuid.v4(), // for the default Query
+      panelID: uuid.v4(), // for the default Panel
+      queryID: uuid.v4(), // for the default Query
     },
   };
 }
@@ -159,3 +159,12 @@ export function updateRawQuery(queryID, text) {
     },
   };
 }
+
+export function activatePanel(panelID) {
+  return {
+    type: 'ACTIVATE_PANEL',
+    payload: {
+      panelID,
+    },
+  };
+}
diff --git a/ui/src/data_explorer/components/PanelBuilder.js b/ui/src/data_explorer/components/PanelBuilder.js
index b827971f5..e5b789070 100644
--- a/ui/src/data_explorer/components/PanelBuilder.js
+++ b/ui/src/data_explorer/components/PanelBuilder.js
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ const PanelBuilder = React.createClass({
   propTypes: {
     width: string,
     actions: PropTypes.shape({
+      activatePanel: func.isRequired,
       createPanel: func.isRequired,
       deleteQuery: func.isRequired,
       addQuery: func.isRequired,
@@ -23,25 +24,23 @@ const PanelBuilder = React.createClass({
       toggleTagAcceptance: func.isRequired,
       deletePanel: func.isRequired,
     }).isRequired,
-    setActivePanel: func.isRequired,
     setActiveQuery: func.isRequired,
     activePanelID: string,
     activeQueryID: string,
   },
 
-  handleCreateExploer() {
+  handleCreateExplorer() {
     this.props.actions.createPanel();
   },
 
   render() {
-    const {width, actions, setActivePanel, setActiveQuery, activePanelID, activeQueryID} = this.props;
+    const {width, actions, setActiveQuery, activePanelID, activeQueryID} = this.props;
 
     return (
       <div className="panel-builder" style={{width}}>
-        <div className="btn btn-block btn-primary" onClick={this.handleCreateExploer}><span className="icon graphline"></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;Create Graph</div>
+        <div className="btn btn-block btn-primary" onClick={this.handleCreateExplorer}><span className="icon graphline"></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;Create Graph</div>
         <PanelList
           actions={actions}
-          setActivePanel={setActivePanel}
           setActiveQuery={setActiveQuery}
           activePanelID={activePanelID}
           activeQueryID={activeQueryID}
diff --git a/ui/src/data_explorer/components/PanelList.js b/ui/src/data_explorer/components/PanelList.js
index 411f31286..c3d365e2d 100644
--- a/ui/src/data_explorer/components/PanelList.js
+++ b/ui/src/data_explorer/components/PanelList.js
@@ -13,20 +13,20 @@ const PanelList = React.createClass({
     }).isRequired,
     panels: shape({}).isRequired,
     queryConfigs: PropTypes.shape({}),
-    actions: shape({}).isRequired,
-    setActivePanel: func.isRequired,
+    actions: shape({
+      activatePanel: func.isRequired,
+      deleteQuery: func.isRequired,
+      addQuery: func.isRequired,
+    }).isRequired,
     setActiveQuery: func.isRequired,
     activePanelID: string,
     activeQueryID: string,
   },
 
   handleTogglePanel(panel) {
-    // If the panel being toggled is currently active, it means we should
-    // close everything by setting `activePanelID` to null.
-    const activePanelID = panel.id === this.props.activePanelID ?
-      null : panel.id;
+    const panelID = panel.id === this.props.activePanelID ? null : panel.id;
+    this.props.actions.activatePanel(panelID);
 
-    this.props.setActivePanel(activePanelID);
     // Reset the activeQueryID when toggling Exporations
     this.props.setActiveQuery(null);
   },
diff --git a/ui/src/data_explorer/containers/DataExplorer.js b/ui/src/data_explorer/containers/DataExplorer.js
index f5b708908..2c7d37f4c 100644
--- a/ui/src/data_explorer/containers/DataExplorer.js
+++ b/ui/src/data_explorer/containers/DataExplorer.js
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ const DataExplorer = React.createClass({
       upper: string,
       lower: string,
     }).isRequired,
+    activePanel: string,
     setTimeRange: func.isRequired,
   },
 
@@ -45,21 +46,16 @@ const DataExplorer = React.createClass({
 
   getInitialState() {
     return {
-      activePanelID: null,
       activeQueryID: null,
     };
   },
 
-  handleSetActivePanel(id) {
-    this.setState({activePanelID: id});
-  },
-
   handleSetActiveQuery(id) {
     this.setState({activeQueryID: id});
   },
 
   render() {
-    const {timeRange, setTimeRange} = this.props;
+    const {timeRange, setTimeRange, activePanel} = this.props;
 
     return (
       <div className="data-explorer">
@@ -70,14 +66,13 @@ const DataExplorer = React.createClass({
         <ResizeContainer>
           <PanelBuilder
             timeRange={timeRange}
-            activePanelID={this.state.activePanelID}
+            activePanelID={activePanel}
             activeQueryID={this.state.activeQueryID}
             setActiveQuery={this.handleSetActiveQuery}
-            setActivePanel={this.handleSetActivePanel}
           />
           <Visualizations
             timeRange={timeRange}
-            activePanelID={this.state.activePanelID}
+            activePanelID={activePanel}
             activeQueryID={this.state.activeQueryID}
           />
         </ResizeContainer>
@@ -87,8 +82,11 @@ const DataExplorer = React.createClass({
 });
 
 function mapStateToProps(state) {
+  const {timeRange, dataExplorerUI} = state;
+
   return {
-    timeRange: state.timeRange,
+    timeRange,
+    activePanel: dataExplorerUI.activePanel,
   };
 }
 
diff --git a/ui/src/data_explorer/reducers/dataExplorerUI.js b/ui/src/data_explorer/reducers/dataExplorerUI.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2140a9eba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ui/src/data_explorer/reducers/dataExplorerUI.js
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+export default function dataExplorerUI(state = {}, action) {
+  switch (action.type) {
+    case 'ACTIVATE_PANEL':
+    case 'CREATE_PANEL': {
+      const {panelID} = action.payload;
+      return {...state, activePanel: panelID};
+    }
+  }
+
+  return state;
+}
diff --git a/ui/src/data_explorer/reducers/index.js b/ui/src/data_explorer/reducers/index.js
index e0e44fe1b..4e4483f3b 100644
--- a/ui/src/data_explorer/reducers/index.js
+++ b/ui/src/data_explorer/reducers/index.js
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
 import queryConfigs from './queryConfigs';
 import panels from './panels';
 import timeRange from './timeRange';
+import dataExplorerUI from './dataExplorerUI';
 
 export {
   queryConfigs,
   panels,
   timeRange,
+  dataExplorerUI,
 };
diff --git a/ui/src/data_explorer/reducers/panels.js b/ui/src/data_explorer/reducers/panels.js
index 00f550009..e04c58581 100644
--- a/ui/src/data_explorer/reducers/panels.js
+++ b/ui/src/data_explorer/reducers/panels.js
@@ -3,15 +3,11 @@ import update from 'react-addons-update';
 export default function panels(state = {}, action) {
   switch (action.type) {
     case 'CREATE_PANEL': {
-      const {panelId, queryId} = action.payload;
-      const panel = {
-        id: panelId,
-        queryIds: [queryId],
+      const {panelID, queryID} = action.payload;
+      return {
+        ...state,
+        [panelID]: {id: panelID, queryIds: [queryID]},
       };
-
-      return update(state, {
-        [panelId]: {$set: panel},
-      });
     }
 
     case 'RENAME_PANEL': {
@@ -50,5 +46,6 @@ export default function panels(state = {}, action) {
       });
     }
   }
+
   return state;
 }
diff --git a/ui/src/data_explorer/reducers/queryConfigs.js b/ui/src/data_explorer/reducers/queryConfigs.js
index 7b0bcc865..82c14d0ec 100644
--- a/ui/src/data_explorer/reducers/queryConfigs.js
+++ b/ui/src/data_explorer/reducers/queryConfigs.js
@@ -49,9 +49,9 @@ export default function queryConfigs(state = {}, action) {
     case 'CREATE_PANEL':
     case 'ADD_KAPACITOR_QUERY':
     case 'ADD_QUERY': {
-      const {queryId, options} = action.payload;
+      const {queryID, options} = action.payload;
       const nextState = Object.assign({}, state, {
-        [queryId]: Object.assign({}, defaultQueryConfig(queryId), options),
+        [queryID]: Object.assign({}, defaultQueryConfig(queryID), options),
       });
 
       return nextState;
diff --git a/ui/src/localStorage.js b/ui/src/localStorage.js
index 1f26a3e9e..2ab359365 100644
--- a/ui/src/localStorage.js
+++ b/ui/src/localStorage.js
@@ -19,9 +19,14 @@ export const loadLocalStorage = () => {
   }
 };
 
-export const saveToLocalStorage = ({panels, queryConfigs, timeRange}) => {
+export const saveToLocalStorage = ({panels, queryConfigs, timeRange, dataExplorerUI}) => {
   try {
-    window.localStorage.setItem('state', JSON.stringify({panels, queryConfigs, timeRange}));
+    window.localStorage.setItem('state', JSON.stringify({
+      panels,
+      queryConfigs,
+      timeRange,
+      dataExplorerUI,
+    }));
   } catch (err) {
     console.error('Unable to save data explorer: ', JSON.parse(err)); // eslint-disable-line no-console
   }
diff --git a/ui/src/store/configureStore.js b/ui/src/store/configureStore.js
index 1b7b3ec2b..286e96e47 100644
--- a/ui/src/store/configureStore.js
+++ b/ui/src/store/configureStore.js
@@ -2,14 +2,14 @@ import {createStore, applyMiddleware, compose} from 'redux';
 import {combineReducers} from 'redux';
 import thunkMiddleware from 'redux-thunk';
 import makeQueryExecuter from 'src/shared/middleware/queryExecuter';
-import * as chronografReducers from 'src/data_explorer/reducers';
+import * as dataExplorerReducers from 'src/data_explorer/reducers';
 import * as sharedReducers from 'src/shared/reducers';
 import rulesReducer from 'src/kapacitor/reducers/rules';
 import persistStateEnhancer from './persistStateEnhancer';
 
 const rootReducer = combineReducers({
   ...sharedReducers,
-  ...chronografReducers,
+  ...dataExplorerReducers,
   rules: rulesReducer,
 });
 
diff --git a/ui/src/store/persistStateEnhancer.js b/ui/src/store/persistStateEnhancer.js
index 8ad9c4a06..9c788fcac 100644
--- a/ui/src/store/persistStateEnhancer.js
+++ b/ui/src/store/persistStateEnhancer.js
@@ -13,11 +13,11 @@ import {saveToLocalStorage} from '../localStorage';
 export default function persistState() {
   return (next) => (reducer, initialState, enhancer) => {
     const store = next(reducer, initialState, enhancer);
-    const debounceMs = 1000;
+    const throttleMs = 1000;
 
-    store.subscribe(_.debounce(() => {
+    store.subscribe(_.throttle(() => {
       saveToLocalStorage({...store.getState()});
-    }, debounceMs));
+    }, throttleMs));
 
     return store;
   };