Disney Plans New Sports Arena

[bladerunner]

This just in .... http://www.miamiherald.com/416/story/55415.html

Disney officials will announce the construction of a 70,000-plus square-foot arena Wednesday during a 10th-anniversary celebration for Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex.

The Jostens Center will have more than 44,800 square feet of competition space, The Orlando Sentinel reported. It will feature six basketball courts, 12 volleyball courts, two roller hockey rinks, four locker rooms, two conference areas and two officials' rooms.

The building is scheduled to open in fall 2008 at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex.

The Milk House, which is the complex's current indoor facility, has only 30,000 square feet of competition space.

''It will more than double our ability to host sports events,'' said Reggie Williams, vice president of Disney Sports Attractions. ``The Milk House is booked 50 out of 52 weekends a year. Now, we will be able to book another facility as frequently as the Milk House and, more importantly, have multiple events happen simultaneously.''

The 220-acre complex, which is part of the Walt Disney World Resort, currently hosts more than 180 events a year.

 

[Shaman]

I wonder if Disney would ever push (or have they already tried) for the Summer Olympics in Orlando? :lookaroun

 

[PhotoDave219]

Would it kill them to build a facility with decent lighting or accessable catwalks to put in strobes?

 

[Legacy]

I wonder if Disney would ever push (or have they already tried) for the Summer Olympics in Orlando? :lookaroun

The Wide World of Sports wouldn't be able to hold the Olympics.

I reffed several international soccer tournaments there before I joined the military, which normally take place at the same time as a Basketball or Roller Hockey tourney. Just those two events made the place a mad house.

I honestly cannot see Disney hosting an event the size of the Olympics without nearly tripling the size of the entire WWoS complex.

 

[WDWGuide]

I wonder if Disney would ever push (or have they already tried) for the Summer Olympics in Orlando? :lookaroun

IIRC, they were part of the 2012 Tampa bid, I *think* for baseball and basketball.

 

[bgraham34]

Thats a cool thing to do. I am sure they want to host a lot more events on a yearly basis.

 

[Slipknot]

Now all they have to do is get a helluva lot more parking!!!! Especially with the Atlanta Braves spring training. Just a cheerleading event on the same day as a Braves game will back up the traffic all they way past the Victory Way/Osceola Parkway intersection and even sometimes back all the way to I4!!!

 

[sknydave]

The amount of building that goes into a site for the Olympics is insane! I was watching a special on what they are doing in China for 2008 and they have built some HUGE stadiums and areas for this event.

 

[thedisneyfan]

Orlando was one of the few cities trying to be the American city nominee for the 2012 Summer Olypics. NYC was eventually made the American nominee, for sentimental reasons, but London finally beat out Paris as the host city.

 

[brkgnews]

Un-be-farking-lievable. EPCOT turns 25 and they barely pull out the featherdusters to clean up the pavilions. WWoS turns 10 and the build an eight-gazillion seat arena.

*sigh*

 

[Legacy]

Un-be-farking-lievable. EPCOT turns 25 and they barely pull out the featherdusters to clean up the pavilions. WWoS turns 10 and the build an eight-gazillion seat arena.

*sigh*

Um... it sounds like the new Jostens Arena will be very similar in lay-out to what they currently have. And if it is... it isn't really for people to go watch things (like they would in an "eight-gazillion seat area"). It will probably just have several sections of bleachers like at your local high school.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Un-be-farking-lievable. EPCOT turns 25 and they barely pull out the featherdusters to clean up the pavilions. WWoS turns 10 and the build an eight-gazillion seat arena.

*sigh*

They are doing a little more than bringing out the featherdusters at Epcot. I've seen a couple paint brushes, a 3-foot ladder, and even one unconfirmed rumor of a wrench:lookaroun

I wonder when Disney will find time to build some...whachamacallits...attractions?

 

[brkgnews]

Um... it sounds like the new Jostens Arena will be very similar in lay-out to what they currently have. And if it is... it isn't really for people to go watch things (like they would in an "eight-gazillion seat area"). It will probably just have several sections of bleachers like at your local high school.

Clarification -- I was going on erroneous info from a concurrent thread stating 70K SEATS, not 70K sq feet. Still, I stand by my sentiment of "screw this."

 

[WDWFigment]

I wonder if they might be able to draw anything somewhat big (not Braves big) with this new stadium...

 

[Legacy]

I wonder if they might be able to draw anything somewhat big (not Braves big) with this new stadium...

Probably not. From what it seems, it's not a "Stadium" per se, but more of an expansion. The current indoor sports area is not designed for "big events." I'll get a layout up of the current building, and with their talk of multiple sports taking place there, it will be nearly identical to that.

 

[doop]

Un-be-farking-lievable. EPCOT turns 25 and they barely pull out the featherdusters to clean up the pavilions. WWoS turns 10 and the build an eight-gazillion seat arena.

*sigh*

I have to agree with you there, I'm not so crazy about the amount of money they're going to put in to the erection of such a building, but not even do anything for the 25th anniv. of Epcot!

 

[Teenchy]

Now all they have to do is get a helluva lot more parking!!!! Especially with the Atlanta Braves spring training. Just a cheerleading event on the same day as a Braves game will back up the traffic all they way past the Victory Way/Osceola Parkway intersection and even sometimes back all the way to I4!!!

Your absolutely right. I visited WWS this past Sunday for the first time. I was there for the Braves/Nationals game. We are Nats fans and decided last minute to attend since we were in town. The game only had lawn seats available but we still went.

First of all for those who have never been back to the WWS area....all I can say is WOW, I've been to WDW more than 20 times since WWS was built 10 years ago and I cant believe I didnt realize how big/nice the area was. There was a girls volleyball tournament going on that completely filled the Milk House Arena. There were about 4 lacrosse games, 3 baseball games and at least one softball game all taking place at the same time as the Braves game.

We happened to go early to check on tickets and had planned to leave and come back but decided to stick around until the game started. We watched some volleyball, walked around the other areas, did some shopping, and grabbed a beer and wings at the All Star Cafe prior to the game.(Answered a trivia question correctly to get FREE WINGS!) It was a great afternoon. (Other than the fact that my Nats lost)

But the one glaring issue was parking. We parked on the GRASS parking lot. Not a bad walk...because we were there 2 1/2 hours before the game but I thought what would they do if it had been raining the past several days?
And we were lucky the way they made our lot exit as we bypassed the long line of traffic trying to get out.

But they need to at least pave more areas for parking if they are going to expand the facilities.

 

[Shaman]

I have to agree with you there, I'm not so crazy about the amount of money they're going to put in to the erection of such a building, but not even do anything for the 25th anniv. of Epcot!

Disney wouldn't do ANYTHING unless they expected (after research/tests) that the investment could yield a NICE return. It seems that theres more in play here than perhaps we know...we've been getting word about lots of expansion of other areas of WDW (Four Seasons/DTD 2)...I wonder what else will be announced down the line.

 

[MJMcBride]

here's some more stuff

http://www.mouseextra.com/

 

[Legacy]

Disney wouldn't do ANYTHING unless they expected (after research/tests) that the investment could yield a NICE return. It seems that theres more in play here than perhaps we know...we've been getting word about lots of expansion of other areas of WDW (Four Seasons/DTD 2)...I wonder what else will be announced down the line.

Exactly. The discontent about this from a lot of people is simply fan-boy-atical desires being unceremoniously shot down by pure economical business sense. Honestly, I think it's a great investment for Disney. And honestly, it's a much better investment than anything they could've dreamed up for Epcot's 25th.