Disney sells welcome center in Ocala

[napnet]

Sad to see it go...

OCALA - The former Disney Welcome Center, a fixture to countless tourists on their way to Disney World until it closed last year, has been sold.

An investment partnership known as JR Investments of Ocala LLC, bought the property from Disney for $2 million, according to Ray Amin, one of the two principals in the partnership. A Disney spokesman confirmed that the property had been sold, but could offer no additional information.

"There is no immediate plan to do anything. It is just for the investment purpose right now," Amin said Tuesday. "We thought it was a good opportunity."

Amin's partner in the venture, developer Jeff Fabian, couldn't be reached for comment.

The center, located at 3601 S.W. 38th Ave., closed last August 13, after 18 years in Ocala. Disney officials said at the time that fewer theme park visitors were using the center because they were able to get information, make reservations and buy tickets on the Internet before coming to Florida.

The property, just off of Interstate 75 and State Road 200, had been listed for sale at $2.3 million since the welcome center closed.

Public records indicate JR Investments has a two-year, $1.6 million mortgage on the welcome center, financed through Ocala National Bank.

JR Investments will renovate the building, but beyond that, it's not clear what the company will do next, Amin said.

"We're going to decide in the next few months what we're going to do with the property," he said. While the partnership has "a couple of different scenarios" in mind, Amin said he didn't want to publicly disclose what those options were.

The property is flanked by two new hotels under construction, a Holiday Inn and a Residence Inn.

http://www.ocala.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060426/NEWS/204260342/1001/NEWS01

 

[daguru]

Wouldn't it be hilarious if it was bought by someone and turned into another "Free Disney Ticket" outlet...<img src="http://www.uabmagic.com/modules/Forums/images/smiles/lol2.gif">

 

[DigitalDisney]

I miss the old version of the welcome center, that actually spent a great deal of space showing pictures, videos, and models of the parks. Not only that, but they also had an AM radio station that you could listen to for an hour or so.

These were little things that didn't cost Disney much money to operate, but got you excited about your upcoming trip.

On a similar note, I also miss the AM radio that played on World Drive. Like the Welcome Center, it didn't cost much money to operate, and it got you excited about that day or your trip. Although I imagine it's harder to manage that nowadays since WDW is much larger than it was.

 

[banimall]

I bought my first Disney Trivia book in that store. We used to listen to that AM station religiously every time we would drive to Disney. You could pick it up on I10 about 25 miles from I75 and listen to it until you were almost to the Fl turnpike. I would listen to that 20 minute loop over and over until it was just static. Been a while since I made that drive but sad to see it's gone now.

 

[bgraham34]

I never knew DIsney actually owned that. Thanks for informing me.

 

[HoW]

On a similar note, I also miss the AM radio that played on World Drive. Like the Welcome Center, it didn't cost much money to operate, and it got you excited about that day or your trip. Although I imagine it's harder to manage that nowadays since WDW is much larger than it was.

The AM station was always a family event on our trip to WDW. I can remember my sister and I continually asking if we could hear it yet and then cheering when it finally came in, even if only barely! It just added a little more magic to the overall experience.

 

[kcnole]

I was asking about this station on another disney forum recently and only one person remembered it. I remember once my family was traveling down to south florida with a few days to kill while driving through. I was about 10 or so and begged to hear that station so we did. My dad (who used to work at disney) got so excited about the new park that had just opened, (MGM at the time) that we pulled off in Orlando and decided to go see MGM the next day. That was a wonderful station.

I hadn't been through Orlando in years until last year and I was disapointed to find that the station was no longer on the air. How I wanted to hear it again.

 

[unkadug]

The AM station was always a family event on our trip to WDW. I can remember my sister and I continually asking if we could hear it yet and then cheering when it finally came in, even if only barely! It just added a little more magic to the overall experience.

That is so true. :wave:

I really do wish that they would at least bring the radio station back, because it did add to the whole experience.

 

[napnet]

When i got my XM radio i was so excited to see Disney Radio listed. I thought it was going to be like the AM station but unfortunatly it was just a station for tweens...

 

[rcapolete]

if my memory is correct (it's been years), i remeber we would turn into Disney Drive and it was kind of a road though the woods. Not as populated as it is today and we would turn on the disney radio channel, i remember listen to goofy give a report on the status of the parking lots and which ones were closed. those were the little thing i missed from my younger years at disney. Thankly i leave a week from tomorrow for 6 fulls days at the pop century.