September 25, 2008
Disney plans huge bowling alley
Resort's 100-lane project to be one of largest in U.S.
BY DONNA BALANCIA
FLORIDA TODAY
One of the country's largest bowling alleys will be built at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex on the grounds of Walt Disney World Resort, executives said at a business briefing Wednesday.
The 100-lane bowling center represents a bid for Disney to capture a largely ignored and potentially gigantic piece of the sports tourism market.
"The sports tourism market is really growing and we want to grow with it," said Ken Potrock, senior vice president of sports enterprises, Walt Disney Parks & Resorts. "We needed to create a project where we would be able to bring in the single-largest tournaments."
Speaking at the Business Behind the Magic briefing from the Disney Entrepreneur Center in downtown Orlando, Potrock and other Disney officials also said an entertainment experience based on Tinker Bell will debut next month at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom.
More than a year before its 2010 opening, the bowling center has already allowed Disney to strike a deal with the United States Bowling Congress, which said it would hold its men's and women's tournaments at the new facility. Potrock said the arrangement could bring as many as 85,000 bowlers to a national event.
"And these bowlers come with their significant others," he said.
Opening sooner, and targeting a different demographic, is the new entertainment experience starring Tinker Bell and her fairy companions. It will debut at Walt Disney World on Oct. 24, followed four days later by the release of a Tinker Bell movie on DVD and Blu-ray. .
"There is certainly going to be plenty of merchandising that will go along with this," said Francois Leroux, vice president, segment products and character programs at Walt Disney World Entertainment. Leroux said the attraction will basically be Tinker Bell and her four fairy companions meeting and greeting visitors in their Pixie Hollow home inside Magic Kingdom.
The DVD and Blu-ray release is the first of four straight-to-video releases based on the fairies.
"We see the fairies as becoming as big as the princesses," Leroux said, referring to the eight cartoon leading ladies of Disney, including Cinderella, Belle of "Beauty and the Beast" and Snow White.