Greetings from far-too-sunny Florida !
My apologies, folks. I know that JHM hasn’t followed its usual Monday-through-Friday publication schedule this past week. But there’s a good reason for that. This past Tuesday, I flew down to Orlando. I’m primarily in town to attend Disney’s Animal Kingdom‘s 10th anniversary as well as attend WDWCelebration’s “A Wild Decade” event.
But while I was in the area, I thought that I’d do some poking around property. Which is why — on Saturday — I wandered over to Disney’s Wide World of Sports …
Photo by Angela Ragno
… to see how construction of the Jostens Center is going.
This 80,000-square foot building was originally supposed to open this summer. But given that construction fell behind schedule last fall …
Photo by Angela Ragno
… DWWOS staffers are now saying that Jostens Center won’t officially open ’til the fall of 2008.
Photo by Angela Ragno
Now what’s kind of intriguing about this enormous structure is that it will only have 1,200 seats. Which is significantly fewer than the 5,000 seats found across the way at the 70,000 square-foot Milk House.
“Why so many fewer seats at the Jostens Center?,” you ask. Well, to be honest, Disney’s research shows that far fewer parents attend sporting events like basketball, hockey and volleyball tourneys than do cheerleading and dance competitions.
Photo by Angela Ragno
So once the Jostens Center opens up this fall, the Milk House (shown in the photo below) will then become Wide World of Sports’ designated venue for all future cheerleading & dance competitions.
Photo by Angela Ragno
Anticipating that bringing the Jostens Center online later this year will translate into significantly bigger business for this WDW venue … Well, that’s why the Mouse retooled the All Star Cafe.
Now officially called Disney’s Wide World of Sports Cafe …
Photo by Angela Ragno
… this significantly revamped food facility is now designed to serve lots of people very quickly. You actually have to order your meal off of a quick service menu before you’re then allowed to enter the dining area. Where the walls are now lined with do-it-yourself beverage stations.
Photos by Angela Ragno
“And after the Jostens Center opens, what’s up next for Disney’s Wide World of Sports?,” Well, a little birdy told me to keep an eye on this overflow parking area right next to the venues’ main entrance.
Photo by Angela Ragno
Why For? Evidently Disney’s toying with building a PBA quality bowling alley right on this spot. With the hope that — in addition to be able to give WDW guests something different to do on those rainy Central Florida afternoons — they’ll also be able to begin holding professional bowling tournaments right here on property.
So what do you folks think? Does that strike you as a particularly good idea?
Your thoughts?