Disney Shelves Opening of 5,760-Room Hotel

ORLANDO-In the clearest signal yet that metro Orlando’s hospitality industry is crippled, Walt Disney World is indefinitely postponing the opening of the two-building, $460 million, 5,760-room Pop Century Resort until the economy improves. The hotel was first scheduled to open in December, then postponed until March 2002.

Meanwhile, Gaylord Entertainment Corp. of Nashville, TN says it still plans to open the 1,400-room Opryland Hotel, the 360-room Emerald Tower hotel and the adjoining 178,000-sf convention center in February as previously reported by GlobeSt.com. The three projects, with an estimated hard construction cost of $376 million, are one mile from Disney’s main entrance.

Hilton Hotels Corp. of Beverly Hills, CA previously announced its was holding off on construction of new timeshare properties in metro Orlando. Hilton is undecided on the tentative opening in 2003 on a planned 1,000-room, $100 million hotel on 26.4 acres next to the Orange County Convention Center on International Drive in Orlando’s tourist corridor.