Originally Posted By FerretAfros Does anybody know if they do anything special for the Olympics at Epcot? I've never heard of anything, but I also have never done any sort of research into it. I'll be in the park the day of the closing ceremony, so it would be winding down (if they do anything at all), but it would be fun to check out It seems like such a natural fit for World Showcase, but I could also see there being some sort of contractual/legal issues, since I don't think Disney is an official sponsor. World Showcase does a good job of keeping that Olympic togetherness feeling all the time (in a way, the general vibe reminds me a lot of the Millennium Celebration), and they have a pretty good lineup of participating countries, so it would be fun to see what they might do
Originally Posted By Indigo Central Florida has been in the running for the Summer Olympics a few times. Even had an organizing committee once. We were invited to bid for a recent one, but passed. The advantage is the hotel infrastructure is here, but the disadvantage is where will the tourists go when the construction is going on and then the games after that. Also, no mass transit to speak of. Those problems are surmountable and I'd love to see a Central Florida games (Beach Vollyball at Daytona Beach!), but I think it's only and outside chance right now.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros That's really interesting. Seeing the massive people-moving effort that goes into the runDisney events (Need 25,000 people delivered to Epcot in a 1-hour span? No problem!), I think it could be plausible with a temporary bus system, but it would be really difficult to do on 'real' streets with normal daytime traffic (plus any extra Olympic traffic). I've always thought a regional-based Olympics would be neat (like central FL, or the DC/Baltimore area), but it would be quite different than the games we've seen so far Ironically, I think one of the places where central Florida would have a tough time would be the marathon and triathlon. Typically, Olympic courses are among the most difficult, but in a place as flat as Florida, the only way they could do that would be do have the course do repeats of overpasses. They could also have issues with kayaking, since it's tough to build a river on a flat surface
Originally Posted By mrkthompsn Sydney built an artificial kayaking course. What a great thing to replace River Country with! <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penrith_Whitewater_Stadium">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P..._Stadium</a> Also, they could route the marathon westward in the orange grove hills of Clermont/Groveland, etc. The only question: where to build Olympic Stadium? I say ---> ripe out the race track near MK. The athletes could reside in an all-new Olympic Village Resort, which would be located continuously behind each World Showcase pavilion in EPCOT.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros ^^The US also has a man-made whitewater training facility near Charlotte, NC. However, it's a lot easier to build one of those if you have a natural hill to work with; creating the entire hill from scratch would be a very expensive proposition And as cool as the Olympic resort behind World Showcase is in theory, there's not nearly enough space (or countries represented). I think the summer games typically have around 10,000 athletes, plus coaches, trainers, techs, etc, so they would need a *ton* of room. It works great when there's a nearby college or university (I'm not sure if UCF has the dorm capacity), but it would be tough to do with a single traditional hotel
Originally Posted By mrkthompsn Some of the "premium" athletes would probably stay in rented homes in Isleworth near Lake Butler and Windermere.
Bump. I'd love to explore more ideas of the Olympics at Disney. I really wonder if they could pull off building an Olympic Stadium near the WWoS and have it later be available for MLS, Pro Bowl, college bowl games, Florida high school championships, summer NFL camps, DCI competitions, etc. Imagine Bay Lake east of the Contemporary being used for all rowing events. They could build a cordoned-off Olympic Village Resort for athletes on the eastern side of Bay Lake, secured away from the public. That resort could later be transformed into a themed guest resort - maybe with an ancient Greece theme?
Cities go broke because they're not prepared. Disney property is already way ahead of the game. Actually, Atlanta did not result in debt.
I imagine that any private business would do a better job of controlling spending than a city would. The 1984 LA games managed to turn a healthy profit because so much of the construction was taken on (or sponsored) by private companies who had plans for the venues after everything was over. That said, I suspect the gymnastics in the Anaheim Convention Center arena was as close as we'll ever get to having Olympics on Disney property I think it would be neat to see a big arena at WWOS, but I question how financially viable it would be. The baseball stadium rarely gets used (which will get worse once the Braves move their spring training) and Orlando already has the Citrus Bowl and the UCF stadium competing for events. Given how infrequently it would be used, I just can't see them justifying the cost to build it I also think that Disney would be discouraged by the TV contracts, which have gone to NBC for decades. Given that Disney owns the self-proclaimed "worldwide leader in sports" but never manages to catch the biggest international competition, it would be an odd choice to host it on their property
Yes, ABC/ESPN would have to take over. That in itself could be the deal that seals. And, of course, they could spread the games all over Florida so it's not exclusively "Disney". Beach volleyball at Universal City Walk, soccer at FSU, UF, Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa Bay. Basketball in Orlando. Gymnastics in Tampa Bay. Diving at Sea World...
Just as a point of interest, Disney has been involved in the Olympics before. New Heights: Walt and the Winter Olympics
