Disney Institute Attracts Corporate Groups, Associations

Although launched with the well-heeled leisure traveler in mind, the campus-like Disney Institute-a learning environment designed to challenge the mind and pamper the body-is beginning to attract corporate groups and associations in its first year of operation.

Meetings have contributed a significant percentage of revenue to the resort since its opening last February, said George Aguel, Disney's vice president of resort sales. He expects that meetings and incentive business will only gain momentum, adding to the convention business generated by the newly opened BoardWalk Inn and Conference Center, the Grand Floridian Beach Resort, the Yacht and Beach Club Resorts and the Contemporary Resort.

The Institute has a cinema building that can seat 400 and six studios averaging 700 square feet each. Seeking to enhance its appeal for groups, Disney is building a dedicated conference facility that it intends to make operational later this year.

"We have everything that a group might be interested in," Aguel said. The site features 28 program studios, a broadcast-quality performance center, a 6,000-square-foot outdoor amphitheater, an 18-hole championship golf course and a spa.

The Institute-a creative, adult educational environment where guests can learn to produce a television program, learn the basics of animation, cook a vegetarian meal or improve their tennis game-stresses individualism, which is why the interest from meeting planners was somewhat surprising. "We were always equipped to support groups," Aguel said, "but we didn't anticipate that corporate groups would be as interested in Institute offerings."

It has turned out that not only can the Institute accommodate team-building activities, but that type of programming might be critical to the Institute's success as its management seeks to find the right balance in its programming and marketing effort to attract business. Indeed, the "smart fun" championed by Disney has not been a runaway success in the leisure market, according to a report in the Orlando Sentinel, and thus the Institute will need the ongoing support of groups to meet its projections.

Jeff Harbach, assistant manager of the Chevrolet Motor Division in Birmingham, Mich., had been planning to hold his division's best practices program at one of Disney's other resort properties when the Institute opened its doors. "It was really serendipity that we stayed there," he said. The program featured half-day business sessions; in the afternoon, the dealers and managers could participate in the Institute's classes. Although some programs were overbooked and some members of the group expressed dissatisfaction with their accommodations, Harbach said that Chevrolet considered the program very successful.

Laura Guitar, community relations and events director of the Economic Development Council of Central Florida, took the EDCCF's board of directors and corporate council to the Institute for a half-day program last year. They arrived for lunch, split up for separate educational programs in the afternoon, reconvened for dinner and then attended a theater presentation.

"This is very different from the usual resort meeting-room environment," said Guitar. "I think it's very conducive to problem solving or just getting a different slant on work situations."

Disney also has an artists-in-residence program, where well-known performers create their own workshops and courses in which guests participate.