March 27, 2000
If messengers boycott Disney, are there options in Orlando?
___ORLANDO, Fla.--Planning to attend this year's Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Orlando? Also planning to honor the SBC's Disney boycott?
___Finding other acceptable family theme parks may be more challenging than it appears. The SBC's website (www.sbc.net) has a link to The Orlando Experience, which bills itself as an information site for "family-friendly vacations."
___The Orlando Experience's website touts an assortment of theme park-related vacation packages for messengers and their families who will be attending the SBC annual meeting in Orlando. The agency's primary clients are Christian schools, church groups, choirs and orchestras.
___Noticeably absent from the list of promoted central Florida attractions are the Walt Disney theme parks. And that is no oversight, said Doni Keene, a spokesman for The Orlando Experience. "It's a matter of supply and demand," he said. "The market we serve primarily expresses interest in attractions such as Universal Studios.
___"Our market niche is the Christian community," Keene added. "We have tailored our offerings to coincide with requests we receive , and they center on Universal and Sea World."
___Ironically, however, Sea World is owned by brewer Anheuser-Busch and Universal's parent company produces many R-rated movies each year.
___SBC convention manager Jack Wilkerson said some concerns have been voiced about such connections, but he added there also is a positive side to supporting such parks. Sea World and Universal officials have been very open to Christian groups reserving space to present evangelistic programs in their parks, he said.
___Wilkerson, the SBC Executive Committee's vice president for business and finance, said the primary goal is to provide families vacation options.
___"We're not going to do Disney," he emphasized. "We felt like some alternative was appropriate. The only other alternative was to do absolutely nothing."
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