Fantasy of Flight owner, Kermit Weeks, announced today that effective Sunday, April 6, the attraction will be closing its doors as a public attraction and will focus on its private event business and the design and development of a new future destination attraction. “Although we are located just 20 minutes west of Walt Disney World, we’re currently outside the center of mass tourism and not perceived of as a destination. We have a great product, but people have a misperception of what we offer,” said Weeks. “After 18 years of being in operation, it’s time we close the attraction and move forward toward creating the vision for what I know Fantasy of Flight can become,” Weeks told employees today.
Fantasy of Flight will close the daily attraction and focus on its successful events business. It will also turn the facility into what it was originally designed for, which is a restoration and maintenance facility that will be needed to build future attraction elements. For those who wish to enjoy the historical aspects of aircraft, plans are to open an aspect of the collection in a reduced capacity and admission price later this year.
Kermit Weeks and his Fantasy of Flight team are back at their home base in Polk City, Florida, after spending a week earlier this month prepping Howard Hughes’ Sikorsky S-43 for transport. This is the plane that Hughes had originally planned to use for a record-breaking around the world flight. CAA delays and the arrival of a faster plane made him leave this beautiful seaplane on the ramp.