Sharpening The Pointe

Regal Entertainment Group opened the doors to their newly-renovated (and MUCH needed) movie theatre at Pointe Orlando on Thursday. Celebrating in true orlando fashion, they had a midnight showing of Spiderman 3 on the IMAX no less.

The ticket center kiosk was removed, and have built a first-floor box office, which was built in place of four stores that have been relocated.

This is just the start of a $40 million renovation of Pointe Orlando. I'm not sure it will help, but it's a good start. It's not that the Pointe is a bad place, but it really doesn't cater to locals, and much like the Mercado, and all of its failures, it's main pull is from tourists and convention attendants. They should focus more on the needs of their market, and stop trying to make it a one-size-fits-all. What local wants to drive into tourist hell to visit an outdated, glorified outdoor mall.

The renovation will include five new restaurants, opening this summer, and a remodeled Sunglass Hut (yawn) opening next week.

So what do you think? Will a renovation help the Pointe? Or are they just dumping money into an 800 lb. dinosaur that really just needs to open a go cart track to be successful like every other happening place on I-Drive?

Tags: orlando, I-drive, Mercado