KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The Arabian Nights Dinner attraction announced on Friday it is closing permanently on New Year's Day after a 25-year run.
The dinner show began on Feb. 29, 1988 and has presented more than 10,000 performances for more than 10 million guests since.
"It has been an honor sharing my passion for the beauty and magic of horses with people from all walks of life over the last 25 years," said owner Mark Miller in a release. "Unfortunately, we have reached a point where the marketplace demands a cheaper product than we can provide."
People arriving to see Friday's show were saddened by the news.
Juliana Czempiski, 9, has been to the show before and her family brought her again.
"It's kind of like an adventurous show," said Czempiski. "When the characters go on the horses, they have some kind of fairy tale going on that happens in some fairy tale book that you might not have read."
"It's not something we need to do [today], but it's going to be more obvious at the first of the year," said Miller.
Miller said the market is pushing for lower prices, but they can't.
"We were not ever built to have the cheapest ticket; we were built to be the best show," Miller said.
Friday morning, 224 employees received the news. Miller said he had been hashing out the numbers for a week and realized it was time.
"Me and my family really enjoy the show and I know a lot of people, that are my friends, that pretty much love horses and they'd be sad," Czempiski said.
Her mother, Renata Czempiski, said, "I guess a lot of people are going to miss it and obviously we will."
Arabian Nights is located at 3081 Arabian Nights Boulevard in Kissimmee. It will continue operations and will have its last show on Dec. 31, 2013.
"Our mission now is to present the best possible product for the rest of the year so that the people who have loved us over the years will be able to come back and experience the magic of our show one last time. Then we will be concentrating on how to assist our incredible staff in handling this transition," Miller said.
The building is paid off and Miller said he may find other uses for it. As for the horses, some will be sold, others will go to his farm in Clermont.
Arabian Nights is offering deals in their last month.
For more information on tickets and showtimes, visit the Arabian Nights website.