By David Schepp BBC News Online's North America business reporter

Move over Mickey, Dolly is coming to town.

Orlando, Florida, home to Disney World and other amusement parks, will soon play home to a resort of a different sort, the brainchild of country music star, Dolly Parton.

Parton: "The most fun place to eat in Orlando"

With the once-ailing US economy now on the mend, she has given the go-ahead for construction of her latest Dixie Stampede Dinner and Shows, slated to open next spring.

It is the fourth such location of the combination restaurant and stage-show venue, sometimes referred to as a roadhouse.

The $28m (�19.1m) project was put on hold last November following the terror attacks of 11 September as well as the then-ailing US economy.

Now, with Americans less tender-footed about air travel and Orlando's tourism numbers rebounding amid an improving economy, fear has taken a back seat to sightseeing.

Starpower

Ms Parton's Dixie Stampede chain has already proved popular with audiences in such southern resort towns as Branson, Missouri, and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina - long chief destinations of tourists.

Another of the roadhouses is located just outside Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, not far from where Ms Parton was raised.

US summer travel

80% of Americans will spend as much or more time on holiday 64% will not change plans because of 11 September 72% plan to use planes as their main source of travel Source: Travelocity.com

The show palaces feature "traditional Southern foods with music and a high-energy, live show, featuring animals, action and audience participation".

Ms Parton, known more to Americans for her perky vocals and dramatic curves, was among the first of US personalities to parlay her starpower into far more tangible - and profitable - businesses.

Her first venture was a theme park, Dollywood, set in the hills of the Smoky Mountains, where she also opened a water-adventure park called Splash Country.

Encouraging signs

Expanding her empire during a time when US economic prospects remain dodgy may prove to be a bet that will pay off.

American consumers, who - despite having weathered a near year-long recession and threats of further terror - have continued to spend.

From homes, to cars and, yes, now travel, consumers are driving the US economy.

"A lot of the recovery since 9/11 [11 September] has been in leisure travel first because price is really not the first consideration," says Robin Farley, leisure and games analyst with UBS Warburg.

For that reason, she told BBC News Online, "we've definitely seen the leisure side of travel be more resilient than business."

A recent poll bolsters that view.

Leave the car behind

Of those surveyed, 90% of Americans said they plan to take a holiday this year that is at least 50 miles away from their home, according to Travelocity.com, a US-based travel web site.

"[The poll] reflects the value people place on taking the time to get out and enjoy themselves this summer, despite the ongoing uncertainties around the world," says Sam Gilliland, chief executive at Travelocity.

Among other data, the survey revealed that 36% of Americans will spend more on travel than they did last year, while only 16% said they will spend less.

Also, despite the use of passenger jets as weapons in the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, Americans intend to use air travel as their main mode of transportation when travelling.

Seventy-two percent of Travelocity members said they intend to fly to their summer destinations, with car travel finishing a much-distant second.

If those number prove right and travel continues its robust revival, chances are Ms Parton may expand her empire even further.

Who knows? Maybe her next Dixie Stampede will open amid the bright lights of Manhattan.