1990 Walt Disney World Easter Parade Press Kit

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Shortly after last year’s Easter holiday, we acquired a press kit promoting the 1990 Walt Disney World Happy Easter Parade. By nature, most seasonal promotional materials are specific to a single season and usually not retained. While hundreds of these were sent to television stations around the country, finding a completely intact kit 30 years later is extraordinary. The kit would have been sent to ABC affiliate stations around the country to promote the parade broadcast....Read More...

Disney’s Port Orleans Resort: Bonfamille’s Cafe Menu – 1990

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Bonfamille’s Cafe was the table service restaurant for Port Orleans Resort when it opened in 1990.  In 2001 the resort merged with Dixie Landings to become Port Orleans Riverside and French Quarter resorts, respectively.  Bonfamille’s closed that year and never reopened.  The restaurant got its name from Madame Adelaide Bonfamille from Disney’s 1973 film “The Aristocats”.  Children’s menus from the time the resort opened drew on this inspiration with a coloring book that explained the backstory...Read More...

Slide Carousel: Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in November 1984

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One of the missions of the Lake Buena Vista Historical Society is to preserve the history of not just the Walt Disney World resort but some of the ancillary developments surrounding the resort.  When a set of photographic slides taken in November 1984 of the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress recently became available to us we jumped at the chance.  The gallery appears at the bottom of this post. When it opened in February 1984 the Grand...Read More...

RetroMagic: A 50th Celebration Postponed

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Since the conclusion of our RetroMagic 2019 event, we have been discussing our plans to celebrate Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary the first weekend of October 2021. An essential benchmark to permitting us to host a 50th Anniversary event is the development of an effective vaccine against COVID-19. As a vaccine becomes closer to reality we discussed whether logistically we COULD host the event we have planned in eleven months and whether or not we were...Read More...

The World Is Not Enough: Sesame Place 1985 Brochure

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Occasionally we come across something that is not directly related to Walt Disney World but piques our interest.  That is what happened when I came across this 1985 Sesame Place brochure at a flea market this past weekend.  As a Philadelphia-area resident where the first and for a long time only Sesame Place is located I’ve always had a mild interest in the place. This stems largely from the fact that, until a few years ago,...Read More...

The Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World – A Disney Show PAC – 35mm Slide/Narration Souvenir Set

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We are happy to bring you the first of several uncommon media souvenirs known as “Show PAC”’s, a 35 mm slide set accompanied by a soundtrack. Until the videocassette took hold as the dominant form of home media in the 1980s, Walt Disney World produced souvenir media in a variety of formats. On our site we have chronicled 8mm souvenir films that act as park overviews an in some cases feature specific attractions or parades.  Disney...Read More...

Thought You’d Never Ask – Volume 2! Recipes From WDW Circa 1983

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Earlier this summer we shared the first publication of a book of Walt Disney World recipes from 1979. That year Dorothy Chapman, the food critic for the Orlando Sentinel, compiled some of the most requested recipes from Central Florida restaurants In “Thought You’d Never Ask”.She published weekly columns in the Sentinel and many of the recipes also appeared there. We've acquired her followup edition published in 1983 shortly after the opening of EPCOT Center.  There are…Read More...

Christmas In July: RetroWDW Ornament Sale

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We have one case left of the limited edition ornament set created for our 2019 RetroMagic event. All attendees at the October event received a set and we’ve given them as gifts to all Lake Buena Vista Historical Society donors at the $50 or above level. It’s never too early to start thinking about the 2020 holiday season. While vaccines and the freedom to spend time with your friends and family is the first item on...Read More...

Walt Disney World Seminar Productions Brochure – 1985

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The first decade of EPCOT Center’s life was the only time its purpose and vision were clear and understandable.  From its 1982 opening until its first major overhaul in the mid 1990’s EPCOT envisioned itself as an entertaining and informative place to learn about the world and its many cultures and possible solutions to global problems shared by humanity. The EPCOT Outreach and Teacher’s Center was one feature that emphasized this – where educators were encouraged...Read More...

WDW Restaurants Photo Gallery – April 1975

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A remarkable set of slides dated April 1975 capture a necessary and notable part of any theme park: The dining establishments. When we get a set of slides like this with no context as to their origin we are left to speculate or create our own backstory. At RetroWDW we choose to believe this set of slides was taken by a person doing research on how Disney does counter service and buffeteria-style dining. You’ll notice photos...Read More...