LBVHistory Announces 2021 Holiday Ornament: The Season Greetings Studio Tower

The team at The Lake Buena Vista Historical Society has been hard at work creating a special holiday ornament for 2021! We present the Season Greetings Studio Tower! Donate to Reserve your Tower!     The tower is cast resin and plastic and features a metallic green base and a metallic red hat. The tower stands a proud 4.8 inches (12.2cm) tall! Can easily be displayed on a desk, shelf, or hung from your favorite tree or...Read More...

Enter @RetroWDWs Hidden Kingdom Map Contest

For all of those that donate the Lake Buena Vista Historical Society between now and January 15th, 2019 you'll have a chance to enter our "Hidden Kingdom Contest". Once you have your map, study it hard and then email us a list of as many of the 71 hidden features you can find! In the February 2019 podcast episode we'll pick a winner based on those that sent in the most correct items on the list.…Read More...

Get your own copy of RetroWDW’s Vacation Kingdom of the World Map!

A special map has been created by RetroWDW's own artist, Jason Bartel. This map celebrates the Vacation Kingdom of the World, and more specifically, "The way it was, and the way it is in your memories". Taking the style and cues of the 1975 map (and the updated version from the 1976 edition of The Story of Walt Disney World) our version of the encompasses a world that used to be as well as some things…Read More...

How to build a replica EPCOT Fountain

When we first decided to host an EPCOT Center event we always knew we wanted to give out a gift to the attendees. We also knew that a pin or bag wasn’t going to be enough to set apart not only the gift, but the event itself. We went down the path of metal coasters and even a 12 sided rubiks cube with the different pavillion logos. I always wanted to make a replica of the...Read More...

Podcast Episode 26 – Tiny Bubbles – 20k Leagues Under the Sea

Welcome to Episode 26 of the Retro Disney World Podcast: “Tiny Bubbles”. We appreciate your support and hope you have been enjoying each and every episode. Be sure to check out some of our previous shows. Listener Mail First off, we have a real letter! Rob wrote us discussing history on the Golf Resort and some new facts we didn’t cover. Next, a listener wrote in asking about updates to the utilidors. Cameron wrote us about...Read More...

Podcast Episode 16: Walt Hired Me: A Chat with Disney Legend Tom Nabbe

We have a Disney Legend in the studio, his name is Tom Nabbe. We spend over an hour with Tom discussing his start at Disneyland being directly hired by Walt. The insight Tom gives us regarding the construction of Disney World Monorail system, US Steel and of course Roy's Cabin can only be found on this podcast. Tom was amazingly nice and open to discuss anything our retro minds could think of, including the working wave…Read More...

Podcast Episode 5 – Stubborn Donkey Part 1

Welcome to Episode 5 of the Retro Disney World Podcast: “Stubborn Donkey” We appreciate your support and hope you have been enjoying each and every episode. Be sure to check out some of the previous shows along with our latest. Thanks for listening!   Introductions The regular crew is all here, Todd, Brian, How & JT are all present and accounted for.  There isn’t much housekeeping this month, mostly because we are just that good, but...Read More...

Podcast Episode 2 – Amongst the Plexiglass Trees

The team starts by mentioning their favorite part of the Contemporary Resort, from there we dive into the overall design, the association with US Steel and how the rooms were constructed. JT gets to say "Like a chest of drawers" a few times while Brian imagines the construction view from Roy's Cabin. Todd struggles with the escalator size and continually gets lost in the Grand Canyon Concourse. We move on to the north & south wings…Read More...

A Dream Called Walt Disney World VHS

This video caught my eye a few months back on eBay.  It was cheap enough, so I figured why not?  I bought it and ripped it to my computer.  This one really captures that old, gritty feel that some of the old pictures on the site have.  For some reason, I always have this impression that Disney World back in the 70s and 80s was yellowed out and orange colored everywhere, just like the discolored photographs. ...Read More...