Blast from the past...

[k5thbeatle]

Any of you "lifers" who visited WDW back when it opened remember a hotel called the "Admiral Benbow"? Not a WDW hotel but as I was only a kid I can only vagulely remember it except of course for the name.

Anyone been there, know if it still exists or have any other tidbits of info regarding the "Admiral Benbow"?

[DisneyKevin]

Unfortunately, there is no longer an Admiral Benbow Inn in Orlando, but here is there website. It shows where they are located through out the Southeast.

www.admiralbenbow.com

Kevin

[grammynelliebelle]

Any of you "lifers" who visited WDW back when it opened remember a hotel called the "Admiral Benbow"? Not a WDW hotel but as I was only a kid I can only vagulely remember it except of course for the name.

Anyone been there, know if it still exists or have any other tidbits of info regarding the "Admiral Benbow"?
We often talk about our first trip to WDW. It had only been open a year or two and we couldnt wait to go but of course didnt think we could afford to. Our county fair had a booth with a sign up to win a "free trip". We entered and of course "won". Several months latter we packed up our station wagon and cooler with our three little kids sleeping in the back of the car (can you imagine that!) and two days we arrived at the Admiral Benbow. We listened to their time share presentation, said no thanks and received our free room for a few days and our free park passes with the ABCDE tickets for the family and might have even gotten a twenty dollar bill to put towards gas. Those were the days! Maybe your family got to the Admiral Benbow the same way we did! We are going to WDW again this Nov (30 plus years latter) and going on the Disney Cruise with our "kids " and grandKids. Of course we have taken many trips in between but nothing was better than the first look at "the magic". Sorry this was so long- thats what happens when you go down memory lane!

[Otter49]

Sort of interesting that I ran across this post.

I actually worked at this hotel complex in the 70's and 80's.

The Benbow was part of a development that was actually comprised of three different franchises - along with a Quality Inn & a Sheraton. The whole thing was called the Court of Flags.

It's located on Major Blvd, directly across Kirkman Rd from the main entrance to Universal.

It went through several incarnations due to financial problems, fell into disrepair and has been completely shut down for several years now.

Unless of course, there was another Admiral Benbow in Orlando at the time (don't think so though) - in which case you can completely disregard this post.

I think I remember your family checking in. :rotfl2: