Runway?

[retired and happy]

As I was digging around Shanta's Google of the FW area, I strayed further over along Vista. If you enter through the main gate and make the turn onto Vista toward FW, there is a road that cuts off to the left. Further up it widens and looks suspiously like a short runway. It seems to be marked for parking spaces, perhaps including some handicapped spaces. Anyone know what this might be or what it used to be?

 

[MandMLUVMMandDVC]

I've seen it full of rental cars during golf tournaments. They give one to each of the players and then afterwards they auction off those used by the 'biggies' of golf. I've also seen it with semi trailers. I figured they're full of fireworks or supplies or souvenirs. But, it DOES look like it could be a runway.

 

[stacktester]

That is the former runway Walt landed on with the plane over at DHS Backlot tour. An old google photo I saw once showed markings on it. I suppose it was landing info for the pilot.

 

[MandMLUVMMandDVC]

Donnie, I think he's talking about the no-name road parallel to/just east of world drive, that starts just east of intersection of world and vista.

 

[Live4FW]

Yes, this was once an active airport. It was known as the WDW Stolport and actually had commercial flights for a short time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney_World_Airport

 

[MandMLUVMMandDVC]

interesting! Thanks for the links Learned something new today

 

[stacktester]

Donnie, I think he's talking about the no-name road parallel to/just east of world drive, that starts just east of intersection of world and vista.

Melissa, it also appears the info I heard about Walts plane wasn't true if it was built in 1970 or 1971. (I've seen both years on different sites).

 

[ORLCampers]

Here's a good discussion of it with some pictures. The most interesting of which is when they brought Walt's old plane in to be placed at DHS, they actually landed it on World Drive (although I can't find a news report of it).

http://www.airfields-freeman.com/FL/Airfields_FL_OrlandoSW.htm#disney

 

[MandMLUVMMandDVC]

Melissa, it also appears the info I heard about Walts plane wasn't true if it was built in 1970 or 1971. (I've seen both years on different sites).

You're right Donnie. Walt had to have a plane pre-71 Walt was using his private plane when he first started grabbing up the land for the "Florida Project". In "One Man's Dream" there is a picture or video or something with a picture of him & the original plane.

 

[MandMLUVMMandDVC]

I've now spent over 2 1/2 hours online looking up this stuff. lol I'm such a geek sometimes. The plane on the backlot is from 1964.

Here are some interesting lnks:

http://members.tripod.com/airfields_freeman/FL/Airfields_FL_OrlandoSW.htm

http://jimhillmedia.com/Alumni/b/jim_korkis/archive/2003/08/27/1067.aspx

I could not find a pic of N234MM landing on world drive, but several good sources talked about it. They couldn't land it on the runway because it was a shutdown runway & too close to monorail.: Unfortunately for the Disney Airport, in the late 1970s / early 1980s a monorail extension to EPCOT Center was constructed, which placed an elevated monorail track just north of the runway. Therefore by the 1980s Disney no longer allowed anyone to land at the Lake Buena Vista STOLport. Even when Mickey Mouse One (Walt Disney's own private plane) was being flown into Walt Disney World so that it could then go on display in Disney-MGM's boneyard, this aircraft couldn't get clearance to land at WDW's private airfield. Which is why Mickey Mouse One actually touched down out on World Drive (which had been completely shut down to traffic just prior to the plane's arrival). Once the old Disney corporate plane was on the ground, it was then safely towed back to the studio theme park

I also ran across a blog where one of the former frequent passengers (opus1guy) was talking about the runway/plane.....http://micechat.com/forums/walt-disney-world-resort/88548-abandoned-stol-airstrip-near-ttc.html

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Here's another link to a great article about the STOL-port:

http://progresscityusa.com/2010/01/11/retroworld-the-lake-buena-vista-stol/

And, some pretty cool photos:

This one is from 1971:

For a brief period, there were actually scheduled commercial flights. Here's a flight schedule from 1971:

This is an ad that was published in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune (note that the airline didn't have working telephones at the time (?) (!))):

These days, the former runway is used as a staging area for construction projects.

Also, for big events, like Grad Nights, they have the buses bringing in the students drive down the runway and park.

When the Wilderness Homes at FW were being replaced by Wilderness Cabins, you could often see the units which had been removed sitting here, along with the units to be installed.

TCD

 

[MandMLUVMMandDVC]

TCD, our official detective Love the thing about taking the airplane apart & moving it to the airport! Would love to know how much the bill was. lmao

 

[Magicbus]

It's still used, not as a landing strip though. One of the uses is as a bypass for when there is an accident at the jug handle. I drove it in my bus not that long ago. You should have seen the looks on the guests faces, where is he going. I knew there was an accident ahead, but they didn't.

 

[Gatordad]

Stol spelled backwards is LOTS, as in they suck LOTS of money out of you while you are there.

 

[AuburnJen92]

Stol spelled backwards is LOTS, as in they suck LOTS of money out of you while you are there.

(not if you are Donnie )

 

[m1tchells]

great thread!

 

[itch1]

I remember flights there and i think they used it for the Golf long Distance Drive contest a time or two. I think they used to use it also as overflow parking before they expanded the parking lots. I remember Prez . Carter landing there. 2,000 feet is long enought to land a good size plane there.
ITCH