Walt Disney World Village Resort - 1985 - 1996 (and beyond)

[RobDoc]

I went up into the attic yesterday to look for something and returned with a box of Disney memorabilia from our years of going to WDW (and DL).

Included in the box were a lot of DVC related items from the early 90's (which I have posted on our DVC Mousecellaneous board) and a number of Theme Park items from the 25th Anniversary celebration on TPAS.

This is from the 1987 Walt Disney World Village Resort "Guest Atlas". At that time, check-in was in a building on Hotel Plaza Blvd. In 1996 that same building became home to the American Athletic Union (AAU) National Headquarters and is still today as far as I know.

The resort itself is directly across from what was then the Walt Disney World Shopping Village. The land and many of the same resort structures were later included when The resort was originally planned as the residential community Lake Buena Vista and by 1974 133 Town Homes had been built and the nearby Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village was opened in 1975. Eventually recognizing the challenges with having residents able to vote on local issues and taxation, Disney changed direction and focused more on WDW visitors, changing the area to a Disney Resort - opening in 1985 as The Walt Disney World Village Resort after adding The Walt Disney World Conference Center.

It was comprised of several different types of accommodations:

• Vacation Villas: One-and-two bedroom dwellings.
• Fairway Villas: Townhomes that overlooked the Lake Buena Vista Golf Course. They featured energy-efficient features, such as their roof overhangs and double glazed windows.
• Treehouse Villas: Three-bedroom octagonal villas on top of 10-foot-high (3.0 m) pedestals to withstand flooding and allow for natural drainage.
• Club Lake Villas: Added in a later building phase and were meant to appeal to conventioneers attending meetings at the Walt Disney World Conference Center.
• Grand Vista Suites: Four single-family dwellings originally constructed as model homes for the residential development.

In 1996 the same accommodations were included in Michael Eisner's concept, The Disney Institute where a number of courses were available to guests of the resort and later became open to guests staying at other Disney Resorts who could enroll in these programs as "Day Visitors".

By 2004, the accommodations had all been demolished and rebuilt as the DVC Resort, Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa.

Here is a map of the area in 1987 with detailed maps of the individual areas of accommodations. None of these accommodations remain although the Treehouse Villas were all re-introduced later after removing the original octagonal designed buildings.






Note the area in the lower left of the map below. The map shows the Lake Buena Vista Golf Course - which is now Old Key West. The middle lower section has also changed as that is the area now home to Disney Springs including the Cirque building and the Parking Garages.

 

[RobDoc]

 

[lybarnes]

I was looking for where we stayed in October 1988 and found that it was at Disney Village Resort Villas. I also, found the information in the attic. It was our first trip with our 2 daughters ages 4 and 18 months. It was driving me crazy because I couldn’t the information online. I love all the details that you have here it’s great.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

I had the opportunity many years back to take a Disney Institute course. They did a really nice job with their instruction the "Disney Way". Mine was customer service (or something along those lines). We even had the opportunity to be in the Magic Kingdom early and experience the rush of guests coming up Main Street at rope drop - and the happy faces and people with questions about which way to go and where are the restrooms! Closest I'll ever be to a cast member that morning! Good experience.

My wife misses the awesome spa area they used to have there......

Thanks for the memory!