Disney’s Lake Buena Vista Villas-a Blast From the Past
I mentioned in my Disney Resorts entry how our first foray into “on property” resorts was Disney’s Lake Buena Vista Vacation Villas. I found a few pictures that I scanned in and thought I’d share here.
Disney's Vacation Villas in 1984
As I described before, there were 4 different types of Lake Buena Vista Villas: Club Lake Villas were, if I recall correctly, more luxurious than the Vacation Villas. The Fairway Villas were smaller and on the golf course. The Vacation Villas were the attached townhouse style and the Tree House Villas were the really cool two-story tree house style homes nestled in the forest. The only remnants of this era of Disney resorts are the Tree House Villas, now refurbished after being used for years as homes for College Program International Cast Members. You can view the Tree House Villas from the boat that sails from Port Orleans and Old Key West Resorts to Downtown Disney. I always loved riding the Disney resort buses from the parks to the Vacation Villas, because we had to go through the Tree House Villas first and you never knew what you’d see on those dark roads; raccoons, bunnies, deer…it was great fun.
My mom and I posing as my dad took the picture from the loft above.
The layout for the Vacation Villas we stayed in was a typical condo layout downstairs: small kitchen with pass-thru and bar stools at the counter, dining area, bathroom, and family room with a sleeper sofa, tv, etc. The fun was upstairs, where the master bedroom was actually an open loft design. You have no idea how cool this was to an 8 year-old. The master bedroom had a king bed and a tv, then a bathroom too as I remember, but the wall that the tv was on was completely open to the family room downstairs. It was so exciting to me. There was another bedroom upstairs with two twin beds and a bathroom. The family room downstairs had sliding glass doors leading to a patio with chairs. There were several options for views, but we always requested and received an Empress Lily view.
This was me, before heading to dinner at the Empress Lily Room. Pre Pleasure Island too!
Another great part of staying at the Lake Buena Vista Villas was you were able to rent a golf cart for the length of your stay. You could then get anywhere you needed to go in that area with the golf cart. We drove to breakfast at the Buena Vista Club restaurant. (This was the Club attached to the golf course). We explored the other villas…if my dad had been a golfer obviously he could’ve used it for that too! The best part was driving to the Lake Buena Vista Village Marketplace. You may know it now as Downtown Disney.
We could drive our golf cart over the bridge in the area that now houses the bus stops for Downtown Disney. From there we could park over where Downtown Disney Guest Relations now is, plug in the golf cart and explore the shops and restaurants. I think there were only a few at the time Cap’n Jack’s was one, and Chef Mickeys, which stood where Rain Forest Cafe now exists. It was a quaint, little place then. Dark wood decor, windows overlooking the lake and the Empress Lily. It had a separate lounge where you could wait and have a drink while you waited for your table. Back then, if you ordered one of a few specific drinks, you could get a souvenir plastic mug to keep. I remember getting a drink similar to a Shirley Temple, with rock candy swizzle sticks. A lot. I have quite a few of those red mugs with Chef Mickey’s image on them. I had to stop using them because the dishwasher was wearing off the design.
Souvenir mugs from the *original* Chef Mickey's Village Restaurant
I think the only other restaurant was the deli where Earl of Sandwich is now. Mickey’s Pantry was there, a jewelry store called 24-K and a few other shops. Can you imagine a Marketplace without World of Disney, Once Upon a Toy, the Lego Store or even Pleasure Island?? That’s how it once was. The Marketplace truly was a rainy day excursion and not an attraction unto itself like it is now. Obviously Disney recognized that and turned it into a destination brimming with activities, shops and dining options!
Sadly, Disney decided to discontinue operations of the Villas. They used some of the buildings during the Disney Institute years, but then demolished all of the original villas (apart from the Tree House Villas) and built the Saratoga Springs Resort as part of the Disney Vacation Club program. Saratoga Springs now offers some of those same gorgeous views of the Empress Lily that we once enjoyed, even though it’s now called Fulton’s Crab House.
Another thing I found in my search for old pictures was this coupon for the arcade at the Lake Buena Vista Villa Center. Think they’ll still honor it? 
Arcade Coupon good for 1 game at the Lake Buena Vista Center
As always, thanks for the memories, Disney. I welcome any information, links or pictures from this time period at Walt Disney World!!
Tagged with: Disney past • Disney Resorts • Downtown Disney • Walt Disney World
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Zanna, I had the exact same bathing suit. No joke. Surprised? Great walk down memory lane
Really?!! I swear you and I need to work on some sort of remake of the Parent Trap or Freaky Friday or something with the amount of similarities in our lives!
I had another rainbow one only with a graph-type grid design over it too. Was big into rainbows (I think that was the law in the 80's).
Thanks for reading!!
If I find a photo, I'm scanning it to show you. My pleasure reading! Thanks for writing it
what a great post! we never stayed “on property” when i was a kid — we just drove over EVERY summer from tampa (where we spent a week every summer @ my grandparent's ) and spent a day at the MK (or in later years at the studios or Epcot).
My first stay over was several years ago when we splurged and stayed on site at Wilderness Lodge. It's still one of my favorite resorts because the theming, the lobby and the grounds are just so beautiful.
Next month (September 2009) we're staying over for only the second time ever – this time in a deluxe, one bedroom villa at the brand new Bay Lake Tower and Disney's Contemporary Resort. We toured it and it's beautiful and it'll allow us to live large for a weekend!
M, I'm SO glad you guys will be going to the Bay Lake Tower Villas!!! I can't wait to hear all about it.
I love Wilderness Lodge too…it smells SO wonderful when you walk in and it's just so GRAND (more so than the Grand Floridian in my opinion!) and the music and grounds and everything are just wonderful there. I love Beach Club dearly, but Wilderness Lodge has that comfy feeling that you can't beat.
Aww that's cool tho! We did the same thing from Ocala when we visited my grandmother there, before my parents decided to stay at Disney for a week.
Awesome photos!
Thanks, George! I have more of the inside of the villas, but we are all posing so silly…maybe I'll still scan them in for posterity!
Hi , I stayed at the villas many time since the first year they opened. Please scan in more interior pictures for me, they will bring back many happy memories.
Hello, I'm trying to remember a location properly down there in the Buena Vista area.
It was a shopping area…called ether Fiesta or Festival, it was a multi level building with lots of glass. If memory serves, it was where Hotel Plaza Blvd is now. Circa 1980-1989 please help.
email— ticy@cfl.rr.com
I am *pretty* sure what you are thinking of is the Florida Festival that used to be across the street from Sea World. It was a big tent-like structure, very tropical inside, with shopping and some food stuff too. I remember going there in 6th grade (1985) and getting one of those computerized photo-booth pictures done with my friend. I've googled it and not been able to find any 'official' info on it, as you can imagine “florida festival” is a pretty common set of keywords. I will keep looking for more info, but let me know if that sounds familiar to you…
Thanks!
I sent a reply email to you…let me know if you don't receive it. I have also sent an email to Sea World, to see if they have any archives of the area from that time period. If I could get a photo or even the logo of the place that would help me remember. As for the logo I remember seeing 3-4 multi-colored dots with the name underneath it.
I did not get an email from you, make sure it's sent to zanna@zannaland.com and I should receive it. I just found this – not a picture but it is a map, and has the logo: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/cPwyJORc8t...
Does that help?
Most people consider a queen size bed to be a sufficient enough space for two people to sleep on. There is enough room for both to have their own “space” and not be crowded. Queen sized beds generally have enough dimension and is most likely the reason for their popularity. One of the biggest mistakes of all times is when a couple buys a bed and didn't take dimensions into consideration. Many squeeze into a full size bed and end up miserable after a short period of time.
Most people consider a queen size bed to be a sufficient enough space for two people to sleep on. There is enough room for both to have their own “space” and not be crowded. Queen sized beds generally have enough dimension and is most likely the reason for their popularity. One of the biggest mistakes of all times is when a couple buys a bed and didn't take dimensions into consideration. Many squeeze into a full size bed and end up miserable after a short period of time.
Most people consider a queen size bed to be a sufficient enough space for two people to sleep on. There is enough room for both to have their own “space” and not be crowded. Queen sized beds generally have enough dimension and is most likely the reason for their popularity. One of the biggest mistakes of all times is when a couple buys a bed and didn't take dimensions into consideration. Many squeeze into a full size bed and end up miserable after a short period of time.
Most people consider a queen size bed to be a sufficient enough space for two people to sleep on. There is enough room for both to have their own “space” and not be crowded. Queen sized beds generally have enough dimension and is most likely the reason for their popularity. One of the biggest mistakes of all times is when a couple buys a bed and didn't take dimensions into consideration. Many squeeze into a full size bed and end up miserable after a short period of time.
Thank you for sharing
I just sent this post to a bunch of my friends as I agree with most of what you’re saying here and the way you’ve presented it is awesome.
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Villas in Spain
I vividly remember staying in the Vacation Villas when I was in 1st grade. The open loft bedroom…We rented the golf cart and I loved the spitting fountains at the Marketplace. I've been wondering what happened, so thanks for the information!
I think we lived parallel lives in the 80s. We were frequent Tree House Villa residents. I think I might be able to find the same photo of me with the Empress Lily in the background. And for the record, we STILL refer to Downtown Disney as the Disney Village. I think we always will… thanks for the walk down memory lane!!