I live in Geneva Illinois, and I remember driving by that eerie abandoned falling apart mall. I would drive by Chicago and always think of the “blues brothers” That is one of my favorite movies (I’m 13) but there is also an abandoned mall my be called the Charleston town mall only a Cinema 13 and Vonmour still remain, and by that place is the now abandoned, unsafe and about to collapse pheasant run, do some research into theme before it’s to late! (Also Chicago is full of guns and drugs, don’t ever come here for a vacation unless you want to be curbed stop, also Disney quest also used to be a thing by me!) also do a documentary on gander mountain! @brightsunfilms
back in the early 2000s maybe 90s?, until 2003 I think( when hotel closed on them), the "Florida scholastic press association" had an annual convention for mainly high school students. I have some OLD VHS and miniDV tapes that might have something, if I can find them. will keep you posted.
It's so crazy how urban explorers will get caught by security for tip-toeing too loudly, but there'll be years of vandalism of people literally throwing carts through windows.
At a closed down medical facility a security guard didn't show up for his shift. 2 guys broke in after noticing the guard wasn't and stole a cesium rod from a machine. It became was the worst civilian radiation accident of all time. It happened in Brazil if I remember right. Point is sometimes all it takes is a short period of time for vandalism to happen.
@@nojuanatall3281 Is that the one where they brought it home and broke it open, and their little daughter was enchanted by the glowing powder inside, so she spread it on her arms and was pretending to be a fairy? I know that little girl died of radiation poisoning, although I can't remember whether it was this same incident in Brazil. . . Yikes, I can't imagine how horrible it would be to bring something home that poisons your child 😥
It has to be so eerie seeing a place you remember during your lifetime like this. There's also the opposite phenomenon. I recently found my childhood home on Zillow. When I lived there my mom was a heroin addict and a hoarder and the house was basically being upkept by a 10 year old. My mom lost the house and became homeless when I was around 14 and I haven't had contact with her in nearly a decade, but the house was left in absolute shambles. So when I saw it on Zillow totally refurbished, all the windows pouring in natural light and the hardwood floors glistening, it felt so strange. It's a hard feeling to describe. You almost want to prove to someone, anyone, that you were there and this place was part of your life once.
@Bigfriendly15 Thanks for reading my story, it means a lot. It ends pretty happily. I moved in with my dad some time before she lost the house actually because she was in the hospital. I thought it would be temporary and she'd always taught me to fear my dad so I thought I was betraying her. But then the house got foreclosed upon and I started realizing what a normal home feels like. My dad may not have been there as much as he should have for the first half of my life but he really stepped up then.
Thanks for sharing this. Actually pretty cool story and if anything I got from it is… things change. Things can change and will change… it’s inevitable and good or bad - no need to fear it
@@dereks7061 that's a good way to put what I learned from the whole thing too! Remember everywhere you go and every home you live in has a story. Your new nursery, office, or gaming room could also be someone's childhood bedroom
My family and I stayed here several times back in its heyday, sometimes for conventions (in fact, my brother is the one who brought this video to my attention) and watching this definitely brought back a lot of memories. It was definitely a interesting place to stay. One thing I remember is that this was the first hotel/resort we ever stayed at that used electric key-card locks, as opposed to hard keys. To my 14-year-old self, that was quite amazing to experience.
This isn’t the same hotel that had the exclusive kids only area, is it? I remember a hotel like that in the early 90’s. Trying to figure out which hotel.
@@randomexploring541 To be honest, if it did have an exclusive kids-only area, I don't remember that. I stayed there when my father was attending EMS conventions and when I went to FSPA (student journalism) conventions in my own right. I do remember a small arcade in the lobby area where I spent to much money on Mrs. Pac-Man and Galaga machines. This was all before 1993 when I ended up moving out of Florida.
@@thomasdaly5044 that is often for the best. nostalgia carries me there and makes me linger but doesnt give me much reason to stay. i want nostalgia+ not nostalgia-pure.
Stayed here for a few days in January '77. First trip to Florida, and first on a plane. I was 13, which meant I was old enough to wander and explore the property quite a bit. I remember many details, the smells, mall/dining area, etc...and yes, the plastic key cards. Up to that point, I had never stayed anywhere that would have rivaled it. Daughter interned at Disney a few years ago, and I drove up to the gate a few times, wishing I could get in there and see what was happening. Your video, while incredibly sad, is extremely well done. If I ever win a billion dollar powerball, just maybe..lol
Man I miss it, Jan 77’ my oh my I was 10, I bet you guys had a blast. we went when Disney opened like 72’ or so and I went back down in 80’ to Key West damn I miss those days✌️🇺🇸
As someone that lived in Florida for almost 20 years, and passing this hotel thousands of times and always wondering why a prime location hotel just sat abandoned, now I know the history. Still blows my mind that it never reopened because it’s literally only minutes from Disney. Thank you for this video!
Isn't it crazy that stuff like that sits vacant in the US? you see it in other countries but with taxes and whatnot.... Who ends up with the land if companies can't pay anymore... Or families that can't sell land or homes...
that's my thing. get this with all those people concerned about over popualtion yet a place like this. that sits practically next door to DW is still abandoned throws so many holes in their thinking.
@@Revkor The entire population of the world could fit into the state of Texas, but you would be miserable living in such a packed, claustrophobic environment. People are concerned about overpopulation in terms of resources and overconsumption, not owning property or space. You know what happens to rabbits when their population explodes and they eat up all the grass? Yeah, that's gonna a happen to us if we don't start making some changes in regards to our consumption soon.
@@Tea_Noire yet this could also be converted to farmland. which negates the worry. the fact we have so many abandfoned places. many that can be decent farms or tree farms and such. frankly the planet is not over popualted. we do have the resouces if governemnt got out of the way.
@@intothevoid47 you mean use common sense right? I think that when you're in the moment you don't fully realize your surroundings or safety. Imagine if the security is walking through these rooms and not wearing proper safety gear.
@@Mr.SpicyIce As a security guard for some derelect shitholes I can tell you right now the biggest security company in the US allied universal, does NOT issue hard hats or protective masks. You have to buy them yourself.
Jake! You have 2 types of videos normally. Your abandoned documentaries and ones where you walk around and explore. You combined the 2 and it’s ABSOLUTE CINEMATIC GENIUS. Even the music used gave my chills. I would love to see more videos like this moving forward. (Also the more Disney videos, the BETTER) 😂❤️💯
The crossfade between the images of the blueprints (an amazing find in itself) with the drone footage of those same structures, with that music score. What a moment! Really got goosebumps, and yeah, it's so cinematic!
I stayed at this hotel shortly before it closed. It was pretty run down at the time and the outside was dirty. I’m amazed no one has done anything with it because it’s in a great location.
My dad worked here as a hotel engineer for 10 years. The hotel closing was one of the craziest things to ever happen in my life. Thank you so much for making this video. So many memories of going to take your child to work day with my dad =D employee holiday parties in the ballroom. I loved the Hyatt!
@@mesosuavee5498 To this day he talks about how the Hyatt was the best place he's ever worked at and he loved going to work all 10 years that he worked there. He's still in contact a few of his coworkers today.
I stayed here sometime in the late 70s as a kid when it was the Hyatt. I remember it being ultra modern and like nothing I had seen before. The one thing I remember the most was that it was the first hotel I had stayed at that used key cards instead of physical keys. It was so futuristic and a big wow factor. The funny part is that the key card did not use a magnetic stripe (or obviously anything modern like RFID). Instead it was like a punch card with holes in it. Most likely the hole patterns were unique for each room and would probably change as the room changed guests.
Carnival Cruise Line used those punch cards as cabin keys as well back in the '90. At the end of the cruise, you had to return the cards and they were reused. Actually, when I first stayed at Disney's Dixie Landings Resort (now Port Orleans Riverside), Disney also used punch cards as room keys at Dixie Landings, which was the newest resort back then. However, they created the cards at check-in and you could keep them as a souvenir. So I think they had already a system in place to recode the doors after each stay. I don't think the doors were linked into a network, but probably there was a fixed rotation of patterns and if you entered the next card in the rotation into the lock, it recoded itself to that combination and the previous one wouldn't work anymore, making sure the previous guests could still enter the room after the new guests had entered it at least once.
I still have a bunch of these original style keys (they were brown plastic and flat like a business card but longer) because my father was the Director of Security at a neighboring Hyatt (Regency Grand Cypress) from the early 80s into the 90s. My aunt was the Director of Sales at this resort in the '70s.
I love whenever you add old photos and tell about the history of the place. Having a reminder every now and then of what it used to look like gives the current footage have more of an emotional impact. I can feel time passing and see how the rooms and buildings held so much life and now only memories remain.
I never understood vandals, pure theft and destruction for nothing. The work you guys do as urban explorers adds a permanent record of the past that will become a valuable inheritance for future generations. Most urban explorers, if they even move an object, they place it back in it's original position. Godspeed to you and your work sir.
The places are abandoned to rot so it doesn't really matter if someone people take things or thrash it. It'll just end up completely empty or full of homeless people anyways. Also its not theft lol
The software company I worked for held a conference here in 1993. The Hyatt Orlando was a snazzy place and was where I first set foot in Florida and saw my first glimpse of Disneyworld (no time to go, however). I stayed in one of the westernmost 'pods' and remember sitting back and watching the sunset between the buildings while poolside. Brought the kids by in 2015 and was shocked to see it abandoned!
Holy! This video was crazy and sets a top tier standard for urbex videos! You blew my, and every other explore on this place out of the water!! Great job man!!
The camera work and editing of this episode combined with the balance of music and ambient sound really made me feel for this resort. You and your team have a talent for capturing the heart of a location. I hope people listen and don't destroy this place when exploring, but even if they do your entire channel serves as a respectful time capsule. Great work, guys!
Seeing these 80s/90s places turn to ruin is very surreal. I was a child in the 80s and 90s and remember the optimism. I remember going on holidays to Spain and staying in resorts with big water parks, and visiting big shopping malls with my family and family friends as special exciting days out. My parents grew up with much less and so I think it was just as exciting for them as for us. My father and several aunts and uncles have died now and it's all really strange seeing the world change a lot in ways they probably didn't foresee. In the 90s we thought we'd figured it all out, we had no concept that life would get worse. It was like we reached a mountain top then collectively started to fall back down the mountain again after 1999.
The world is going to hell. I remember 70' to 90's the world was growing, people were /mostly/ happy and optimistic, there was lots of fun and everything. Well today? Fear of war, negative people, no time for fun, decreasing business, higher taxes, lack of money, sad view of future. I am happy that I lived my best times in 80's and 90's. I am sorry for my grandkids.
@@JJørgensen uh.... 1970s - war in vietnam didn't end until 1975; 1970s hyperinflation, 1980s recession, 1990s recession, rampant homophobia even by 'nice' people..... the simple truth is that in every year, including today's, there's good and bad to be found. there is no halcyon period.
A sobering reminder of the impermanence of things. This place was once full of life and the people who knew it could probably have never imagined it would look like this today. Time grinds everything down.
Im surprised someone hasn't bought this property after all these years. Its in a prime location being so close to Disney. Also equally as disturbing is the homeless in Osceola County including Disney employees that sleep in their cars or stay in motels along 192 that Disney didnt just buy it and make affordable housing for their own employees and community at large. I hate to see stuff like this with so much need in the area. SMH
The place seems like it would have made the perfect retirement village/assisted living community. Renovate making every 2 rooms before 1 bed & bath with kitchenette & living room. Convert the convention space into rec center and bingo hall. Already has a cafeteria buffet. They'd have a waiting list of grandparents who see the best excuse to keep grandkids visiting year round.
@@XanderH4W6 Yes, senior living or small condos. It’s shocking to me that nobody snapped up this property, even if they wanted to raze it and start over.
Exactly. What was recently done with Cecil Hotel already proves that using an already existing building for affordable housing is much cheaper than building one from the ground up (which seems like a "no duh" concept, but apparently not since it's not commonly done that way)
I stayed here with my family in the early 90’s when it was the Hyatt and remember being totally wowed. The lobby was so grand - lots of flowers, the fountain and a grand piano. The pool areas were lovely and I spent many happy afternoons there. Was a stunning hotel.
It always blows my mind how none of the stuff in these places ever gets sold off. They just close the doors and leave everything inside. You would think they would try and get every dime they could scrape out of them.
I guess it depends on how they envision selling the property. If they want to sell as a "turn key", then keeping beds and furnishings helps with a potential sale. However, after a while things do get dated. It would be interesting to see a massive auction of this stuff
Agree @The Armourboy. I noticed the wrought iron tables in the lobby area (early in the video) and I would love those. So much of the decor could’ve been sold to people for garden-scaping, the trellises and whatnot. Sad.
The company tries to negotiate with the lenders to get the property back and when it doesn't happen they walk away ,everything in and on the property belongs to the lenders. The lenders try and sell it off as is and get no takers but do not maintain the building so when it is water damaged they understand it will be bulldozed by whomever eventually takes control of it and just let it rot.
Demolition and disposal of buildings and contents costs more money than anything might sell for. Nobody wants bedding and mattresses from some place that closed due to financial failure. But it is a shame that the kitchen equipment all sat until it was smashed. All of that stuff could have been sanitized and reused.
i love videos like this because you know at one point a family was enjoying their vacation and now it sits there empty. It’s impressive to this day so I can’t imagine what it was like in it’s prime. Thank you for doing videos like this and bringing us along with such detail. I feel like i’m exploring the place myself, stepping into the past and into the present all at the same time. Thank you!
I just drove past this property yesterday!!! I had no idea that the building still had contents. There are so many things that could be removed and donated for use. Furniture such as desk, chairs, kitchen equipment, etc. Thank You for the video !!!
It's always disturbing to see abandoned places like this. But so much worse when they have been vandalised by people who have nothing to contribute to society, so they destroy it instead.
And what do you suggest would be better? I don’t condone crime but the worst part really is the building being abandoned! And people being left without jobs and this country not doing anything with all the abandoned buildings/dwellings when we have so many homeless people
It's sad something this big has just been left to decay. I know a lot of these old buildings are too expensive to fix, but also too expensive to tear down. But it's still such a huge waste. Like all the food containers and stuff. That could have been taken out when they decided they weren't going to open the place. Resell, give away...anything would have been better than just letting it turn to trash.
I go to Disney a few times per year and I stay at the Grand Orlando resort in Celebration-used to be a Radisson. You literally pass this place on the way there and it is truly shocking and has been for years. Inexcusable that this prime property hasn’t be used in all this time. Thanks for the insight.
The resort I go to is the “Grand Orlando Resort at Celebration”. This abandoned resort is right next to it-so don’t know which city actually claims it. ;)
I stayed here with my dad and brother back in 1991! I remember eating in the food court and swimming in the pool. The resort was beautiful!! Makes me sad to see it like this. I have photos of it somewhere from its glory days!
My family and I stayed here in the mid-1980s. Our room had a plumbing issue and we were moved to the other side of the complex. I was about six years old and my main concern was how the Easter Bunny would know that we moved rooms. Years later my mother joked that it was a real pain to bring the basket in her luggage, but seeing how impressed I was that the Bunny knew about our last minute room change made it worth it. I remember my mother talking to the travel agent and letting them know how disappointed they were in the property. Funny to think that it was already getting some comments like that in the mid 80s, but it advertised things that weren’t open or they no longer offered, which was frustrating. Thank you for covering this.
My grandparents took my sister & I as kids to Disney World & I still have the pics from the trip. There was one of us in front of that white trellis in this hotel , I never knew exactly where it was taken until I saw this video. So sad to see it in this condition. Thank you for this amazing video & for helping me solve the unknown location of a very special photo. ❤️
It's incredible because I can imagine that place full at all times and now it's completely abandoned and nobody is there except for explorers and people who sleep there. It's amazing how things come and then go, the process of life. Thanks for the awesome content.
I'm an audiovisual tech in the convention business, and I worked in this hotel a lot in the mid to late 1990s. It was a decent property, but was already being passed by much, MUCH bigger properties. That "big" ballroom is tiny by current standards. One bit of trivia: after the 9/11 shutdown, there was talk of converting it to a medical complex or a hospice.
When I did Uber some years ago, I used to regularly pass by this property after coming off the highway interchange. It looked abandoned, but I had no idea whether it was a residential property or a resort. So many questions lingered. Thanks for producing this video. It answered a lot of questions I had.
I grew up in south Florida in the 70s and 80s and remember staying here as well as other resorts along the 192 corridor. It is really heartbreaking to see all of it slipping away.
This video came up in my feed, and I decided to watch it. As I did, I realized that I had stayed here twice, in 1984 & 1985, for Florida State Latin Forum. I have photos of us marching around the buildings. I have the original paperwork and plastic card keys issued by the Hyatt Orlando. I knew it looked familiar! I swam in the pool and attended convention meetings in the ballrooms. It's a shame that the property is in such disrepair.
I'm pretty sure this hotel went through some Hurricanes, which makes a lot of the destruction make a lot more sense, like how a ladder got thrown through a window at 15:00. Florida ruins are especially interesting because of how humid it is, the fact its on a swamp so it's prone to sinkholes with poor development, meaning the decay is practically boosted to light speed, especially with the storms that it come with being in Florida.
You’re right that the weather is rough, here cars rust top down as opposed to bottom up in the north. But there’s no way a hurricane could have put that ladder through a window and not messed everything else up.
I mentioned the same thing! Having grown up along the Gulf Coast, I know how bad hurricanes can get, especially recently! And the humidity is a beast down here!
That shot at 18:23 is absolutely crisp. Amazing shot. It amazes me with all the abandoned stuff. Not just this place. But all of them. All that money wasted. All the materials wasted. And we wonder why we spend so much money on stuff. Debt. I despise vandals as well. Tearing stuff up they didn’t pay for. But would flip if you destroyed their stuff. Funny how that works.
I was noticing his good use of editing and the way he filmed for inspiration for my videos. I’ve been doing it a year. I have a long way to go, but when I watch my earliest videos I am appalled! Lol
stayed here in 1983 I was 9 years old and it was my first time going to Disney world. The hotel was very nice around this time and it was busy. A side note, The Orlando Airport was also brand new that year with the first terminal with the monorail to the air-side . My father was a pilot for eastern airlines at the time and thanks to him we literally had a free vacation with his employee perks while visiting Florida. Thanks for sharing this piece of history
I rarely comment on RUclips but I just had to say ..bravo. The photography, editing, narration, script ..all are top notch. I'm 50. My best friend and I stayed for a weekend in this hotel when we were in 7th grade. Im guessing it was around 84-85. It was the Hyatt then. At the time, it was first class accommodations. Well appointed, comfortable rooms, manicured grounds, room service ..the works. Seeing it in it's present state ...truly surreal. Well done.
I stayed here a few times in the early 2000s when it was the Hyatt Orlando. We had our state high school journalism conventions there. I specifically remember the ball room with the big chandeliers. Very strange to see it in this condition!
Is this the same convention hotel that was across the street from the Grosvenor ?? My wife attended a convention there in August of 2001, but we stayed at the Grosvenor.
A few years back I was riding as a passenger on 192, and I randomly noticed these old, abandoned condo/timeshare looking buildings. The buildings belonged to this resort, and I had spotted them after I had already found BSF and started to become genuinely interested in abandoned places, so the sight of a seemingly abandoned property had peaked my curiosity. After seeing it a couple more times, I took a better look at the property on Google Maps, where I learned its final name and that it had a convention center. But I was always curious about the full story of this place, and thought to myself "it'd be neat if Jake discovered it and decided to cover it in a video at some point; I'm sure he'd be able to find out a lot more about it than I could." Lo and behold, a couple years since the last time I saw it, this video comes out and just so happens to cover that very resort. So thank you, Jake and the rest of the BSF team, for making this fascinating and informative video that satisfied curiosity about this place.
So happy that I stumbled upon this video. For years and years we have driven past it and always wondered about the history behind this abandoned hotel. Thank you!
I stayed in this hotel for the National College Media Convention on Nov 2002. I went back and put my keycard and info about the hotel in my scrapbook! It certainly looks different after the hotel remodel but the lobby and restaurant looks just like I remember it.
Subscribed. What a surreal place. I never knew it existed and I’m from Florida. My Dad was born in Orlando in the 1950s before Disney came. Back then Orlando was a small cow town surrounded by orange groves and lakes. When Disney came my Grandfather decided to move my family to the West Coast of Florida to an Island called Estero Island better known as Fort Myers Beach. Because he knew that Orlando would become a big city, and wanted none of the inevitable problems that come with living in such areas. My Dad was sixteen when they moved to the Island. He grew up there. I myself lived much of my childhood in that old Stilt beach house on the Water. It was beautiful. And I learned many things living on the Water on the Gulf Coast. My parents got divorced when I was seven and my Dad moved back to the Beach house. But I stayed with my mom and lived in some very ghetto areas before I became an adult. Now I have kids and we moved out of state for five years. My Dad got sick last September he had a massive brain bleed and it completely incapacitated him. He was one of the five percent that survive that type of bleed for more than a few days. He survived until the last day of 2021 December 31st. One of the last things he said was for me to come back to Florida immediately. Now we are back in Florida again. I never realized what I had in him until he was gone. I had no brothers or sisters. I had such solid council in him. He will be missed terribly. You know when you live on the Ocean you take it totally for granted. I never thought I would miss it if I moved away. But after I moved away I missed it terribly. You know my Dad was a lot like the Ocean for me. I never knew how much I had in both of them until they were gone. But the Ocean is still here. We will go back to the Water.
Disney already has several hotels within the park itself. I haven't been to any of them, but my understanding is that in exchange for their higher price tag, they offer easy transportation to and from the parks. Close as it is, the former Hyatt is still off-property, which would make the transportation logistics harder. It would also make it easier for guests to venture to some non-Disney properties (like Universal) and Disney *definitely* doesn't want that.
I always find it weird how companies just close the doors but leave all the stuff behind like garbage, dishes, chairs, tables, papers, food etc and not clean and dump the stuff into trash bins. They are part of the problem.
Exactly these corporations make money, then when a problem hits they walk away with their earnings and obviously don’t pay employees…what a sham…rich get richer poor get poorer
Actually, at least in France but generally in developed countries, the Chapter 11 / bankruptcy laws forbid the owner from selling or taking any gear within 6 months prior to a bankruptcy (prior, meaning that anything sold must be recovered under penalty of prison). It’s the property of the cleaners. Sad part is, cleaners sell it for scraps because they have no incentive to do a better job, while the last owner generally would extract a much better price. And the last owner is left with debt that they could generally could have mostly reimbursed if it wasn’t sold for scraps by the cleaners in the first place. Tip: Try not to be bankrupt ;) In summary, centuries of business laws produce enormous damage, but it’s still better than all other alternatives.
I came here a few weeks ago and the roof of the dining area was collapsed in, exposing the sky completely. It looked absolutely incredible though, like some sort of dystopian wasteland
Good advice Jake. Explorers like you are just here to document history before they no longer exist. Do not break into abandoned places and vandalize/destroy the place.
Having been at an abandoned place before... And coming back to see it's ruins is really tough and sad. But the stories and memories can never be taken away! Keep up the good work Jake and crew!!!
I remember around 2007/2008 someone from back home visited Orlando and when they gave me this address to pick them up for dinner, I remember saying “I thought that place was abandoned!” I remember despite it being open it still felt pretty abandoned when I arrived. Really interesting to see what it looks like now inside.
man this brings back some serious memories. I have stayed at this hotel a few times way back when. It is really close to Disney. Basically across the street you have Old Town that has car shows on the weekends. Hotel was decent. Nothing super fancy. Didn't even realize it is still there sitting vacant. I am shocked it has sat there this long and someone hasnt gobbled it up. Awesome videos guys. I dig your channel.
Thank you Jake for taking us back in time to show us this amazing piece of art Also getting a message across which is do not vandalise or break into places or destroy anything in your path I remember going to orlando as a child and with my family and my brother it was epic back then yourself as a explorer are the best I kno you genuinely care and you honour the places you see but you also give them a voice keep on giving a voice to the buildings lost in time as it is much appreciated also your drone footage is brillant Also the music you add to your videos its really moving
It amazes me that I’m 22 years old I both work and was born right here in Kissimmee and to find out all these long lost abandoned places that were here many years before absolutely blows me away Absolutely love the channel Jake Much Love and Stay Safe 🙏🏾❤️
These videos are so bittersweet to watch. You did an excellent job filming the wreck that remains, interspersed with photos showing what it had been, what was planned but never achieved... and the ruin. I don't understand why people felt the need to do such damage. On the other hand, I'm amazed that any furniture remains. The convention center rooms were amazing, but my first thought was: how many of this tables and chairs found their was into private homes? 😉 This truly is a sad video. Your script was excellent in expressing the hope and excitement of a new venture, then turning to the fall, the rise again, the fall... There is poetry in your writing. But this is ever so sad. Not as sad as the very expensive BC houses built on land prone to sinkholes...that was sad because of the basic greed and stupidity at the start. But it's all about lost dreams, isn't it. Now I'm depressed. I think i'll go watch some British true crime to cheer up.
Oh my God, I remember this place. My family would use this resort all the time when we would travel to Orlando when we wanted to go to the Orlando theme parks
I live just about 7 or 8 miles from this site, and my girlfriend just a couple of miles away. Having lived in the Orlando area now for 24 years, and visited 5 separate times before moving here, I’ve passed by this place many many times. But for most of my residency here, it’s been either abandoned, or at least in a state that looked on its way out. I’ve always wondered about it though. I had no idea of the lofty plans it originally had. Orlando has many “what if’s” that really make me sad at times, knowing what people had originally dreamed. Just at Disney there are so many that never came to fruition, but that you can still see the remnants of in certain areas. A few that always fascinated me were a few other hotel resorts by the Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake by Magic Kingdom. Back behind Space Mountain, where the monorail track runs by the road leading to the monorail service area on one side, and in between Bay Lake is a large area that I believe was going to be an Arabian themed resort in the 70’s, similar to the Contemporary, Polynesian, and Grand Floridian. It would have been served by the monorail on one side, and butted up to Bay Lake on the opposite. I’ve parked in the empty area, which is a large dirt parking lot for employees and storage of large items and construction equipment now, and you can imagine what could have been. There also used to be another resort planned between the Transportation and Ticket Center and the Contemporary on the Seven Seas Lagoon, that I believe was going to have an Asian theme, that would have also been served by the monorail and been on the water. It of course never came to be either. But oh the possibilities. 😔
I worked in Monorails. In that employee parking lot (I think it was called Pluto Lot in my time) there are a couple of Monorail Mark 4 passenger car shells placed all the way I think the left side of the lot. And there were originally plans to continue the monorail from Epcot to Hollywood Studios (MGM at the time, which is literally back to back of each other if you look at a map) and you can see a few monorail track pylons sitting out on their own that would have continued the track to that park.
@@CaptOMalley Oh yeah, I’m pretty familiar with the “what if’s” of the monorail system. I always wished it developed all throughout Disney World like some of the original plans in the late 80’s. The Swan and Dolphin were aligned right up to have the monorail pass through their centers a few stories up, and you can still see the areas where they would have. I still have a picture of a model rendering too, of the area of the Disney Marketplace (now Disney Springs) where the track would have passed through that area, and even down Hotel Plaza Blvd, connecting those hotels to the monorail too. Wow would that have been cool! In the end though, I think just much more expensive than just having buses, and around the Euro Disney flop and subsequently 9/11, Disney wasn’t overflowing with cash for huge projects. But I always dream of that happening. Heck, even throughout Florida monorail systems, even long range, always made sense to me with the high water table and amount of swamps. Keeping things elevated above that just seems like a no-brainer.
Great video! Btw, that shot in the sunlight beaming in from outside and the small debris floating around (timestamp ~ 18:22) is EXACTLY why no one should enter such abandoned buildings without respirator masks on!!!
I live here and remember passing it so much when going to work. I watched it sadly go down and wondered why it was not turned into a place for locals that needed a place. So many rooms empty and people living in cars or in the street. Very sad
Watching this video was eerie because I remember staying in this hotel as a child in the late 70’s. I wondered whatever happened to it when taking my children to Disney more recently. Now I know.
I remember driving by this place in the 90's, as a kid when I lived south of there. It's right off I-4. It was already looking kinda shabby then. But still had cars on the property. It's sad to see this place in it's current condition. Thanks for showing us around!!
Always wondered about this place. We stayed in the resort next door, it was a Raddison then, Sept 2003 and Sept 2006. On one of those trips I made a “wrong turn” onto this property. Got as far as the guard in the booth and turned around. In 2003, I thought it had been closed for years. I was surprised when your video told me it had closed less than 3 weeks before.
BSF is probably some of the top content on RUclips. A new video comes out and it's the first thing I watch. It also is content that has a lot of re-watchability
It's all concrete but if they don't do something with it soon, the water will corrode and weaken the rebar and deem it unfixable. If it hasn't already happened.
I'm so excited to see this! I used to drive past this all the time and I always thought it was an abandoned office complex, but resort makes so much more sense.
This mans take on surreal movies is absolutely phenomenal!! You need to be a movie director!! You're incredible! I bought closed for storm and I watch it . everyday!! You're amazing jake!
I drive past this property every week and wondered about it. I was unaware how large the place was and always wanted to explore it. Thank you for doing that for me. I wish it could be returned back to it’s former glory.
That's crazy, I've passed by this a dozen times on I-4 coming back into Orlando and always thought it was some run down exterior hotel. I never knew it was THIS big! Let alone a resort.
This video was extremely well done. I especially enjoyed the birds eye views, the before and after pics, and the description of how it got this way. Great work!
Can we get a 10-hour relaxing video of that final shot?? Just having that camera sit at the edge of the pool with no sounds but car traffic and bugs was pretty relaxing.
Again, a very well researched presentation by this young man. I appreciate the way in which the history of the site is presented, as much or even more so than the visual aspects of the "explore" itself. I've enjoyed this channel's offerings for quite some time now because of that attention to detail; these "chapters" will serve as reference materials for years to come to those who seek them out. Well done as always! - Ed on the Ridge
When I was young we stayed there before going to Disney , the “pods” had different color schemes, ours was purple, and each pod had its own playground, and we wondered over to the yellow pod, and wondered why our keycard would not work , we were lost, but the housekeeper brought me and my brother back to our pod, the keycard was hard plastic,and a bunch of holes in it, they came in packs of 3, 2 for the guests, and 1 for the punch board, if they took that master out, your key would not work. The diner was decorated with bicycles, including one on the wall that the wheels and pedals were powered,and were constantly moving, it was such a classy and futuristic place, I still have my keycard!!!
I remember staying at this hotel (as a Hyatt) at least 3 times, for conventions in 1992 and 1991, plus once as a kid on a family vacation around 1980 +/-. I also remember the four clusters of rooms each having its own exterior color with Orange and Green coming to mind. So maybe orange, green, purple, and yellow. As a kid I nicknamed the place "the rainbow Hyatt" (OK, not very creative, but I was young), and I still remember it as such. It was quite the landmark as we usually drove past it just before entering WDW property. I'd imaging that land is worth tons, given the prime location by a main entrance to WDW, but perhaps the demolition costs to reclaim the land and the sheer amount of hotel competition in the area are keeping the property abandoned. Hard to believe the hotel room buildings could be salvaged and occupied again, but I'm not in construction so I honestly don't know what would or wouldn't be cost effective.
this is a great video! i loved that you combined an abandoned video and exploring video together!! i love the abandoned series so much. the music was a great touch and reminder that the facility once had life.
Watching this documentary personally was heartfelt. I spent my honeymoon there in 1981. I started skiing at SeaWorld in 1976 and watched this property develop along with everything else in the area. It was always all about location, this was simply a bad location even though it doesn't seem so.
You must have known / know the mother of one of my close childhood friends who was also a SeaWorld water skier back in the '70s, Sherry Runion. Loved reading this comment, thanks for sharing!
@@samholdsworth420 As it sits the land is worth more than the buildings. Plus the fact the buildings have serious mold issues. Better off to raze the buildings and redevelop.
@@stanleyhape8427 I think overall what Sam meant was that it would cost millions to tear down all this property AND REBUILD while building a fresh property is probably much more cost affective for Disney who will do anything for a profit even if it means an extra dime.
@@carlgrimeseyepatch27 ok well no one said Disney would be the one doing it. Of course Disney isn't interested in buying this property. It's not greed it's being smart.
Great video Jake and crew. I've lived across the street from this resort since 1996 in Celebration and always wondered what was inside those buildings. Hopefully someone will purchase this property and do something nice with it. I'm surprised Disney never purchased it...
I agree, but don't think most of the damages should be chalked up to vandalism. This property has seen many tropical storms without maintenance, so water damages, broken glass, stuff strewn about is inevitable.
I graduated from Boot Camp in Orlando in 1977. My Mom and sister stayed there for 5 days and I spent a lot of time there when I had leave. I was a fantastic place. To bad that it's just junked. Great memories of my Mom.
It’s kind of crazy to think about all these abandoned buildings near Disney. I live in Florida so there was no real reason to for my family stay at one of these hotels or resorts so I don’t have any fond attachments to them but it’s just really hard to imagine these places being so close to me
I stayed at this property in 1999 for a career field conference when I was in the Air Force. Thank you for making this video and bringing back some memories.
Always weird to me seeing a place like this and thinking about how in another universe with different managerment, different marketing and different circumstances this is still the hottest place to stay around Disney in 2022.
My wife and I actually stayed there for a convention in the late ‘90’s. It seemed nice at the time. Good memories of our stay. We own a timeshare not far from it. It always puzzled me and saddened me to see what happened to it. Thanks for sharing this video and for shedding some light on its story.
If anyone has footage of this property while it was open please send it my way either by positing it on RUclips or on my Twitter @brightsunfilms!
You should really do the spaghetti junction eyesore in Atlanta Georgia, this would be really cool video
Hey are you still selling those copies of building you know other peoples intellectual property!
I live in Geneva Illinois, and I remember driving by that eerie abandoned falling apart mall. I would drive by Chicago and always think of the “blues brothers” That is one of my favorite movies (I’m 13) but there is also an abandoned mall my be called the Charleston town mall only a Cinema 13 and Vonmour still remain, and by that place is the now abandoned, unsafe and about to collapse pheasant run, do some research into theme before it’s to late! (Also Chicago is full of guns and drugs, don’t ever come here for a vacation unless you want to be curbed stop, also Disney quest also used to be a thing by me!) also do a documentary on gander mountain! @brightsunfilms
back in the early 2000s maybe 90s?, until 2003 I think( when hotel closed on them), the "Florida scholastic press association" had an annual convention for mainly high school students. I have some OLD VHS and miniDV tapes that might have something, if I can find them. will keep you posted.
DUMB. You asked people to help preserve this time capsule of history. No. The entire property WILL eventually be razed. Preserve it? Dumb.
It's so crazy how urban explorers will get caught by security for tip-toeing too loudly, but there'll be years of vandalism of people literally throwing carts through windows.
At a closed down medical facility a security guard didn't show up for his shift. 2 guys broke in after noticing the guard wasn't and stole a cesium rod from a machine. It became was the worst civilian radiation accident of all time. It happened in Brazil if I remember right.
Point is sometimes all it takes is a short period of time for vandalism to happen.
Feel years of vandalism is just the cause to more uptight security and urban explorers being interested
is it under high security?
@@nojuanatall3281 Is that the one where they brought it home and broke it open, and their little daughter was enchanted by the glowing powder inside, so she spread it on her arms and was pretending to be a fairy?
I know that little girl died of radiation poisoning, although I can't remember whether it was this same incident in Brazil. . .
Yikes, I can't imagine how horrible it would be to bring something home that poisons your child 😥
Exactly 💯 percent correct. Agreed 💯 percent correct.
It has to be so eerie seeing a place you remember during your lifetime like this. There's also the opposite phenomenon. I recently found my childhood home on Zillow. When I lived there my mom was a heroin addict and a hoarder and the house was basically being upkept by a 10 year old. My mom lost the house and became homeless when I was around 14 and I haven't had contact with her in nearly a decade, but the house was left in absolute shambles. So when I saw it on Zillow totally refurbished, all the windows pouring in natural light and the hardwood floors glistening, it felt so strange. It's a hard feeling to describe. You almost want to prove to someone, anyone, that you were there and this place was part of your life once.
This was such a powerful story you have managed to tell in such a small paragraph. I wish you the best of luck with your future. 💜
@Bigfriendly15 Thanks for reading my story, it means a lot. It ends pretty happily. I moved in with my dad some time before she lost the house actually because she was in the hospital. I thought it would be temporary and she'd always taught me to fear my dad so I thought I was betraying her. But then the house got foreclosed upon and I started realizing what a normal home feels like. My dad may not have been there as much as he should have for the first half of my life but he really stepped up then.
Thanks for sharing this. Actually pretty cool story and if anything I got from it is… things change. Things can change and will change… it’s inevitable and good or bad - no need to fear it
Very nice story and very nice replies, thank you.
@@dereks7061 that's a good way to put what I learned from the whole thing too! Remember everywhere you go and every home you live in has a story. Your new nursery, office, or gaming room could also be someone's childhood bedroom
My family and I stayed here several times back in its heyday, sometimes for conventions (in fact, my brother is the one who brought this video to my attention) and watching this definitely brought back a lot of memories. It was definitely a interesting place to stay. One thing I remember is that this was the first hotel/resort we ever stayed at that used electric key-card locks, as opposed to hard keys. To my 14-year-old self, that was quite amazing to experience.
No you didn’t
Yes he did!
This isn’t the same hotel that had the exclusive kids only area, is it? I remember a hotel like that in the early 90’s. Trying to figure out which hotel.
I’m sure there are many more like you. Wow your soooooo cool…. Not
@@randomexploring541 To be honest, if it did have an exclusive kids-only area, I don't remember that. I stayed there when my father was attending EMS conventions and when I went to FSPA (student journalism) conventions in my own right.
I do remember a small arcade in the lobby area where I spent to much money on Mrs. Pac-Man and Galaga machines. This was all before 1993 when I ended up moving out of Florida.
Man, the last three decades of the 20th century were something else. Nothing will ever be the same again. Such an incredible gone by era.
"Nothing will ever be the same again" surely nostalgia could draw people, making something the same again
@@gabbonoonostalgic recreation of something will never reach the same authenticity as the original
@@thomasdaly5044 that is often for the best. nostalgia carries me there and makes me linger but doesnt give me much reason to stay. i want nostalgia+ not nostalgia-pure.
Time is terrifying
Stayed here for a few days in January '77. First trip to Florida, and first on a plane. I was 13, which meant I was old enough to wander and explore the property quite a bit. I remember many details, the smells, mall/dining area, etc...and yes, the plastic key cards. Up to that point, I had never stayed anywhere that would have rivaled it. Daughter interned at Disney a few years ago, and I drove up to the gate a few times, wishing I could get in there and see what was happening. Your video, while incredibly sad, is extremely well done. If I ever win a billion dollar powerball, just maybe..lol
Man I miss it, Jan 77’ my oh my I was 10, I bet you guys had a blast. we went when Disney opened like 72’ or so and I went back down in 80’ to Key West damn I miss those days✌️🇺🇸
As someone that lived in Florida for almost 20 years, and passing this hotel thousands of times and always wondering why a prime location hotel just sat abandoned, now I know the history. Still blows my mind that it never reopened because it’s literally only minutes from Disney.
Thank you for this video!
Isn't it crazy that stuff like that sits vacant in the US? you see it in other countries but with taxes and whatnot.... Who ends up with the land if companies can't pay anymore... Or families that can't sell land or homes...
that's my thing. get this with all those people concerned about over popualtion yet a place like this. that sits practically next door to DW is still abandoned throws so many holes in their thinking.
Amazing that it's so close, yet remains like this. Hopefully one day it'll get picked up and restored!
@@Revkor The entire population of the world could fit into the state of Texas, but you would be miserable living in such a packed, claustrophobic environment. People are concerned about overpopulation in terms of resources and overconsumption, not owning property or space. You know what happens to rabbits when their population explodes and they eat up all the grass? Yeah, that's gonna a happen to us if we don't start making some changes in regards to our consumption soon.
@@Tea_Noire yet this could also be converted to farmland. which negates the worry. the fact we have so many abandfoned places. many that can be decent farms or tree farms and such. frankly the planet is not over popualted. we do have the resouces if governemnt got out of the way.
I always get nervous when Jake walks in rooms where there is water damage. Waiting for a ceiling tile to fall
I’m also waiting for that inevitable day…
@@BrightSunFilms Make wearing a hard hat standard procedure. 🤣
@@intothevoid47 you mean use common sense right?
I think that when you're in the moment you don't fully realize your surroundings or safety.
Imagine if the security is walking through these rooms and not wearing proper safety gear.
@@Mr.SpicyIce As a security guard for some derelect shitholes I can tell you right now the biggest security company in the US allied universal, does NOT issue hard hats or protective masks. You have to buy them yourself.
@@BrightSunFilms be safe and wear hard hat ❤️🙏
Jake! You have 2 types of videos normally. Your abandoned documentaries and ones where you walk around and explore. You combined the 2 and it’s ABSOLUTE CINEMATIC GENIUS. Even the music used gave my chills. I would love to see more videos like this moving forward. (Also the more Disney videos, the BETTER) 😂❤️💯
100% agreed was going to say the same.
I need to know who made the music cause it’s amazing
The crossfade between the images of the blueprints (an amazing find in itself) with the drone footage of those same structures, with that music score. What a moment! Really got goosebumps, and yeah, it's so cinematic!
@@GianlucaBerger it’s on the end credits
@@YakuzasAreVAIN oh thanks but he has a ton of music do you know what the song is called?
I stayed at this hotel shortly before it closed. It was pretty run down at the time and the outside was dirty. I’m amazed no one has done anything with it because it’s in a great location.
Its so sad that places are treated this way shortly b4 they close
You do such a great job mixing exploration with history that you are the only urban explorer channel I watch. Plus you're super respectful.
Thank you!
My dad worked here as a hotel engineer for 10 years. The hotel closing was one of the craziest things to ever happen in my life. Thank you so much for making this video. So many memories of going to take your child to work day with my dad =D employee holiday parties in the ballroom. I loved the Hyatt!
What's a hotel engineer?
@@Pissgremlin5964 They fix a/c maintain the pool, fix the lights, things like that.
@@Miczael oh ok. I just never heard called an engineer before.
What was the management like? Did he have complaints about the workplace culture?
@@mesosuavee5498 To this day he talks about how the Hyatt was the best place he's ever worked at and he loved going to work all 10 years that he worked there. He's still in contact a few of his coworkers today.
I stayed here sometime in the late 70s as a kid when it was the Hyatt. I remember it being ultra modern and like nothing I had seen before. The one thing I remember the most was that it was the first hotel I had stayed at that used key cards instead of physical keys. It was so futuristic and a big wow factor. The funny part is that the key card did not use a magnetic stripe (or obviously anything modern like RFID). Instead it was like a punch card with holes in it. Most likely the hole patterns were unique for each room and would probably change as the room changed guests.
I remember those keys!
Patterns weren't unique to room I don't think but if not electronic, how could they not be??? Hmm...
I stayed there in 94 and they still had those cards.
Carnival Cruise Line used those punch cards as cabin keys as well back in the '90. At the end of the cruise, you had to return the cards and they were reused. Actually, when I first stayed at Disney's Dixie Landings Resort (now Port Orleans Riverside), Disney also used punch cards as room keys at Dixie Landings, which was the newest resort back then. However, they created the cards at check-in and you could keep them as a souvenir. So I think they had already a system in place to recode the doors after each stay. I don't think the doors were linked into a network, but probably there was a fixed rotation of patterns and if you entered the next card in the rotation into the lock, it recoded itself to that combination and the previous one wouldn't work anymore, making sure the previous guests could still enter the room after the new guests had entered it at least once.
I still have a bunch of these original style keys (they were brown plastic and flat like a business card but longer) because my father was the Director of Security at a neighboring Hyatt (Regency Grand Cypress) from the early 80s into the 90s. My aunt was the Director of Sales at this resort in the '70s.
I love whenever you add old photos and tell about the history of the place. Having a reminder every now and then of what it used to look like gives the current footage have more of an emotional impact. I can feel time passing and see how the rooms and buildings held so much life and now only memories remain.
I never understood vandals, pure theft and destruction for nothing. The work you guys do as urban explorers adds a permanent record of the past that will become a valuable inheritance for future generations. Most urban explorers, if they even move an object, they place it back in it's original position. Godspeed to you and your work sir.
The places are abandoned to rot so it doesn't really matter if someone people take things or thrash it. It'll just end up completely empty or full of homeless people anyways. Also its not theft lol
I don’t understand corporations that just leave things like standing water in pools to rot and become eyesores and danger to surrounding communities.
The software company I worked for held a conference here in 1993. The Hyatt Orlando was a snazzy place and was where I first set foot in Florida and saw my first glimpse of Disneyworld (no time to go, however). I stayed in one of the westernmost 'pods' and remember sitting back and watching the sunset between the buildings while poolside. Brought the kids by in 2015 and was shocked to see it abandoned!
Years from now more people will wish they had made made content like this. You’re ahead of the game. Love LOVE LOVE your videos! Keep it up!
Thanks so much Benjamin!
You would love Adam the woo channel also.
Holy! This video was crazy and sets a top tier standard for urbex videos! You blew my, and every other explore on this place out of the water!! Great job man!!
@Don't Read My Profile Photo Okay
Hey mister! I have slid and fell into your DMs. Help me up lol 😂. Miss you bro. Can’t wait for your new video too!
Proper People would like a word
Am I seeing shit? My youtube says this video was released today, and that this comment is 3 weeks old...
@@pandabytes4991 Patreon people get early vids :)
The camera work and editing of this episode combined with the balance of music and ambient sound really made me feel for this resort. You and your team have a talent for capturing the heart of a location. I hope people listen and don't destroy this place when exploring, but even if they do your entire channel serves as a respectful time capsule. Great work, guys!
Seeing these 80s/90s places turn to ruin is very surreal. I was a child in the 80s and 90s and remember the optimism. I remember going on holidays to Spain and staying in resorts with big water parks, and visiting big shopping malls with my family and family friends as special exciting days out. My parents grew up with much less and so I think it was just as exciting for them as for us. My father and several aunts and uncles have died now and it's all really strange seeing the world change a lot in ways they probably didn't foresee. In the 90s we thought we'd figured it all out, we had no concept that life would get worse. It was like we reached a mountain top then collectively started to fall back down the mountain again after 1999.
When the Republican scumbags took over the country, and plunged us into their damn endless war
The world is going to hell. I remember 70' to 90's the world was growing, people were /mostly/ happy and optimistic, there was lots of fun and everything.
Well today? Fear of war, negative people, no time for fun, decreasing business, higher taxes, lack of money, sad view of future. I am happy that I lived my best times in 80's and 90's. I am sorry for my grandkids.
@JAN70V I grew up in the '60s and '70s. I'm so glad I did. Glad I have no children\grandchildren.
@@JJørgensen uh.... 1970s - war in vietnam didn't end until 1975; 1970s hyperinflation, 1980s recession, 1990s recession, rampant homophobia even by 'nice' people..... the simple truth is that in every year, including today's, there's good and bad to be found. there is no halcyon period.
A sobering reminder of the impermanence of things. This place was once full of life and the people who knew it could probably have never imagined it would look like this today. Time grinds everything down.
Im surprised someone hasn't bought this property after all these years. Its in a prime location being so close to Disney. Also equally as disturbing is the homeless in Osceola County including Disney employees that sleep in their cars or stay in motels along 192 that Disney didnt just buy it and make affordable housing for their own employees and community at large. I hate to see stuff like this with so much need in the area. SMH
The place seems like it would have made the perfect retirement village/assisted living community. Renovate making every 2 rooms before 1 bed & bath with kitchenette & living room. Convert the convention space into rec center and bingo hall. Already has a cafeteria buffet. They'd have a waiting list of grandparents who see the best excuse to keep grandkids visiting year round.
AMEN! I'M PISSED DISNEY didn't do that, too, to help out their employees.
@@XanderH4W6 Yes, senior living or small condos. It’s shocking to me that nobody snapped up this property, even if they wanted to raze it and start over.
Exactly. What was recently done with Cecil Hotel already proves that using an already existing building for affordable housing is much cheaper than building one from the ground up (which seems like a "no duh" concept, but apparently not since it's not commonly done that way)
Shows us how much Disney cares about its employees.
I stayed here with my family in the early 90’s when it was the Hyatt and remember being totally wowed. The lobby was so grand - lots of flowers, the fountain and a grand piano. The pool areas were lovely and I spent many happy afternoons there. Was a stunning hotel.
It always blows my mind how none of the stuff in these places ever gets sold off. They just close the doors and leave everything inside. You would think they would try and get every dime they could scrape out of them.
Hedge funds just collect the insurance, and move on!
I guess it depends on how they envision selling the property. If they want to sell as a "turn key", then keeping beds and furnishings helps with a potential sale. However, after a while things do get dated. It would be interesting to see a massive auction of this stuff
Agree @The Armourboy. I noticed the wrought iron tables in the lobby area (early in the video) and I would love those. So much of the decor could’ve been sold to people for garden-scaping, the trellises and whatnot. Sad.
The company tries to negotiate with the lenders to get the property back and when it doesn't happen they walk away ,everything in and on the property belongs to the lenders. The lenders try and sell it off as is and get no takers but do not maintain the building so when it is water damaged they understand it will be bulldozed by whomever eventually takes control of it and just let it rot.
Demolition and disposal of buildings and contents costs more money than anything might sell for. Nobody wants bedding and mattresses from some place that closed due to financial failure. But it is a shame that the kitchen equipment all sat until it was smashed. All of that stuff could have been sanitized and reused.
i love videos like this because you know at one point a family was enjoying their vacation and now it sits there empty. It’s impressive to this day so I can’t imagine what it was like in it’s prime. Thank you for doing videos like this and bringing us along with such detail. I feel like i’m exploring the place myself, stepping into the past and into the present all at the same time. Thank you!
I just drove past this property yesterday!!! I had no idea that the building still had contents. There are so many things that could be removed and donated for use. Furniture such as desk, chairs, kitchen equipment, etc. Thank You for the video !!!
None of that stuff could be donated now. Calm down.
Mold is toxic. All that stuff is trash
It's always disturbing to see abandoned places like this. But so much worse when they have been vandalised by people who have nothing to contribute to society, so they destroy it instead.
You don't contribute to society and you destroyed your parents life.
Did not expect to see you here Clive! I agree with what you wrote as well, as I could never understand why people would ever vandalize.
DON'T BE SUCH BABA BOOEY NEXT TIME! WOULD BE A PITY IF SOMEONE DESTROYED YOUR THINGS
Nature taking back the land is both awe inspiring and humbling. Vandalism is disgusting and shameful.
And what do you suggest would be better? I don’t condone crime but the worst part really is the building being abandoned! And people being left without jobs and this country not doing anything with all the abandoned buildings/dwellings when we have so many homeless people
It's sad something this big has just been left to decay. I know a lot of these old buildings are too expensive to fix, but also too expensive to tear down. But it's still such a huge waste. Like all the food containers and stuff. That could have been taken out when they decided they weren't going to open the place. Resell, give away...anything would have been better than just letting it turn to trash.
How are these companies are allowed to just walkway from these properties in this condition is a disgrace. Zero accountability.
Not to mention all the tables,chairs furniture etc. We live in a throwaway society and destroying the planet in the process.
I hate to see all that stuff wasted too, it’s really sad, especially when your a poor bastard like me lol ✌️🇺🇸
I go to Disney a few times per year and I stay at the Grand Orlando resort in Celebration-used to be a Radisson. You literally pass this place on the way there and it is truly shocking and has been for years. Inexcusable that this prime property hasn’t be used in all this time. Thanks for the insight.
That resort is not in Celebration. It's near it. Celebration is a town that Disney built.
@@JohnMedved ...hence he said "you PASS THIS PLACE on the way there..." Or maybe when you travel, you disapparate?
The resort I go to is the “Grand Orlando Resort at Celebration”. This abandoned resort is right next to it-so don’t know which city actually claims it. ;)
I lived by there for a few years I wouldn't exactly call it prime except if you just want to be by disney
Disney is destroyed. Weird mixed up mentally sick freaks operate whats left of it now.
I stayed here with my dad and brother back in 1991! I remember eating in the food court and swimming in the pool. The resort was beautiful!! Makes me sad to see it like this. I have photos of it somewhere from its glory days!
I love that we let these corporations just leave these buildings abandoned instead of forcing them to clean up the pollution.
Exactly. And governments as usual dont do shit
They need to force them to put a cleanup bond when developing.
My family and I stayed here in the mid-1980s. Our room had a plumbing issue and we were moved to the other side of the complex. I was about six years old and my main concern was how the Easter Bunny would know that we moved rooms. Years later my mother joked that it was a real pain to bring the basket in her luggage, but seeing how impressed I was that the Bunny knew about our last minute room change made it worth it. I remember my mother talking to the travel agent and letting them know how disappointed they were in the property. Funny to think that it was already getting some comments like that in the mid 80s, but it advertised things that weren’t open or they no longer offered, which was frustrating. Thank you for covering this.
Always the highest quality of content from Bright Sun Films! Never less!
I’ve passed by this resort many times and always wondered what it was and curious of how it looked inside
Now you know, lol.
My grandparents took my sister & I as kids to Disney World & I still have the pics from the trip. There was one of us in front of that white trellis in this hotel , I never knew exactly where it was taken until I saw this video. So sad to see it in this condition.
Thank you for this amazing video & for helping me solve the unknown location of a very special photo. ❤️
Drive by this place every single day, out of curiosity found your video. Thanks!
Same! This place looks scary at night when I drive by.
It's incredible because I can imagine that place full at all times and now it's completely abandoned and nobody is there except for explorers and people who sleep there. It's amazing how things come and then go, the process of life. Thanks for the awesome content.
Think I'll pass on the free night!
I'm an audiovisual tech in the convention business, and I worked in this hotel a lot in the mid to late 1990s.
It was a decent property, but was already being passed by much, MUCH bigger properties. That "big" ballroom is tiny by current standards.
One bit of trivia: after the 9/11 shutdown, there was talk of converting it to a medical complex or a hospice.
When I did Uber some years ago, I used to regularly pass by this property after coming off the highway interchange. It looked abandoned, but I had no idea whether it was a residential property or a resort. So many questions lingered. Thanks for producing this video. It answered a lot of questions I had.
I grew up in south Florida in the 70s and 80s and remember staying here as well as other resorts along the 192 corridor. It is really heartbreaking to see all of it slipping away.
This video came up in my feed, and I decided to watch it. As I did, I realized that I had stayed here twice, in 1984 & 1985, for Florida State Latin Forum. I have photos of us marching around the buildings. I have the original paperwork and plastic card keys issued by the Hyatt Orlando. I knew it looked familiar! I swam in the pool and attended convention meetings in the ballrooms. It's a shame that the property is in such disrepair.
Oh wow!
I'm pretty sure this hotel went through some Hurricanes, which makes a lot of the destruction make a lot more sense, like how a ladder got thrown through a window at 15:00.
Florida ruins are especially interesting because of how humid it is, the fact its on a swamp so it's prone to sinkholes with poor development, meaning the decay is practically boosted to light speed, especially with the storms that it come with being in Florida.
You’re right that the weather is rough, here cars rust top down as opposed to bottom up in the north. But there’s no way a hurricane could have put that ladder through a window and not messed everything else up.
The chair went into the window via a human trying to explore.
@@colleb95 explore and vandalize are not synonyms
Water will destroy a building inside out.
I mentioned the same thing! Having grown up along the Gulf Coast, I know how bad hurricanes can get, especially recently! And the humidity is a beast down here!
That shot at 18:23 is absolutely crisp. Amazing shot. It amazes me with all the abandoned stuff. Not just this place. But all of them. All that money wasted. All the materials wasted. And we wonder why we spend so much money on stuff. Debt. I despise vandals as well. Tearing stuff up they didn’t pay for. But would flip if you destroyed their stuff. Funny how that works.
I think vandalism should be harshly punished. We would have a lot less of it, that's for sure.
The quality of your videos over the years has improved so drastically, it is truly amazing to see how far you've come! Excellent work Jake!
I was noticing his good use of editing and the way he filmed for inspiration for my videos. I’ve been doing it a year. I have a long way to go, but when I watch my earliest videos I am appalled! Lol
stayed here in 1983 I was 9 years old and it was my first time going to Disney world. The hotel was very nice around this time and it was busy. A side note, The Orlando Airport was also brand new that year with the first terminal with the monorail to the air-side . My father was a pilot for eastern airlines at the time and thanks to him we literally had a free vacation with his employee perks while visiting Florida. Thanks for sharing this piece of history
I rarely comment on RUclips but I just had to say ..bravo. The photography, editing, narration, script ..all are top notch. I'm 50. My best friend and I stayed for a weekend in this hotel when we were in 7th grade. Im guessing it was around 84-85. It was the Hyatt then. At the time, it was first class accommodations. Well appointed, comfortable rooms, manicured grounds, room service ..the works. Seeing it in it's present state ...truly surreal. Well done.
I stayed here a few times in the early 2000s when it was the Hyatt Orlando. We had our state high school journalism conventions there. I specifically remember the ball room with the big chandeliers. Very strange to see it in this condition!
Is this the same convention hotel that was across the street from the Grosvenor ?? My wife attended a convention there in August of 2001, but we stayed at the Grosvenor.
I also stayed there for conventions. Its close to the Arabian Knights. Mind blowing and eerie to see it now.
A few years back I was riding as a passenger on 192, and I randomly noticed these old, abandoned condo/timeshare looking buildings. The buildings belonged to this resort, and I had spotted them after I had already found BSF and started to become genuinely interested in abandoned places, so the sight of a seemingly abandoned property had peaked my curiosity. After seeing it a couple more times, I took a better look at the property on Google Maps, where I learned its final name and that it had a convention center. But I was always curious about the full story of this place, and thought to myself "it'd be neat if Jake discovered it and decided to cover it in a video at some point; I'm sure he'd be able to find out a lot more about it than I could." Lo and behold, a couple years since the last time I saw it, this video comes out and just so happens to cover that very resort.
So thank you, Jake and the rest of the BSF team, for making this fascinating and informative video that satisfied curiosity about this place.
So happy that I stumbled upon this video. For years and years we have driven past it and always wondered about the history behind this abandoned hotel. Thank you!
I stayed in this hotel for the National College Media Convention on Nov 2002. I went back and put my keycard and info about the hotel in my scrapbook! It certainly looks different after the hotel remodel but the lobby and restaurant looks just like I remember it.
How was the food?
Was it clean and in good shape when you stayed here
It’s always interesting but also sad to see an abandoned resort in Orlando. Thanks for the video Jake!
Subscribed. What a surreal place. I never knew it existed and I’m from Florida. My Dad was born in Orlando in the 1950s before Disney came. Back then Orlando was a small cow town surrounded by orange groves and lakes. When Disney came my Grandfather decided to move my family to the West Coast of Florida to an Island called Estero Island better known as Fort Myers Beach. Because he knew that Orlando would become a big city, and wanted none of the inevitable problems that come with living in such areas. My Dad was sixteen when they moved to the Island. He grew up there. I myself lived much of my childhood in that old Stilt beach house on the Water. It was beautiful. And I learned many things living on the Water on the Gulf Coast. My parents got divorced when I was seven and my Dad moved back to the Beach house. But I stayed with my mom and lived in some very ghetto areas before I became an adult. Now I have kids and we moved out of state for five years. My Dad got sick last September he had a massive brain bleed and it completely incapacitated him. He was one of the five percent that survive that type of bleed for more than a few days. He survived until the last day of 2021 December 31st. One of the last things he said was for me to come back to Florida immediately. Now we are back in Florida again. I never realized what I had in him until he was gone. I had no brothers or sisters. I had such solid council in him. He will be missed terribly. You know when you live on the Ocean you take it totally for granted. I never thought I would miss it if I moved away. But after I moved away I missed it terribly. You know my Dad was a lot like the Ocean for me. I never knew how much I had in both of them until they were gone. But the Ocean is still here. We will go back to the Water.
I'm surprised that the Walt Disney Corp has never shown an interest in this property as it is in such close proximity to the entrance to the park!
Disney already has several hotels within the park itself. I haven't been to any of them, but my understanding is that in exchange for their higher price tag, they offer easy transportation to and from the parks. Close as it is, the former Hyatt is still off-property, which would make the transportation logistics harder. It would also make it easier for guests to venture to some non-Disney properties (like Universal) and Disney *definitely* doesn't want that.
They already own 25,000 acres and numerous hotels. They dont need to buy land outside of their own property
I always find it weird how companies just close the doors but leave all the stuff behind like garbage, dishes, chairs, tables, papers, food etc and not clean and dump the stuff into trash bins. They are part of the problem.
Exactly these corporations make money, then when a problem hits they walk away with their earnings and obviously don’t pay employees…what a sham…rich get richer poor get poorer
Actually, at least in France but generally in developed countries, the Chapter 11 / bankruptcy laws forbid the owner from selling or taking any gear within 6 months prior to a bankruptcy (prior, meaning that anything sold must be recovered under penalty of prison). It’s the property of the cleaners.
Sad part is, cleaners sell it for scraps because they have no incentive to do a better job, while the last owner generally would extract a much better price. And the last owner is left with debt that they could generally could have mostly reimbursed if it wasn’t sold for scraps by the cleaners in the first place. Tip: Try not to be bankrupt ;)
In summary, centuries of business laws produce enormous damage, but it’s still better than all other alternatives.
I came here a few weeks ago and the roof of the dining area was collapsed in, exposing the sky completely. It looked absolutely incredible though, like some sort of dystopian wasteland
Good advice Jake. Explorers like you are just here to document history before they no longer exist. Do not break into abandoned places and vandalize/destroy the place.
Having been at an abandoned place before... And coming back to see it's ruins is really tough and sad. But the stories and memories can never be taken away! Keep up the good work Jake and crew!!!
I remember around 2007/2008 someone from back home visited Orlando and when they gave me this address to pick them up for dinner, I remember saying “I thought that place was abandoned!” I remember despite it being open it still felt pretty abandoned when I arrived. Really interesting to see what it looks like now inside.
man this brings back some serious memories. I have stayed at this hotel a few times way back when. It is really close to Disney. Basically across the street you have Old Town that has car shows on the weekends. Hotel was decent. Nothing super fancy. Didn't even realize it is still there sitting vacant. I am shocked it has sat there this long and someone hasnt gobbled it up. Awesome videos guys. I dig your channel.
Every time we go to Orlando and drive by here we have always wondered what was going on with that property. Now we know. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you Jake for taking us back in time to show us this amazing piece of art Also getting a message across which is do not vandalise or break into places or destroy anything in your path I remember going to orlando as a child and with my family and my brother it was epic back then yourself as a explorer are the best I kno you genuinely care and you honour the places you see but you also give them a voice keep on giving a voice to the buildings lost in time as it is much appreciated also your drone footage is brillant
Also the music you add to your videos its really moving
That opening drone shot.......wow. Always great to see a Jake update! Brilliant film as always.
It amazes me that I’m 22 years old I both work and was born right here in Kissimmee and to find out all these long lost abandoned places that were here many years before absolutely blows me away
Absolutely love the channel Jake
Much Love and Stay Safe 🙏🏾❤️
@Egmont worded it wrong loll
These videos are so bittersweet to watch. You did an excellent job filming the wreck that remains, interspersed with photos showing what it had been, what was planned but never achieved... and the ruin.
I don't understand why people felt the need to do such damage. On the other hand, I'm amazed that any furniture remains. The convention center rooms were amazing, but my first thought was: how many of this tables and chairs found their was into private homes? 😉
This truly is a sad video. Your script was excellent in expressing the hope and excitement of a new venture, then turning to the fall, the rise again, the fall... There is poetry in your writing. But this is ever so sad. Not as sad as the very expensive BC houses built on land prone to sinkholes...that was sad because of the basic greed and stupidity at the start. But it's all about lost dreams, isn't it. Now I'm depressed. I think i'll go watch some British true crime to cheer up.
Very nostalgic. All those pamphlets he showed - Wet N Wild etc, brought back alot of childhood memories vacationing with family at Disney 😢
"Meenwhile in New York/Russia" are my go-toos when i need a laugh
Oh my God, I remember this place. My family would use this resort all the time when we would travel to Orlando when we wanted to go to the Orlando theme parks
I live just about 7 or 8 miles from this site, and my girlfriend just a couple of miles away. Having lived in the Orlando area now for 24 years, and visited 5 separate times before moving here, I’ve passed by this place many many times. But for most of my residency here, it’s been either abandoned, or at least in a state that looked on its way out. I’ve always wondered about it though. I had no idea of the lofty plans it originally had. Orlando has many “what if’s” that really make me sad at times, knowing what people had originally dreamed. Just at Disney there are so many that never came to fruition, but that you can still see the remnants of in certain areas. A few that always fascinated me were a few other hotel resorts by the Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake by Magic Kingdom. Back behind Space Mountain, where the monorail track runs by the road leading to the monorail service area on one side, and in between Bay Lake is a large area that I believe was going to be an Arabian themed resort in the 70’s, similar to the Contemporary, Polynesian, and Grand Floridian. It would have been served by the monorail on one side, and butted up to Bay Lake on the opposite. I’ve parked in the empty area, which is a large dirt parking lot for employees and storage of large items and construction equipment now, and you can imagine what could have been. There also used to be another resort planned between the Transportation and Ticket Center and the Contemporary on the Seven Seas Lagoon, that I believe was going to have an Asian theme, that would have also been served by the monorail and been on the water. It of course never came to be either. But oh the possibilities. 😔
I do believe jake did videos on both of those planned but never completed projects in other videos.
I worked in Monorails. In that employee parking lot (I think it was called Pluto Lot in my time) there are a couple of Monorail Mark 4 passenger car shells placed all the way I think the left side of the lot. And there were originally plans to continue the monorail from Epcot to Hollywood Studios (MGM at the time, which is literally back to back of each other if you look at a map) and you can see a few monorail track pylons sitting out on their own that would have continued the track to that park.
@@CaptOMalley Oh yeah, I’m pretty familiar with the “what if’s” of the monorail system. I always wished it developed all throughout Disney World like some of the original plans in the late 80’s. The Swan and Dolphin were aligned right up to have the monorail pass through their centers a few stories up, and you can still see the areas where they would have. I still have a picture of a model rendering too, of the area of the Disney Marketplace (now Disney Springs) where the track would have passed through that area, and even down Hotel Plaza Blvd, connecting those hotels to the monorail too. Wow would that have been cool! In the end though, I think just much more expensive than just having buses, and around the Euro Disney flop and subsequently 9/11, Disney wasn’t overflowing with cash for huge projects. But I always dream of that happening. Heck, even throughout Florida monorail systems, even long range, always made sense to me with the high water table and amount of swamps. Keeping things elevated above that just seems like a no-brainer.
@@CaptOMalley Hey Gregg, just curious, could you perhaps point out the location of those unused pylons? Would love to look at them on Google Maps.
@@Brandis13 yeah same i’m on google earth and I can’t even find it
Great video! Btw, that shot in the sunlight beaming in from outside and the small debris floating around (timestamp ~ 18:22) is EXACTLY why no one should enter such abandoned buildings without respirator masks on!!!
Asbestos or fiberglass or mold.
hard hat
Cooties
It's a beautiful shot though!
@@MatecaCorp Might as well throw lead paint in there too.
I live here and remember passing it so much when going to work. I watched it sadly go down and wondered why it was not turned into a place for locals that needed a place. So many rooms empty and people living in cars or in the street. Very sad
Watching this video was eerie because I remember staying in this hotel as a child in the late 70’s. I wondered whatever happened to it when taking my children to Disney more recently. Now I know.
I remember driving by this place in the 90's, as a kid when I lived south of there. It's right off I-4. It was already looking kinda shabby then. But still had cars on the property. It's sad to see this place in it's current condition. Thanks for showing us around!!
Always wondered about this place. We stayed in the resort next door, it was a Raddison then, Sept 2003 and Sept 2006. On one of those trips I made a “wrong turn” onto this property. Got as far as the guard in the booth and turned around. In 2003, I thought it had been closed for years. I was surprised when your video told me it had closed less than 3 weeks before.
Even with the urbex you still bring an astonishing production quality. Gets me everytime! Great Video! Also Matt Leeds is top tier as always!
Yeah you have taken it up a notch lately. Probably some of the best production quality on RUclips.. and not just in the urbex space.
BSF is probably some of the top content on RUclips. A new video comes out and it's the first thing I watch. It also is content that has a lot of re-watchability
It was pretty burned up
If course I'm sure it has been for that amount
No way haha you guys know my name. I've thumbed up on multiple times with my name toast numerous times with my name today
It's amazing how that building is so well preserved for being in Florida
It's all concrete but if they don't do something with it soon, the water will corrode and weaken the rebar and deem it unfixable. If it hasn't already happened.
I'm so excited to see this! I used to drive past this all the time and I always thought it was an abandoned office complex, but resort makes so much more sense.
This mans take on surreal movies is absolutely phenomenal!! You need to be a movie director!! You're incredible! I bought closed for storm and I watch it . everyday!! You're amazing jake!
$77 a night?!? I paid $39 a night in November/December 2001 at Disney’s All Stars!
Damn.
I drive past this property every week and wondered about it. I was unaware how large the place was and always wanted to explore it. Thank you for doing that for me. I wish it could be returned back to it’s former glory.
Great video Jake! I have a great interest in abandoned structures, and this video shows why!
That's crazy, I've passed by this a dozen times on I-4 coming back into Orlando and always thought it was some run down exterior hotel. I never knew it was THIS big! Let alone a resort.
This video was extremely well done. I especially enjoyed the birds eye views, the before and after pics, and the description of how it got this way. Great work!
Can we get a 10-hour relaxing video of that final shot?? Just having that camera sit at the edge of the pool with no sounds but car traffic and bugs was pretty relaxing.
Again, a very well researched presentation by this young man. I appreciate the way in which the history of the site
is presented, as much or even more so than the visual aspects of the "explore" itself.
I've enjoyed this channel's offerings for quite some time now because of that attention to detail; these "chapters"
will serve as reference materials for years to come to those who seek them out.
Well done as always!
- Ed on the Ridge
He broke in and filmed this this isn’t research it’s breaking and entering and trespassing
When I was young we stayed there before going to Disney , the “pods” had different color schemes, ours was purple, and each pod had its own playground, and we wondered over to the yellow pod, and wondered why our keycard would not work , we were lost, but the housekeeper brought me and my brother back to our pod, the keycard was hard plastic,and a bunch of holes in it, they came in packs of 3, 2 for the guests, and 1 for the punch board, if they took that master out, your key would not work. The diner was decorated with bicycles, including one on the wall that the wheels and pedals were powered,and were constantly moving, it was such a classy and futuristic place, I still have my keycard!!!
I remember the key cards as a kid too!
Sooo...what decade was this?!
I remember staying at this hotel (as a Hyatt) at least 3 times, for conventions in 1992 and 1991, plus once as a kid on a family vacation around 1980 +/-.
I also remember the four clusters of rooms each having its own exterior color with Orange and Green coming to mind. So maybe orange, green, purple, and yellow.
As a kid I nicknamed the place "the rainbow Hyatt" (OK, not very creative, but I was young), and I still remember it as such. It was quite the landmark as we usually drove past it just before entering WDW property.
I'd imaging that land is worth tons, given the prime location by a main entrance to WDW, but perhaps the demolition costs to reclaim the land and the sheer amount of hotel competition in the area are keeping the property abandoned. Hard to believe the hotel room buildings could be salvaged and occupied again, but I'm not in construction so I honestly don't know what would or wouldn't be cost effective.
@@alexkx8599 it was before 1980
this is a great video! i loved that you combined an abandoned video and exploring video together!! i love the abandoned series so much. the music was a great touch and reminder that the facility once had life.
Watching this documentary personally was heartfelt. I spent my honeymoon there in 1981. I started skiing at SeaWorld in 1976 and watched this property develop along with everything else in the area. It was always all about location, this was simply a bad location even though it doesn't seem so.
You must have known / know the mother of one of my close childhood friends who was also a SeaWorld water skier back in the '70s, Sherry Runion. Loved reading this comment, thanks for sharing!
And also Bill Peterson who was a long time family friend.
Hard to imagine a piece of property that close to Disney not be redeveloped into something, either remodel or tear down and rebuilt.
Could you imagine how much it would cost to completely raze these buildings? I don't think anyone out there is foolish enough lol
@@samholdsworth420 As it sits the land is worth more than the buildings. Plus the fact the buildings have serious mold issues. Better off to raze the buildings and redevelop.
@@Darkk6969 you are right 👍it would be cheaper, faster and better to tear down than to try and renovate.
@@stanleyhape8427 I think overall what Sam meant was that it would cost millions to tear down all this property AND REBUILD while building a fresh property is probably much more cost affective for Disney who will do anything for a profit even if it means an extra dime.
@@carlgrimeseyepatch27 ok well no one said Disney would be the one doing it.
Of course Disney isn't interested in buying this property. It's not greed it's being smart.
Great video Jake and crew. I've lived across the street from this resort since 1996 in Celebration and always wondered what was inside those buildings. Hopefully someone will purchase this property and do something nice with it. I'm surprised Disney never purchased it...
Wtf is wrong with people that they HAVE to vandalize somewhere so violently??? 😮
Great explore. Thanks for uploading 👏🖤
I agree, but don't think most of the damages should be chalked up to vandalism. This property has seen many tropical storms without maintenance, so water damages, broken glass, stuff strewn about is inevitable.
You leave it abandoned, some teenager will tag it, that’s just how it works…
Hurricanes without protection going to throw stuff around!
I used to live in the condo complex directly behind this property and always wanted to know it’s history! Thanks for sharing. Very cool.
I graduated from Boot Camp in Orlando in 1977. My Mom and sister stayed there for 5 days and I spent a lot of time there when I had leave. I was a fantastic place. To bad that it's just junked. Great memories of my Mom.
It’s kind of crazy to think about all these abandoned buildings near Disney. I live in Florida so there was no real reason to for my family stay at one of these hotels or resorts so I don’t have any fond attachments to them but it’s just really hard to imagine these places being so close to me
I stayed at this property in 1999 for a career field conference when I was in the Air Force. Thank you for making this video and bringing back some memories.
Hi Jake, I never miss any of your videos. Keep up the good work
Thanks so much!!
Glad you covered this . Never realized it’s original name till the other day when I found an old newspaper article
Always weird to me seeing a place like this and thinking about how in another universe with different managerment, different marketing and different circumstances this is still the hottest place to stay around Disney in 2022.
i think it's totally insane that these buildings close and got into disrepair rather than being repurposed
You get better and better with each passing year, Jake! Go you!! 🙌
Thanks so much Alex!
It seems like there would be a business opportunity in salvaging a myriad of things from these buildings, especially if it was done early on.
It could be condos or a retirement village with on premise care and hospice
The mold remediation and repairs would be an astronomical expense . I’ve seen developers tear down buildings in much better shape.
My wife and I actually stayed there for a convention in the late ‘90’s. It seemed nice at the time. Good memories of our stay. We own a timeshare not far from it. It always puzzled me and saddened me to see what happened to it. Thanks for sharing this video and for shedding some light on its story.
My family stayed here in ‘93. It was beautiful, it felt like we were IN Disney World. They had character breakfasts like the actual resorts do now.