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Do you remember...
When you saved every penny of your allowance to buy the
latest 45 rpm record?
When "walkin' the dog" wasn't about canines, but
the yo-yo craze? When you solved (or at least tried to
solve) your first Rubik's Cube?
When the Sony Walkman revolutionized music on-the-go? Maybe
a day when tie-dyed shirts and bellbottoms were fashion
crazes? How about when everything was "tubular"?
Walt Disney World guests can take a spin back in time at
Disney's Pop Century Resort, the newest value hotel at the
Florida Vacation Kingdom. Guests of all ages groove to pop
culture from the past in this 2,880-room time capsule. And
they do it at Disney's value-category rates.
With rooms starting at $79 a night (based on season), the
hotel brings the total number of Disney-owned-and-operated
value-category rooms across the 47-square-mile Walt Disney
World Resort to more than 8,500. Disney's Pop Century Resort
opened Dec. 14, 2003.
Larger-than-life icons of 20th century popular culture are
found all over the sprawling resort property -- four-story
Rubik's Cubes and Duncan Yo-Yos, 65-foot-tall bowling pins and
55-foot cellular phones, to name a few. Individual lodge
buildings pay tribute to popular culture from each decade.
Three feature pools sit within a "pop," skip and
jump from each other, offering a way to beat the heat while
taking a walk down memory lane.
Highlights include:
Be-bopping in the 1950s
The 1950s area features giant sock-hoppers dancing on the
sides of the lodge buildings, possibly be-bopping to
rock-and-roll tunes from the 40-foot-tall tabletop jukebox
that anchors the courtyard. A bowling pin-shaped pool provides
guests a cool dip. Or they can choose to relax on the bowling
alley-inspired pool deck. The canine character stars from
Disney's "Lady and the Tramp" animated feature film
(released to theater audiences in 1955) gaze at each other
across the courtyard.
A swirl of color in the 1960s
Amidst tie-dyed hues and psychedelic colors, the 1960s
buildings bring out the fun in everyone. Play-Doh Pete, the
artful child that adorned Play-Doh labels in the 1960s, is
featured on a giant can of the popular modeling compound.
Peeking out the top of the can are several Play-Doh animal
creations, including a blue elephant and a yellow giraffe.
Sharp-eyed guests will spot the "thumbprints" on the
elephant's ears, seemingly created by the child who modeled
the Play-Doh pachyderm. Baloo and Mowgli from Disney's
"The Jungle Book" (released in 1967) are
hand-in-hand across the courtyard. Giant Duncan Imperial-model
yo-yos, with "strings" that measure more than
one-foot in diameter, bookend each 1960s building. The
centerpiece of the area is the Hippy Dippy Pool, a
flower-shaped pool complete with squirting petals on the
periphery.
Big Wheel, Big Cheese in the '70s
In the 1970s courtyard, the colorful Big Wheel riding toy
gets ready to roll, while a classic Mickey Mouse rotary-dial
telephone calls from across the courtyard. Between the two
towering icons, table soccer players stand at the ready for
guests to wander amidst their imaginary game. Eight-track
tapes, the popular musical medium of the decade, corner each
building.
Popular puzzles, tunes "on-the-go" in the
'80s
In the 1980s area of Disney's Pop Century Resort, the most
"puzzling" toy of the decade, the Rubik's Cube,
towers more than 40 feet tall on each building. (Walt Disney
Imagineers designed the different cubes to represent different
stages of the solution process.) Across the courtyard, one of
the original Sony Walkman models, and accompanying headphone
set, anchors the building.
Technology advances in the '90s
Closing out the century, the 1990s area pays tribute to two
personal technology marvels -- the cellular telephone and the
computer. A giant laptop computer is the centerpiece, while
early-model cellular telephones stand at each corner. In the
middle of the courtyard is a computer-shaped pool, complete
with a spongy keyboard that offers guests an alphabet-filled
pool deck area.
Disney resorts offer something for everyone
With the addition of Disney's Pop Century Resort, Walt
Disney World Resort features nearly 25,000 Disney
owned-and-operated guestrooms across the 47-square-mile
vacation kingdom.
With 22 resorts, there is something for everyone -- from
"value" to "deluxe" -- all with special
perks afforded to guests who stay in the middle of the magic.
Guest benefits include special motorcoach, monorail and
water taxi transportation to Walt Disney World theme parks,
water parks and entertainment areas; guaranteed entry, with
select tickets, into the Disney theme parks even when the
parking lot is full; preferred tee times on Disney golf
courses; and central billing to the guest's room key card.
One of the most popular resort perks is Extra Magic Hours.
Each day, one of the four Walt Disney World theme parks opens
one hour early or stays open three hours later exclusively for
guests at select Disney resorts, providing extra time in the
parks to experience select attractions and meet and greet
Disney characters. In addition, both Disney water parks offer
an Extra Magic Hours benefit, opening one hour early daily for
guests at select Disney resort hotels.
From mood rings to 8-track tapes, surfboards to pet rocks,
Superman to saddle shoes, so much nostalgia pours from
Disney's Pop Century Resort that a lobby hobby for guests
could be "Walkin' the Wall."
The Wall, in this case, is a memory lane of wall-mounted
"shadow boxes" brimming with the fads, fashions,
music, toys and trinkets from the 1950s, '60s, '70s, '80s and
'90s. It's across from the check-in desk for Disney's newest
value-priced resort, a whimsical layout of lodge buildings
marked by iconic monuments to yesteryear, including a Big
Wheel, Rubik's Cube, Play-Doh can and jukebox.
Jayne Alcorn, show production designer with Walt Disney
Imagineering, led Disney's treasure hunt. To help set the
nostalgic tone of the resort, she and her team spent six
months combing every flea market, antiques shop, yard sale and
vintage clothing store they could find as far north as
Massachusetts and as far west as California.
"We struck out after what America was playing with,
what it was wearing, eating, what the popular TV shows and
movies were, what inventions came out and what families did
for vacation," she says.
Fifty years surrendered amazing finds. Alcorn and her team
amassed around 750 items for the timeline collection. And when
their punch list lacked that special nugget to make a decade
complete, there was always the online auction world of eBay.
When Disney's Pop Century Resort guests go "Walkin'
the Wall" the wayback memories will gush faster than you
can say "Leave It To Beaver."
From the 1950s: a Betty Crocker cookbook, Lionel train set,
hula-hoop, Silly Putty. Disneyland opened. Television gave us
"Mickey Mouse Club," "77 Sunset Strip" and
"The Honeymooners." Cootie and Pick Up Stix were the
games America played. Home canning was the rage and be-boppers
at the corner diner "turned the page" of their
tableside push-button music selectors to hear their favorite
Elvis or Frankie Avalon 45.
Superman and Roy Rogers were the "action heroes"
of the era, transistor radios were as ever-present as today's
cellular phones and a small country could fit inside a woman's
"beehive" hair-do.
Of course the '50s -- and the collection -- wouldn't be
complete without saddle shoes, a poodle skirt and letter
sweater. Movies and restaurants were drive-ins -- and
that'll be 25 cents for the ham and eggs, please.
America hit the road in the 1960s; our motoring passion
gave rise to chain motels and fueled a "golden era"
of postcards and tacky souvenirs. Ever groovy, we laced up our
suede boots, flashed peace symbols and worshipped Peter Max.
Play-Doh, surfing, the Twist and Man on the Moon! helped stamp
the '60s. TV rode our space craze with "My Favorite
Martian" and the "Jetsons."
Remember pet rocks, lava lamps, 8-track tapes and disco?
Then you remember the 1970s. In our hip-hugging jeans and
double-knit leisure suits we caught "Saturday Night
Fever," boogied to Donna Summer, and YMCA'd to The
Village People. Who wasn't riveted to "Star Wars"?
Or Bond, James Bond? That bright yellow "Happy Face"
had a smile as wide as '70s bell-bottoms, remember? And the
"Rocky Horror Picture Show" boasts legions of fans
to this day.
Greatest hits of the 1980s? Microwave cooking hit the big
time. So did fitness -- from Deal-A-Meal diets to countless
aerobics videos and books. America went gaga over Cabbage
Patch Dolls and Trivial Pursuit.
America in the 1990s moved. On skateboards,
snowboards or inline skates. Technology gave us cellular
phones and portable computers. "Save the Earth" gave
us something to rally around. TV gave us Salad Shooter
commercials. And if you knew sushi, you knew the '90s.
Whether they linger at Maxwell Smart, or the soda fountain
scenes stir up three-scoop memories, Alcorn thinks time
travelers of all ages will gravitate to the giant collection.
"We think guests will just come in and reminisce on
their own," she says. "Who could not be moved by all
these memories?"
The Facts
Overview: Disney's Pop Century Resort is a
celebration of 20th century pop culture. The 2,880-room
resort's larger-than-life "time capsules" showcase
the popular toys, fads, dance crazes and catch phrases of the
20th century. How people lived. How they played. How they
celebrated. Guests have the opportunity to live and play
inside these unique time capsules and experience popular
culture that defined the century.
Resort Description: Disney's newest value-category
resort, Disney's Pop Century Resort features lodge buildings
and furnishings inspired by different decades. Giant pop
culture icons were constructed to celebrate the decade they
were introduced in, or when they gained their greatest
popularity. Some of these icons tower more than 60 feet.
Opening Date: Dec. 14, 2003
Room Rates: Beginning at $79 per night, based on
season.
Location: 1050 Century Drive, Lake Buena Vista,
Fla., 32830. Near Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex and
Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort.
General Manager: Dave Vermeulen (also serves as
general manager of Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort).
Features:
- Accommodations: 2,880 guestrooms. Rooms are 260
square feet, with two double beds or one king bed, a table
and two chairs, vanity area and sink with separate
bathroom, 27-inch color television, in-room wall safe,
telephones with voice mail and data port. Available on
request: non-smoking rooms, rooms accessible to guests
with disabilities, hearing-impaired TDD telephones, visual
smoke alarms, bed boards and bed rails, refrigerators
(extra charge), cribs, iron and ironing board. Room
furnishings include custom-designed and themed bed
coverings, wall art and wallpaper borders.
- Food and Beverage: Offerings include Everything
Pop, a 640-seat food court area; Classic Concoctions, a
quick-service lounge; pizza delivery to guestrooms; and
Petals Pool Bar (located adjacent to Hippy Dippy
Pool).
-
- Resort Shopping: A 5,000-square-foot retail
center in Classic Hall offers resort-specific merchandise
and Walt Disney World souvenirs.
-
- Resort Recreation: Three feature pools -- the
Bowling Pin Pool, the Hippy Dippy Pool and the Computer
Pool; a kiddie pool; playground; and the Fast Forward
arcade. Goofy stands watch over Pop Jet Playground, a
playland of popping water located near the 1970s lodge
buildings.
The Fun
- The bowling pin icons tower more than 65 feet high. A
regulation bowling pin is 15 inches tall.
- If you count the giant bowling pin icons, there are nine
standing around the resort. Where's the tenth? It's
actually the bowling pin pool in the courtyard!
-
- Take a closer look at the pool deck around the bowling
pin pool and you'll spot the triangular lane markings that
are seen on bowling alleys everywhere.
-
- The Rubik's Cube icons reach a peak of 41 feet off the
ground. By comparison, a Rubik's Cube puzzle toy stands
nearly four inches at its tallest point.
-
- The resort's 8-track tapes are more than 35 feet tall,
with "tape" that is more than one-foot in width.
A real 8-track tape is a mere five-and-one-quarter inches
tall, with a tape that is only one-quarter inch wide.
-
- The table soccer players are more than 12 feet tall, and
the "toy" ball is more than two-and-one-half
feet in diameter.
-
- Nearly 125,000 gallons of paint were used to create the
bright colors and tie-dyed hues on the buildings' interior
and exterior walls.
-
- In the 1960s area, giant "thumbprints" can be
spotted on the ears of the elephant peeking out of the
giant Play-Doh canister. And can you name the child
depicted on the Play-Doh can? That's Play-Doh Pete!
-
- The giant Big Wheel icon can "accommodate" a
child rider that weighs up to 877 pounds (or so says the
sticker on the towering riding toy). That matches the
stickers that were affixed to the original Big Wheel toys
of the 1970s that designated a "recommended child
weight."
-
- Service and equipment buildings are cleverly disguised
all over the resort. At the 1950s bowling pin pool, the
laundry looks like a bowling shoe storage bin. In the
1990s, an equipment building appears to be a
larger-than-life stack of computer floppy disks.
-
- The 1970s courtyard pays tribute to the age of disco,
with a motion-based disco light mounted in the middle of
the courtyard. This color-changing light sends streams of
light across the '70s-inspired outdoor "dance
floor."
Source: Walt Disney World
Public Relations
POP
GOES THE CENTURY: Guests take a stroll down memory lane at
Disney's Pop Century Resort where larger-than-life icons pay
tribute to popular culture of the 20th century. Sixty-five
foot-tall bowling pins, four-story-tall jukeboxes and
37-foot-tall cans of Play-Doh are just a few of the icons that
can be seen at the resort. Disney's Pop Century Resort, the
newest value-category hotel at Walt Disney World Resort in
Lake Buena Vista, Fla., features rooms starting at $77 a
night, based on season.
BIG
WHEEL, BIG MOUSE: The primary mode of pedal-powered
transportation for many kids in the 1970s -- the Big Wheel --
has made a comeback (in a big way!) at Disney's Pop Century
Resort, the newest value-category hotel at Walt Disney World
Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. In the shadow of the Big
Wheel, giant table soccer players stand ready, while a
1970s-style Mickey Mouse telephone calls from across the
courtyard.
JUKEBOX
SOCK-HOP -- A giant tabletop jukebox anchors a 1950s lodge
building as giant sock-hoppers be-bop on the hotel's exterior
at Disney's Pop Century Resort, the newest value-category
hotel at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista,
Fla.
PEEK
INTO THE PAST: Large shadowboxes in the lobby of Disney's Pop
Century Resort feature an extensive display of pop culture.
Walt Disney Imagineers searched the country for hundreds of
original pop culture artifacts -- including toys, inventions,
games, popular food items, magazines, books and records -- to
feature in the giant timeline. Disney's Pop Century Resort,
the newest value-category hotel at Walt Disney World Resort in
Lake Buena Vista, Fla., pays tribute to the popular toys,
dances, catch phrases and fads through the decades.
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