This week back in 1975, shopping took on a whole new meaning as the Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village (you might know it as the Downtown Disney Marketplace) opened.
The LBV Shopping Village was home to shops such as Toys Fantastique, The Flower Garden and The Pottery Chalet pictured below. What I wouldn’t give to purchase a treasure offered at The Pottery Chalet today!
Although the area has grown and changed over the years, it’s still a great place to spend the day shopping, dining, and playing at Downtown Disney.
Walt Disney World Resort
More Walt Disney World Resort StoriesVintage Walt Disney World: Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village Opens
by Nate Rasmussen, Librarian, Walt Disney Archives
Comments
My father in law loved the Disney Spirits shop. And wasn’t Chef Mickey’s orginally located here?
This is excellent! I love vintage Disney photos. 🙂
Our family loves Downtown Disney! It is a part of our every WDW vacation. We used to plan only a half day to shop but now we plan a full day (our “down” day)and shop ’til we drop! We do alot of Christmas shopping as well as Disney treasures for ourselves. We ship everything home so we don’t have to worry about luggage space. We love receiving the packages with that familiar shipping label.World of Disney is our favorite. Now with so many of the restaurants on the DDP we spend the whole day there at Downtown Disney and don’t worry about leaving to get to a dining reservation.
Thanks Nate!! I thought I was looking across the water to where the World of Disney store is. Looks like it may have been taken from Capn’ Jacks restaurant (which I will sorely miss when the Disney Springs renovation is complete)
It’s so much fun to look at old photos of Disney property! Do any of the original Shopping Village buildings still stand?
More photos please.
Visited there for the first time in April 1978. So many fond memories of wandering around shopping and eating at Captain Jack’s. I still love to visit Capt. Jacks every trip if I can because it is so nostalgic for our family. Everytime they renovate the Village I worry that it might disappear, I hope it never does. Especially with the big changes coming of Disney Springs.
What is in place now where that Pottery Chalet is in that 2nd picture? I love having “then & now” pics.
Good question, my friends at the WDW Library and Research Center state that the Pottery Chalet was located across from where the Waterside Stage sits today. It was one of several locations that now make up the World of Disney store. (Though a new building was constructed for World of Disney.)
We love downtown Disney. We look forward to shopping, restaurants, and having our favorite ice cream, Ghirardelli.
I love Ghirardelli ice cream too!
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