For many years Pointe Orlando was a shopping, dining and entertainment complex on the less congested end of International Drive. Perhaps the best loved anchor store of the complex was Orlando’s own FAO Schwarz.
ABOVE: This is FAO Schwarz entrance at Pointe Orlando on International Drive. We visited the store in 1997, the year it opened. This is the entrance from the 2nd floor landing at Pointe Orlando showing the larger-than-life size Raggedy Ann doll.
Gracing the exterior of the building was a huge Raggedy Ann doll and FAO Schwarz’ signature giant Teddy Bear.
ABOVE: This photo is also from FAO Schwarz at Pointe Orlando on I-Drive. It was taken in November 1997.
FAO Schwarz opened at Pointe Orlando in 1997 but was closed in 2004. Even though they returned to Orlando at the Mall at Millennia, the original store with the life size Star Wars villain, huge stuffed animals and beautiful baby dolls will always be my favorite.
ABOVE: This is FAO Schwarz entrance at Pointe Orlando on International Drive. We visited the store in 1997, the year it opened.
Paul Porto created a wonderful montage of Pointe Orlando from 1997 to 2001 and shared it with Orlando Memory in October 2024.
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FAO Schwarz
This is FAO Schwarz entrance at Pointe Orlando on International Drive. We visited the store in 1997, the year it opened.
FAO Schwarz
This is FAO Schwarz entrance at Pointe Orlando on International Drive. We visited the store in 1997, the year it opened. This...
FAO Schwarz - Raggedy Ann
This photo is also from FAO Schwarz at Pointe Orlando on I-Drive. It was taken in November 1997.
hello im wondering if anyone has a picture of the huge cake that was made for the grand opening …i know it was shown on channel 13 news ..i helped make the cake and have lost the pictures i had taken ..i would be soooo grateful
Greetings Patricia! Thank you for visiting Orlando Memory’s post on FAO Schwarz at Pointe Orlando. They opened on Saturday, August 2, 1997, so perhaps that is the date your cake was featured? There is no mention of the cake in the Orlando Sentinel articles about the grand opening, but hopefully, someone, somewhere has a photo. Have you tried contacting https://faoschwarz.com/ marketing or advertising department. Surely they have photos of the event with the cake. THE ORLANDO MEMORY TEAM
Pictures: https://youtu.be/RwgL2FQxHvY
Greetings Paul! All we can say is “WOW!” Thanks for sharing your cool montage of Pointe Orlando! We will certainly add it to the body of the post, as well! We hope you will continue to visit Orlando Memory and share with us all! THE ORLANDO MEMORY TEAM
I have pictures of my kids from the Grande Opening if you would like me to share.
Hello Millicent! Thanks for visiting Orlando Memory and offering to add your family memories! We would love to add your photos and will contact you via email to make the arrangements! We hope you find more memories of Orlando to share!
I was part of the Opening Loss Prevention team at FAO in Orlando. Lots of good memories while working for the company.
Sad to see the company go. I also worked in in Chicago and traveled to the Vegas store which was equally as amazing as Orlando.
I have some great pics if you ever want to add them.
Hi Paige, do you have any photos of inside of FAO – Orlando? barely any photos of the interior seems to exist online, same with many places on I-drive which have closed e.g. Belz, Mercado.
thank you
Paige, thank you for visiting Orlando Memory and sharing your memories of FOA Schwarz at Pointe Orlando. It was an amazing store and fun to visit. We’ll be contacting you about the photos!
My dadWas part of the construction crew that built FAO Schwartz in Orlando. My dad was asked to build another large scale toy outside and raggedy and was built because it’s my favorite. It would’ve never existed if my father had and build it or brought the idea up.
Thanks for sharing this amazing story about the history of the FAO Schwartz store in Orlando! It was an amazing building and so many locals and visitors from around the world loved visiting there. My kids loved Raggedy Ann, too! Please send us your Dad’s name and the name of the construction company so we may added it to the post. If you have photos of your dad on the site, we’d love to add those too.