Walt Disney World Archives

Organizations

Oral History Interview with Bill Jennings, President of the College Park Historical Society

Bill Jennings, President of the College Park Historical Society at the Orlando Public Library, October 25, 2023. Photo by Orange County Library System Staff Photographer Amanda Murphy. College Park has produced a lot of great people. I was in a meetin ... Read more

Organizations

Oral History Interview with Jerry Ross, President of the National Entrepreneur Center

Jerry Ross is the President of the National Entrepreneur Center and SBA's 2022 State of Florida Small Business Advocate of the Year! His honors include Orlando Business Journal CEO of the Year, and successful entrepreneur enterprises such as SkyTracker o ... Read more

Topics

Celebrating Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary

A collection of memorable stories and images shared with the Orange County Library System that celebrate Walt Disney World’s 50th anniversary. [caption id="attachment_28061" align="aligncenter" width="420"] Lloyd Bridges filming at Epcot 1983. Submitte ... Read more

People

Oral History Interview with Martha O. Haynie

Martha O. Haynie served as Comptroller for Orange County from 1988 until her retirement on January 2, 2017. Through her leadership, tens of millions of dollars over the years have been added to the Tourist Development Tax collections for Orange County. In ... Read more

Organizations

Oral History Interview with Jayne Willis, Chief Nurse Executive for Orlando Health

Good morning, my name is Jayne McMahan Willis and I was born in Chicago, Illinois in July of 1960... my father was an engineer and when I was one years old he relocated with a job to Orlando, Florida. He worked for General Electric initially and then work ... Read more

Events

Wine & Dine Half Marathon

The 6th Annual run Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon weekend was on November 6th and 7th, 2015. Starting at ESPN's Wide World of Sports and ending at EPOCT, the course was suppose to weave it's way down Osceola Parkway, to Animal Kingdom, back down O ... Read more

Events

Walt Disney Unveils his Plans for Disney World - 1967 - Orlando Sentinel Star

On February 3, 1967, residents of Central Florida and people from around the world finally got to see and read about Walt Disney's vision for his Walt Disney World Resort to be located west of Orlando. A special section in the February 3, 1967 edition of ... Read more

Events

Princess Bryanna's Magical Day

Bryanna liked the Snow White costume and wanted to wear it all night. She decided that if she was Snow White she needed all the little woodland animals that she met after she escaped from the hunter. We gathered all the plants in the house and stuffed an ... Read more

Places

Walt Disney World

Having grown up in Orlando, I have many memories of going to Disney World. In the early 90s my family always had annual passes so we knew the parks like the back of hands. I remember that the first roller coaster I ever rode was Thunder Mountain (it t ... Read more

People

Martin Andersen

Four part interview with Mr. Martin Andersen and his wife Gracie Barr Anderson. Martin Andersen, publisher of the Orlando Sentinel, and his wife Gracia Barr Andersen discuss their lives in Orlando. PART 1: Coming to Orlando - first impressions; ear ... Read more

Places

Walt Disney World Pre-opening Brochure 1970

This full color brochure was given to visitors to the preview center located in the area near hotel row near Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village that opened in April 1970. It has artists renderings of the under-construction Magic Kingdom. Inside Fro ... Read more

People

Edvard Radzinsky

Edvard Radzinsky visited Orlando to speak at the University of Central Florida in 1988. On October 23, 1988, the Orlando Sentinel said this about his visit: Edward Radzinsky, the Soviet Union's most popular playwright, will make three appearances this we ... Read more