Old, Abandoned Hotel off of 192 and I-4

[Dallas_Lady]

This was back when they use to have all the commercials for Kissimmee St Cloud it was the place to be..... not so much anymore one of many abandon or run down proprieties

I remember these commercials from when I was a kid. I wanted to go soooo bad!

 

[valicky]

Just registered to reply to this thread while researching what happened to a hotel I stayed in as a child in the 70s! It was the Carolando when it first opened before being bought by Hyatt. Back then I was most impressed by the room keys being key cards. I think they had holes punched in certain patterns. Very high tech!! Is the Radisson/Ramada closed too? That one had the pool with the waterfall and slide. It's the property next to what was the Carolando. I first stayed in one of the Contemporary outbuilding wings the first summer Disney was open and my mom was telling me it was $35 a night.

 

[Minniefan18]

Just registered to reply to this thread while researching what happened to a hotel I stayed in as a child in the 70s! It was the Carolando when it first opened before being bought by Hyatt. Back then I was most impressed by the room keys being key cards. I think they had holes punched in certain patterns. Very high tech!! Is the Radisson/Ramada closed too? That one had the pool with the waterfall and slide. It's the property next to what was the Carolando. I first stayed in one of the Contemporary outbuilding wings the first summer Disney was open and my mom was telling me it was $35 a night.

I know you posted several months ago but thought I'd respond. The hotel that used to be the Ramada is now the Grand Orlando Resort. https://grandorlandoresortcelebration.com/

 

[FordAnglia]

Greetings,

A big thank you to the earlier posters on this topic, I hope that you're still following this thread.
I found this post by google searching after finding the footprint of the now abandoned property on google maps.

I stayed at this hotel twice. In February 1979, and again sometime in early 1985. Both times it was called "Hyatt House - Kissimmee".

The 1979 trip was also my first Disney Theme Park visit! The second time was to see the brand new (and not yet finished) EPCOT park. We got discount tickets. At the time there were old London double decker buses running around the EPCOT lake, as only a few of the international sites were built.

Two non-Disney memories of the Hyatt House. There was a helicopter pad close by, offering fly over tours of the Disney property (it was beyond my budget at the time) and "Gatorland" which was heavily promoted at the resort. The restaurant on property was themed with bicycles, possible as a franchise called the "Bombay Bicycle Club".

A fond memory of that fresh-squeezed Florida Orange Juice (served with breakfast)!

Peter,

 

[HopperFan]

The 1979 trip was also my first Disney Theme Park visit! The second time was to see the brand new (and not yet finished) EPCOT park. We got discount tickets. At the time there were old London double decker buses running around the EPCOT lake, as only a few of the international sites were built.

Not sure at the moment but one of those double decker buses ended up at 3 Sisters Speakeasy in Kissimmee. Still a photo of it on their website.


https://www.parkeology.com/2017/10/world-showcase-characters-on-holiday-epcot-double-decker-bus.html

 

[FordAnglia]

Thanks for sharing the location of the double decker bus in Kissimmee! We might go and check it out next trip to Florida. BTW, I doubt this was the type used during EPCOT's opening year. I grew up in London, UK, and my recollection was of ex-London Transport buses in this Disney role.
Any EPCOT fans or historians know for sure?

EPCOT probably used old AEC Regent III RT buses (Wikipedia AEC_Regent_III_RT) of 1954 introduction. The last one was pulled from London service in 1979. Many of this type were "shipped overseas" or scrapped, but a few lucky ones were on the roads in the USA. The AEC Routemaster (Wikipedia AEC_Routemaster) which replaced the RT, and was in London service until 2005. The RM was voted one the UK's top icons in 2006 - the classic red double decker bus.

But I digress...

Peter,

 

[DL1WDW2]

When I drive by this location I am amazed it has not been purchased because it seems to be a great location. ..big enough for the Brightline train station maybe ?

 

[Rpsemont]

We stayed there when it was the Hyatt. We got it on priceline. I think it was 2000 or 2001 (is it in my signature? I can't see that while typing here )

 

[Rikko]

Great sleuthing @bankr63 and @sgtdisney - I didn't realize that is was open so recently...though from the reviews it sounds like it was in sad disrepair towards the end.

Hey guys.
I'm from Orlando and used to be a bell boy at the Hyatt in 1978.
I found this thread through a Google search. I'm staying next door at the Old Ramada which is now the Grand Orlando resort
I walked over and through the old Hyatt this afternoon. I took pics of several things, it's very creepy . If there was a way to post pics here, I would share them. I might come back and do some urban exploration some time, as info that from time to time.pretty sure there's some transients living there, it has graffiti on the walls and lots of the room have the sliding glass doors broken in. The furniture is still inside of the rooms. I could have walked into what used to be the lobby,but chickened out lol. I'll do it next time.
Anyways if you want to know anything about it, let me know

 

[Rikko]

Just registered to reply to this thread while researching what happened to a hotel I stayed in as a child in the 70s! It was the Carolando when it first opened before being bought by Hyatt. Back then I was most impressed by the room keys being key cards. I think they had holes punched in certain patterns. Very high tech!! Is the Radisson/Ramada closed too? That one had the pool with the waterfall and slide. It's the property next to what was the Carolando. I first stayed in one of the Contemporary outbuilding wings the first summer Disney was open and my mom was telling me it was $35 a night.

The Ramada is now the Grand Orlando resort.- you're right about the key cards.

 

[sgtdisney]

The Ramada is now the Grand Orlando resort.- you're right about the key cards.

I still have some of the card keys (somewhere) from Disney back in that time period where there were holes punched out in the card. Fancy. I can only imagine the place is really in a bad state now, it was bad a while ago.

 

[Rikko]

I still have some of the card keys (somewhere) from Disney back in that time period where there were holes punched out in the card. Fancy. I can only imagine the place is really in a bad state now, it was bad a while ago.

I took some pics but don't know if I can post them here

 

[Alicefan]

I took some pics but don't know if I can post them here

you can.

 

[GoofyDad_4427]

I took some pics but don't know if I can post them here

You can post pics here, but you need a certain amount of posts before you are able to do so. I am not sure what that number is.

 

[FigmentKrazee]

Bright Sun Films just posted a YouTube video about the history of this location and what it looks like today.

Just search for "Astonishing ABANDONED Florida Resort Near Disney" on YouTube. They walk inside the building as it stands today. Pretty fascinating stuff, but so sad too.

 

[Boeing 737]

Thank you for posting this information. Very interesting. Watching the YouTube video now.

 

[Jrb1979]

 

[KristinU]

Wow, BSF does some amazing levels of research, I always love his videos but this one especially! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Jrb1979]

Wow, BSF does some amazing levels of research, I always love his videos but this one especially! Thanks for sharing!

You're welcome.

 

[Momto8]

We stayed at the Hyatt Orlando in 1979 when my husband worked for Prudential Insurance. We attended a business conference there, and it was a very nice hotel with a huge conference center. We were able to spend a couple of days at the Magic Kingdom during the conference, which was the only park back then (I don't think they even called it the MK back then since it was the only park). We brought 2 of our kids with so we got to do Disney on a free trip!

We have driven past this hotel a few times in recent years, and since I remember it was on the corner of I-4 and 192, I knew it was the Hyatt we stayed at since I could see the pod buildings. I remember there was hardly anything around back then. We had to drive to Kissimmee for dinner one night, and it seemed like we drove 10 miles just to find a restaurant!

I have wondered why it has sat abandoned for so long since it is a prime piece of property too. Kind of sad.