Youth hotel

The Hilton at Walt Disney World arrived down the street from the Walt Disney World Village in 1983, and would watch the area come alive with the inclusion of Pleasure Island and West Side, while simultaneously viewing the rebranding of the Village as the Disney Village Marketplace before settling into what is now known as Downtown Disney. When the resort opened in November of 1983 it included special activity area known as the Youth Hotels.

The Youth Hotels housed supervised children’s activities, a video lounge, and a play area and was open to three to twelve year old children when their parents were away from the resort. This photograph, while including the obligatory pair of Walt Disney World mouse ears, also showcases the use of popular toys, such as the Cobra Command tank from G.I. Joe (seen with the boy with the Mickey Mouse sweatshirt).

My favorite piece of the photograph, however, has to be the staff member supervising the children, and more specifically his clothes. The short-shorts for me and tube socks look absolutely frightening by today’s standards, and do cause me to chuckle a little bit, but I don’t know anyone who didn’t have that exact wardrobe in their dresser.