My family stayed at Pop Century in 2006. Me and my younger brother went walking around the lake one night and wandered around the vacant buildings. It was real strange to be in what felt like an overgrown wasteland just to look back across the lake to the pop century all lit up with its colorful lights. We eventually had to avoid the security guard doing rounds and head back but it’s a great memory I have from that Disney trip.

“One of the most devastating tourism crashes in history”. Little did we know a year later covid would literally shut down the whole world

@Pikachu2Ash

4 жыл бұрын

Not the whole world exactly but a good chunk of it.

@okoro14534

4 жыл бұрын

The tourism crash he was talking about was in the early 2000's... 16/17 years ago...

@tiffprendergast

4 жыл бұрын

Okoro 9/11

@okoro14534

4 жыл бұрын

@@tiffprendergast yes, I'm well aware.

@doubledthread56

3 жыл бұрын

@@Pikachu2Ash it was literally the whole world in March-April

Fun Fact: the art of animation's main pool has underwater speakers, so you can listen to Disney music while you swim!

@dx.feelgood5825

5 жыл бұрын

Epiiiiiiiiiiicccccccc!!!!!!!!

@cassandradube-savard5213

5 жыл бұрын

That is so cool😍

@tay_thepuppy1994

5 жыл бұрын

Well.... mostly it’s just random country music for some reason 😂😂😂. I was in there for an hour and there was about 7 country songs that aren’t from Disney movies or shorts.

@Avocado11

5 жыл бұрын

How many people rise up out of the water to match "Part of your World"?

@Maya-fd2vi

5 жыл бұрын

Jackson Education ya it’s so cool

When you hear the years "2000" and "open in 2002" you already know what's going to happen.

@davis6123

5 жыл бұрын

Yeah, after 9/11 and the subsequent recession, tons of projects were cancelled or abandoned.

@jdizzle7249

5 жыл бұрын

DC makes no sense why they would do that

@evanredacted7977

5 жыл бұрын

@@jdizzle7249 I mean the reason they were postponed makes sense- no one would come. Some were resumed (like the opening of pop century) but outright cancellation could be anything from a better idea or disinterest in a current one, or just a pernament lack of funding.

@jdizzle7249

5 жыл бұрын

Evan [REDACTED] thats what im saying bro lol they cancel a whole project and waste money but in a way i guess they didnt in the end cause they still built the park

@DelphinusVyse

5 жыл бұрын

@@jdizzle7249 Better to cancel it and cut your losses sometimes rather than pour more money into finishing something that isn't going to be successful.

2001: one of the most devastating tourism crashes in history. 2020: hold mi pandemic.

Nice to see you getting back into abandoned Disney/amusement park stuff

@FoxStarLine

5 жыл бұрын

He needs to go back to Discovery Island

@RobertMungo

5 жыл бұрын

Yes, he hasn’t... ABANDONDED it!

@themusicguy2879

5 жыл бұрын

Nice to see you getting back into abandoned Disney/amusement park stuff

@mattfahringer148

5 жыл бұрын

@@themusicguy2879 nice to see that you can copy and paste someone else's comment

@smirage22

5 жыл бұрын

Nice to see this

It’s cool that they reused some of the abandoned buildings for the Art of Animation resort. How they turned an abandoned resort into a thriving and popular resort to stay at. Although I like AoA, I wish Legendary Years opened. I love Monopoly so it would be nice to see a giant Monopoly board since I’ve been to all the streets on the board in Atlantic City. It would’ve been interesting to see how they would do the 40s and 30s. How would they incorporate the Great Depression...into a hotel room

@arj1185

5 жыл бұрын

I agree

@xrisingwolfx8466

5 жыл бұрын

Honestly they probably just did that to save money lol

@alisathestrongone2087

5 жыл бұрын

Avery Lopez-Baines BOT

@cowsrbeefy

5 жыл бұрын

How is this a day old?

@arj1185

5 жыл бұрын

Right

Tacky? I'd die to have a grand piano shaped swimming pool lol

@haileyshannon7548

5 жыл бұрын

Elton John has one, so they have to be coo!

@oldenweery7510

5 жыл бұрын

@@haileyshannon7548 Frank Sinatra had one and Liberace had one, too.

@UnchainedAmerica

5 жыл бұрын

Hes talking about the façade and the interior of the rooms. They are hideous.

@tweachiemercer1589

5 жыл бұрын

@@UnchainedAmerica - That's your opinion.

@aislesoffiles

5 жыл бұрын

@@UnchainedAmerica It's obviously geared more to a kid's taste and aesthetic, not an adult's. All of the value resorts are like that. You also have to think about the timeframe in which they were built as well (a little...a lot dated!) You have to step up to the moderate resorts to start seeing a level of sophistication.

Wow, I stayed at the Art of Animation section with my family about 10 years ago, had no idea those buildings were abandoned for so long before that

Disney? Economy? Seriously, though, I do remember this. It's always fascinating to hear even companies like Disney have to scrap and redo plans

@alohalivin556

5 жыл бұрын

Joshua Ayres relative economy... only

@greatdaneacdc

5 жыл бұрын

They didn't know 911 was going to happen !

@rickysmama9638

4 жыл бұрын

When it opened you could stay there for $50-$75 a night. Now it is really expensive.

@stanwolenski9541

4 жыл бұрын

Joshua Ayres We’ve stayed at the Disney Aluni in Hawaii, a double hit, first everything is automatically more expensive in Hawaii, second everything is even more expensive at Disney resort. We carried one suitcase with groceries from the mainland

@AkSonya1010

4 жыл бұрын

if you have ever stayed at WDW and then stayed at one of these properties you would understand. There is no comparison.

They actually made the right business move

@tiffprendergast

4 жыл бұрын

Christian Thomas yeah

Sadly the Legendary Resort sounds like a place I would had liked to stay I love early 1900's to 40's designs.

@Clay3613

5 жыл бұрын

Universal Florida has a 40s-60s themed hotel.

@christopherwall2121

5 жыл бұрын

I think you're ascribing too much artistic value to the budget hotels. The decor would be less art deco and more that giant Monopoly board.

@dumontpictures7303

5 жыл бұрын

Me too. It too bad that disney couldn't finish on what they had out.

@cheeseebun

4 жыл бұрын

same

@lyndenbartholomew7415

4 жыл бұрын

I would love to stay in an early 1900 hotel because that’s my favorite era lol

The remodel of the rooms of the Pop Century is really nice. It felt modern with bits of mickey here and there.

We stayed in Pop Century in 2005 in one of the end buildings facing the legendary year buildings. I can remember being taken back by the eery empty buildings but never knew the whole story behind them. You could tell they had just given up on them. It made me a little sad.

@DatamasterCorporation

5 жыл бұрын

I stayed there around that time when I was much younger. I remember seeing those but just thought they were still building them.

@daltonstuff

5 жыл бұрын

exact same story, we went to croos the lake but we're called back to the room and never got to see up close. always wanted to see the abandoned resort

@jenniferried1954

4 жыл бұрын

SAME

@ZGryphon

2 жыл бұрын

In the old photos, they kind of look like a smaller version of Prora, which, well, wouldn't be the absolute strangest resort concept Disney's ever gone with.

I watched this, then one of your earlier videos. You've made HUGE improvements in that time! You are still casual and friendly but give a ton of brilliant information and visuals. You've gained a subscriber. I'm glad you stuck with this concept and really made it work. Great job!

Pop Century is my favorite resort at Disney and I really enjoy the history of it. I love when you re-do some of your earlier videos that were a little less than perfect. You have grown and improved so much since the beginning. I am a big fan of your work and listen to it often. I know you can not re-do all your earlier videos however I hope there will be others ones like this one and Discovery Island(my favorite).

I've been a fan since the first Abandoned and it's crazy to see you're already at Ep 45! Your original videos were NEVER bad but you've definitely improved your skills over time. Stoked for another 45 epic vids.

This came up on my recommendation page quickly. Nicely done YT algorithm.

@BrightSunFilms

5 жыл бұрын

bless.

@themusicguy2879

5 жыл бұрын

@@BrightSunFilms Hello

@bibasik7

5 жыл бұрын

Well I saw this because I’m in the NoTiFiCaTiOn SqUaD.

@themusicguy2879

5 жыл бұрын

Bright Sun Films 5 hours ago bless.

@themusicguy2879

5 жыл бұрын

Well I saw this because I’m in the NoTiFiCaTiOn SqUaD.

Art of Animation is a fantastic resort. My family and I stayed there for 2 weeks back in 2016, I was 21 and my sister 19 with our parents and we all loved it. It was one of the best resorts we've ever stayed at and created the best memories of any Disney trip we've ever done. I have to strongly disagree that the rooms are tacky. They are so well thought out and there is no detail missed, to a true Disnerd this is what we live for in a Disney Vacation.

@Darth_Nunchucks

2 жыл бұрын

It is. I was just staying there this week until Thursday!

@karenturbush5077

2 жыл бұрын

Anyone remember the song from 1973/74 that's was played at WDW resorts...polynesian, and contemporary at the time. On the WDW TV station they repeated the comercial w a lady in blue, families behind her..they sang a jingle..that repeated walt disney world? I would love to find it.

only og's will remember when brightsungaming not films made this

@HarveyDentalfloss

5 жыл бұрын

That’s what I was thinking! I could have sworn he did this one already.

@Fade2GrayOG

5 жыл бұрын

I was starting to think 'Wait. Did I see this on Defunctland? That doesn't sound right, but I know I've seen this somewhere before.'

@BrightSunFilms

5 жыл бұрын

I remember making that video in like 4 days in the basement of my parents house... Hopefully this version is better.

@mollysilver7

5 жыл бұрын

wow I forgot he used to be called that... oof

@Zataxx

5 жыл бұрын

Bright Sun Films the original will always be the best

It's great to see the place come back to life. I love learning about abandoned places but it's always a little saddening when it just slowly dies away instead of being revived

I watched your original video on this and loved it so much! thank you very much for a re-doing it or adding any additional information. love what you do so much!

Not to get off subject or disrespect or anything but visiting Disney during The Great Recession was the best time to go for us. Minimum lines and hotel prices were affordable af

@staringcorgi6475

2 жыл бұрын

there’s free birthday admissions so that’s great

How interesting! I actually stayed in the art of animation little mermaid resort the first year it opened! I had no idea it had this background! Thank you!

Walt Disney considered the years 1933-1945 to be quite legendary.

@tetraxis3011

Жыл бұрын

…

the legendary years would have been amazing i really wish it would have been completed

I absolutely loved the first video on the Legendary Years Resort. I am glad that you made an updated video. Thank you! I am a big fan of your videos!

This is a very good re-do. When compared to the earlier one, it goes to show how much this channel has improved. And how much talent and potential you have. This is definitely one of the quality channels on KZread. CONGRATULATIONS and keep it up! -- Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

I ended up going to WDW in November 2001, 2 months after 9/11. Round trip from New York York was $125, and hotels in Downtown Disney were $25/ night!

@BrightSunFilms

5 жыл бұрын

Unbelievable.

@thisismysea

5 жыл бұрын

Whoa! You should've stayed for a month, lol.

@kaleyjoplinRAWRR

5 жыл бұрын

That’s crazy! 😮

@AlexGulinoHouli

5 жыл бұрын

@@thisismysea Lol, imagine!? (Annnnd I had a season pass already so the trip cost me almost nothing for the week)

@shawbros

4 жыл бұрын

Wow. So terrorism actually did have some benefits.

Your first video of the legendary years was the video that got me hooked to your abandoned series

I love how much research you do for each video! Way to go, Jake

It’s nice to see Old Key West represented once in a while on youtube videos I see, always feels like the ‘forgotten’ resort despite being a good resort room wise.

In 2005 when I was 11 my family went to Disney and we stayed at Pop Century. I loved watching the original as well as this one and found it interesting! Brought back memories as well. ☺️

Love the Abandoned videos! But, it always makes me want to go out and explore abandon places! Can't wait for more videos!! 😄😄😄

A 1920s themed resort sounds fire. Art deco everywhere, swing music playing throughout the resort, old cars placed throughout, and food offerings that served food that was popular at the time. Sounds great.

You do such a great job exposing and explaining the history of all of these abandoned places! I’ve watched them all! Great job brother!

"What's up guys my name is Jake and welcome to abandoned episode...." Is the best intro ever!

@exitscreaming

5 жыл бұрын

Ummmm.......o.......k

I remember staying at the Pop Century in spring of 2004 as a kid. I think we were in the 70s building. The decor is extremely tacky and gaudy, but for a kid it was quite the experience. There was the big wheel of course and the bowling pin and rubik's cube. I remember waking up early every day and seeing the workers hosing off the concrete and how fresh everything seemed. It's crazy to think that we stayed there only a few months after they opened it. I also remember looking across the pond and being confused as what they were supposed to be. My parents explained that they were the other buildings to complete the other decades for the resort. It's interesting that they revived partially complete buildings and went in a different direction.

@tweachiemercer1589

5 жыл бұрын

Tacky and gaudy ? It sure beats the heck out of the generic decor of some of the other WDW resort hotels.

@nickrustyson8124

3 жыл бұрын

I mean, 1970s design isn't really that great

Could not have been a better day. Just watched The Grand Tour and now another Bright Sun Films video!....ahhhhhhh

@BrightSunFilms

5 жыл бұрын

Great special huh!

@andypoopoo16

5 жыл бұрын

@@BrightSunFilms Best one.

the remake is very informative. i'd never even heard of this resort.

Great video Jake! Your stuff is so well thought out.

Your storytelling continues to improve...looking forward to the next one!

@c0smoKram3r

5 жыл бұрын

Says "literally" a bit too often

Remdmber watchinh this when you first released it. Today i just returned from a family trip with my girlfriend where we stayed at art of animation. Was cool to stay there knowing the histiry of the buildings. Thanks for making all these videos

Thanks for the videos Jake. I'm almost 36, and I am reminded of a lot of stuff from my youth.

Wow. I used to work at one of Disney's value resorts (All Star Movies) and I didn't even know about this. Great video!

I remember staying at pop century and seeing the abandoned part of the hotel, it was so creepy !

Fantastic. I worked at Disney from 2007-2010 and had no idea! This was fascinating!

You're just getting better and better. Well done. FYI, in Phoenix Arizona, right through I10 and the heart of downtown, under the tunnel is AN ABANDONED mall structure and bus terminal that was never finished due to budget cuts. The main structure is there with even the entrance tunnels along the main tunnel blocked off. Everybody drives by it every single day but hardly know what's under their car. Check that out. It's really badass. Plus the underground bowling alley and old bars still...underground in Phoenix...

Stayed in the all star with the giant foosball outside our door. awesome experience. Still have my green goofy cup from that time in 2012!

Egads! First, a Disney vacation sounds like a nightmare. Doing it on a budget in "value" accommodations surrounded by other "value-oriented" travelers sounds even worse.

@johnswaim3919

4 жыл бұрын

Amen. Spot on!

@denisesmith6326

4 жыл бұрын

A Disney vacation is hardly a nightmare.

@Sockimus

4 жыл бұрын

Amazing how wrong one post can actually be.

@dergluckliche4973

4 жыл бұрын

@@Sockimus I agree. Denise got it wrong when she said "A Disney vacation is hardly a nightmare."

@matthewfaulkner4323

4 жыл бұрын

Disney's projects..

Excellent job on this man, I remember your old video. Loved it then, and still love this topic so much now. Thank you for all your work.

Thanks for posting this, took me down memory lane. Worked at Pop Century in 2008. Use to look over at the legendary years with curiosity and amazement.

I can watch this over and over again!

Maybe they could have used the buildings to house their employees so that the employees don't have to sleep in their cars?

@theboardshorts

4 жыл бұрын

That's not such a bad idea. They'd probably need to be totally renovated and made suitable again. But definitely possible. It wouldn't be free for staff, but it could be greatly reduced prices for staff. It's not making ANY money atm so even $20 a night would be great for both sides. Kind of like a a cruise ship where the crew live onboard in the lower decks. This hotel would be far more spacious of course.

@tampabaybuccaneersfan7904

4 жыл бұрын

This is America dammit, we don't care about employees.

@theboardshorts

4 жыл бұрын

@@tampabaybuccaneersfan7904 Oh ok, I'm not American so I'm not sure if you're serious or not. I know restaurant staff (and a lot of other jobs?) have to rely on tips too. I guess that's where the great customer service comes from (more smiles - more tips) and you can get fired on the spot for no reason? Loads more that I can't remember now.

@dustin9035

4 жыл бұрын

They are not employees, they are called Cast Members

@theboardshorts

4 жыл бұрын

@@dustin9035 They are employees. Disney chooses to call them 'cast members' but anyone who works for a company, and gets paid for it, is an employee of that company. They can be called anything they want, but they are still employees.

I get SO excited when you upload a new video. Time to kick back and relax. Thanks.

@BrightSunFilms

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching!

Love this topic! Thanks for updating!

Our family stayed at Fort Wilderness in 1972, I think...I remember being so impressed as a kid that the bathrooms had A/C haha

I have to say that I always loved to watch videos about abandoned buildings, and huge companies going bankrupt and those kind of videos, but since I discovered your channel, I am OBSESSED. I believe that I binge watched all of your videos. Now, I can't watch other channels. They do not explain the way you do it. It's amazing. Congrats. And I will be here waiting for every new video.

Was addicted to the first video on it, this one is just as great! Even better actually!

Thank you very much for this interesting information, presented with good entertainment!

Would you be interested in doing the abandoned wizard of oz theme park in north carolina? I just found this channel last night and have been watching it all day. I love abandoned places and this is the first channel that chose an engaging narrative rather than a creepy one

In 2019 I stayed in the 70’s portion of the legendary years resort, I never saw the abandoned parts really, only a slight glance, but I thought nothing of it.

@ExtraWeenieSauce

Жыл бұрын

Classic Years*

What a crazy story. I’m glad it has a positive outcome! It’d be weird to stay in a room that had been abandoned for a decade.

I look forward to new videos from you. I'm glad I happened upon them a few months back. You do an amazing job!

What a amazing report. The footage was extraordinary.

I learned more in this 11 minute video than I have in 4 middle school semesters

Bloody love this - another cracking video from BSF

This videos are great. I like how you go into their financials so you can present exactly what happened to these companies Keep up the great work!

I enjoy this "Update" style of content thanks

I stay at Art of Animation every time I go, it’s awesome.

Your films are so well done. Honestly, when I first started watching (recent subscriber) I thought they were done by a big(bigger) film company. Kudos and hats off to you.

Excellent and informative as always.

It's amazing the speed that Disney pulls off major building projects. The government can not even begin to struggle at the thought of an infrastructure bill, and lots of projects get held up in years of hell and overruns like the Big Dig and the leaning San Francisco tower and that California rail project that ate its funding and cancelled everything, then you look at Disney with its top down control of construction, able to change plans on a whim.

@XXX-qk2cq

5 жыл бұрын

compaq deskpro remember this is Florida, they don’t take time off for winter. The government infrastructure around the highways and the tourism center is like laser directed. The know where the money comes from and they want the tourists to get their as quickly and painlessly as possible. As you travel on the highways inside the giant welcome signs the highway work that is constantly be changed is done on Disney’s dime often with Disney construction crews. Any they work fast. It’s true if Disney took over our Government it would run like a clock!!!!!!!!!!!!

@donaldpaluga

5 жыл бұрын

@@XXX-qk2cq Bob Iger 2020

I love this series, and I'm wondering how open you'd be to looking at "abandoned" online companies. Specifically, I'm curious about what happened with Xanga since it used to be so popular. There's still a website there, and the last post is from the company talking about Xanga 2.0 -- but that was in February of 2015. I bet a lot of your viewers remember Xanga from their angsty youth. :D Might be an interesting spin on this series (even though I'll never tire of abandoned brick and mortar places)!

Great review and history. Thank you.

Love these videos man! Thanks for posting!

please never stop making videos

Can you re-do your Abandoned Six Flags New Orleans video?? That's my FAVORITE video of yours, and I'd love to see it redone since you've come so far since then!

@BrightSunFilms

5 жыл бұрын

Stay tuned on twitter. Some huge announcements are coming with that topic...

Shows how events of history impact things. Good video.

I worked at Pop! And Caribbean. I liked it, and was fortunate to be there when DAAR opened! Loved what they did with it!

I love Art of Animation, but I wish they had finished The Legendary Years.

@mindyschocolate

4 жыл бұрын

Hanskah me too

It’s cool that Disney is like your most talked about in the channel

Great Video! Love all of your videos.

While I was watching this and you mentioned the Disney’s art of animation resort I stopped mid chew. I WAS ACTUALLY THERE, and as soon as a I saw the little mermaid pool, I already had my mouth open. It’s so cool to know what happened on that land before that!

We did a family trip to disney in dec 2001. My parents still talk about how empty it was. Had a very similar experience when we did our honeymoon there days after irma

@johnruschmeyer5769

5 жыл бұрын

We had a family trip to WdW a month after 9/11. It was something of a BizarroWorld experience as we were able to walk onto rides like Tower Of Terror and Rock And Roll Rollercoaster, but had to wait 45 minutes for Dumbo.

A suggestion for another video: the abandoned Flintstones Campgrounds in Williams, Arizona :D

Bright sun films + Abandoned + Disney = the best content ever!!! I don’t care if you already made a video , I’m obsessed!

This was so great thank you!

This was one of my first abandoned videos, thank you for redoing it so many years later

BSF has the best documentaries 👌

Another fantastic video. Keep up the great work.

It’s so cool to say on my first trip to Disney when I was 11, we stayed at Pop Century and stayed in a room on the side where you could very clearly see the abandoned resort every time I left the room. And I was so fascinated with it and taking pictures of it. When I found out what it was, it finally made sense.

Wow this brought back a flood of memories from when I stayed at all star sports when I was like 6 years old.

If you remake anymore videos, I would really like to see you remake the Wonders of Life video.

@sablelioness

5 жыл бұрын

Same! =D I was disappointed that he never mentioned Cranium Command in his original video. I honestly remembered more about that show than Body Wars.

@galaxytoons4608

5 жыл бұрын

@@sablelioness yeah.

Seeing this makes me really nostalgic about Disney World. It’s been almost 20 years since I was last there and to be honest I really want to go back.

Been with you since around episode 9 but I've watched them all. I must say you've been humble and willing to learn and it shows! The content you release has steadily improved with each episode and is to a point now where I can't tell much difference between your editing/narration and that of a fancy Netflix documentary. Very impressed! Keep up the awesome work!

Those abandoned hotels would make an excellent opportunity to convert the rooms into affordable apartments for the workers in Disneyworld... BUT that would be treating the workers at their theme park with too much dignity and the Disney executives are not gonna have that.

@tammyflashy9328

5 жыл бұрын

Why would they need to provide housing?

@darksideofthemoon488

5 жыл бұрын

Well, the employees who work for these theme parks don't get paid much. They have to drive long distances (at the cost of gas, toll, and parking). Now if these people had the option for a place nearby to stay especially so close to work they wouldn't have to have these problems. This was particularly an issue a decade ago when the city of Anaheim, California was going to construct cheap affordable apartments near Disneyland which was geared for the workers in Disneyland... but guess who stopped that? Disney corporation. They successfully lobbied for the city to stop its construction because they were afraid it would sully the image of "The Happiest Place on Earth" and continue to screw over its workers.

@Mike-ye9uh

5 жыл бұрын

@@darksideofthemoon488 What would happen if you were fired? We already tie so much to our employer (ie healthcare) that I can't imagine becoming MORE reliant on a corporation for my well-being as a wise decision.

@darksideofthemoon488

5 жыл бұрын

@@Mike-ye9uh actually as part of the benefits package like many other things such as Medical and Dental some companies that offer it still offer it even after termination if the employee was "laid-off", but however the employee was terminated for reasons like getting fired for some work performance issue like stealing, yeah. They would be exited off the property.

@rexellate

5 жыл бұрын

Actually, a lot of people who work in the parks live rather close. And as far as I know, people on the college program are provided housing.

Another great production, Jake. These revisits are awesome

I still remember the legendary buildings hidden in the distance. never knew about them then, so its neat to hear about it now.

So I live in Raleigh, North Carolina and I've always heard of some sort of castle north of Durham, never believed it existed. Well it actually does exist and it turns out it is abandoned. I don't know a whole lot of the history behind the place, but it has amazing architecture, and I'm sure it'll make for a fascinating video!