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From mood rings to 8-track tapes, surfboards to pet rocks, Superman
to saddle shoes, so much nostalgia pours from Disney's Pop Century
Resort that a lobby hobby for guests could be "Walkin' the
Wall."
The Wall, in this case, is a memory lane of wall-mounted "shadow
boxes" brimming with the fads, fashions, music, toys and trinkets
from the 1950s, '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s. It's across from the
check-in desk for Disney's newest value-priced resort, a whimsical
layout of lodge buildings marked by iconic monuments to yesteryear,
including a Big Wheel, Rubik's Cube, Play-Doh can and jukebox.
Jayne Alcorn, show production designer with Walt Disney Imagineering,
led Disney's treasure hunt. To help set the nostalgic tone of the
resort, she and her team spent six months combing every flea market,
antiques shop, yard sale and vintage clothing store they could find
as far north as Massachusetts and as far west as California.
"We struck out after what America was playing with, what it
was wearing, eating, what the popular TV shows and movies were,
what inventions came out and what families did for vacation,"
she says.
Fifty years surrendered amazing finds. Alcorn and her team amassed
around 750 items for the timeline collection. And when their punch
list lacked that special nugget to make a decade complete, there
was always the online auction world of eBay.
When Disney's Pop Century Resort guests go "Walkin' the Wall"
the wayback memories will gush faster than you can say "Leave
It To Beaver."
From the 1950s: a Betty Crocker cookbook, Lionel train set, hula-hoop,
Silly Putty. Disneyland opened. Television gave us "Mickey
Mouse Club," "77 Sunset Strip" and "The Honeymooners."
Cootie and Pick Up Stix were the games America played. Home canning
was the rage and be-boppers at the corner diner "turned the
page" of their tableside push-button music selectors to hear
their favorite Elvis or Frankie Avalon 45.
Superman and Roy Rogers were the "action heroes" of the
era, transistor radios were as ever-present as today's cellular
phones and a small country could fit inside a woman's "beehive"
hair-do.
Of course the '50s -- and the collection -- wouldn't be complete
without saddle shoes, a poodle skirt and letter sweater. Movies
and restaurants were drive-ins -- and that'll be 25 cents for the
ham and eggs, please.
America hit the road in the 1960s; our motoring passion gave rise
to chain motels and fueled a "golden era" of postcards
and tacky souvenirs. Ever groovy, we laced up our suede boots, flashed
peace symbols and worshipped Peter Max. Play-Doh, surfing, the Twist
and Man on the Moon! helped stamp the '60s. TV rode our space craze
with "My Favorite Martian" and the "Jetsons."
Remember pet rocks, lava lamps, 8-track tapes and disco? Then you
remember the 1970s. In our hip-hugging jeans and double-knit leisure
suits we caught "Saturday Night Fever," boogied to Donna
Summer, and YMCA'd to The Village People. Who wasn't riveted to
"Star Wars"? Or Bond, James Bond? That bright yellow "Happy
Face" had a smile as wide as '70s bell-bottoms, remember? And
the "Rocky Horror Picture Show" boasts legions of fans
to this day.
Greatest hits of the 1980s? Microwave cooking hit the big time.
So did fitness -- from Deal-A-Meal diets to countless aerobics videos
and books. America went gaga over Cabbage Patch Dolls and Trivial
Pursuit.
America in the 1990s moved. On skateboards, snowboards or inline
skates. Technology gave us cellular phones and portable computers.
"Save the Earth" gave us something to rally around. TV
gave us Salad Shooter commercials. And if you knew sushi, you knew
the '90s.
Whether they linger at Maxwell Smart, or the soda fountain scenes
stir up three-scoop memories, Alcorn thinks time travelers of all
ages will gravitate to the giant collection.
"We think guests will just come in and reminisce on their
own," she says. "Who could not be moved by all these memories?"
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