The Death of Colonial Plaza Mall (Orlando History) - 'Splorin Ep: 103

[@oldsoldier8139]

Ironic that now Fashion Square is nearly DEAD, and where the old Colonial Mall existed, the new Colonial Mall is booming

[@Blakeblakeblakeblake]

yeah its kinda ironic, im just ready for that thing to get demolished. hopefully they put a walmart or something useful

[@maisie-on2zq]

Colonial AVENUE? I think you mean Colonial DRIVE.

[@uknowbeers]

It has been Colonial Drive the entire time

[@truthseekeratheist9105]

I grew up outside NYC but my dad grew up in Orlando. I remember much of this since we drove by on Colonial Ave to get to my Uncle and aunts home on 11 Hillcrest. I was born in 1955 so this brought back memories. I watched Orlando change from neighborhoods with quiet red brick roads lined with sweeping branches and draped with Spanish Moss. Walked around Eola many times walks Linder with gardens.

[@TampaJay]

The Mall Wars! I love this history man and all the history you gave. I was waiting for this one. I’m loving this format and appreciate all the hard work and detail. The comical footage you ad is the best! The golf cart tram in the mall would have been cool to see. Hardcore dancing at McDonalds? 🤣🤣 This was brilliant man. Can’t wait to see what’s next! Coincidently I shot a video in a mall yesterday but something a little different and not as good as this. #merchahead

[@SplorinRyan]

Thanks so much brother!!!

[@michaelc.2165]

I remember hanging out in the 80's at this mall ,remember the Jordan Marsh and the music store there ,those were the good old days !! Thanks for the history behind this mall ...

[@SplorinRyan]

Thanks for taking the time to share!

[@HandsFullHeartFull]

Enjoyed this Ryan. The first Belk's department store opened here in Monroe, NC in 1888. We still shop there today.

[@NOLADEEJ]

Dude you’re killing it with these videos!! Love this!! So freaking good!

[@bobmichaelsphoto]

Sorry but you lost me the third time you said "Colonial AVENUE". It has always been "Colonial DRIVE". I am an old enough Orlando native to remember when T.G.Lee grazed his dairy cows on where they built Colonial Plaza. (still miss Ronnies)

[@chrisose]

What everyone who does these stories miss out on was the major impact that the 1995 closure of the Navel Training Center had on Colonial Plaza, Winter Park and Fashion Square malls. In fact it had a major impact on all retail within 5 miles of NTC. Despite the land being developed into upscale housing, by the time Baldwin park was finished the damage had already been done.

[@SplorinRyan]

Actually, that's a great take- I need to take a closer look at that!

[@chrisose]

@@SplorinRyan Just as a little bit of additional info, the NTC closing was announced by DOD in July 1993 giving some of the big retailers advanced notice of the change. There were more than 20,000 recruits that went though NTC every year so the loss was going to be significant to local businesses.

[@darylturcott]

Part 2 did not disappoint. Excellent history and evaluatuons. We also enjoyed the little "simulation" clips, very funny stuff.

[@Christophe_derBerge-op9zh]

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I went to Colonial Plaza Mall a few times back in the mid to late 80’s, (Graduated HS in 84). Have to say I spent a lot more time at Fashion Square Mall though. I do remember renovations and work going on at Colonial Plaza a lot back then. In my opinion the best Mall was Altamonte Springs, but it was way over on the far side of town from me.

[@rvvanlife]

Awesome share Ryan, you did a good job putting all of this together, thank you

[@tracybates2285]

So interesting. Thank you Ryan.

[@marypettyfer4640]

I used to love the atmosphere they used to be buzzing so busy 😊

[@Chris-lp2ok]

Colonial Plaza and Fashion Square - good times back in the day ✔️.

[@SplorinRyan]

Yeah buddy!

[@cgimovieman]

Just a quick note. Enveloped isn’t pronounced like envelope, as in something you send a letter in. The inflection is in the middle of the word on the “vel” portion. Also, I’ve lived in the Orlando area for 3 decades, and the road that you’re referring to is Colonial Drive, not Colonial Avenue.

[@SplorinRyan]

Thank you sir!

[@MoviemaniaNick]

Great job Ryan! This was very cool!

[@mustangcindy1303]

Good job Ryan! 👍 I did not know exactly where this place was until you showed the revised version that is there today. Now I know. Also that was cool to see an old photo of Planet Hollywood with the dinosaur. I miss that dinosaur with the light up eyes.

[@jamesbridgewater5582]

Really enjoyed parts 1&2 of the Colonial mall videos!Spent many hours as a child till I was a young adult in it's many phases.Great memories... sad that it's gone.especially miss Ronnie's.

[@SplorinRyan]

Thanks james, I appreciate that! Unfortunately, most of the Orlando that existed even prior to the year 2000 seems to be disappearing at a rapid rate

[@Yey1nasJourneys]

How did I miss this??? Anyways, I finally did watch it. Great video, loved the history . Keep Splorin!!

[@GregsGameRoom]

They should have converted Jordan Marsh into a walkthrough area with more stores on each side. But it was probably too late at that point.

[@SplorinRyan]

For the sake of not making the video too long, I cut out Parts about what really happened with that walk through... They put a wood floor down, and then hung artwork on either side. That almost made it creepier

[@MrOrlandobob2]

Amazing , I Love Orlando

[@SplorinRyan]

As do i

[@JamesSteele]

Great video. Just subscribed!

[@SplorinRyan]

My sincere gratitude James! Hope to chat more sir

[@ChristheShrinerdawg]

Great job my friend!

[@HempBeach]

Great vid ryan!

[@keiichimorisato98]

dude, this is making me miss my old home. im in Alaska at the moment, but i lived in the area for 2 decades. i spent a lot of time at Fashion Square and Colonial Plaza.

[@strangebrew5545]

You have such a great voice, you could narrate anything and make it interesting! Thanks Ryan! 👍👍👍

[@SplorinRyan]

Aw, thank you!

[@strangebrew5545]

@@SplorinRyan 👍

[@Yukendoit]

This was quite a well thought out experience about something I know nothing about

[@cflo1386]

When I was a kid back in the 80s I used to love going to the old Colonial Plaza for Halloween, the old ladies that worked Woolworth would hook you up with candy, they were so sweet.

[@SplorinRyan]

Ahhh... the popcorn and plastic scent of Woolworth....I still miss it

[@ABergerWithEverything]

32k for a House?! Can you imagine!! You have a very good honest trailer voice 😝 juggernaut!! It’s cool hearing some history of my new home. I have to try on clothes. I can’t get online so I’ll hate if all the malls close but that’s where they look like there heading. Informative video dude!

[@SplorinRyan]

Housing and education have become ridiculous

[@Living_EDventures]

Nicely done video Ryan

[@SplorinRyan]

Thanks brother!

[@mrm844]

You're welcome for the pics you used from "Historic Orlando". Oh, and it's Colonial Drive, not Avenue.

[@SplorinRyan]

Hi Mike, I'd actually love to credit you with any of the photos that are from you! I try to to be careful not to take anything that I can't find the author of, but there are times where I will use a photo and find out afterwards that the source I pulled it from has themselves taken it from elsewhere. I try to make sure that I go back and credit those people when I find out though. Is there a Channel or a web page that you would like for me to credit?

[@mrm844]

@@SplorinRyan It's no big deal Bro. The majority of the photos we post don't actually belong to us either, but we do try to credit the source of them. We just do it for the love of history, which is why I assume you do what you do. Most of the photos in your videos we've featured on our Facebook group "Historic Orlando", but like I've said, we've just compiled them over the years from various sources. Sorry I made it an issue by commenting on your video, carry on.... Thanks

[@vjhreeves]

THANK YOU. Calling it Avenue was driving me crazy. Colonial is still a major road in Orlando.

[@MrVoltog]

At what point in history was hwy 50 known as colonial ave?

[@vjhreeves]

It still is as it passes through Orlando. Although, it's Drive, not Ave.

[@MrVoltog]

@@vjhreeves That's why I asked Colonial Ave., not Colonial Dr. ...

[@vjhreeves]

@@MrVoltog Ah, I see. I misunderstood. Carry on 👍

[@retrospectrum]

Did we get to see you in the last vid? It was nice

[@GeneCash]

I think another thing that killed the malls was the huge number of traffic lights. In the early '90s I could get from UCF to Fashion Square in 10 minutes. In 2010 or so, it was more like 30-45 minutes. 50 (aka Colonial Drive) is a "stroad" now, which is a nightmare to drive.

[@SplorinRyan]

That is absolutely true!

[@SO-ym3zs]

It would have been worth discussing the competing Winter Park Mall, located about 15 minutes north, which had its heyday and slow, strange demise during roughly the same period.

[@SplorinRyan]

That's something I'm hoping to tackle this year, though it's a little slow since there's not much left in terms of photographs or videos available for Winter Park

[@SO-ym3zs]

@@SplorinRyan Might be worth checking Facebook Florida history/nostalgia groups or library archives. Searching online, you usually only find the same two or three very old photos of the mall, which is odd, considering it was around for about three decades.

[@anndankasey205]

Great series. This is the story of every metropolitan city. Same story for Baltimore. Department Stores down town. ( Used to ride the trolley downtown to shop with my mom). Moving to strip malls and the suburbs. Enclosed malls and now back to fancy strip malls with outdoor relaxing areas. Downtown ghettos (Dan Bell videos).

[@SplorinRyan]

Yes!!!! You nailed it Ann- that's exactly what I was going for!

[@anndankasey205]

👏🙌🤟

[@sheilatrapp9049]

You have a very nice voice, but 2 observations here. The picture you show with Belks to the left of the shopping center is not Colonial Plaza. It appears to be Pine Hills Shopping Center. Your video delivery is inconsistent. Too much looking down and sideways at a script, perhaps? Practice relocating your script above your camera and looking directly at the camera.

[@marypettyfer4640]

So sad, it's the same here in uk 😳

[@jayeroxburgh922]

I think Gordon may get a headache soon when you encourage me to shop!

[@florida57]

It shows the reason Orlando will never be a truly great city. There are so many people that move here for what ever reason with the city growing to accommodate them. Then they move away for other people and so on and so forth. Orlando has a small amount of people like me that are the ones who cared about the city. It's constantly changing unlike other cities that keep the history. I miss the old Orlando.

[@warnersdogs]

Nice video but why do you call it Colonial Avenue? It's Colonial Drive.

[@marypettyfer4640]

Thankyou ☺

[@marypettyfer4640]

Here from Tampa Jay 🙋🙋😊☺

[@SplorinRyan]

Mary, my sincerest thanks!

[@smashstuff86]

Colonial Dr., not Ave.

[@KLEARSKITHEKREEPER]

Yooooo! 😎

[@markrenigar6624]

Colonial drive not ave.

[@STFD-STFU-MEDIA]

Decades ago, I heard that Ronnie's held out till the bitter end because they had a 99 year lease. I think they probably made an absolute killing!

[@SplorinRyan]

I heard something like that as well!

[@GeneCash]

They sure did. They killed that mall dead. I rarely shopped at Colonial mostly because of the bad taste from Ronnie's.

[@vwaclawicz]

How did your Mall video get into my KZbin channel vwaclawicz

[@SplorinRyan]

Gremlins?

[@MrJOHNEBOB]

Infinite Mushroom

[@charlestorruella8591]

I use to skate at the fashion square mall back in the 80s we would always get chased off after 20 mins or so but there where those days when we spent the whole day there

[@SplorinRyan]

When I drove by the other day, it looked like they were getting ready to do yet another major overhaul of that whole area...crazy...

[@charlestorruella8591]

@@SplorinRyan I haven't been back there since my youngest daughter was born and with this whole crazy war on Disney thing I'm thinking of leaving Florida for good

[@SplorinRyan]

@@charlestorruella8591 sigh... You aren't alone