[manaboutown]

Originally Posted by Nucky

Thank for the video. We are almost certain we saw the house we live in today on the video. Just Fantastic Thank You.

A while back Manabouttown posted this which is fun to watch also. there is a part 1 & part 2. [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxZH_WTRVNU]Del Webb Sun City AZ Promo The Beginning Part I - Can't seem to come up with Part 2 but it there somewhere. Enjoy.

Here you go:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxZH_WTRVNU

Del Webb Sun City AZ Promo - The Beginning Part 2.wmv - YouTube

By the way I loved the Villages video which I had not seen. Thank you OP!

IMHO it showed the incredible vision and well thought out planning 'the developers' used to create and grow The Villages.

[Nucky]

Originally Posted by manaboutown

Here you go:

Del Webb Sun City AZ Promo The Beginning Part I - YouTube

Del Webb Sun City AZ Promo - The Beginning Part 2.wmv - YouTube

By the way I loved the Villages video which I had not seen. Thank you OP!

IMHO it showed the incredible vision and well thought out planning 'the developers' used to create and grow The Villages.

Thank You, Sir. Wish I knew how to do that. I have watched your video several times a year and don't take it as competition to The Villages because I have met several people who have moved from The Webb Community to ours. Glad you fixed it up for us. Thanks again.

[manaboutown]

You are most welcome, Nucky!

These videos make some great points and warm my heart.

[eweissenbach]

Originally Posted by billethkid

They did. When or whether they stopped I have no idea.

In 2003 when I saw their ad on television. I sent for the video. The disc arrived with a portfolio of all the details and layouts of every type of home that was available for purchase those days. I said to my wife, if the actual location was even close to the video...that is where we were going to buy.

A few weeks later we did the visitors weekend...$25 per night in one of the villas near the old sales center parking lot. Also got a bunch of Villages bucks and a dinner for two at the Cattlemen's club.

We had a lot picked out (October 2003). Closing date of May 15, 2004....moved in September 2015.

And if I just did the visit recently I would do the same thing again!!

PS....I am actually surprised at the thus far limited response to the video which I think is very entertaining. Puts a face with the name Swartz. So nice to see Gary and Sharon Morse. Mark and Jennifer were just youngsters. I thought more folks would be entertained/enlightened as well.

I have watched it twice since I discovered it last night. I find it extremely fascinating for a few reasons:

In contemporary Villages history Gary Morse is portrayed as the savior of TV while Harold is portrayed as a glad handing old man strolling around the community and the square greeting visitors and residents. This makes it appear that he was still quite involved and the head of the organization in the early nineties.

All of the previous history I have read barely mentions, or completely ignores, the other members of the family which were obviously intimately involved at the time of this video.

The prices of the homes seem insanely reasonable for that period of time. (I bought a nice, but not extravagant home in Fargo in 1989 for $180K and a smaller home in St. Paul In 1994 for $140K.)

What the hell ever happened to Uncle Bob and Aunt Connie?

The victors, as they say, write the history!

[KEVIN & JOSIE]

Thanks for sharing.

Very informative

[queasy27]

That was long but fun! The changes in interior design in less than 20 years, oh my. The models seemed to be a mix of manufactured homes and stick-built, given the garages on some.

I think the public area of La Plaza Grande looks pretty much the same today.

[eweissenbach]

Originally Posted by queasy27

That was long but fun! The changes in home design in in less than 20 years, oh my. The models seemed to be a mix of manufactured homes and stick-built, given the garages on some.

I think the public area of La Plaza Grande looks pretty much the same today.

Just a point of clarification, it is almost thirty years. The homes they were building at that time were all stick-built. I think they had only recently gone to that as opposed to manufactured when they crossed 441.

[pauld315]

Originally Posted by eweissenbach

Just a point of clarification, it is almost thirty years. The homes they were building at that time were all stick-built. I think they had only recently gone to that as opposed to manufactured when they crossed 441.

There are neighborhoods (Delmar is one of them) after they crossed 441 on the east side of Morse near Spanish Springs that have manufactured homes mingled with stick built homes. I think you still had a choice between the 2 at the time these were built.

[pauld315]

Originally Posted by eweissenbach

Just rewatched with my wife and caught the couple that won the lottery saying they had moved there in 1979 and had been there almost 12 years. That would make it produced in 1990 or 91.

It also said the Hacienda Hills Golf Course had just opened. That was in 1990.

[pauld315]

Originally Posted by Serenoa

We've visited TV several times since the first time in 2012,and while we still don't live there (yet) I feel like I know quite a bit about it. But a few things stood out in the video that I hope someone can answer my questions about. I guess WOBG tv station went by the wayside at some point? La Plaza Grande shopping center today isn't anything like what is shown in the video, is it? Where was the Fiesta Bowl bowling alley? Was it done away with once Spanish Springs town center was built? Does La Hacienda Hotel still exist, or did it go away at some point? TIA.

LaPlaza Grand Shopping Center is very similar today to what was in the video

Fiesta Bowling Alley is still up and running. It is close to the Villages Golf Cars in Spanish Springs.

La Hacienda Hotel building is still there. I think it is now The Holiday Inn Express by Paige and Avenida Central.

[champion6]

Originally Posted by eweissenbach

It is too cool!
Original Promo Video for The Villages Florida - YouTube
You're welcome!

Ruh-Roh. "Somebody" doesn't want us to see it. I just went to watch the video again and got this message:
Video unavailable
"Original Promo for The Vi..." is no longer available due to a copyright claim by The Villages of Lake-Sumter Inc..

[twoplanekid]

Originally Posted by champion6

Ruh-Roh. "Somebody" doesn't want us to see it. I just went to watch the video again and got this message:
Video unavailable
"Original Promo for The Vi..." is no longer available due to a copyright claim by The Villages of Lake-Sumter Inc..

I also received that same message when trying to view it today.

[billethkid]

I knew I should have saved to my computer....Now I will have to try to find it elsewhere before the copyright police come down again!!

Did anybody think to download/save it?

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by Serenoa

For those of us interested in the history of The Villages I have to wonder why the Morse family hasn't made videos like this readily available for viewing? I would have to think there has to be many more stored away somewhere documenting the development & growth of TV over the years. Let's see them!

It is my assessment that they are very low key, not interested in being "on". Do run a for profit business, but are not big for being in the spotlight.

They come across to me as decent Midwest folks who are busy doing their job and if they need someone else to count their money, that is fine too.