Orlando-based Sun Bank (also Sun Banks and later SunTrust) operated a branch on Main Street USA at Walt Disney World from June 24, 1977 to c. June 23, 1997.
Prior to Sun Bank occupying the building, which was there from October 1, 1971 forward, I believe the space was used for booking guided tours of the park. That operation was based in the adjoining garden space by the time I paid any attention to this corner of Main Street as a kid. After Sun Bank left the building 20 years later, it became The Main Street Gallery which opened September 6, 1997, selling Disney-themed art and collectibles. Years later it was converted to The "Main Street Chamber of Commerce" and began handling the park's Lost & Found services, which were previously based in City Hall.
My parents used the original downtown Orlando Sun Bank as far back as I could remember. I opened my first bank account at Sun Bank's Windermere branch in 1985 when I was sixteen and got a job (with paychecks to cash) at Orlando's Mystery Fun House. By the end of that year I was working at WDW and was cashing my weekly checks at the Main Street USA Sun Bank branch using the backstage cast member walk-up window.
I took out a $3,000+ loan from Sun Bank in 1988 to buy my first PC, mostly to start writing books (which I never finished) and to create document files using the Disney information I'd been collecting since fifth grade. A lot of that information helped me get WYW the fanzine & website going a few years later. And because I was an annual passholder, I kept using the Main Street USA Sun Bank to cash post-WDW job paychecks up until about 1994, when I finally started doing direct deposit. The line to see a teller was never very long and walking up to the old-fashioned counter with its big antique safe behind the desk reminded me of The Apple Dumpling Gang.
According to WYW reader Monica Roddey, Sun Bank "was always our first stop at the Magic Kingdom as my mom would hop in there to cash some traveler's checques!"
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| Sun Bank exterior February 20, 1995 image source: Widen Your World |
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| Main Street WDW Elevation Art c. 1971 by Ernie Prinzhorn, with the building that would become Sun Bank to the far left image source: WDW |
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| Sun Bank lobby interior, southeast corner, January 6 1994 image source: Widen Your World |
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| Sun Bank lobby interior, south wall center, January 6 1994 image source: Widen Your World |
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Sun Bank lobby interior, southwest corner, January 6 1994 image source: Widen Your World |
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Sun Bank lobby interior, northwest corner, January 6 1994 image source: Widen Your World |
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| Sun Bank deposit envelope logo & lettering, 1992 image source: Sun Bank |
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| 1984 WDW Eyes & Ears article about Main Street USA's Sun Bank |
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