{"id":65293,"date":"2026-05-19T03:33:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T07:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=65293"},"modified":"2026-04-29T20:37:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T00:37:35","slug":"remembering-the-orange-bird","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/05\/19\/remembering-the-orange-bird\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering the Orange Bird"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It is a classic piece of Florida lore. While many associate the Orange Bird<\/strong> strictly with Magic Kingdom\u2019s Adventureland, his birth certificate is effectively signed and stamped in Lakeland.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The connection boils down to a major partnership from the early 1970s that helped define the “Florida” aesthetic of that era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lakeland Connection<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • The Florida Department of Citrus (FDOC):<\/strong> Headquartered right in Lakeland<\/strong>, the FDOC was one of the first major sponsors of Walt Disney World. They signed on to sponsor the Sunshine Tree Terrace in 1970.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The Character’s Debut:<\/strong> Disney artists (including the legendary Don DaGradi) designed the Orange Bird specifically as a mascot for the FDOC. Unlike most Disney characters, he wasn’t born in a movie; he was born to sell Florida oranges.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • A “Silent” Ambassador:<\/strong> Since the Orange Bird can\u2019t speak or sing (he only thinks in orange-smoke clouds), the FDOC used him in massive national ad campaigns, including commercials with Anita Bryant.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    \n\n\n\n

    Modern Local Presence<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    If you head into Downtown Lakeland<\/strong> today, that history is very much on display. The “Orange Bird Mural” on the side of a building on Massachusetts Avenue has become a local landmark, serving as a permanent nod to the city\u2019s citrus heritage and its unique tie to Disney history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The character went through a period of dormancy in the late ’80s and ’90s when the FDOC sponsorship ended, but his revival in 2012 has made him a cult icon for both Disney fans and Lakelanders alike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    It is a classic piece of Florida lore. While many associate the Orange Bird strictly with Magic Kingdom\u2019s Adventureland, his birth certificate is effectively signed and stamped in Lakeland. The… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"9","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDRcL2ltYWdlcy0xNC53ZWJwP2ZpdD0yMDIlMkMyNDkmc3NsPTEiLCJ0eHQiOiJSZW1lbWJlcmluZyB0aGUgT3JhbmdlIEJpcmQiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImRvaXMiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.J4Zz2Hl43YcPC_qzRRvX1BrQTGvBm3HrWYMfnLpEyZUMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA0XC9pbWFnZXMtMTQud2VicCIsInR4dCI6IlJlbWVtYmVyaW5nIHRoZSBPcmFuZ2UgQmlyZCIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiZG9pcyIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.lDW5wAM9k9qDjl8F6WlrxR5fkAc8RizZ_u5fZ5zIMM4MQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[14503],"class_list":["post-65293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-remembering-the-orange-bird"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65293"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65295,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65293\/revisions\/65295"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}