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'Walt Disney World Resort', often referred to as simply 'Walt Disney World' or 'Disney World', is the largest and most visited recreational resort in the world, containing four
theme parks. Owned and operated by the
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts segment of
The Walt Disney Company, it is located in
Lake Buena Vista and
Bay Lake,
Florida, outside the city limits of
Orlando.
Construction began in 1967, less than a year after
Walt Disney's death. It opened on
October 1,
1971, as the
Magic Kingdom, and since has added
Epcot on
October 1,
1982,
Disney-MGM Studios on
May 1,
1989, and
Disney's Animal Kingdom on
April 22,
1998 as new
theme parks.
In addition to the four main theme parks, the resort contains two
water parks, six
golf courses, a
sports complex, an auto
race track, twenty resort hotels and numerous shopping, dining, and entertainment offerings. It even has its own fire department and a massive
public transit system of
buses,
boats, and
monorails. The 30,000 acre (120 km²) property is the largest theme park resort in the world, although over the past decade significant land has been sold off for housing and other developments, including land now occupied by the Disney-built (but not owned) community of
Celebration.
It is accessible from Central Florida's
Interstate 4 via Exits 62B (World Drive), 64B (
US 192 West), 65B (
Osceola Parkway West), 67B (
SR 536 West), and 68 (
SR 535 North). In addition, in 2006 a new western entrance opened from Exit 8 on
State Road 429 (Florida), the Western Expressway. It also runs a bus line that connects the resort to
Orlando International Airport and the
Disney Cruise Line terminal in
Port Canaveral.
Meg Crofton was named president of the resort in August 2006, replacing
Al Weiss, who had overseen the site since 1994.
Park history and development
In 1959, the Walt Disney Company, under the leadership of
Walt Disney, began looking for land for a second resort to supplement
Disneyland, which had opened in
Anaheim, California in 1955. Market surveys revealed that only 2% of Disneyland's visitors came from east of the
Mississippi River, where 75% of the population of the United States lived. Additionally, Walt Disney disliked the businesses that had sprung up around Disneyland (the "neon jungle"), and wanted control of a much larger area of land for the new project.
Some rumors, told as legend to incoming Disney World cast members, suggest that Disney wanted the large amount of land so that visitors could be better isolated from the trappings of the real world. Most common of these is the story of a family that left Disneyland early because they saw building
rush hour traffic on the
Santa Ana Freeway from the Skyway ride.
Walt Disney first flew over the
Orlando site (one of many) on
November 22, 1963, the day
John F. Kennedy was assassinated. He first flew over and appealed to the
Sanford, Florida city council to allow him to build Disney World in Sanford, but his appeal was declined. The citizens of Sanford did not want the crime that was sure to come with tourism. The airplane he traveled in would be used by future Disney executives to travel to the resort from the company headquarters in
Burbank, California and now can be seen at the Disney-MGM Studios. He saw the well-developed network of roads, including
Interstate 4 and
Florida's Turnpike, with
McCoy Air Force Base (later
Orlando International Airport) to the east, and immediately fell in love with the site. When later asked why he chose it, he said, "the freeway routes, they bisect here." Walt Disney focused most of his attention on the "Florida Project" both before and after his participation at the 1964-1965 New York
World's Fair, but he died on
December 15,
1966, five years before his vision was realized.
To avoid a burst of land speculation, Disney used various
dummy corporations and cooperative individuals to acquire 27,400 acres (110 km²) of land. The first five-acre (20,000 m²) lot was bought on
October 23,
1964, by the
Ayefour Corporation (a pun on
Interstate 4). Another dummy corporation name which land was bought under was RETLAW which spelled backwards is WALTER. Others were also used with a second or secret meanings which add to the lore of the Florida Project.
In May 1965, major land transactions were recorded a few miles southwest of Orlando in
Osceola County. Two large tracts totaling $1.5 million were sold, and smaller tracts of flatlands and cattle pastures were purchased by exotic-sounding companies such as the
Latin-American Development and Management Corporation and the
Reedy Creek Ranch Corporation. In addition to three huge parcels of land were many smaller parcels, referred to as "outs."
Much of the land had been
platted into five-acre (20,000 m²) lots in 1912 by the
Munger Land Company and sold to investors. In most cases, the owners were happy to get rid of the land, which was mostly
swampland. Yet another problem was the mineral rights to the land, owned by
Tufts University. Without the transfer of these rights, Tufts could come in at any time and demand the removal of buildings to obtain minerals.
After most of the land had been bought, the truth of the property's owner was leaked to the
Orlando Sentinel on
October 20,
1965. A press conference soon was organized for
November 15. At the presentation, Walt Disney explained the plans for the site, including
EPCOT, the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, which was to be a futuristic city (and which was also known as Progress City). Plans for EPCOT would drastically change after Disney's death. EPCOT became EPCOT Center, the resort's second theme park, which opened in 1982. Concepts from the original idea of EPCOT would be integrated into the community of
Celebration much later.
The
Reedy Creek Drainage District was incorporated on
May 13,
1966 under Florida State Statutes Chapter 298, which gives powers including
eminent domain to special Drainage Districts. To create the District, only the support of the landowners within was required.
Walt Disney himself died on
December 15,
1966, before his vision was realized. His brother
Roy Disney postponed his retirement to oversee construction of the resort, passing away in December 1971, barely two months after it opened.
On
February 2,
1967, Roy Disney held a press conference at the Park Theatres in
Winter Park, Florida. The role of EPCOT was emphasized in the film that was played, the last one recorded by Walt Disney before his death. After the film, it was explained that for Walt Disney World to succeed, a special district would have to be formed: the
Reedy Creek Improvement District with two cities inside it, the
City of Bay Lake and the
City of Reedy Creek (now the
City of Lake Buena Vista). In addition to the standard powers of an incorporated city, which include the issuance of tax-free bonds, the Improvement District would have total immunity from any current or future county or state land-use laws. The only areas where the District had to submit to the county and state would be
property taxes and
elevator inspections.
The laws forming the District and the two Cities was signed into law on
May 12,
1967. The
Florida Supreme Court ruled in 1968 that the District was allowed to issue tax-exempt bonds for public projects within the district despite the sole beneficiary being
The Walt Disney Company.
Construction of drainage canals was soon begun by the Improvement District, and Disney built the first roads and the Magic Kingdom.
Disney's Contemporary Resort,
Disney's Polynesian Resort, and
Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground were also completed in time for the park's opening on
October 1,
1971. The Palm and Magnolia Golf Courses (located across the street from the Magic Kingdom) were actually opened a few weeks before.
Roy O. Disney, Walt Disney's older brother, dedicated the property and declared that it officially would be known as "Walt Disney World" in his brother's honor. In his own words: "Everyone has heard of
Ford cars. But have they all heard of
Henry Ford, who started it all? Walt Disney World is in memory of the man who started it all, so people will know his name as long as Walt Disney World is here." After the dedication, Roy Disney asked Walt's widow,
Lillian, what she thought of Walt Disney World. According to biographer Bob Thomas, she replied, "I think Walt would have approved."
Walt Disney World had its own
aircraft runway located just east of the Magic Kingdom parking lot. When the resort opened in 1971,
Shawnee Airlines began regular passenger service from Orlando's
McCoy Air Force Base (now
Orlando International Airport) directly to Disney World's
STOLport (Short Take Off and Landing) on a daily basis, with flights lasting only a few minutes. Today, the runway is mostly used as a staging area for buses and is no longer in service for aircraft.
Walt Disney World enjoyed healthy success during the
1973 oil crisis, in part because it was designed with a
public transport system in mind. Buses, ferryboats, and monorails continue today to serve millions of visitors from around the world who visit the resort every year.
Resort development timeline
Properties
A popular misconception is that the resort exists in
Orlando. In fact, the entire Walt Disney World property is outside Orlando city limits; the majority sits within southwestern
Orange County with the remainder in adjacent
Osceola County to the south.
Most of Walt Disney World's Central Florida land and all of the public areas are located in the cities of
Bay Lake and
Lake Buena Vista, located southwest of
Orlando and a few miles northwest of
Kissimmee. The creation of the
Reedy Creek Improvement District, which is separate from any other municipality, has allowed the Disney Corporation and the Walt Disney World Resort to influence governmental powers over the area and not be impeded by local governments. For example, Disney rides cannot be closed down by the state's Bureau of Fair Rides Inspection
[1] and are exempt from state safety inspections
[2], though this is not to imply that they are not inspected or are unsafe. Residents largely live in timeshares and cannot vote for the Reedy Creek board allowing Disney influence of the board that it helped to create.
[2]
Features
Walt Disney World Resort features four theme parks, each represented by an iconic structure:
★ The
Magic Kingdom (
Cinderella Castle)
★
Epcot (
Spaceship Earth, the geodesic sphere.)
★
Disney-MGM Studios (will be renamed Disney's Hollywood Studios in
January 2008) (
The Sorcerer's Hat; formerly the
Earful Tower)
★
Disney's Animal Kingdom (
The Tree of Life)
Other Attractions include:
★
Typhoon Lagoon
★
Blizzard Beach
★ Disney Boardwalk
★
Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex
★
Disney Western Way Development (Planned)
★
Downtown Disney
★
★
DisneyQuest
:Downtown Disney consists of three sections (Marketplace, Pleasure Island, and West Side), contains many shopping, dining, and entertainment venues. This includes DisneyQuest, the
House of Blues, a
Planet Hollywood and a permanent
Cirque du Soleil show (''
La Nouba'').
A third water park (
River Country) was operated from 1976 to 2001.
Walt Disney World Resort once covered a total of 47 square miles (120 km²), about the size of
San Francisco or
Manchester. or twice the size of
Manhattan.
Other local attractions
The Walt Disney World resort also includes six world-class golf courses. The five 18-hole golf courses are the Magnolia, the Palm, Lake Buena Vista, Eagle Pines, and Osprey Ridge. There is also a nine-hole walking course called Oak Trail, designed for young golfers. Together, they are known as Disney's "99 holes of golf." In March, 2007 it was announced that the
Four Seasons hotel chain would operate and manage a new
hotel to be built overlooking the Osprey Ridge Golf Course, expected to open in 2010. The Eagle Pines course will also be closed and the land redeveloped with single and multifamily vacation homes.
There are two miniature golf course complexes, Fantasia Gardens and Winter Summerland. The Fantasia Gardens complex consists of two courses, the Fantasia and Garden courses. The former is themed in the style of the classic Disney film, ''
Fantasia'', in the light-hearted brightly-colored miniature golf way. The "Dance of the Hour" hole has a giant plastic tutu-totting hippo on it, and the "Sorceror's Apprentice" hole has a hat-and-cloak garbed Mickey to aim at. The Garden course, the self-proclaimed "hardest miniature golf course in the country," is a much more realistic course, a true ''miniature'' golf. Real grass surounds the hole, and sand traps abound on every side. The music dictates more the shape of the golf hole, not the plastic statue of choice. The Winter Summerland complex story is that Santa came and set up his summer home in the Walt Disney World resort and built himself a beach themed miniature golf course adjacent to
Disney's Blizzard Beach. The elves he brought with him got homesick, so they created a winter themed miniature golf course. Both courses originate from the same club house and have some corresponding holes, such as the sand/snow castle holes where the main focus of the hole is a giant castle of either sand or snow. Eventually, the courses end up a roofed area to play the last few holes. The eighteenth of each hole consists of a player shooting into a gap below a television screen showing either wintery or beachy images. Knocking the ball in the hole results in Santa coming up for a visit.
Catch-and-Release
Fishing excursions are offered daily on the Walt Disney World Resort lakes at 7:00 AM, 10:00 AM, and 1:30 PM. There is an extra charge associated with these excursions but a Florida fishing license is not required because the fishing is done on private property. Children may be interested in trying the old-fashioned cane-pole fishing offered from the docks at
Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground and
Disney's Port Orleans Resort. These activities are not limited to guests staying in the Disney hotels.
Walt Disney World paved the way for many other theme parks and attractions in the area and helped make Orlando a popular tourist destination for people from all over the world.
Employment, maintenance, and statistics
When the Magic Kingdom opened in 1971, the Walt Disney World Resort employed about 5,500 "cast members". Today it employs more than 58,000, spending more than $1.1 billion on payroll and $478 million on benefits each year. The largest single-site employer in the United States
[4], Walt Disney World Resort has more than 3,000 job classifications.
The Walt Disney World Resort also sponsors and operates the
Walt Disney World College Program, an internship program that has American college students live on site and work for the resort, providing much of the theme park and resort "front line" cast members. There is also the Walt Disney World International College Program, an internship program that has college students from all over the world. Living, working and learning.
In a
March 30,
2004, article in ''
The Orlando Sentinel'', then-Walt Disney World president
Al Weiss gave some insight into how the parks are maintained:
★ More than 5,000 cast members are dedicated to maintenance and engineering, including 750 horticulturists and 600 painters.
★ Disney spends more than $100 million every year on maintenance at the Magic Kingdom. In 2003, $6 million was spent on renovating its Crystal Palace restaurant. 90% of guests say that the upkeep and cleanliness of the Magic Kingdom are excellent or very good.
★ The streets in the parks are steam cleaned every night.
★ There are cast members permanently assigned to painting the antique carousel horses; they use genuine gold leaf.
★ There is a tree farm on site so that when a mature tree needs to be replaced, a thirty-year-old tree will be available to replace it.
There is a fleet of Disney-operated buses on property, branded
Disney Transport that is free for use by resort and park guests. In 2007 Disney Transport started a guest services upgrade to the busses. GPS systems controlling new public addresses systems on the busses give safety information, park tips and other general announcements with music. They are not to be confused with the Disney Cruise Line and Disney's Magical Express buses which are operated by Mears Transportation. Taxi boats link some locations.
Walt Disney World has the 7th largest navy in the world with over 200 watercraft ranging from guest operated (rented) boats to Disney operated guest transportation craft. The Disney Navy has plyed the waters of WDW since the Resort first opened.
A fleet of 12 monorails also operate at Walt Disney World Resort linking the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, the Contemporary, Polynesian, and Grand Floridian resorts, and the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC). An express monorail line connecting the TTC and the Magic Kingdom also exists. Disney World's monorail is perhaps the best-known monorail system in North America.
According to Disney's ''MouseMail'' e-mail newsletter, 150 truckloads of holiday decorations adorn the Walt Disney World Resort and 300,000 yards of ribbon and bows drape over 1,500 Christmas trees during the yuletide season. A popular attraction during the holiday season is The Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights, which displays over 5 million lights located in Disney-MGM Studios. Walt Disney World pastry chefs use more than 1,049.4 pounds (476 kilograms) of honey, 99.2 pounds (45 kilograms) of sugar and 48.5 pounds (22 kilograms) of dark chocolate to bake gingerbread houses and other items for the holidays.
In 2006, the Walt Disney World resort and its employees donated more than $22 million to Central Florida organizations and charities, along with 200,000 hours of service through the
VoluntEARS program.
[5]
Two people have died after riding on the attraction in Epcot, which spins riders at a force of 2 times gravity. On April 11-12, 2006, Hiltrude Blumel, a 49 year old woman from
Germany died after reporting dizziness and nausea after disembarking the ride.
[6] [7] On June 13, 2005, a four year old boy lost consciousness during the ride and later died.
[6] There are warnings on the ride regarding people with certain pre-existing health conditions. There is also a section of the ride that subjects the riders to less motion.
Hotels
On-site Disney hotels
Main articles: Walt Disney World Resorts
Another notable aspect is the large number of hotel resort complexes on the Walt Disney World property. The non-themed hotels are owned by private, non-Disney hospitality companies such as
Starwood (
Westin and
Sheraton),
Holiday Inn,
Best Western, and
Hilton. The themed resorts include:
★
Disney's All-Star Movies Resort
★
Disney's All-Star Music Resort
★
Disney's All-Star Sports Resort
★
Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge
★
Disney's Beach Club Resort
★
Disney's BoardWalk Inn
★
Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort
★
Disney's Contemporary Resort
★
Disney's Coronado Springs Resort
★
Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground
★
Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa (formerly known as 'Disney's Grand Floridian Beach Resort')
★
Disney's Polynesian Resort
★
Disney's Pop Century Resort
★
Disney's Port Orleans Resort Riverside (formerly known as 'Disney's Dixie Landings Resort')
★
Disney's Port Orleans Resort French Quarter (formerly known as 'Disney's Port Orleans Resort')
★
Disney's Wilderness Lodge
★
Disney's Yacht Club Resort
★
Walt Disney World Dolphin (Disney Hotel operated by
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide)
★
Walt Disney World Swan (Disney Hotel operated by
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide)
Guests arriving at the
Orlando International Airport check into their Disney resort (or Vacation Club resort) at the airport using Disney's Magical Express program through a contract with
BAGS Incorporated. Guests board custom motor coaches, watch a video about the Walt Disney World Resort, and their luggage is later delivered directly to their rooms while guests are off enjoying their vacation.
On-site Disney Vacation Club hotels
Main articles: Disney Vacation Club
★
Disney's Beach Club Villas
★
Disney's BoardWalk Villas
★
Disney's Old Key West Resort (originally called 'Disney Vacation Club Resort')
★
Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa (built on the site of the former '
Disney Institute')
★
The Villas at Disney's Wilderness Lodge
★ Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas:
:According to a Disney Vacation Club
press release, "The project's first phase will include 134 remodeled accommodations on the fifth and sixth floors of the existing
Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge building, and subsequent phases will include the construction of 324 Vacation Homes in a new building on the resort property, for a total of 458 Vacation Homes." The project will be developed in phases with an anticipated opening starting in late 2007, with completion scheduled for spring 2009.
On-site non-Disney hotels
Main articles: Walt Disney World resorts
★
Four Seasons Hotels: Walt Disney World Resort announced a new 900 acre (4 km²) luxury resort anchored by the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
★
Best Western Lake Buena Vista Resort Hotel (formerly known as the '
Travelodge Hotel' and the 'Viscount Hotel')
★
Doubletree Guest Suite Resort (originally known as 'Pickett Suites' and formerly the 'Guest Quarters Suite Hotel')
★
Grosvenor Resort (formerly known as the 'Americana Dutch Inn' and 'Best Western Grosvenor')
★
Hilton, located in the Walt Disney World Resort
★
Holiday Inn in the Walt Disney World Resort (originally a '
Howard Johnson's' and formerly a '
Courtyard by Marriott')
★
Royal Plaza (formerly known as 'The Royal Inn' and 'The Royal Inn Plaza')
★
Shades of Green (formerly 'The Golf Resort' and 'The Disney Inn'; named because of its location between two golf courses; it is owned by the
United States Department of Defense and used for vacationing active and retired military personnel, their families, and DOD civilians only)
★
Buena Vista Palace Resort & Spa (formerly
Wyndham Palace Resort & Spa)
Attendance
In 2006, the
Magic Kingdom,
Epcot,
Disney-MGM Studios, and
Disney's Animal Kingdom occupied four of the top five rankings in theme park attendance in the United States (
Disneyland was 2nd). The four Walt Disney World Resort parks were in the top 8 in world wide attendance.
[9]
The April 2007 issue of trade magazine ''Park World'' reported the following
attendance estimates for 2006 compiled by Economic Research Associates in partnership with TEA (formerly the
Themed Entertainment Association):
★ Magic Kingdom, 16.6 million visits (No. 1 worldwide)
★ Epcot, 10.5 million visits (No. 6)
★ Disney-MGM Studios, 9.1 million visits (No. 7)
★ Disney's Animal Kingdom, 8.9 million visits (No. 8)
Name/Logo
No official documentation exists to show that the Walt Disney World Resort was originally to be spelled "Disneyworld". It was going to be very different from "Disneyland". Walt Disney referred to the Walt Disney World Resort as both "Disney World" and "The Disney World" using the same font as Disneyland's.
After Walt Disney's death, the title "Walt Disney World" was chosen by Walt's brother and business partner, Roy O. Disney. The name was presented in a modern font instead of the original Disneyland font. To reinforce the updated name and image, Walt Disney World's official symbol was to be an oversized "D" with the face of Mickey Mouse depicted as the lines of latitude and longitude of this new World.
While Disneyland has kept its original font, it has lost nearly all references to its official symbol. Walt Disney World put an end to use of both its original font and official symbol at the conclusion of its 25th anniversary in 1996. The official symbol can still be found in many places around the resort as well as in recent merchandise that uses it once again. Inexplicably, the old logo still remains on the head float of the
SpectroMagic parade, even though the parade was rehabbed extensively before its return in 2001, well after the January 1996 logo change. The 1971 logo is still used on the trip backdrop on ''
The Price Is Right''. A flag with the official logo is also flown above City Hall in the Magic Kingdom.
See also
★
Magic Kingdom
★
Epcot
★
Disney-MGM Studios
★
Disney's Animal Kingdom
★
Disney's Typhoon Lagoon
★
Disney's Blizzard Beach
★
Downtown Disney
★
Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex
★
Bay Lake, Florida
★
Lake Buena Vista, Florida
★
Reedy Creek Improvement District
★
Walt Disney Travel Company, Incorporated
★
Walt Disney World Company
★
Walt Disney World Hospitality and Recreation Corporation
★
Walt Disney World College Program
★
Walt Disney World International Program
★
Disneyland
★
Walt Disney
★
Carolwood Pacific Railroad
★
Walt Disney World Explorer
★
Walt Disney World Speedway
★
Incidents at Disney parks
★
Hidden Mickey
References
1. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002340112_thrill18.html
2. Orlando Beyond Disney T. D. Allman
3. Orlando Beyond Disney T. D. Allman
4. Disney Profile
5. Disney gives more than m in 2006, ''Orlando Sentinel, 2007-01-12''
6. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-deathchart063006,0,2141608.graphic
7. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12300569/
8. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-deathchart063006,0,2141608.graphic
9. Theme Park Attendance
External links
★
Walt Disney World Resort official site
★
Shades of Green - military hotel at Walt Disney World Resort
★
Travel guide at wikitravel.org
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