Sunday, March 20, 2022 – Walt Disney World
- Mary Reed
- Mar 21, 2022
- 13 min read
The photo is of my nephew and his wife and their children, along with my niece and her husband and their kids at Walt Disney World. My sister also accompanied them. They just returned from a trip there and had a great time. The kids are ages 6, 4, 3 and 1 — quite a handful. I have been to Walt Disney World twice as an adult and also loved it. Everything from the food to the rides to the employee service is done with perfection. Even the landscaping is exquisite. The secret of success is usually in the details, and Walt Disney World gets every one of them right. That is not to say you don’t pay supremely for that perfection. But you genuinely feel like everything is magic when you are there. As an adult I enjoyed EPCOT and Hollywood Studios the most. I remember eating at restaurants from other countries at EPCOT and being a participant on a movie set at Hollywood Studios where I got doused with water — large raincoats and hats were provided. Because the children were so young, on this trip my relatives only went to Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. Whichever park you choose to visit, you won’t be sorry. However, these days, the visits require lots of preplanning so you know when the lines are the shortest or pay for a Genie+ pass to get you through lines faster at $15 per person per day. There are books written about how to get the most out of your visit to Disney World. It would not hurt to read at least one of these before your visit. Let’s learn more about Walt Disney World.
According to Wikipedia, The Walt Disney World Resort — also called Walt Disney World or Disney World — is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, the resort is owned and operated by Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, a division of The Walt Disney Co. The property covers nearly 25,000 acres, of which half has been used. The resort comprises four theme parks (Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney's Hollywood Studios and Disney's Animal Kingdom), two water parks (Disney's Blizzard Beach and Disney's Typhoon Lagoon), 31 themed resort hotels, nine non-Disney hotels, several golf courses, a camping resort and other entertainment venues, including the outdoor shopping center Disney Springs.
Designed to supplement Disneyland in Anaheim, California, which had opened in 1955, the complex was developed by Walt Disney in the 1960s. "The Florida Project," as it was known, was intended to present a distinct vision with its own diverse set of attractions. Walt Disney's original plans also called for the inclusion of an "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow" or EPCOT, a planned community intended to serve as a testbed for new city-living innovations. Walt Disney died on December 15, 1966, during the initial planning of the complex. After his death, the company wrestled with the idea of whether to bring the Disney World project to fruition. However, Walt's older brother, Roy, came out of retirement to make sure Walt's biggest dream was realized. Construction started in 1967, with the company instead building a resort similar to Disneyland, abandoning the experimental concepts for a planned community. The Magic Kingdom was the first theme park to open in the complex, in 1971, followed by EPCOT (1982), Disney's Hollywood Studios (1989) and Disney's Animal Kingdom (1998). It was Roy who insisted the name of the entire complex be changed from Disney World to Walt Disney World, ensuring that people would remember that the project was Walt's dream.
In 2018, Walt Disney World was the most visited vacation resort in the world, with an average annual attendance of more than 58 million. The resort is the flagship destination of Disney's worldwide corporate enterprise and has become a popular staple in American culture. In 2020, Walt Disney World was chosen to host the NBA Bubble for play of the 2019–20 season of the National Basketball Association to resume at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. Walt Disney World — as well as Disneyland — is also covered by an FAA prohibited airspace zone that restricts all airspace activities without approval from the federal government of the United States, including usage of drones; this level of protection is otherwise only offered to American critical infrastructure like the Pantex nuclear weapons plant, military bases, the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area Special Flight Rules Area, official presidential travels and Camp David.
In 2020, Disney World made 6,500 employees redundant and only operated at 25% capacity after reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic.
History
Planning and construction
Conception
In 1959, Walt Disney Productions began looking for land to house a second resort to supplement Disneyland in Anaheim, California, which had opened in 1955. Market surveys at the time revealed that only 5% 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 and wanted more control over a larger area of land in the next project.
Walt Disney took a flight over a potential site in Orlando, Florida — one of many — in November 1963. After witnessing the well-developed network of roads and taking the planned construction of both Interstate 4 and Florida's Turnpike into account, with McCoy Air Force Base — later Orlando International Airport — to the east, Disney selected a centrally located site near Bay Lake. The development was referred to in-house as "The Florida Project." To avoid a burst of land speculation, Walt Disney Productions used various dummy corporations to acquire 27,443 acres of land. In May 1965, some of these major land transactions were recorded a few miles southwest of Orlando in Osceola County. In addition, two large tracts totaling $1.5 million were sold, and smaller tracts of flatlands and cattle pastures were purchased by exotically named companies, such as the "Ayefour Corp.," "Latin-American Development and Management Corp." and the "Reedy Creek Ranch Corp." Some are now memorialized on a window above Main Street U.S.A. in the Magic Kingdom. The smaller parcels of land acquired were called "outs." They were five-acre lots platted in 1912 by the Munger Land Co. and sold to investors. Most of the owners in the 1960s were happy to get rid of the land, which was mostly swamp at the time. Another issue was the mineral rights to the land, which were 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. Eventually, Disney's team negotiated a deal with Tufts to buy the mineral rights for $15,000.
Working strictly in secrecy, real estate agents unaware of their client's identity began making offers to landowners in April 1964, in parts of southwest Orange and northwest Osceola counties. The agents were careful not to reveal the extent of their intentions, and they were able to negotiate numerous land contracts with some landowners, including large tracts of land for as little as $100 an acre. With the understanding that the recording of the first deeds would trigger intense public scrutiny, Disney delayed the filing of paperwork until a large portion of the land was under contract.
Early rumors and speculation about the land purchases assumed possible development by NASA in support of the nearby Kennedy Space Center, as well as references to other famous investors, such as Ford, the Rockefellers and Howard Hughes. An Orlando Sentinel news article published weeks later, on May 20, 1965, acknowledged a popular rumor that Disney was building an "East Coast" version of Disneyland. However, the publication denied its accuracy based on an earlier interview with Disney at Kennedy Space Center, in which he claimed a $50 million investment was in the works for Disneyland, and that he had no interest in building a new park. In October 1965, editor Emily Bavar from the Sentinel visited Disneyland during the park's 10th anniversary celebration. In an interview with Disney, she asked him if he was behind recent land purchases in Central Florida. Bavar later described that Disney "looked like I had thrown a bucket of water in his face," before denying the story. His reaction — combined with other research obtained during her Anaheim visit — led Bavar to author a story on October 21, 1965, where she predicted that Disney was building a second theme park in Florida. Three days later — after gathering more information from various sources — the Sentinel published another article headlined, "We Say: 'Mystery Industry' Is Disney."
Walt Disney had originally planned to publicly reveal Disney World on November 15, 1965, but in light of the Sentinel story, he asked Florida Governor Haydon Burns to confirm the story on October 25. His announcement called the new theme park "the greatest attraction in the history of Florida." The official reveal was kept on the previously planned November 15 date, and Disney joined Burns in Orlando for the event.
Roy Disney’s oversight of construction
Walt Disney died from circulatory collapse caused by lung cancer on December 15, 1966, before his vision was realized. His brother and business partner, Roy O. Disney, postponed his retirement to oversee construction of the resort's first phase.
On February 2, 1967, Roy O. 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. After the film, it was explained that for Disney World, including EPCOT, to succeed, a special district would have to be formed: the Reedy Creek Improvement District with two cities inside it, Bay Lake and Reedy Creek, now Lake Buena Vista. In addition to the standard powers of an incorporated city, which include issuance of tax-free bonds, the district would have 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 legislation forming the district and the two cities was signed into law by Florida Governor Claude R. Kirk, Jr. on May 12, 1967. The Supreme Court of Florida then ruled in 1968 that the district was allowed to issue tax-exempt bonds for public projects within the district, despite the sole beneficiary being Walt Disney Productions.
The district soon began construction of drainage canals, and Disney built the first roads and the Magic Kingdom. The Contemporary Resort Hotel and the Polynesian Village Resort were also completed in time for the park's opening on October 1, 1971. The Palm and Magnolia golf courses near the Magic Kingdom had opened a few weeks before, while Fort Wilderness opened one month later. Twenty-four days after the park opened, Roy O. Disney dedicated the property and declared that it 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 responded, "I think Walt would have approved." Roy Disney died at age 78 on December 20, 1971, less than three months after the property opened.
Admission prices in 1971 were $3.50 for adults, $2.50 for juniors under age 18, and one dollar for children under twelve.
1980s-March 2020
Much of Walt Disney's plans for his Progress City concept were abandoned after his death and after the company board decided that it did not want to be in the business of running a city. The concept evolved into the resort's second theme park, EPCOT Center, which opened in 1982 — renamed EPCOT in 1996. While still emulating Walt Disney's original idea of showcasing new technology, the park is closer to a world's fair than a "community of tomorrow." One of EPCOT's main attractions is the "World Showcase" which highlights 11 countries across the globe. Some of the urban planning concepts from the original idea of EPCOT would instead be integrated into the community of Celebration, Florida, much later. The resort's third theme park, Disney-MGM Studios — renamed Disney's Hollywood Studios in 2008 — opened in 1989 and is inspired by show business.
In the early 1990s, the resort was seeking permits for expansion. There was considerable environmentalist pushback, and the resort was convinced to engage in mitigation banking. In an agreement with The Nature Conservancy and the state of Florida, Disney purchased 8,500 acres of land adjacent to the park for the purpose of rehabilitating wetland ecosystems. The Disney Wilderness Preserve was established in April 1993, and the land was subsequently transferred to The Nature Conservancy. The Walt Disney Co. provided additional funds for landscape restoration and wildlife monitoring.
The resort's fourth theme park, Disney's Animal Kingdom, opened in 1998.
In October 2009, Disney World announced a competition to find a town to become twinned with. In December 2009, after Rebecca Warren won the competition with a poem, they announced the resort will be twinned with the English town of Swindon.
George Kalogridis was named president of the resort in December 2012, replacing Meg Crofton, who had overseen the site since 2006.
On January 21, 2016, the resort's management structure was changed, with general managers within a theme park being in charge of an area or land, instead of on a functional basis, as previously configured. Theme parks have already had a vice-president overseeing them. Disney Springs and Disney Sports were also affected. Now hotel general managers manage a single hotel instead of some managing multiple hotels.
On October 18, 2017, it was announced that resort visitors could bring pet dogs to Disney's Yacht Club Resort, Disney's Port Orleans Resort – Riverside, Disney's Art of Animation Resort and Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground.
In 2019, Josh D'Amaro replaced George Kalogridis as president of the resort. He had previously held the position of vice president of Animal Kingdom. D'Amaro was subsequently promoted to chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products in May 2020, succeeding Bob Chapek, who was promoted to CEO of The Walt Disney Co. in February 2020. Jeff Vahle, who served as president of Disney Signature Experiences subsequently took over as president of the resort.
March 2020-present
On March 12, 2020, a Disney spokesperson announced that Disney World and Disneyland Paris would close business, beginning March 15, 2020.
In June 2020, Walt Disney World was chosen to host the NBA Bubble for play of the 2019–20 season of the National Basketball Association to resume at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. It was also the site for the MLS is Back Tournament, also held at the Sports Complex.
On July 11, 2020, Disney World officially reopened, beginning operations at 25% capacity at the Magic Kingdom and Disney's Animal Kingdom, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Florida. Four days later, EPCOT and Disney's Hollywood Studios reopened for operation at 25% capacity to the public. Masks were required at all times including outdoors, on attractions and while taking photos; all guests were required to have their temperature taken upon entry. Plexiglass was installed on various attractions and transportation offerings; shows that drew large crowds — such as parades and nighttime shows including “Fantasmic!” and “Happily Ever After” were not offered.
In November 2020, the resort increased the guest capacity to 35% at all four theme parks, and on May 13, 2021, CEO Bob Chapek announced a further increase of capacity, effective immediately; however, he did not say to what capacity level it would be raised. By mid-June 2021, temperature checks and mask mandates — except while on Disney transportation — had been lifted. In late July 2021, mask mandates were reinstated for all attractions and indoor areas in light of new guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control as the delta variant drove a significant increase in local cases. These reinstated mandates were lifted in February 2022.
Starting on October 1, 2021, the resort is honoring its 50th anniversary with "The World's Most Magical Celebration."
Disney's Magical Express, a complimentary transportation and luggage service offered to Walt Disney Resort guests that began in 2005, ended in January 2022. In August 2021, the Walt Disney Company announced that FastPass+, which had been free since its introduction in 1999, would be retired and replaced with Genie+, a system costing guests $15 per day with the option of adding "Lightning Lane" which will be used for top-tier attractions, for an additional charge.
Future expansion
The resort has a number of expansion projects planned or ongoing, including:
- A TRON Lightcycle Run at Magic
- Expansion at EPCOT, including new
attractions related to Guardians of the
Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and a newly
designed entrance.
- Flamingo Crossings, a shopping complex
similar to Disney Springs, currently opening in phases.
Attendance
In the first year of opening, the park attracted 10,712,991 visitors. In 2018, the resort's four theme parks all ranked in the top 9 on the list of the 25 most visited theme parks in the world: (1st) Magic Kingdom — 20,859,000 visitors; (6th) Disney's Animal Kingdom — 13,750,000 visitors; (7th) EPCOT — 12,444,000 visitors; and (9th) Disney's Hollywood Studios — 11,258,000 visitors. By October 2020, maximum Disney World attendance was still allowed to only remain at 25% capacity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A recent study found that reducing Magic Kingdom park capacity to 25% would result in a 54.1% reduction in annual attendance. This capacity limit causes less annual revenue and may lower the number of visitors to the Orlando region.
Best rides at Walt Disney World
According to Elizabeth Rhodes’ Oct. 4, 2021 article “Every Single Ride at Walt Disney World, Ranked” in Travel & Leisure, the best attractions at Disney World range from classic dark rides with beloved theme music to innovative new options that utilize the latest technologies to fully immerse guests in the storytelling. Those rides are worth waking up early to experience.
1. Avatar Flight of Passage in Animal
Kingdom
Deep inside beautifully designed Pandora — The World of Avatar is Disney's best ride: Avatar Flight of Passage. Soar around Pandora on the back of a banshee in this "Avatar"-themed attraction. It's difficult to compare classic dark rides like Pirates and Haunted Mansion to the state-of-the-art, innovative attractions that have debuted at the parks in recent years, but this ride combines a super-immersive 3D simulator with top-notch theming to create a breathtaking experience you won't find elsewhere.
2. Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance in
Hollywood Studios
Join the Resistance and try to escape the First Order on this astounding ride that puts guests right in the center of a Star Wars battle. The attraction's impressive scale, hyper-immersive queue, multiple ride systems and riveting plot line make it one of the best rides at Disney World.
3. Expedition Everest in Animal Kingdom
Climb aboard a train and venture up Mount Everest but try to avoid the mythical Yeti on this thrilling Animal Kingdom attraction. Expedition Everest is arguably the best coaster at Disney World because of its outstanding theming and storytelling and exciting drops and turns.
4. Haunted Mansion in Magic Kingdom
Grim, grinning ghosts come out to socialize on this beloved Magic Kingdom Omnimover ride that employs a number of old-school illusions and a catchy theme song.
5. Space Mountain in Magic Kingdom
Of Magic Kingdom's "mountains," Space Mountain is a perennial favorite. The dark indoor coaster sends riders on a wild journey through the stars, and the queue and exit perfectly align with Tomorrowland's retro-futuristic vibes.
6. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Magic
Kingdom
The "wildest ride in the wilderness" whisks guests through an abandoned mine and past picturesque southwestern scenery, including red rock formations, canyons and more.
7. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror in
Hollywood Studios
Based on “The Twilight Zone” series, this thrilling ride transports guests to the fifth dimension via the eerie Hollywood Tower Hotel, shooting them up and down the elevator shaft. The intricately detailed queue — set in the courtyard, lobby and boiler room of the hotel — looks spookily stuck in time and perfectly builds suspense for the main event.
8. Pirates of the Caribbean in Magic
Kingdom
It's a pirate's life for all of us on this Magic Kingdom boat ride — an enduring favorite because of its detailed scenes filled with animatronics and action, as well as its classic theme song. Fun fact: This attraction, with versions found at Disney theme parks around the world, actually inspired the film series.
9. Splash Mountain in Magic Kingdom
This popular flume ride has drawn crowds for years with its thrilling drop and singing animal animatronics. And even after the attraction is transformed with the new "Princess and the Frog" theme, it's likely to remain just as fun.
10. Peter Pan’s Flight in Magic Kingdom
Fly over scenes from "Peter Pan" in this beloved Fantasyland attraction. There's almost always a line, but the newly redesigned queue makes the wait feel shorter.
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