THE LEGACY: WALT DISNEY WORLD
The Beginning: Walt's Epcot
The Beginning: Walt's Epcot
Press Conference confirming the project, November 15, 1965(photos by The Orlando Sentinel)
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 and wanted control of a much larger area of land for the new project.
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. 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, 43 mi²) of land. The first five-acre (20,000 m², 217400 ft²) 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, including M.T. Lott Real Estate Investments (pronounced empty lot).
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, 217400 ft²) 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.
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Walt Disney's death
The most famous press cover for Walt Disney's death was designed by french magazine Paris Match on December 24, 1966 - issue n°924
(photos by Paris Match)
The most famous press cover for Walt Disney's death was designed by french magazine Paris Match on December 24, 1966 - issue n°924(photos by Paris Match)
Walt Disney died 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, 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 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 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 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 near the Magic Kingdom had opened a few weeks before.
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 replied, "I think Walt would have approved."
Roy O. Disney died on December 20, 1971, barely three months after the property opened.
Disney subsequently opened EPCOT Center in 1982, a theme park adapted from Walt Disney's vision for a "community of tomorrow". The park permanently adopted the name Epcot in 1996. In 1989, the resort added Disney-MGM Studios, a theme park inspired by show business, whose name was changed to Disney's Hollywood Studios in 2008. The resort's fourth theme park, Disney's Animal Kingdom, opened in 1998.
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The Reedy Creek Improvement District
Current RCID logoThe Reedy Creek Improvement District in Florida is the immediate governing jurisdiction for the land on the Walt Disney World Resort. As of the late 1990s, it comprised an area of 38.6 sq. mi. (100 km²) within the outer limits of Orange and Osceola counties in Florida.
On March 11, 1966, several landowners, all fully-owned subsidiaries of what is now The Walt Disney Company, petitioned the Circuit Court of the Ninth Judicial Circuit, which served Orange County, Florida, for the creation of the Reedy Creek Drainage District under Chapter 298 of the Florida Statutes. After a period during which some minor landowners within the boundaries opted out, the Drainage District was incorporated on May 13, 1966, as a public corporation. Among the powers of a Drainage District were the power to condemn and acquire property outside its boundaries "for the public use". It used this power at least once to obtain land for Canal C-1 (Bonnet Creek) through land that is now being developed as the Bonnet Creek Resort, a non-Disney resort.
However, Disney knew that their plans for the land would be easier to carry out with more independence, and they petitioned the Florida State Legislature for the creation of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which would have almost total autonomy within its borders. Chapter 67-764[1] of the Laws of Florida was signed into law by Governor Claude R. Kirk, Jr. on May 12, 1967, creating the District. On the same day, Governor Kirk also signed the incorporation acts for two cities inside the District: Bay Lake (Chapter 67-1104) and Reedy Creek (Chapter 67-1965). (The City of Reedy Creek was renamed to the City of Lake Buena Vista around 1970.)
According to a press conference held in Winter Park, Florida, on February 2, 1967, by Disney Vice President Donn Tatum, the Improvement District and Cities were created to serve "the needs of those residing there", and the company needed its own government to "clarify the District's authority to [provide services] within the District's limits" and because of the public nature of the planned development. The original city boundaries did not cover the whole Improvement District; they may have been intended as the areas where communities would be built for people to live.
Reedy Creek is a natural waterway, the course of which runs mostly through undeveloped territory east of Haines City. Its flow, drainage, and destination have been altered over the years by human development: It crosses Interstate 4 and enters Disney property west of Celebration and passes between Disney's Animal Kingdom and Blizzard Beach, meandering north past the western reaches of the Bay Lake city limits and the Magic Kingdom.
The Improvement District has far-reaching powers. Through the District, Disney could construct almost anything within its borders, including a nuclear power plant (which it never built, opting instead for a more traditional plant that supplements power from outside of the District). The District, as with any municipal corporation, can issue tax-free bonds for internal improvements. This became a point of contention when a 1985 law limited the amount of tax-free bonds in Florida. The eligible bonds were chosen randomly, causing the District to beat out Orange County, which had planned to build low-income housing, in 1989.
In addition to the power of eminent domain outside the District, the one other power that the District was given (that it would not have had if it were simply the two Cities) was an exemption to state zoning and land use laws. When the state later established the Development of Regional Impact study process, Disney, through the District, was able to avoid the paperwork and streamline the process to build theme parks and other attractions. On the other hand, county taxes, including property and sales taxes, still apply within the District.
The planned residential areas never came (though part of the plans for EPCOT did come through), due in part to the fear of losing control of the District, causing some to cry foul. Most notably, Richard Fogelsong argues in his book, Married to the Mouse: Walt Disney World and Orlando, that Disney has abused its powers by remaining in complete control of the District.
In addition, the Disney-controlled town of Celebration, Florida, which was built with many of Walt Disney's original ideas, which have evolved into a form of New Urbanism, was deannexed from Bay Lake and the District to keep its residents from having power over Disney by providing for separate administration of the areas. Celebration lies on unincorporated land within Osceola County, with a thin strip of still-incorporated land separating it from the rest of the county. This strip of land contains canals and other land used by the District.
A five-member Board of Supervisors governs the District, elected by the landowners of the District. These members, senior employees of The Walt Disney Company, each own undeveloped five-acre (20,235 m²) lots of land within the District, the only land in the District not technically controlled by Disney or used for public road purposes. The only residents of the District, also Disney employees, live in two small communities, one in each city. In the 2000 census, Bay Lake had 23 residents, all in the community on the north shore of Bay Lake, and Lake Buena Vista had 16 residents, all in the community about a mile north of Downtown Disney. These residents elect the officials of the cities, but since they don't actually own any land, they don't have any power in electing the District Board of Supervisors.
The District headquarters are in a building in Lake Buena Vista, east of Downtown Disney. Everything publicly run is run by the District; the cities are a formality. This is reflected in recent land acquisitions by Disney towards the west; these were added to the District but not Bay Lake.
The District runs the following services, primarily serving Disney:
- Fire protection and emergency medical services: through four fire stations
- Environmental protection: Many pieces of land have been donated to the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation and the South Florida Water Management District as conservation easements, and the District collects data and ensures that large portions remain in their natural wetland state.
- Building codes and land-use planning: The "EPCOT Building Codes" were implemented to provide the sort of flexibility that the innovative community of EPCOT would require. The provisions contained therein, although rumored to be exceptionally stringent, have in fact never been far and above those of the Standard Building Code or the Florida Building Code (FBC) that is currently in force in the rest of Florida. In fact, since the inception of the International Building Code (IBC) in 2000, the EPCOT Building Code defers much of its design parameters to the IBC-based FBC, and many of the reference standards contained therein. Particularly with regard to wind design, today's standards are better than the ones that previously existed, and today's RCID buildings are built to withstand 110 mph winds. Hurricane Charley (2004) reached maximum sustained winds estimated 105 mph on RCID property. Although the codes are ostensibly updated on a three-year cycle, the most recent and currently-used version of the EPCOT Building Codes is the 2002 version.
- Utilities: wastewater treatment and collection, water reclamation, electric generation and distribution, solid waste disposal, potable water, natural gas distribution, and hot and chilled water distribution, through Reedy Creek Energy Services, which has been merged with the Walt Disney World Company
- Roads: Many of the main roads in the District are public roads maintained by the District, while minor roads and roads dead-ending at attractions are private roads maintained by Disney; in addition, state-maintained Interstate 4 and U.S. Highway 192 pass through the District, as does part of the right-of-way of County Road 535 (formerly State Road 535).
Disney provides transportation for guests and employees in the form of buses, ferries, and monorails, under the name Disney Transport. In addition, several Lynx public bus routes enter the District, with half-hour service between the Transportation and Ticket Center (and backstage areas at the Magic Kingdom) and Downtown Orlando and Kissimmee, and once-a-day service to more points, intended mainly for cleaning staff.
The District does not have a police force, instead allowing Orange County and Osceola County to respond to incidents. Additionally, the Disney-run Disney Security acts much like a police force, including pulling over speeders. However, it cannot impose fines, but can take disciplinary action against employees and in extreme cases prohibit people from returning to Disney property (which does not include most of the main roads). The county sheriffs and the Florida Highway Patrol also patrol for speeders on the public roads in the District.
On March 11, 1966, several landowners, all fully-owned subsidiaries of what is now The Walt Disney Company, petitioned the Circuit Court of the Ninth Judicial Circuit, which served Orange County, Florida, for the creation of the Reedy Creek Drainage District under Chapter 298 of the Florida Statutes. After a period during which some minor landowners within the boundaries opted out, the Drainage District was incorporated on May 13, 1966, as a public corporation. Among the powers of a Drainage District were the power to condemn and acquire property outside its boundaries "for the public use". It used this power at least once to obtain land for Canal C-1 (Bonnet Creek) through land that is now being developed as the Bonnet Creek Resort, a non-Disney resort.
However, Disney knew that their plans for the land would be easier to carry out with more independence, and they petitioned the Florida State Legislature for the creation of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which would have almost total autonomy within its borders. Chapter 67-764[1] of the Laws of Florida was signed into law by Governor Claude R. Kirk, Jr. on May 12, 1967, creating the District. On the same day, Governor Kirk also signed the incorporation acts for two cities inside the District: Bay Lake (Chapter 67-1104) and Reedy Creek (Chapter 67-1965). (The City of Reedy Creek was renamed to the City of Lake Buena Vista around 1970.)
According to a press conference held in Winter Park, Florida, on February 2, 1967, by Disney Vice President Donn Tatum, the Improvement District and Cities were created to serve "the needs of those residing there", and the company needed its own government to "clarify the District's authority to [provide services] within the District's limits" and because of the public nature of the planned development. The original city boundaries did not cover the whole Improvement District; they may have been intended as the areas where communities would be built for people to live.
Reedy Creek is a natural waterway, the course of which runs mostly through undeveloped territory east of Haines City. Its flow, drainage, and destination have been altered over the years by human development: It crosses Interstate 4 and enters Disney property west of Celebration and passes between Disney's Animal Kingdom and Blizzard Beach, meandering north past the western reaches of the Bay Lake city limits and the Magic Kingdom.
The Improvement District has far-reaching powers. Through the District, Disney could construct almost anything within its borders, including a nuclear power plant (which it never built, opting instead for a more traditional plant that supplements power from outside of the District). The District, as with any municipal corporation, can issue tax-free bonds for internal improvements. This became a point of contention when a 1985 law limited the amount of tax-free bonds in Florida. The eligible bonds were chosen randomly, causing the District to beat out Orange County, which had planned to build low-income housing, in 1989.
In addition to the power of eminent domain outside the District, the one other power that the District was given (that it would not have had if it were simply the two Cities) was an exemption to state zoning and land use laws. When the state later established the Development of Regional Impact study process, Disney, through the District, was able to avoid the paperwork and streamline the process to build theme parks and other attractions. On the other hand, county taxes, including property and sales taxes, still apply within the District.
The planned residential areas never came (though part of the plans for EPCOT did come through), due in part to the fear of losing control of the District, causing some to cry foul. Most notably, Richard Fogelsong argues in his book, Married to the Mouse: Walt Disney World and Orlando, that Disney has abused its powers by remaining in complete control of the District.
In addition, the Disney-controlled town of Celebration, Florida, which was built with many of Walt Disney's original ideas, which have evolved into a form of New Urbanism, was deannexed from Bay Lake and the District to keep its residents from having power over Disney by providing for separate administration of the areas. Celebration lies on unincorporated land within Osceola County, with a thin strip of still-incorporated land separating it from the rest of the county. This strip of land contains canals and other land used by the District.
A five-member Board of Supervisors governs the District, elected by the landowners of the District. These members, senior employees of The Walt Disney Company, each own undeveloped five-acre (20,235 m²) lots of land within the District, the only land in the District not technically controlled by Disney or used for public road purposes. The only residents of the District, also Disney employees, live in two small communities, one in each city. In the 2000 census, Bay Lake had 23 residents, all in the community on the north shore of Bay Lake, and Lake Buena Vista had 16 residents, all in the community about a mile north of Downtown Disney. These residents elect the officials of the cities, but since they don't actually own any land, they don't have any power in electing the District Board of Supervisors.
The District headquarters are in a building in Lake Buena Vista, east of Downtown Disney. Everything publicly run is run by the District; the cities are a formality. This is reflected in recent land acquisitions by Disney towards the west; these were added to the District but not Bay Lake.
The District runs the following services, primarily serving Disney:
- Fire protection and emergency medical services: through four fire stations
- Environmental protection: Many pieces of land have been donated to the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation and the South Florida Water Management District as conservation easements, and the District collects data and ensures that large portions remain in their natural wetland state.
- Building codes and land-use planning: The "EPCOT Building Codes" were implemented to provide the sort of flexibility that the innovative community of EPCOT would require. The provisions contained therein, although rumored to be exceptionally stringent, have in fact never been far and above those of the Standard Building Code or the Florida Building Code (FBC) that is currently in force in the rest of Florida. In fact, since the inception of the International Building Code (IBC) in 2000, the EPCOT Building Code defers much of its design parameters to the IBC-based FBC, and many of the reference standards contained therein. Particularly with regard to wind design, today's standards are better than the ones that previously existed, and today's RCID buildings are built to withstand 110 mph winds. Hurricane Charley (2004) reached maximum sustained winds estimated 105 mph on RCID property. Although the codes are ostensibly updated on a three-year cycle, the most recent and currently-used version of the EPCOT Building Codes is the 2002 version.
- Utilities: wastewater treatment and collection, water reclamation, electric generation and distribution, solid waste disposal, potable water, natural gas distribution, and hot and chilled water distribution, through Reedy Creek Energy Services, which has been merged with the Walt Disney World Company
- Roads: Many of the main roads in the District are public roads maintained by the District, while minor roads and roads dead-ending at attractions are private roads maintained by Disney; in addition, state-maintained Interstate 4 and U.S. Highway 192 pass through the District, as does part of the right-of-way of County Road 535 (formerly State Road 535).
Disney provides transportation for guests and employees in the form of buses, ferries, and monorails, under the name Disney Transport. In addition, several Lynx public bus routes enter the District, with half-hour service between the Transportation and Ticket Center (and backstage areas at the Magic Kingdom) and Downtown Orlando and Kissimmee, and once-a-day service to more points, intended mainly for cleaning staff.
The District does not have a police force, instead allowing Orange County and Osceola County to respond to incidents. Additionally, the Disney-run Disney Security acts much like a police force, including pulling over speeders. However, it cannot impose fines, but can take disciplinary action against employees and in extreme cases prohibit people from returning to Disney property (which does not include most of the main roads). The county sheriffs and the Florida Highway Patrol also patrol for speeders on the public roads in the District.
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Location
Current Cities logos
Location
Current Cities logosDespite marketing claims and popular misconceptions, the Florida resort is not located in Orlando. The entire property is outside Orlando's city limits; the majority sits within southwestern Orange County with the remainder in adjacent Osceola County to the south. Most of the resort's land and all of the public areas are located in the cities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, about 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Orlando.
The 25,000 acre (101 km²) site 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), and Exit 8 on State Road 429 (Florida), the Western Expressway.
At its peak, the resort occupied approximately 30,000 acres (120 km²) or 47 square miles (120 km²), about the size of San Francisco, or twice the size of Manhattan. Portions of the property since have been sold or de-annexed, including land now occupied by the Disney-built community of Celebration.
Employment, maintenance and statistics
Current logo of the operating company of the property, a subsidary of the Walt Disney Company
The 25,000 acre (101 km²) site 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), and Exit 8 on State Road 429 (Florida), the Western Expressway.
At its peak, the resort occupied approximately 30,000 acres (120 km²) or 47 square miles (120 km²), about the size of San Francisco, or twice the size of Manhattan. Portions of the property since have been sold or de-annexed, including land now occupied by the Disney-built community of Celebration.
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Employment, maintenance and statistics
Current logo of the operating company of the property, a subsidary of the Walt Disney CompanyWhen the Magic Kingdom opened in 1971, the site employed about 5,500 "cast members". Today it employs more than 61,000, spending more than $1.1 billion on payroll and $478 million on benefits each year. The largest single-site employer in the United States, Walt Disney World Resort has more than 3,000 job classifications.
The 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.
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 available for guests at no charge. In 2007, Disney Transport started a guest services upgrade to the buses. SatellGPS systems controlling new public addresses systems on the buses 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.
The Walt Disney World Monorail System also provides transportation at Walt Disney World. A fleet of 12 monorail trains operate on three routes which all interconnect at the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC) adjacent to the Magic Kingdom's parking lot. One line provides an express non-stop link from the TTC to the Magic Kingdom, whilst a second line provides a link from the TTC to Epcot. The third line links the TTC and the Magic Kingdom to the Contemporary, Polynesian, and Grand Floridian resorts.
Walt Disney World Resort
Original 1971 logo
(Walt Disney Productions -The Walt Disney Company)
Initial Construction, 1969-1971
The 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.
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 available for guests at no charge. In 2007, Disney Transport started a guest services upgrade to the buses. SatellGPS systems controlling new public addresses systems on the buses 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.
The Walt Disney World Monorail System also provides transportation at Walt Disney World. A fleet of 12 monorail trains operate on three routes which all interconnect at the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC) adjacent to the Magic Kingdom's parking lot. One line provides an express non-stop link from the TTC to the Magic Kingdom, whilst a second line provides a link from the TTC to Epcot. The third line links the TTC and the Magic Kingdom to the Contemporary, Polynesian, and Grand Floridian resorts.
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Walt Disney World Resort
Original 1971 logo(Walt Disney Productions -The Walt Disney Company)
Initial Construction, 1969-1971
Actual construction began in April 1969. The first task for the Reedy Creek Improvement District was finding a way to drain areas of swampland for construction without damaging the environment. Since the whole Central Florida area basically floats on a body of fresh water, any depletion or damage to one part of this water supply would cause environmental devastation to the region's entire supply.
Over fifty miles of canals and levees were constructed on property to control water levels without losing the supply. Water control structures, such as the French-designed Emile Gate, keep levels under control by automatically floating open when water reaches certain peaks and close when peaks subside. They require no electricity or human monitoring, and greatly reduce the risk of flooding or drought. These canals were the first "themed" illusion on property: they curve through the natural landscape much as a stream would, instead of following the straight lines of artificial canals.
Once they had a way to control and drain whatever land areas they needed for construction, Imagineers in Florida and California began various projects simultaneously. The Disney staff wanted the resort built in two years. They hired an outside group of engineers to oversee construction, but this group said it would take at least five years to complete the project. The Disney staff subsequently let that group go and created their own team.
At the time, Bay Lake was the only natural body of water on property. It was also one of the first areas of property Walt wanted to buy (along with an island in the middle of it, now called Discovery Island). In early planning stages, designers decided to build a man-made lagoon adjacent to it. There would be plenty of space for water recreation, and the lagoon would complement the setting of the Polynesian Village Resort. It could also offer Guests the feel of an exotic journey to the theme park's faraway lands.
Bay Lake was first drained with pumps and its bottom layer of muck scooped out. Next to it, over seven million cubic yards of earth were dug up for the lagoon and used as a foundation for the Magic Kingdom Park. White sand found underneath all the muck was used to line the four and a half miles of beach around the newly created Seven Seas Lagoon. Bay Lake and the 172-acre lagoon were then refilled with water from the surrounding wetland and stocked with more than 70,000 fish.
The concepts of EPCOT moved forward. In the spirit of a self-sufficient city, the resort built its own energy plants, maintenance shops, food center, and laundry to handle the massive needs of Cast Members and Guests. Miles of sewage, water, and electrical lines and pipes were laid, paving the way for future utility plants.
The theme parks and resorts' utility systems were constructed with unique and advanced methods to supply electricity and hot water for heating and cooling. A wastewater treatment plant was built to treat effluent and direct it to a nearby tree farm and golf courses.
A highly advanced computer system was installed in the central energy plant to monitor and control the distribution of power across the property. The system instantly and automatically recognizes any problem occurring in the parks or hotels, and usually adjusts the problem from there. The plant also produces part of the WALT DISNEY WORLD power needs. This is a necessity since thunderstorms are common in Central Florida. If there is a power outage, the resort can rely on emergency power from its own plant.
Another monitoring system was installed to detect smoke, fire, floods, or unusual water flow. It covers more than 3,000 spots across property and automatically alerts the appropriate response personnel if needed.
Most of the support facilities were built north of the Magic Kingdom Park. Central Shops was created to serve as a major center for fabrication, for everything from trash cans and ride vehicles, to signs and ornamental iron and wood work in and around the themed buildings. It is divided into many different areas: the Machine Shop, Metal Shop, Maintenance Services, Electrical, Plumbing and Air Conditioning, Staff Shop, Mill Shop, and Paint Shop. Built next to Central Shops was a dry dock for building and servicing Walt Disney World watercraft.
There was no food distribution center in the Central Florida area large enough to support the volume of the resorts and theme park's Guests, so the Disney company built its own. Almost all food was shipped there before going out to various locations on property. It had its own bakery for breads and pastry items, and a main kitchen for preparing soups and sauces, produce, meat, pizza, sandwiches, and salads. A quality control kitchen allowed chefs to keep recipes consistent throughout property and evaluate menu items going in and coming off the line.
Master Planning for Walt Disney World, 1969
(Artwork by Walt Disney Productions - The Walt Disney Company)
The world's largest working wardrobe, with offices in the park and separate hotels, was assigned to create and perform maintenance on Cast Member and Audio-Animatronics figure costumes. To clean all those costumes, the world's largest laundry facility was constructed. It not only cleans costumes, but resort towels, sheets, and napkins handled by Cast Members and Guests . . . about 100,000 pounds of linen each day.
At the tree farm just a few miles away, landscape designers and horticulturists tended thousands of plants, trees, shrubs, and flowers needed for WALT DISNEY WORLD greenery. The original inventory of trees numbered more than 8,000. Some exotic plantlife comes from as far away as Asia, Australia, the Pacific Islands, and Africa. Many species require three years of acclimation to Florida soil before they are transplanted onstage. Also, about 1,500 existing trees growing in areas destined for development were moved and transplanted in other locations.
Monorail beams, made of concrete with a special polystyrene core to lighten their weight, came by rail from the state of Washington. The monorail trains themselves were constructed in California. Plans already called for two monorail tracks to circle the Seven Seas Lagoon. One would go straight to the MAGIC KINGDOM Park from the main parking lot, the other stopping at the resort hotels around the lagoon also. Future plans called for beams to extend all the way to Lake Buena Vista, where the Disney Village Resort was under development. This particular monorail route never made it past the planning stages.
There were no telephone lines or telephone system on property before it was purchased. The Disney company formed a partnership with the Florida Telephone Company to create a completely new state-of-the-art telephone system. Vista-United Telecommunications was designed to serve resort, park, and administration telephones, as well as transmit computer data and video signals all over property. It became the first totally electronic telephone system using underground cable instead of standard poles with overhead lines. It would be the first to use a fiber-optics system in a commercial venture, and the first in Florida to use the 911 emergency system.
The resort hotels used a method of construction never before implemented. While the hotels' main skeletal structures were being erected, their rooms were manufactured at an assembly plant miles away. Each one was built as a lightweight steel module and completely outfitted with wall coverings, bath fixtures, and mirrors. They were then trucked to the site and individually "plugged" into the resorts' framework with the help of giant cranes.
Theming was key to their design. Walt wanted the entire property to be a themed experience, not just the theme park. The resorts not only had their own individual look, but were specifically planned and positioned as extensions of the Magic Kingdom Park.
The Tempo Bay Resort Hotel became the Contemporary Resort (now Disney's Contemporary Resort) and was placed as a compatible backdrop to Tomorrowland. Disney's Polynesian Resort (formerly Polynesian Village Resort) is an extension of Adventureland. Farther back in the surrounding forests, the campground known as Fort Wilderness (now Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground), named after the fort on Tom Sawyer's Island in Disneyland Park, features the quiet country atmosphere of Frontierland. (The same care used to preserve trees in other areas of development took place at Fort Wilderness as well. Subsequent planning of resort campsites and roads saved fifty percent more trees, including 300-year-old cypress trees).
Further plans included at least three more resorts around the lagoon, with Venetian, Asian, and Persian styles. Space was left open for a large movie theater complex, and a Western town resort near the Fort Wilderness Campground.
On the foundation where the Magic Kingdom Park was to stand, a network of warehouse-sized rooms, hallways, and office space was built, then covered with more dirt. This nine-acre tunnel system, called "utilidors," forms a unique support basement. The Magic Kingdom Park that Guests see is actually the second and third stories. The utilidors provide easy, behind-the-scenes access to utility systems, offices, and storage areas, and also backstage passage to Cast Member work locations.
Master Planning for Walt Disney World, 1969
(Artwork by Walt Disney Productions - The Walt Disney Company)
Located in the utilidors is the nerve center for the park's computer systems. The Digital Animation Control System (DACS) virtually controls everything in the park, from the hundreds of playback recordings in each attraction to the water pressure needed to push various boats through each ride track all of it simultaneously. Computers also control all the projection systems, fireworks, and parade operations . . . even park cash registers.
The Swedish-built Automated Vacuum Assisted Collection (AVAC) was the first waste system of its type installed in the United States. It is an integral part of waste collection for the theme park, intricately linked through the utilidors by pneumatic tubes. Trash is deposited in several collection points around the park. Every fifteen minutes it is drawn through the tubes at speeds up to 60 miles per hour and sent to a central compactor station.
Meanwhile, Imagineers were putting other elements of the Magic Kingdom Park together in California. The park attractions went through months of meticulous planning before actually being built. Each ride and show was given a storyline, with a beginning, middle, and end. Extensive historical backgrounds were researched to bring authenticity to the stories, from Pirates of the Caribbean to The Hall of Presidents. Then, sketches and a script of each scene in order, were drawn up on a storyboard to give Imagineers a visual impression of what the attraction would look like in sequence. With the storyboard and hundreds of sketches as visual guides, Imagineers then crafted scale models of the entire attraction so they could see and experiment with what Guests would see during their experience. Every angle of view had to be taken into account, including what would be seen if Guests turned around.
The models provided a guide for the full-size clay sculptures of animated figures and props. These sculptures were used to create molds for the actual show pieces. As the pieces were fabricated and assembled, audio tracks of voices and sound effects were recorded in studio booths, and background sets were constructed and painted. Thousands of set props, such as old tables and chairs, firearms, window shades, curtains, doors, bird cages, carriages, lanterns, and artificial trees and rocks, were found, purchased, or made from scratch in Imagineering shops. After each attraction building was constructed, the ride system or show equipment was installed. The sets, props, Audio-Animatronics figures, and special effects went in next, followed by the final audio recordings. Finally, each scene's visual and audio effects were programmed to play back in sync, thanks to the massive computers of DACS.
The old-fashioned steam locomotives which circle the park were found in Mexico and refurbished in Tampa, Florida. Paddle-wheelers, ferryboats, and submarines were also built there for the planned naval fleet.
The Magic Kingdom Park would open with six themed lands: Main Street, U.S.A.; Adventureland; Frontierland; Liberty Square, a land originally planned for the Disneyland Park in 1955; Fantasyland; and Tomorrowland. Mickey's Birthdayland was created in 1988 to honor Mickey Mouse's 60th birthday, and eventually changed its name to Mickey's Starland in 1990. In 1996, the land changed again into Mickey's Toontown Fair with the addition of more interactive play areas, character greeting locations, and a kiddie roller coaster called The Barnstormer at Goofy's Wiseacres Farm.
Above-ground construction of the Magic Kingdom Park began in early 1970, starting with Main Street, U.S.A., and the Cinderella Castle. Years of research went into the planning and design of the Walt Disney World signature castle. Imagineers used several French castles for inspiration, among them the Chambord, the Usse, and the Chenonceau. Inspiration also came from the castle in Walt Disney's own film Cinderella.
Since no one had built a 189-foot castle in America, there was difficulty finding craftsmen experienced in the field. There were no local gargoyle or trellis makers in the area, so Imagineering fashioned its own. It took eighteen months to complete. Six hundred tons of steel were used in the framework. Imagineers then sculpted exterior and interior fiberglass walls to resemble solid granite. The ten towering spires, fabricated and finished on property, were then slid into place above the main building and permanently attached (contrary to some myths, the castle cannot be, nor has ever been dismantled in the event of a hurricane). Finishing touches applied to this architectural marvel included the Cinderella mice carved into decorative columns, family crests of Walt's family and friends in the second story stained glass windows, and Walt's own family crest in stone above the breezeways.
Eventually, all the lands came together with their own unique themes. Ordinary buildings were cloaked with intricately designed exteriors and interiors. Details were installed and the final coats of paint were put on. Imagineers used an architectural trick called "forced perspective" to make buildings look taller than they actually are. They shrunk windows, balconies, and even furniture on the second floors and shrunk any third floors even further to achieve the illusion of tall buildings climbing far into the sky. To complete the feeling of being in a three dimensional movie, background music was created for each particular land, as if it was part of any film's soundtrack. In the end, it took more than 9,000 workers to build the world's most famous vacation resort, at a cost of just more than $400 million.
In Lake Buena Vista, the Walt Disney World Preview Center hosted more than one million Guests prior to park opening. For eighteen months, a staff of tour guides used artists' renderings, slides, and film to show what the Vacation Kingdom would be all about. Without question, anticipation for this resort was enormous.
Resort planners scheduled the Walt Disney World Resort to open in October when the crowds were slower. They wanted everything to move slowly at first, so any problems that sprang up could be fixed with minimal Guest inconvenience. Yet some outside estimates predicted as many as 100,000 people would attend. Extra Florida State Troopers were brought in to deal with snarling traffic jams, but in the end had little to do. The early morning on opening day had Guests driving around the toll plaza over and over again, trying to steer their way in to be the first visitors to the park. Ultimately, though, less than 10,000 Guests visited the park that day.
Although everyone else called the opening day a bomb, those in charge of the resort felt it was a good beginning. No major problems cropped up, and all operations ran smoothly.
The dedication of the Magic Kingdom Park was held on October 25, 1971. Many celebrities were on hand for the festivities, as well as Walt's entire family. Arthur Fiedler conducted the World Symphony Orchestra at the base of Cinderella Castle. Roy O. Disney stood with Mickey Mouse in Town Square and read the dedication plaque:
WALT DISNEY WORLD is a tribute to the philosophy and life of Walter Elias Disney . . . and to the talents, the dedication, and the loyalty of the entire Disney organization that made Walt Disney's dream come true. May Walt Disney World bring Joy and Inspiration and New Knowledge to all who come to this happy place . . . a Magic Kingdom where the young at heart of all ages can laugh and play and learn together.
Dedicated this 25th day of October, 1971
The plaque still rests below the Town Square flagpole on Main Street, U.S.A. On October 1, 1991, Roy E. Disney, Roy O. Disney's son and Walt's nephew, rededicated the Walt Disney World Resort by reading the same plaque his father read almost twenty years before.
Slow but steady crowds came into the park during the ensuing weeks. The Magic Kingdom Park was barely a month old when on the day after Thanksgiving, the parking lots filled up quickly and the staff reluctantly closed the gates. Cars were backed up on the four-lane interstate for miles in what many locals called one of the worst traffic jams in history.
And it proved that the Walt Disney World Resort was a success.
Shortly after the Walt Disney World Resort opened, two side-wheel steamboats made nightly moonlight cruises around Bay Lake and the Seven Seas Lagoon. Guests could enjoy music, cocktails, and a quiet, serene view of the illuminated resorts.
Some ideas for the resort made by Imagineers worked better on paper than in reality. Several attempts to make a wave machine work near the Polynesian Village Resort resulted in failure. The plan was to have artificial waves crash along the resort's beach like real Pacific Island beaches. At one point during testing, the waves were large enough for surfing; however, they also caused massive beach erosion, and the wave machine was permanently switched off only a few months after the resort opened. Parts of it still lie beneath Seven Seas Lagoon as a habitat reef for resident fish.
Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake also became a vast, watery stage at night for the Electrical Water Pageant. Colorful creatures of the deep and mythical characters floated past the hotel and park shores every evening. Giant wire screens were built on fourteen separate barges and supported by an intricate electrical system. On each screen are hundreds of Christmas lights arranged in a particular shape, such as a dragon's head, a munching apatosaurus, or playful dolphins. A large sound system has stereo speakers set up on each barge, so that each character making its appearance has its own theme. At the end of the "parade" is a star-spangled salute to America, with flags and twinkling stars. For several seasons, fireworks were shot over the lagoon during the finale. The parade is a favorite for resort and park Guests alike. Only canceled during high winds or bad weather, it has been running since October 26, 1971.
Its colorful appeal and synthesized music inspired the same show designers to create a whole new nighttime presentation for Disneyland Park and later the Walt Disney World Resort: the "Main Street Electrical Parade." Floats representing many Disney images tell several stories along the park's parade route. There is a circus, a walk-through Wonderland, a pirate ship, a royal procession for Cinderella, and so forth. Synthesized music accompanies each segment, and is tied together with an overall score called "Baroque Hoedown."
The floats themselves are small, battery-powered vehicles covered in wire mesh frames. The frames were fashioned into many shapes, like animals, bugs, and clock towers, then covered in dark or reflective cloth to hide drivers, speakers, and equipment. Tiny colored light bulbs were attached to the frames in massive strands, creating lighted outlines of these fantasy characters.
The "Main Street Electrical Parade" made its Disneyland debut in 1972 and continued until 1996. The Walt Disney World version premiered June 11, 1977, and continued until 1991.
The first hotels in Lake Buena Vista opened in 1972 and early 1973. The hotels of Dutch Inn (10/72), Royal Inn (10/72), Travelodge (11/72), and Howard Johnson Hotel (2/73) formed the Motor Inn Plaza, which later became the Hotel Plaza. These hotels were not owned by the Disney company. The entire complex eventually became part of the Disney Village Resort.
A collection of vacation villas, tree house villas, and a golf course became the Disney Village Resort in 1972. They were joined in 1975 with a relaxing, waterside collection of shops called the Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village (later called the Disney Village Marketplace and now Downtown Disney Marketplace).
The Golf Resort at the Palm and Magnolia Golf Courses opened in 1973. These courses were already made famous hosting the Walt Disney World Golf Classic, which began in 1971. The resort's name changed to The Disney Inn in 1986, and then to Shades of Green on the Walt Disney World Resort in 1994, when the U.S. Army leased the hotel from the company in a 100-year contract. It is now reserved for vacationing military personnel.
Old-time steam trains chugged through the woods of the Fort Wilderness Campground for the first time in 1973. A form of interior transportation for campers, they were eventually decommissioned in 1977. Parts of the track can still be seen around the campground.
Discovery Island, located in Bay Lake between Disney's Contemporary Resort and Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground, was originally called Blackbeard's Island, but did not open to Guests until 1974, as a relaxing bird retreat renamed Treasure Island. Its name was changed for the final time in 1976. It became a zoological park in 1979 when it received accreditation from the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums. Discovery Island is home to many exotic birds and animals, and participates in international Species Survival Plans for endangered animals. There is also a training colony of Capuchin Monkeys for the Boston program, Helping Hands: Simian Aids for the Disabled.
In late 1975, construction began on the first "mini" theme park opened at the Walt Disney World Resort. River Country, a Disney version of an old-fashioned swimming hole, rests on the edge of Bay Lake in Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground. It features flume and raft rides, a nature trail, and a large beach. This park gets its water supply from an intake/filter pipe in Bay Lake. Water is sent along the lake bottom into a pump system located inside River Country's artificial mountain. From there it is forced down the flume troughs at about 8,500 gallons per minute, providing water for the flumes, and continually replenishing River Country's water supply. A large rubber "bladder" separates the park's water from regular lake water, with the help of a sensor system that keeps it inflated exactly six inches above the lake. Excess water from River Country spills over the bladder, replenishing Bay Lake. River Country opened in June 1976.
From the "Magic Kingdom" to "Epcot Center"
The year 1975 was a turning point for the Walt Disney World Resort. After completing Phase One, the company studied the economic and creative feasibility's of building Walt's ultimate dream. On July 14, the Disney company announced plans to build an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT). However, this project would be different from the original plans Walt had envisioned.
Instead of an actual working city of the future, EPCOT would be a showcase of ideas, a place for people to come and learn about themselves and the world around them, through the use of Disney technology and entertainment. Two key points of Walt's beliefs would remain constant. First, the past would be explored as well as the future, for the past taught mankind where it had been and where it could go. Second, there had to be an "international neighborhood," where an atmosphere of understanding could promote communication, peace, and prosperity between all the cultures of the world.
EPCOT Center was the chosen name given to the second theme park. In early planning stages, World Showcase, the salute to countries around the globe, was to open first, followed by Future World. Soon, though, it was apparent the futuristic side to the EPCOT Center attractions could and should open simultaneously. The design of the park went through countless changes before its current form was selected. One of the original concepts was to house all of the attractions from Future World and World Showcase in one gigantic building.
Meanwhile, a beautiful new landmark for the Walt Disney World Resort was unveiled at the Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village in 1977. The Empress Lilly, an historic replica of a three-decked Mississippi sternwheeler, was "permanently docked" at Lake Buena Vista to provide a whole new restaurant/lounge complex for the shopping village. Measuring 220 feet long and sixty-two feet high, this riverboat took just over a year to construct, but it was quite a task. First, the area where it would be docked was dredged and barriers were put up around the open space. Pumps kept the land dry while workers built the foundation, or "hull" of the boat, then the rest of the body. The same elegant interior detailing found on steamers of old were re-created here in grand style. Eventually, the earthen barriers between the Empress Lilly and the lake were removed, giving the ship the appearance of being moored to a dock. In a dedication ceremony held May 1, 1977, the boat was christened by Walt Disney's widow, Lillian, for whom it was named. The Empress Lilly riverboat was later refurbished to become Fulton's Crab House in 1996.
Construction for EPCOT Center began in October 1979. Its immense scale was regarded as the largest construction project in the country.
Over 10,000 workers were ultimately involved in bringing this theme park to life. Many of the same Imagineers that planned, designed, and oversaw the creation of the MAGIC KINGDOM Park returned for this project. Instead of building pirates and flying elephants, their task was to create dinosaurs and space colonies, advanced greenhouses and marine habitats. The experiences in EPCOT Center had to be the closest Guests could come to the real thing-past, present, or future.
Hundreds of scientific and historical experts were consulted to ensure consistent detail and accuracy of technology used and displayed. The various films in each attraction required over sixteen production crews to produce. With new and improved fiber optics, lasers, computers, and water controls, the park would have five times the amount of special effects used in the Magic Kingdom Park.
Imagineering teams traveled to foreign countries selected to open World Showcase. Along their journeys, they studied history, culture, and world contributions of each nation, then based the theme of each showcase on either a time-line, historical landmark, and/or famous cities familiar to the entire world. Merchandise, food, and even Cast Members working in the showcases would be authentic. Chefs were imported to create the perfect dining experiences for table-service restaurants.
Again, Imagineers used forced perspective on buildings to make them appear taller than they really are. The only exception in the park was The American Adventure. It was originally intended to have a contemporary style, but later changed to the historical, Georgian style typified in America's colonial days. An actual building from that time period would be too small to be seen from across the lagoon, so Imagineers used inverted forced perspective, making it much larger than it should be to achieve the far away effect.
The pavilions in Future World had corporate sponsors which helped fund and provide technical assistance in putting them together where necessary. For World Showcase, governments of those countries participated in the creation of the showcases, and also helped finance their construction.
The EPCOT Center landmark, Spaceship Earth, took two years and two months to build. As the symbol of the park and its statement of world peace, it needed a design found nowhere else on earth. Thus, the world's first geodesic sphere was created. It is 180 feet in height.
Innovative building techniques had to be used for Spaceship Earth. Support pilings are buried from 120 to 185 feet deep. The sphere is actually composed of two spheres, one inside the other. The inner sphere contains the track and rooms of the attraction, plus maintenance decking. The outer sphere is held about two feet away from the inner sphere by aluminum hubs. About 1,700 tons of steel were used to build the sphere. A special form of aluminum called alucobond was used for the 12,000 panels covering the entire globe. This material can withstand the Florida climate and essentially clean itself. A special gutter system was developed to prevent rain from cascading off the sphere. Water is channeled through the structure and sent to underground drains, where it replenishes the World Showcase Lagoon.
During construction, a group of endangered birds called the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker was discovered nesting in a wooded area destined for development. The entire construction site had to be moved 300 feet in order to preserve that area's natural state. A back service road was named after the birds as a reminder of the company's conservation efforts.
The Walt Disney Story on Main Street, U.S.A., over in the Magic Kingdom Park became the EPCOT Preview Center. It informed Guests of the new park with a film and concept artwork. Once the monorail track to EPCOT Center was completed, trains took Guests to the site for a view of the construction progress.
The dedication plaque was read by Card Walker, then Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Walt Disney Productions:
To all who come to this Place of Joy, Hope and Friendship, Welcome. Epcot is inspired by Walt Disney's creative vision. Here, human achievements are celebrated through imagination, wonders of enterprise and concepts of a future that promises new and exciting benefits for all. May EPCOT Center entertain, inform and inspire and, above all, may it instill a new sense of belief and pride in man's ability to shape a world that offers hope to people everywhere.
October 24, 1982
During the mid-eighties, construction began on many Walt Disney World projects to benefit not only Guest experience, but serve the resort and its mission of EPCOT itself. The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the company, Michael Eisner, guided the growth by planning additional resorts so more Guests could stay on property and projects that would surpass the Walt Disney World reputation for outstanding entertainment.
The first luxury resort, Disney's Grand Floridian Beach Resort, opened in 1988. Its elegant wood siding and details, ornate balconies, and Victorian windows take Guests back to turn-of-the-century Florida. The first moderately priced resort, Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort, debuted later in 1988. Each series of buildings is named after different islands of the Caribbean.
EPCOT Center hosted several entertainment extravaganzas throughout its history. Previous shows included the EPCOT Intergalactic Daredevil Circus Spectacular (in the CommuniCore area); Skyleidoscope (dragon boats); New World Fantasy (picture barges); and the "Laserphonic Fantasy" (fireworks and lasers) in the World Showcase Lagoon. On January 30, 1988, the theme park debuted "IllumiNations."
This epic show began with an international festival from nine of the nations around World Showcase. Spotlights, special-effects projectors, themed music, and lights illuminated each showcase with color and sound. The second part of the show ignited the sky with fireworks and classical music. Several barges which contain water jets and fireworks were towed into the lagoon every evening. Epcot Computer Central kept the entire program in sync. Along with the musical score, it simultaneously controlled thirteen projectors, six lasers, eight searchlights, 108 water nozzles on the barges, more than 700 pieces of fireworks, and 50,000 bulbs lining every showcase. During the Christmas season of 1994, the show was transformed into a festive program called "Holiday IllumiNations" and has continued since during Christmas seasons.
October 3, 1996, saw the premiere of the all-new "IllumiNations 25," a nightly celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Walt Disney World Resort. This new show uses much of the original equipment and special effects (no longer using the projectors), and has an additional four barges that launch many rapidly exploding fireworks.
The year 1989 brought the opening of the third major theme park in the Walt Disney World Resort. The Disney-MGM Studios is a tribute to the world of Hollywood magic.
The Disney-MGM Studios would be designed to do just that, using classic films past and present to entertain and educate Guests of all ages. Plans called for several rides and shows that paid tribute to famous movies, or were entirely based on one film.
The theme park would do more than entertain. It would also include actual working soundstages and production buildings, where real filming and taping could take place. The Florida film industry had grown tremendously in the previous few years. Here was an opportunity for the Disney resort to be part of that growth. The working studios would be intricately linked with the park, using attractions and audience opportunities to bring Guests into the soundstages and the middle of the action.
Facilities would include several soundstages, complete with lighting and camera storage, sound booths, and editing rooms, all with the latest in equipment technology. These buildings were planned with glass-partitioned accessways so Guests could watch daily studio activities taking place.
Dominant theme park architecture would feature the glitz and glamour of Hollywood from the 1930s and 1940s. Imagineers watched thousands of hours of film and television to create certain atmospheres, landscaping, and interior designs for buildings. Particular streets such as Hollywood and Vine were to be re-created for authenticity. Familiar Los Angeles landmarks that typified the era were photographed and analyzed. Imagineers scaled down building plans so they would fit inside the park. Other designers brought in ideas featuring "California Crazy" architecture, like oversized boats and dinosaurs for retail space.
Since television programs could be produced in the working studios, the entire broadcasting medium would be showcased as well. A fully functioning radio station was planned inside the park which could broadcast local or visiting stations' programs.
The Disney company signed an agreement with MGM Studios, one of the most prestigious movie studios in history, for the use of its name and logo. This added an extra touch of class to the theme park's title and instant recognition to anyone familiar with many of Hollywood's greatest films.
The announcement for the theme park was in 1985, and construction began in 1986. Consultants were brought in to bring some of the working facilities to life. George Lucas of Star Wars fame became a major addition to the Disney family. His knowledge of story-telling on film, combined with the technical magic of Imagineering, helped create thrilling attractions based on his films.
One of the most important additions to the park was the Walt Disney Animation Florida division of the Disney animation industry. Guests could now see how classic and current cartoons were made in a working studio. With the help of Disney animators, old and new, Imagineers came up with a facility that complimented the animation studio's workplace, while allowing Guests to view each aspect of production from start to finish. Classic Disney films set the tone for imagination and adventure on the big screen and in the creative processes.
The movie studios in California used to have water towers on their lots for heating and cooling purposes, so one was designed for this park's own studios. Though the Earffel Tower does not function as its predecessors did, it is the theme park's landmark. It stands 130 feet tall, and the eye-catching mouse ears weigh 5,000 pounds each. They were constructed on the ground and then lifted to the top by crane.
The Chinese Theater, America's most famous and recognizable Hollywood movie house, is the visual draw for Guests to journey deeper into the park. Unlike most attraction buildings, this theater has no forced perspective. Imagineers used the actual architectural drawings of the original theater and built Florida's to the same scale. Even the lobby is an exact reproduction. The 22-ton copper shingle roof in the center of the building was installed separately. The courtyard was designed to be slowly filled by cement handprints of visiting stars.
Practically all of the attractions would use the most high-tech computer and special-effects equipment in existence. There were endless trial runs for the "natural" disasters occurring in Catastrophe Canyon. Computers had to be adjusted perfectly so the effects would happen just at the right moment, equipment would not toss any Backstage Shuttles into the water pit, or heat wouldn't melt the metal parts involved in the oil drill explosions. An actual oil tanker was lifted into the canyon, stripped of its insides, and fireproofed. The Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! had similar tests performed.
Visual and audio controls had to be recorded and timed perfectly for the Audio-Animatronics cast of The Great Movie Ride. Permission to use certain actors' and actresses' voices was obtained for some attractions, while other voices were computer-created.
The Walt Disney Story in the Magic Kingdom Park became a preview center again, this time for the Disney-MGM Studios. The preview film featured what a typical family's visit to the park would be like.
May 1, 1989 . . . The opening day press event for the Disney-MGM Studios was the largest in Walt Disney World history. Although it rained throughout the day, the park was packed. The parking lot closed an hour after opening, and traffic backed up for miles. Hundreds of radio and television broadcasts took place around the attractions. "Streetmosphere" characters and bands kept the large crowds and long lines entertained. Celebrities were on hand to dedicate each attraction. Michael Eisner read the dedication plaque:
The world you have entered was created by The Walt Disney Company and is dedicated to Hollywood-not a place on a map, but a state of mind that exists wherever people dream and wonder and imagine, a place where illusion and reality are fused by technological magic. We welcome you to a Hollywood that never was-and always will be.
The Disney-MGM Studios was an instant success. It proved so popular that park officials quickly opened up backstage sections to increase crowd flow. This soon led to more attractions planned in those newly traveled sections. Future park expansion plans were immediately put into action. With the help of several popular live shows, the park was able to handle crowds while still developing more attractions. Trailers were brought in to make room for the already-expanding animation department.
Long-range plans included building more studios across the main highway alongside the park, connecting it with access roads and walkways. An entire new street opened in 1994: Sunset Boulevard, which pays tribute to the theater district of Hollywood. The theaters on the block are actual reproductions of several found in California, including the Carthay Circle, where Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered. It is also home to two feature attractions: "The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror," the tallest attraction on property at 199 feet, and a large amphitheater for the live "Beauty and the Beast" stage show
First workers dug the 25-acre Crescent Lake to be encircled by hotels. At one time, a nighttime water show called "Noah's Ark" was planned to take place in the middle of the lake, but never went past design stages. Crescent Lake was attached by water channel to the World Showcase Lagoon to allow resort Guests easy access to EPCOT Center through the International Gateway. This channel would later be connected for boat travel to the Disney-MGM Studios.
The first resorts to open around Crescent Lake were the Walt Disney World Swan and Walt Disney World Dolphin in 1990. Not owned or operated by the Disney company, these two hotels were designed by architect Michael Graves. Their eye-catching architecture features oversized geometric buildings and windows, and five-story statues of swans and dolphins on the rooftops.
Next door came Disney's Yacht and Beach Club Resorts, both opening about the same time in late 1990. In this Disney resort "first," the two hotels share similar themes and are physically connected together by a common recreation area, health club, and restaurant.
Disney's Yacht Club Resort is styled after New England's summer cottages of the 1880s. The nautical theme is unmistakable, with oak wood floors, porthole-styled windows, antique chandeliers, and brass fixtures.
Disney's Beach Club Resort returns to the seaside hotels of the 1870s. This casual setting features ceiling fans, wicker furniture, and seashell motifs.
The unique swimming area between them is called Stormalong Bay. It features a winding, sand-bottom lagoon and a 150-foot water slide originating from a shipwreck on the beach of Crescent Lake.
Two more small-scale theme parks also opened in 1989: Pleasure Island, a nighttime entertainment complex, and Typhoon Lagoon, the second Walt Disney World water park.
Pleasure Island opened officially on May 1, 1989, the same date as the Disney-MGM Studios. Walt Disney Imagineers created an extensive legend for the island's history and former owner, Merriweather Adam Pleasure. Pleasure was an entrepreneur who enjoyed traveling around the world. He had a flourishing sail-making business, but in 1941 disappeared at sea trying to sail around the globe. The island fell into ruin in the following years, and a hurricane severely damaged the existing buildings. Imagineers cleared out the overgrown jungle and rebuilt the island, using the original "funmeister's" philosophy for good entertainment to turn the old buildings into innovative nightclubs.
A large movie theater complex, using the latest in presentation technology, was built next door. The theater has hosted several film premieres, such as Dick Tracy, and special screenings, such as Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin.
Plaques detailing Pleasure's original use for each building are posted throughout the island. Pleasure's large greenhouse became a country dance bar, the Neon Armadillo Music Saloon. Imagineers converted his engine factory into Mannequins Dance Palace, a hot dance club similar to those found in New York. Magician Doug Henning contributed to the special effects found at Adventurers Club, a throwback to English safari clubs of the thirties. Memorabilia from around the world (that were given to Pleasure or brought in by international friends) cover the walls, hallways, and strange rooms.
Two unique table-service restaurants opened with the island. The Fireworks Factory used to be Pleasure's own fireworks-making facility. Inside, tables and chairs have been arranged around blackened metal siding and blown-out brick walls. The Portobello Yacht Club has a nautical setting, with model boats and sailing paraphernalia decorating its interiors.
A few changes have been made since Pleasure Island opened. The under-21 dance club Videopolis eventually became a progressive club called Cage, then the retro '70s club, 8TRAX. XZFR Rockin' Rollerdrome, a dance club and skating rink, was converted into the Rock & Roll Beach Club. A food market area is now Pleasure Island Jazz Company.
In December 1994, Planet Hollywood, an international restaurant chain owned by actors Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, and Demi Moore, opened with a gala press event. This sphere-shaped building is 95 feet tall, and rests in Village Lake, between the AMC Pleasure Island 10 movie theaters and Pleasure Island. To achieve that effect, water was drained from the area of construction. Two hundred steel pilings were pounded into the ground to establish a solid foundation, and then a concrete slab was poured on top of that. The rest of the restaurant was completely built and watersealed before water was returned to the lagoon around it. Inside is a treasure trove of movie memorabilia: props, costumes, and models housed in wall cases or hung from the ceiling. There is even a full-size Herbie the Love Bug Volkswagen suspended high above the floor.
Typhoon Lagoon was created, according to some, by the same hurricane that swept through Pleasure Island:
A furious storm once roared across the sea, catching ships in its path, helpless to flee. Instead of a certain and watery doom, the winds swept them here to Typhoon Lagoon...
The huge wave of wind and water left nothing in the tropical village untouched. Surfboards were embedded in trees. Parts of boats and buoys dangled in thatched roofs of surviving buildings. Miss Tilly, a small shrimp boat caught in the typhoon, was left precariously atop a nearby volcano called Mount Mayday.
Originally called "Splash" in preliminary designs, this water park is four times larger than River Country. It contains more slides (including one of the world's tallest and fastest), a giant wave pool, and a large children's water area. Special heaters are strategically placed around the landscaping and in pools to keep the "tropical waters" warm year round. Typhoon Lagoon opened June 1, 1989, providing Guests with even more cool relief from the Florida summer heat.
Plans to add hotels around EPCOT Center had been on the drawing boards for some time. In fact, Walt had always intended to build his resorts near the theme parks for Guests' convenience.
First workers dug the 25-acre Crescent Lake to be encircled by hotels. At one time, a nighttime water show called "Noah's Ark" was planned to take place in the middle of the lake, but never went past design stages. Crescent Lake was attached by water channel to the World Showcase Lagoon to allow resort Guests easy access to EPCOT Center through the International Gateway. This channel would later be connected for boat travel to the Disney-MGM Studios.
The first resorts to open around Crescent Lake were the Walt Disney World Swan and Walt Disney World Dolphin in 1990. Not owned or operated by the Disney company, these two hotels were designed by architect Michael Graves. Their eye-catching architecture features oversized geometric buildings and windows, and five-story statues of swans and dolphins on the rooftops.
Next door came Disney's Yacht and Beach Club Resorts, both opening about the same time in late 1990. In this Disney resort "first," the two hotels share similar themes and are physically connected together by a common recreation area, health club, and restaurant.
Disney's Yacht Club Resort is styled after New England's summer cottages of the 1880s. The nautical theme is unmistakable, with oak wood floors, porthole-styled windows, antique chandeliers, and brass fixtures.
Disney's Beach Club Resort returns to the seaside hotels of the 1870s. This casual setting features ceiling fans, wicker furniture, and seashell motifs.
The unique swimming area between them is called Stormalong Bay. It features a winding, sand-bottom lagoon and a 150-foot water slide originating from a shipwreck on the beach of Crescent Lake.
Also in 1990, The Walt Disney Company created a new corporate office for its expanding responsibility in protecting our natural resources. Since the beginning of the Walt Disney World Resort, all projects have been carefully arranged around protected wetlands. Company biologists go into the field and examine any area under consideration for development. Their goals are to determine that construction will not harm or destroy any endangered species or water environment necessary to Florida wildlife. Other scientists continually take water and soil samples, monitoring property-wide natural resources.
Throughout Walt Disney World history, the resort has experimented with different ways to save energy and fuel for utilities and its parks. Environmental Affairs was established to implement and oversee recycling programs across the corporate board. The Walt Disney World Resort put extensive recycling programs on line, beginning with backstage areas and a few resorts. Soon several types of Cast Member and Guest handouts were being printed on recycled paper. Recycling programs expanded to all the resorts and parks and backstage areas were soon outfitted to handle recyclable materials, such as separate barrels for different colored glass, plastics, etc. All areas now receive monthly report cards comparing how well they did during the current month to the previous month.
Jiminy Cricket is the "Environmentality" program mascot, promoting preservation of the environment. Chip 'n Dale are the official recycling mascots.
In 1990, Michael Eisner announced "The Disney Decade," an unparalleled list of expansion plans for Walt Disney World that promised more attractions, more resorts, and more entertainment for the "Vacation Kingdom of the World." Some of the projects mentioned have yet to appear, others have been shelved, but more have been created, providing a plethora of entertainment options for young and old.
Nightlife at Magic Kingdom Park would never be the same after October 1991. The "Main Street Electrical Parade" made its final run before record crowds in September; the new parade appeared to take its place: "SpectroMagic."
Show technology had improved dramatically in the past twenty years. This parade uses the same lighting and synchronized show concepts as the previous one, but includes the latest in holographic images, military lighting, fiber-optic cable (over 100 miles), video projectors, and liquid-nitrogen smoke. Scenes from the Silly Symphonies, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, and Fantasia are brought to life in several series of floats, live performers, and characters. The "Main Street Electrical Parade" moved to Disneyland Paris and can still be seen there.
The Walt Disney Company moved into the vacation ownership trend by creating the Disney Vacation Club. This was the first of several vacation clubs opened throughout the country. Each resort would be uniquely themed after traditional styles found in the region in which it was built. This particular resort is named Disney's Old Key West Resort, representing that South Florida style of community around the turn of the century. Condominium-style vacation homes feature pastel colors with white trim and balconies. The entire resort is also linked to the Lake Buena Vista Golf Course. This resort opened in 1991.
Two more moderately priced resorts made their debut in 1991 and 1992. Similar to Disney's Yacht and Beach Club Resorts, they are similar in theme, yet contain atmospheres unique to themselves. They are not physically connected, but rather are separated for theming purposes. In the tradition of Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort, they feature rooms with a central check-in, food court, and swimming areas.
Opened May 17, 1991, Disney's Port Orleans Resort re-creates the streets and rowhouses of New Orleans' French Quarter. Various ornate house styles are decorated with wrought-iron railings and typical Southern landscaping. Oak trees, crepe myrtles, and magnolias are abundant throughout the riverside buildings. The large food court area is fashioned after warehouses where float pieces and decorations are stored for the city's Mardi Gras celebrations.
The waterway which slowly curves around the resort banks is called the Sassagoula River. It provides access to the Disney Village Marketplace and Pleasure Island by water taxi. The journey follows the lazy water channel through some of the resort's more quiet, natural areas, and the Disney Village ResortJust up the Sassagoula River is Disney's Dixie Landings Resort. It represents several styles of Louisiana homes found farther up the Mississippi. There are three styles of dwellings, ranging from the small cottages of the rural bayous, cracker-style houses, and the elegant manors found on many southern plantations.
The story behind the resort, a once-bustling riverfront community, begins with an individual known as the Ol' Man. He was the first settler in this area in 1835. He built a small home, a well with a water flume, and a dock on a small island near the river. He lived all alone for some time, building his own bridges and walkways, until the area went under massive growth. River commerce brought in new settlers and businessmen. A small community, complete with a steamboat company, cotton mill, and a boatwright shop, was soon built. The Ol' Man created a play area for children and opened his fishing hole to everyone.
Disney's Dixie Landings Resort opened on February 2, 1992. All the buildings built at this prosperous river hub remained intact and were used as the hotel's main facilities. Even the old fishing hole is stocked for Guests to try their luck.
Imagineers wanted a very large, old oak tree for the recreation area's swimming pool. They finally found one more than one hundred years old, located twelve miles away. No problem for Disney engineers and horticulture experts to move it. A special cypress box 22 feet square was built to hold the tree's immense and delicate root system. The tree-moving team slowly unearthed the tree, keeping it hooked to cranes above. The 85-ton oak was then lifted onto a flatbed tractor trailer and moved at a cautious speed of four miles per hour. It took three days to reach the resort, and because of its height and branch span, 108 light poles and six traffic signals had to be moved out of its path. This resort is also connected by water taxi and can transport Guests up the lazy river to the Disney Village Marketplace and Pleasure Island.
The Bonnet Creek Golf Courses opened in 1992. The two championship courses, Eagle Pines and Osprey Ridge, were designed by noted course architects Pete Dye and Tom Fazio. The courses took two years to construct around the natural woodlands near Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground.
Also in 1992, the 28,000-square-foot Materials Recovery Facility opened its doors near the tree farm. The facility separates and processes many materials, such as office paper, cardboard, aluminum cans, and steel. Separated materials are bought by vendors, used as compost, or taken to landfills.
A new sports tradition at the Walt Disney World Resort began on the cold January morning of the 16th, 1994. Approximately 8,200 runners from around the world lined up for the first annual Walt Disney World Marathon. Regular Cast Member and Guest pathways were blocked or detoured to form an ingenious and captivating course. The 26.2-mile route ran along normal and backstage roads, past several resorts, and literally through all three theme parks. Now the marathon course includes music played in selected areas, light shows, bands, and of course, waving Disney characters and Cast along the route to keep participants alert and motivated.
The success of this marathon also paved the way for a whole new venue for the Resort. Within three years, more sports events would be coming to property, and a full-scale facility would be built.
Once again, to fill the need of moderately priced resorts, a unique concept was brought to life. This time, it would feature an innovative salute to two of America's popular entertainment themes. With rooms comparable to Disney's Caribbean Beach, Port Orleans, and Dixie Landings Resorts, Disney's All-Star Sports and Music Resorts would be surrounded by larger-than-life icons familiar with each genre.
Disney's All-Star Sports Resort opened in May 1994. Each building section features a specific section. Touchdown! has giant footballs and team helmets, with large Xs and Os lined up on a football field for the hotel courtyard. The Home Run Hotel pays tribute to baseball, with towering bats and drink cups. The Hoops Hotel theme features basketball goals, whistles, and megaphones. Center Court has a tennis theme, with referee chairs and tennis ball cans. Finally, Surf's Up! features gigantic surfboards and shark fins. Along the top of each building are cutouts of spectator heads, as if a crowd were watching the games below.
The All-Star Music Resort, which opened in November 1994, has five themed areas. Calypso features giant maracas and conga drums. Jazz Inn has saxophones and spotlights. Juke boxes and guitars represent the Rock Inn, and cowboy boots are the predominant theme for Country Fair. Finally, Broadway Hotel is highlighted with top hats and ticket booths. The pools at the music resort are shaped like a guitar and a piano.
After twenty-four years of sitting on the drawing boards, the Fort Wilderness resort hotel finally made its debut as Disney's Wilderness Lodge. The early designs of this fort are strikingly similar to the current resort: a large, rustic fort with timber walls.
Disney's Wilderness Lodge is themed after the national park lodges of the Northwest, such as Yosemite and Yellowstone, circa 1860-70. The spirit of the West is captured in many designs, paintings, and artifacts of Native American culture decorating the resort. Totem poles with carved deer, buffalo, and other animals rise majestically toward the seven-story ceiling in the lobby. Some of the tribes represented here are the Blackfoot, the Cheyenne, the Crow, and the Sioux. There are also many maps and paintings of Western explorers advancing into the wilderness.
Much of the material used to construct the lodge was shipped in from the West. Hundreds of lodgepole pines decorate the interior or are outside, supported by a foundation of granite flagstone. In the lobby, a bubbling pool flows out into the back promenade, where outside, it becomes a small river, meandering around a forest landscape. The river flows over rocky outcroppings and into the main swimming pool. Disney's Wilderness Lodge opened in May 1994. A similar-type resort has already been built at Disneyland Paris called the Sequoia Lodge.
Two dramatic changes occurred in the Magic Kingdom Park and EPCOT Center in 1994 that promise lasting effects on both parks' entertainment and education value. Tomorrowland in the Magic Kingdom Park had been growing out of date ever since opening in 1971. Its original purpose was to showcase and demonstrate new technologies mankind would be using someday, a bit more serious theme than the park's other lands. Clearly the architecture and attractions represented how we viewed the future in the 1970s. Visions of how the future could appear constantly changed every year, while Tomorrowland stayed the same. One attraction, Flight to the Moon, lasted only four years because traveling to the moon was no longer an unfathomable goal. Mission to Mars was the next step into the solar system, but even its technology grew old quickly.
Numerous refurbishment's were planned throughout the years, but no one had a perfect angle to keep Tomorrowland up to date while adding more entertainment. The answer finally came from Discoveryland in Disneyland Paris. It pays tribute to the world of visionaries like Jules Verne and H. G. Wells. Their view of what the future would look like included one-man rocket ships, time machines, and gigantic, oddly shaped city buildings.
Tomorrowland took that theme even further. Using futuristic images created by science fiction writers and filmmakers of the 1920s and '30s, it would become a specific community. This city has oversized, machine-like architecture, neon towers that light the night sky in a multitude of colors, and attractions that could only have been invented in "the future that never was." It has its own mass transportation system (the Tomorrowland Transit Authority), electric company (Tomorrowland Light & Power Co.), and convention center (Metropolis Science Centre).
EPCOT Center modified its technology displays in the CommuniCore pavilions into dynamic, innovative exhibit areas now known as Innoventions that will constantly change as new products are created. Innoventions showcases the latest home, work, and entertainment technologies with hands-on demonstrations. Guests can try out the hottest new computers, gadgets, and games, some of which are not even on the market yet. In 1996, the name of the theme park became simply Epcot.
Up until now, River Country and Typhoon Lagoon had experienced record crowds summer after summer. Water recreation parks were gaining popularity across the country, especially in Central Florida. With the two water parks on property closing their doors due to capacity every day, the Disney company decided to create a third: Blizzard Beach, the largest water park at the Walt Disney World Resort and the most unusually-themed resort attraction in Disney history.
According to Imagineering legend, a freak winter storm blew ice and snow over 57 acres of land near Disney's All-Star Resorts. But intended plans for Florida's first snow-ski resort ground to a halt when summer temperatures began melting the snow-covered area. The resort operators were about to close the lodge when they noticed an alligator sliding down the slopes on "liquid ice." They soon discovered what the alligator already knew: the melting snow had actually created thrilling water-park attractions out of the ski and sledding courses.
The 120-foot-high Summit Plummet, the ski jump on top of resident mountain Mt. Gushmore, is the world's tallest and fastest free-fall speed slide. Several other slides, toboggan runs, and flumes twist and turn along the mountain's half snow/half tropical slopes. There are pre-teens' and children's play areas, as well as a lazy creek circling the entire park, and a beach area. Blizzard Beach opened in April 1995.
For the past few years, the Walt Disney World Resort had an increasing amount of Guest groups coming to the resort for pre-arranged events. Out of this need to accommodate these large numbers of people and events, a convention department was created specifically to coordinate everything from hotel-room reservations to hall arrangements to catering. Disney's Grand Floridian Beach Resort and Disney's Contemporary Resort opened their own convention centers to join the already packed convention space across property.
The most popular events requested on property are weddings. The "Fairy Tale Wedding" department evolved out of convention sales, again coordinating each event with the Guests involved. It eventually developed entire packages for Guests so that they didn't have to plan their own at all. The centerpiece for this department is the Disney Wedding Pavilion, which opened just down the beach from Disney's Grand Floridian Beach Resort on July 15, 1995. Featuring the same Victorian-style architecture as the nearby beach resort, this pavilion is large enough to host weddings of 250 Guests or more and can be rearranged for smaller, intimate ceremonies.
On January 27, 1996, the Walt Disney World Resort hosted the inaugural Indy 200 race in the new, state-of-the-art Walt Disney World Speedway. The race was put together by the Resort's new sports department and the Indy Racing League. From design to reality, the racetrack took about ten months to construct next to the Magic Kingdom parking lot. Each curve in the one mile track has its own unique banking, providing a bigger challenge to veteran drivers.
A collection of old-growth trees were growing right in the middle of where the track was to be, but they were spared and moved near the backstretch. The "Mickyard" was designed for temporary seating so space would not be wasted when no races were taking place.
A unique vacation experience opened next to the Disney Village Marketplace on March 2, 1996. The Disney Institute, described as a "discovery resort," was designed to let Guests explore their own creative abilities through 40 different educational programs. Guests have the opportunity to be a chef, television producer, artist, interior designer, and more by choosing their own set of classes, ranging from entertainment arts (like animation, television, and radio production) to environment (bird-watching, gardening, topiary growing, and wilderness study), from fitness (sports medicine, aerobics, and outdoor programs) to culinary (cooking techniques, healthy dining, and planning for parties), and others. Featured program facilitators include celebrities from each field, such as recognized actors and actresses, musicians, and chefs.
Disney designers built a complete set of classrooms, audio/visual studios, a fitness center, and theater for the institute's learning facilities. The entire area is themed as a 'quintessential' rural American town, with tree-lined streets and many garden areas. Architect Tom Beeby used specific country building architectural styles to create a quiet, relaxing atmosphere. Now Guests not only have the opportunity to visit a world where dreams come true, but produce their own in an environment catering to their every need. The villas at Disney Village Resort were renamed the Villas at the Disney Institute. Although a section of rooms has been designated as campus housing for the institute, the rest are still open to Guests.
With a brilliant swirl of color, Roman architecture, and Disney magic, another hotel amenity designed for Guests and conventioneers appeared between the Walt Disney World Dolphin and Walt Disney World Swan on May 20, 1996: Fantasia Gardens Miniature Golf. There are two putting courses, Fantasia Gardens and Fantasia Fairways. Fantasia Gardens re-creates five different scenes of the Disney animated feature Fantasia, complete with Gothic statues and dancing fountains. Set in the traditional style of miniature golf, this course is interactive, requiring Guests to putt around hopping mushrooms, falling snowflakes, and pirouetting ostriches in a variety of challenges. Fantasia Fairways is a regular putting course, but designed to challenge even the most skillful golfers. It is literally a miniaturized golf course complete with exaggerated contours, water hazards, and tricky sand traps. There is also a 22,000-square-foot meeting facility for outdoor events next to the courses.
The last of the Epcot resorts planned around Crescent Lake opened July 1, 1996. Disney's BoardWalk re-creates the vacation charm of the Mid-Atlantic coastal cottages of the 1930s. The resort complements the similar atmosphere found across the lake at Disney's Yacht and Beach Club Resorts (all three were in fact designed by architect Robert A.M. Stern). This resort is unique in that it combines a regular Guest room section named Disney's BoardWalk Inn with a number of units belonging to the Disney Vacation Club named Disney's BoardWalk Villas. The buildings wind along a large, wooden promenade (made of Ekki wood from South America) overlooking Crescent Lake. Guests can enjoy an entertainment district featuring a lively collection of restaurants, merchandise shops, a sports bar, a dueling piano bar, and a 1940s-style dance hall which showcases music from the '40s to the '90s.
During preliminary planning for Celebration, 600 acres to be developed were discovered to be wetlands. These state-protected areas were bound by law to be preserved and prevented companies across the state from developing on their own land.
The Walt Disney Company, however, made an agreement with the South Florida Water Management District that allowed the company to develop the designated acres in exchange for purchasing the 8,500-acre Walker Ranch, only twelve miles south of the Resort. Consisting of wetlands, endangered species, and sixteen separate plant communities, the ranch was close to being destroyed by overgrazing, lumbering, and digging.
At a dedication service on April 23, 1993, Walker Ranch officially became Disney Wilderness Preserve. This unprecedented agreement has led several other companies to follow suit, agreeing to purchase protected wetlands in Florida for permission to develop acreage already on their property.
The first phase of Celebration was officially dedicated on July 4, 1996. Phase Two is to expand the residential (the city is designed to handle 20,000 residents) and the commercial business districts.
The Walt Disney World Resort celebrated its 25th anniversary in October 1996. The resort pulled out all the stops to "Remember the Magic" for new Guests and those that had been here before. Hundreds of media representatives, children's groups, dignitaries, and celebrities helped celebrate the momentous occasion. Festivities included changing the Cinderella Castle into a giant birthday cake, a re-creation of the press event where Walt and Roy announced that the Disney company was coming to Florida, several new and refurbished attractions, a live extravaganza at the Orlando Arena, and the debut of the Guest-interactive "Remember the Magic" parade.
The NASCAR Chevy Trucks Challenge was added to the January events taking place at the Walt Disney World Speedway. The Richard Petty Driving Experience, allowing Guests to get behind the wheel of an actual race car, opened one month later.
With its long-standing golf classic, an internationally recognized marathon, and two auto races set as annual traditions, the Walt Disney World Resort firmly established itself in the sports world. It took a giant leap further with the opening of Disney's Wide World of Sports in 1997. The 200-acre facility, located south of the Disney-MGM Studios, contains a main event stadium, a multi-sports field house for basketball, volleyball, and gymnastics, a tennis arena, baseball diamonds, field hockey and soccer fields, outdoor tracks, weight rooms, racquetball courts, classrooms, and broadcast facilities. The facilities can accommodate college, high school, and youth team events, from amateur to individual professional athletes. Noted sports organizations who use the facilities for training and exhibition games are the Atlanta Braves baseball team, the Harlem Globetrotters, the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, and the Amateur Athletics Union.
With the Florida convention market showing no signs of slowing, Disney built another resort catering to that business. Disney's Coronado Springs Resort opened August 1, 1997. The architecture is reminiscent of that found in Mexico and the American Southwest. In fact, the resort is actually named after explorer Francisco de Coronado. Coronado might have fit in to the Disney storyline of this hotel. According to legend, a Spanish explorer set out in 1569 to find the Lost Cities of Gold. He stumbled upon an ancient Mayan pyramid but found no gold. The maps to this pyramid were discovered centuries later, and a team of scientists and their families soon created a small community of pueblos and ranch houses as they continued studying the surrounding country and Spanish ruins.
For conventioneers, the resort has a 95,000-square-foot convention center containing up to 45 meeting rooms and the largest ballroom in the United States-at 60,000 square feet. Guest rooms even have computer data ports, so that Guests need not disconnect the telephone to hook up their computers.
Expansion and refurbishment's had been taking place at the Disney Village Marketplace and Pleasure Island over the past two years. The Pleasure Island AMC 10 movie theater underwent renovation to include 24 screens, complete with stadium seating, wider aisles, new sound systems, and even balconies in two individual theaters. Famous restaurant chains around the country were brought in to run various Disney eateries. This trend goes back to the early days of Disneyland Park, when outside companies like Frito Lay and Aunt Jemima were brought in to service the park's restaurants (because the Disney Studios had no prior experience in that business).
A shopper's paradise of some of the nation's most popular stores and restaurants called Disney's West Side opened next to Pleasure Island in September 1997. Taking a cue from dynamic downtowns of cities all over the country, the area features well-known names and sponsors, including Virgin Megastore, Bongos Cuban Cafe, House of Blues, and Wolfgang Puck Cafe.
All three entertainment areas (the Marketplace, Pleasure Island, and West Side) were linked together and renamed the Downtown Disney area.
The Walt Disney World Resort has come a long way from swampland to vacationland. Through several more land purchases in the past twenty years, it now covers 30,000 acres, or about 46 square miles. Its original number of Cast Members has grown from 5,500 to 51,500. There are now three major theme parks, three water parks, two nighttime entertainment districts, and twenty-five resorts/hotels in which to stay. If you wanted to stay overnight in every room on property, it would take you over 61 years to do it. And resorts, attractions, even additional theme parks are in development for years to come.
The Vacation Kingdom of the World has entertained and enlightened people young and old from all over the globe. Nowhere else on earth can one meet a snow skiing alligator, robot shuttle pilots, and cartoon stars . . . fly a magic pirate ship, or ride an authentic steam train through the Old West . . . or explore a haunted hotel or sophisticated greenhouses, where growing techniques showcase the future of our planet's food supply. in development for years to come.
It promises every visitor that anything can truly happen when they wish upon a star. And it is the realized dream of one man who believed that anyone can accomplish what they set their mind to: Walt Disney.
2000 was a year-long celebration of the new millenium and the addition of a huge "2000" logo on the Epcot landmark, SpaceShip Earth.
Then, 2001 was the beginning of the celebration of "100 Years of magic", celebrating the 100th birthday of Walt Disney. Walt Disney World is bigger than ever, always growing and evolving along with the number of guests who enjoy since 1971 the Vacation Resort dreamed almost 40 years ago by Walt Disney.
Disney's Animal Kingdom is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort. The fourth park built at the resort, it opened on April 22, 1998, and it is the largest single Disney theme park in the world, covering more than 500 acres (2 km²). It is also the first Disney theme park to be themed entirely around animal conservation, a philosophy once pioneered by Walt Disney himself. Disney's Animal Kingdom is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, meaning they have met and exceeded the standards in Education, Conservation and Research.
Shortly after the park opened, Disney advertised the park using the fictional word "nahtazu". Pronounced "not a zoo," the word emphasized that the park was more than animal displays found in a typical city zoo. Disney stopped using the phrase in January 2006.
In 2007, the park hosted approximately 9.49 million guests, ranking it the fifth-most visited amusement park in the United States and eight-most visited in the world.
Welcome to a kingdom of animals... real, ancient and imagined: a kingdom ruled by lions, dinosaurs and dragons; a kingdom of balance, harmony and survival; a kingdom we enter to share in the wonder, gaze at the beauty, thrill at the drama, and learn.
Michael Eisner April 22, 1998
Magic Kindgom Park Opens October 1, 1971
Main Street U.S.A.
- Walt Disney World Railroad
- Main Street Cinema
- The Crystal Palace
- Walt Disney Story (1972)
- Swan Boats (1972)
Adventureland
- Jungle Cruise
- Swiss Family Treehouse
- Tropical Serenade
- Pirates Of The Carribean (1973)
Frontierland
- Country Bear Jamboree
- Diamnond Horseshoe Saloon Revue
- Mike Fink Keelboats
- Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes
- Tom Swayer Island (1973)
- Richard F. Irvine Steamboat (1975)
Liberty Square
- The Hall of Presidents
- The Liberty Tree
- The Haunted Mansion
Fantasyland
- Cinderella's Golden Carrousel
- Skyway to Tomorrowland
- Cinderella Castle
- Dumbo The Flying Elephant
- Mad Tea Party
- Mickey Mouse Revue
- Peter Pan's Flight
- Snow White's Scary Adventure
- Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
- It's A Small World
- 20000 Leagues Under The Sea
Tomorrowland
- Grand Prix Raceway
- Flight To The Moon
- America The Beautiful
- If You Had Wings (1972)
- Carrousel of Progress (1972)
- Star Jets (1974)
- WEDWay People Mover (1975)
- Space Mountain (1975)
Events
- Electrical Water Pageant
- Fantasy In The Sky Fireworks
- Happy Easter Parade (1972)
- American On Parade (1975)
- Main Street Electrical Parade (1977)
- Mickey's 50th Birthday Celebration (1978)
- Tencennial Celebration (1981)
Resorts
- Contemporary Resort
- Polynesian Reosrt
- Fort Wilderness Camground & Resort
- Golf Resort (1973)
Disney's Discovery Island Opens
- 1974 Originally called Treasure Island
Disney Village Marketplace Opens
- 1975 Originally called Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village
River Country Opens
- 1976
Magic Kingdom
Frontierland
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (1980)
Tomorrowland
- Take Flight (1989)
Mickey's Birthdayland (1988)
- Renamed Mickey's Starland (1989)
EPCOT Center Opens October 1, 1982
Future World
- Spaceship Earth
- Communicore
- The Land
- Universe of Energy
- World Of Motion
- Journey Into Imagination (1983)
- Horizons (1983)
- The Living Seas (1986)
World Showcase
- Mexico
- China
- Germany
- Italy
- American Adventure
- Japan
- France
- United Kingdom
- Canada
- Morocco (1984)
- Norway (1988)
- Illuminations (1988)
-Wonders of Life (1989)
Events
- Mickey's 60th Birthday Celebration (1988)
- Walt Disney World Very Merry Christmas Parade (1983)
- Donald Duck's 50th Birthday Parade (1984)
- 15th Anniversary Celebration (1986)
- Disney Character Hit Parade (1989)
Resorts
- Grand Floridan Beach Resort & Spa (1988)
- Carribean Beach Resort (1988)
Disney-MGM Studios Opens May 1, 1989
HollyWood Boulevard
- The Great Movie Ride
- Backstage Studio Tour
- The Looney Bin
- Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
- Superstar Television
- The Monster Sound Show
- Behind The Scenes Special Effects Tour
- The Magic Of Disney Animation
- New York Street
- 50s Prime Time Cafe
- The Hollywood Brown Derby
- Streetmosphere
- Echo Lake
Pleasure Island Opens May 1, 1989
- Adventurers Club
- Neon Armadillo
- Comedy Warehouse
- Cage
- Mannequins Dance Palace
- XZFR Rock'N' Roll Beach Club
Disney's Typhoon Lagoon Opens June 1, 1989
Magic Kingdom
Frontierland
- Splash Mountain (1992)
Fantasyland
- The Legend Of The Lion King (1994)
- Snow Shite's Adventure's (1994 Renovation)
Liberty Square
- Hall Of Presidents (1993 Renovation)
Tomorrowland
- Carrousel of Progress (1993 Renovation)
New Tomorrowland (1995)
- The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter (1995)
- Astro Orbiter (1995)
- The Timekeeper (1995)
- Galaxy Palace Theater (1995)
Mickey's Toontown Fair (1996)
- Renamed from Mickey's Starland
Events
- The Sword In The Stone (1993)
- World Wide Kids Day (1993)
- 20th Anniversary Suprise Celebration (1991)
- Spectromagic Parade (1991)
- Mickey Mania Parade (1994)
- 25th Anniversary Celebration (1996)
- Millennium Celebration (October 1999)
EPCOT
Future World
- Honey I Shrunk The Audience (1994)
- Innoventions (1994)
- The Land (1994 Renovation)
- Global Neighborhood (1995)
- Ellen's Energy Adventure (1996)
- Test Track (1999) replaced World of Motion
- Journey to Imagination (1999 Renovation)
Events
- Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival (1994)
Disney-MGM Studios
Attractions
- Honey I Shrunk The Kids Movie Set Adventure (1990)
- Star Tours (1990)
- Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater (1991)
- Jim Henson's MuppetVision 3D (1991)
- Voyage Of The Little Mermaid (1992)
- Beauty And The Beast - Live On Stage (1991)
- The Twilight Zone Tower Of Terror (1994) re-programmed for different drops over the years
- Sunset Boulevard (1994)
- Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame: A Musical Adventure (1996)
- 101 Dalmations Special Effects Tour (1996)
- Goosebumps Horrorland (1997)
Events
- Aladdin's Royal Caravan Parade (1992)
- Sorcery In The Sky (1990)
- Macy's Balloons (1992)
- Disney's Toy Story Parade (1995)
- Spectacle Of Lights (1995)
- Disney's Hercules "Zero To Hero" Victory Parade (1997)
- Fantasmic! (1998)
Resorts
- Old Key West Resort (1992)
- Walt Disney World Swan And Dolphin (1990)
- Port Orleans Resort (1991)
- Dixie Landings Resort (1992)
- Yacht And Beach Club Resorts (1990)
- Wildernesss Lodge (1994)
- All-Star Sports & Music Resorts (1994)
- BoardWalk Resort (1996)
- Disney Institute (1996)
- Coronado Springs Reosrt (1997)
Pleasure Island
- 8-Trax Replaced Cage
- Pleasure Island Jazz Company (1993)
- Planet Hollywood (1994)
- BET Soundstage (1998) Replaced Neon Armadillo
- Wildhorse Saloon (1998) Replaced Fireworks Factory
Walt Disney World Marathon (1994)
Walk Around the World (1994)
Christmas Around the World (1994)
Disney's Wedding Pavilion (1995)
Dining Around the World (1995)
Disney's Blizzard Beach Opens April 1, 1995
City of Celebration (1996)
Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex (1996)
Downtown Disney West Side (1997)
- AMC Theatres now 24 cinemas
- Virgin Megastore
- House of Blues
- Candy Cauldron
- Forty Thrist Street
- Wolfgang Puck's
- Bongo's Cuban Cafe
- Wildhorse Saloon Store
- All-Star Sports Store
- Hoypolia
- Magnetron
- Sosa Family Cigar's
- Guitar Gallery
Fantasia Gardens Mini-Golf Course (1996)
Indy 200 at the Walt Disney World Speedway (1996)
Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park Opens April 22, 1998
- The Oasis
- Safari Village
- The Tree Of Life
- Africa
- DinoLand USA
DisneyQuest (1998)
Cirque Du Soleil (1998)
Over fifty miles of canals and levees were constructed on property to control water levels without losing the supply. Water control structures, such as the French-designed Emile Gate, keep levels under control by automatically floating open when water reaches certain peaks and close when peaks subside. They require no electricity or human monitoring, and greatly reduce the risk of flooding or drought. These canals were the first "themed" illusion on property: they curve through the natural landscape much as a stream would, instead of following the straight lines of artificial canals.
Once they had a way to control and drain whatever land areas they needed for construction, Imagineers in Florida and California began various projects simultaneously. The Disney staff wanted the resort built in two years. They hired an outside group of engineers to oversee construction, but this group said it would take at least five years to complete the project. The Disney staff subsequently let that group go and created their own team.
At the time, Bay Lake was the only natural body of water on property. It was also one of the first areas of property Walt wanted to buy (along with an island in the middle of it, now called Discovery Island). In early planning stages, designers decided to build a man-made lagoon adjacent to it. There would be plenty of space for water recreation, and the lagoon would complement the setting of the Polynesian Village Resort. It could also offer Guests the feel of an exotic journey to the theme park's faraway lands.
Bay Lake was first drained with pumps and its bottom layer of muck scooped out. Next to it, over seven million cubic yards of earth were dug up for the lagoon and used as a foundation for the Magic Kingdom Park. White sand found underneath all the muck was used to line the four and a half miles of beach around the newly created Seven Seas Lagoon. Bay Lake and the 172-acre lagoon were then refilled with water from the surrounding wetland and stocked with more than 70,000 fish.
The concepts of EPCOT moved forward. In the spirit of a self-sufficient city, the resort built its own energy plants, maintenance shops, food center, and laundry to handle the massive needs of Cast Members and Guests. Miles of sewage, water, and electrical lines and pipes were laid, paving the way for future utility plants.
The theme parks and resorts' utility systems were constructed with unique and advanced methods to supply electricity and hot water for heating and cooling. A wastewater treatment plant was built to treat effluent and direct it to a nearby tree farm and golf courses.
A highly advanced computer system was installed in the central energy plant to monitor and control the distribution of power across the property. The system instantly and automatically recognizes any problem occurring in the parks or hotels, and usually adjusts the problem from there. The plant also produces part of the WALT DISNEY WORLD power needs. This is a necessity since thunderstorms are common in Central Florida. If there is a power outage, the resort can rely on emergency power from its own plant.
Another monitoring system was installed to detect smoke, fire, floods, or unusual water flow. It covers more than 3,000 spots across property and automatically alerts the appropriate response personnel if needed.
Most of the support facilities were built north of the Magic Kingdom Park. Central Shops was created to serve as a major center for fabrication, for everything from trash cans and ride vehicles, to signs and ornamental iron and wood work in and around the themed buildings. It is divided into many different areas: the Machine Shop, Metal Shop, Maintenance Services, Electrical, Plumbing and Air Conditioning, Staff Shop, Mill Shop, and Paint Shop. Built next to Central Shops was a dry dock for building and servicing Walt Disney World watercraft.
There was no food distribution center in the Central Florida area large enough to support the volume of the resorts and theme park's Guests, so the Disney company built its own. Almost all food was shipped there before going out to various locations on property. It had its own bakery for breads and pastry items, and a main kitchen for preparing soups and sauces, produce, meat, pizza, sandwiches, and salads. A quality control kitchen allowed chefs to keep recipes consistent throughout property and evaluate menu items going in and coming off the line.
Master Planning for Walt Disney World, 1969(Artwork by Walt Disney Productions - The Walt Disney Company)
The world's largest working wardrobe, with offices in the park and separate hotels, was assigned to create and perform maintenance on Cast Member and Audio-Animatronics figure costumes. To clean all those costumes, the world's largest laundry facility was constructed. It not only cleans costumes, but resort towels, sheets, and napkins handled by Cast Members and Guests . . . about 100,000 pounds of linen each day.
At the tree farm just a few miles away, landscape designers and horticulturists tended thousands of plants, trees, shrubs, and flowers needed for WALT DISNEY WORLD greenery. The original inventory of trees numbered more than 8,000. Some exotic plantlife comes from as far away as Asia, Australia, the Pacific Islands, and Africa. Many species require three years of acclimation to Florida soil before they are transplanted onstage. Also, about 1,500 existing trees growing in areas destined for development were moved and transplanted in other locations.
Monorail beams, made of concrete with a special polystyrene core to lighten their weight, came by rail from the state of Washington. The monorail trains themselves were constructed in California. Plans already called for two monorail tracks to circle the Seven Seas Lagoon. One would go straight to the MAGIC KINGDOM Park from the main parking lot, the other stopping at the resort hotels around the lagoon also. Future plans called for beams to extend all the way to Lake Buena Vista, where the Disney Village Resort was under development. This particular monorail route never made it past the planning stages.
There were no telephone lines or telephone system on property before it was purchased. The Disney company formed a partnership with the Florida Telephone Company to create a completely new state-of-the-art telephone system. Vista-United Telecommunications was designed to serve resort, park, and administration telephones, as well as transmit computer data and video signals all over property. It became the first totally electronic telephone system using underground cable instead of standard poles with overhead lines. It would be the first to use a fiber-optics system in a commercial venture, and the first in Florida to use the 911 emergency system.
The resort hotels used a method of construction never before implemented. While the hotels' main skeletal structures were being erected, their rooms were manufactured at an assembly plant miles away. Each one was built as a lightweight steel module and completely outfitted with wall coverings, bath fixtures, and mirrors. They were then trucked to the site and individually "plugged" into the resorts' framework with the help of giant cranes.
Theming was key to their design. Walt wanted the entire property to be a themed experience, not just the theme park. The resorts not only had their own individual look, but were specifically planned and positioned as extensions of the Magic Kingdom Park.
The Tempo Bay Resort Hotel became the Contemporary Resort (now Disney's Contemporary Resort) and was placed as a compatible backdrop to Tomorrowland. Disney's Polynesian Resort (formerly Polynesian Village Resort) is an extension of Adventureland. Farther back in the surrounding forests, the campground known as Fort Wilderness (now Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground), named after the fort on Tom Sawyer's Island in Disneyland Park, features the quiet country atmosphere of Frontierland. (The same care used to preserve trees in other areas of development took place at Fort Wilderness as well. Subsequent planning of resort campsites and roads saved fifty percent more trees, including 300-year-old cypress trees).
Further plans included at least three more resorts around the lagoon, with Venetian, Asian, and Persian styles. Space was left open for a large movie theater complex, and a Western town resort near the Fort Wilderness Campground.
On the foundation where the Magic Kingdom Park was to stand, a network of warehouse-sized rooms, hallways, and office space was built, then covered with more dirt. This nine-acre tunnel system, called "utilidors," forms a unique support basement. The Magic Kingdom Park that Guests see is actually the second and third stories. The utilidors provide easy, behind-the-scenes access to utility systems, offices, and storage areas, and also backstage passage to Cast Member work locations.
Master Planning for Walt Disney World, 1969(Artwork by Walt Disney Productions - The Walt Disney Company)
Located in the utilidors is the nerve center for the park's computer systems. The Digital Animation Control System (DACS) virtually controls everything in the park, from the hundreds of playback recordings in each attraction to the water pressure needed to push various boats through each ride track all of it simultaneously. Computers also control all the projection systems, fireworks, and parade operations . . . even park cash registers.
The Swedish-built Automated Vacuum Assisted Collection (AVAC) was the first waste system of its type installed in the United States. It is an integral part of waste collection for the theme park, intricately linked through the utilidors by pneumatic tubes. Trash is deposited in several collection points around the park. Every fifteen minutes it is drawn through the tubes at speeds up to 60 miles per hour and sent to a central compactor station.
Meanwhile, Imagineers were putting other elements of the Magic Kingdom Park together in California. The park attractions went through months of meticulous planning before actually being built. Each ride and show was given a storyline, with a beginning, middle, and end. Extensive historical backgrounds were researched to bring authenticity to the stories, from Pirates of the Caribbean to The Hall of Presidents. Then, sketches and a script of each scene in order, were drawn up on a storyboard to give Imagineers a visual impression of what the attraction would look like in sequence. With the storyboard and hundreds of sketches as visual guides, Imagineers then crafted scale models of the entire attraction so they could see and experiment with what Guests would see during their experience. Every angle of view had to be taken into account, including what would be seen if Guests turned around.
The models provided a guide for the full-size clay sculptures of animated figures and props. These sculptures were used to create molds for the actual show pieces. As the pieces were fabricated and assembled, audio tracks of voices and sound effects were recorded in studio booths, and background sets were constructed and painted. Thousands of set props, such as old tables and chairs, firearms, window shades, curtains, doors, bird cages, carriages, lanterns, and artificial trees and rocks, were found, purchased, or made from scratch in Imagineering shops. After each attraction building was constructed, the ride system or show equipment was installed. The sets, props, Audio-Animatronics figures, and special effects went in next, followed by the final audio recordings. Finally, each scene's visual and audio effects were programmed to play back in sync, thanks to the massive computers of DACS.
The old-fashioned steam locomotives which circle the park were found in Mexico and refurbished in Tampa, Florida. Paddle-wheelers, ferryboats, and submarines were also built there for the planned naval fleet.
The Magic Kingdom Park would open with six themed lands: Main Street, U.S.A.; Adventureland; Frontierland; Liberty Square, a land originally planned for the Disneyland Park in 1955; Fantasyland; and Tomorrowland. Mickey's Birthdayland was created in 1988 to honor Mickey Mouse's 60th birthday, and eventually changed its name to Mickey's Starland in 1990. In 1996, the land changed again into Mickey's Toontown Fair with the addition of more interactive play areas, character greeting locations, and a kiddie roller coaster called The Barnstormer at Goofy's Wiseacres Farm.
Above-ground construction of the Magic Kingdom Park began in early 1970, starting with Main Street, U.S.A., and the Cinderella Castle. Years of research went into the planning and design of the Walt Disney World signature castle. Imagineers used several French castles for inspiration, among them the Chambord, the Usse, and the Chenonceau. Inspiration also came from the castle in Walt Disney's own film Cinderella.
Since no one had built a 189-foot castle in America, there was difficulty finding craftsmen experienced in the field. There were no local gargoyle or trellis makers in the area, so Imagineering fashioned its own. It took eighteen months to complete. Six hundred tons of steel were used in the framework. Imagineers then sculpted exterior and interior fiberglass walls to resemble solid granite. The ten towering spires, fabricated and finished on property, were then slid into place above the main building and permanently attached (contrary to some myths, the castle cannot be, nor has ever been dismantled in the event of a hurricane). Finishing touches applied to this architectural marvel included the Cinderella mice carved into decorative columns, family crests of Walt's family and friends in the second story stained glass windows, and Walt's own family crest in stone above the breezeways.
Eventually, all the lands came together with their own unique themes. Ordinary buildings were cloaked with intricately designed exteriors and interiors. Details were installed and the final coats of paint were put on. Imagineers used an architectural trick called "forced perspective" to make buildings look taller than they actually are. They shrunk windows, balconies, and even furniture on the second floors and shrunk any third floors even further to achieve the illusion of tall buildings climbing far into the sky. To complete the feeling of being in a three dimensional movie, background music was created for each particular land, as if it was part of any film's soundtrack. In the end, it took more than 9,000 workers to build the world's most famous vacation resort, at a cost of just more than $400 million.
In Lake Buena Vista, the Walt Disney World Preview Center hosted more than one million Guests prior to park opening. For eighteen months, a staff of tour guides used artists' renderings, slides, and film to show what the Vacation Kingdom would be all about. Without question, anticipation for this resort was enormous.
The Opening of the Magic Kingdom, 1971
Rivers of America: Big Thunder Mountain and the Liberty Belle steamboat
Cinderella Castle seen from Tommorowland
The "Partners" statue in front of Cinderella Castle
Dedication plaque by Roy O Disney
The entrance of The Magic Kingdom: Main Street Station
PeopleMovers in Tommorowland. Walt Disney planned to use this transportation system as a complement of the Monorail system from the main stations of Epcot to the "suburbian" housing after the greenbelt.
The Carousel of Progress here was the last incarnation of the New York Fair's attraction designed by Walt Disney and later exported to Disneyland and, finaly to Florida. The carousel's Disneyland final, Epcot model, was removed in Florida and the center section of the model was put on display for PeopleMover guests.
The center section of the model seen from a PeopleMover
(Photos by Sebastien Barthe)
Rivers of America: Big Thunder Mountain and the Liberty Belle steamboat
Cinderella Castle seen from Tommorowland
The "Partners" statue in front of Cinderella Castle
Dedication plaque by Roy O Disney
PeopleMovers in Tommorowland. Walt Disney planned to use this transportation system as a complement of the Monorail system from the main stations of Epcot to the "suburbian" housing after the greenbelt.
The Carousel of Progress here was the last incarnation of the New York Fair's attraction designed by Walt Disney and later exported to Disneyland and, finaly to Florida. The carousel's Disneyland final, Epcot model, was removed in Florida and the center section of the model was put on display for PeopleMover guests.
The center section of the model seen from a PeopleMover(Photos by Sebastien Barthe)
Resort planners scheduled the Walt Disney World Resort to open in October when the crowds were slower. They wanted everything to move slowly at first, so any problems that sprang up could be fixed with minimal Guest inconvenience. Yet some outside estimates predicted as many as 100,000 people would attend. Extra Florida State Troopers were brought in to deal with snarling traffic jams, but in the end had little to do. The early morning on opening day had Guests driving around the toll plaza over and over again, trying to steer their way in to be the first visitors to the park. Ultimately, though, less than 10,000 Guests visited the park that day.
Although everyone else called the opening day a bomb, those in charge of the resort felt it was a good beginning. No major problems cropped up, and all operations ran smoothly.
The dedication of the Magic Kingdom Park was held on October 25, 1971. Many celebrities were on hand for the festivities, as well as Walt's entire family. Arthur Fiedler conducted the World Symphony Orchestra at the base of Cinderella Castle. Roy O. Disney stood with Mickey Mouse in Town Square and read the dedication plaque:
WALT DISNEY WORLD is a tribute to the philosophy and life of Walter Elias Disney . . . and to the talents, the dedication, and the loyalty of the entire Disney organization that made Walt Disney's dream come true. May Walt Disney World bring Joy and Inspiration and New Knowledge to all who come to this happy place . . . a Magic Kingdom where the young at heart of all ages can laugh and play and learn together.
Dedicated this 25th day of October, 1971
The plaque still rests below the Town Square flagpole on Main Street, U.S.A. On October 1, 1991, Roy E. Disney, Roy O. Disney's son and Walt's nephew, rededicated the Walt Disney World Resort by reading the same plaque his father read almost twenty years before.
Slow but steady crowds came into the park during the ensuing weeks. The Magic Kingdom Park was barely a month old when on the day after Thanksgiving, the parking lots filled up quickly and the staff reluctantly closed the gates. Cars were backed up on the four-lane interstate for miles in what many locals called one of the worst traffic jams in history.
And it proved that the Walt Disney World Resort was a success.
Shortly after the Walt Disney World Resort opened, two side-wheel steamboats made nightly moonlight cruises around Bay Lake and the Seven Seas Lagoon. Guests could enjoy music, cocktails, and a quiet, serene view of the illuminated resorts.
Some ideas for the resort made by Imagineers worked better on paper than in reality. Several attempts to make a wave machine work near the Polynesian Village Resort resulted in failure. The plan was to have artificial waves crash along the resort's beach like real Pacific Island beaches. At one point during testing, the waves were large enough for surfing; however, they also caused massive beach erosion, and the wave machine was permanently switched off only a few months after the resort opened. Parts of it still lie beneath Seven Seas Lagoon as a habitat reef for resident fish.
Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake also became a vast, watery stage at night for the Electrical Water Pageant. Colorful creatures of the deep and mythical characters floated past the hotel and park shores every evening. Giant wire screens were built on fourteen separate barges and supported by an intricate electrical system. On each screen are hundreds of Christmas lights arranged in a particular shape, such as a dragon's head, a munching apatosaurus, or playful dolphins. A large sound system has stereo speakers set up on each barge, so that each character making its appearance has its own theme. At the end of the "parade" is a star-spangled salute to America, with flags and twinkling stars. For several seasons, fireworks were shot over the lagoon during the finale. The parade is a favorite for resort and park Guests alike. Only canceled during high winds or bad weather, it has been running since October 26, 1971.
Its colorful appeal and synthesized music inspired the same show designers to create a whole new nighttime presentation for Disneyland Park and later the Walt Disney World Resort: the "Main Street Electrical Parade." Floats representing many Disney images tell several stories along the park's parade route. There is a circus, a walk-through Wonderland, a pirate ship, a royal procession for Cinderella, and so forth. Synthesized music accompanies each segment, and is tied together with an overall score called "Baroque Hoedown."
The floats themselves are small, battery-powered vehicles covered in wire mesh frames. The frames were fashioned into many shapes, like animals, bugs, and clock towers, then covered in dark or reflective cloth to hide drivers, speakers, and equipment. Tiny colored light bulbs were attached to the frames in massive strands, creating lighted outlines of these fantasy characters.
The "Main Street Electrical Parade" made its Disneyland debut in 1972 and continued until 1996. The Walt Disney World version premiered June 11, 1977, and continued until 1991.
The first hotels in Lake Buena Vista opened in 1972 and early 1973. The hotels of Dutch Inn (10/72), Royal Inn (10/72), Travelodge (11/72), and Howard Johnson Hotel (2/73) formed the Motor Inn Plaza, which later became the Hotel Plaza. These hotels were not owned by the Disney company. The entire complex eventually became part of the Disney Village Resort.
A collection of vacation villas, tree house villas, and a golf course became the Disney Village Resort in 1972. They were joined in 1975 with a relaxing, waterside collection of shops called the Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village (later called the Disney Village Marketplace and now Downtown Disney Marketplace).
The Golf Resort at the Palm and Magnolia Golf Courses opened in 1973. These courses were already made famous hosting the Walt Disney World Golf Classic, which began in 1971. The resort's name changed to The Disney Inn in 1986, and then to Shades of Green on the Walt Disney World Resort in 1994, when the U.S. Army leased the hotel from the company in a 100-year contract. It is now reserved for vacationing military personnel.
Old-time steam trains chugged through the woods of the Fort Wilderness Campground for the first time in 1973. A form of interior transportation for campers, they were eventually decommissioned in 1977. Parts of the track can still be seen around the campground.
Discovery Island, located in Bay Lake between Disney's Contemporary Resort and Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground, was originally called Blackbeard's Island, but did not open to Guests until 1974, as a relaxing bird retreat renamed Treasure Island. Its name was changed for the final time in 1976. It became a zoological park in 1979 when it received accreditation from the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums. Discovery Island is home to many exotic birds and animals, and participates in international Species Survival Plans for endangered animals. There is also a training colony of Capuchin Monkeys for the Boston program, Helping Hands: Simian Aids for the Disabled.
In late 1975, construction began on the first "mini" theme park opened at the Walt Disney World Resort. River Country, a Disney version of an old-fashioned swimming hole, rests on the edge of Bay Lake in Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground. It features flume and raft rides, a nature trail, and a large beach. This park gets its water supply from an intake/filter pipe in Bay Lake. Water is sent along the lake bottom into a pump system located inside River Country's artificial mountain. From there it is forced down the flume troughs at about 8,500 gallons per minute, providing water for the flumes, and continually replenishing River Country's water supply. A large rubber "bladder" separates the park's water from regular lake water, with the help of a sensor system that keeps it inflated exactly six inches above the lake. Excess water from River Country spills over the bladder, replenishing Bay Lake. River Country opened in June 1976.
From the "Magic Kingdom" to "Epcot Center"
The year 1975 was a turning point for the Walt Disney World Resort. After completing Phase One, the company studied the economic and creative feasibility's of building Walt's ultimate dream. On July 14, the Disney company announced plans to build an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT). However, this project would be different from the original plans Walt had envisioned.
Instead of an actual working city of the future, EPCOT would be a showcase of ideas, a place for people to come and learn about themselves and the world around them, through the use of Disney technology and entertainment. Two key points of Walt's beliefs would remain constant. First, the past would be explored as well as the future, for the past taught mankind where it had been and where it could go. Second, there had to be an "international neighborhood," where an atmosphere of understanding could promote communication, peace, and prosperity between all the cultures of the world.
EPCOT Center was the chosen name given to the second theme park. In early planning stages, World Showcase, the salute to countries around the globe, was to open first, followed by Future World. Soon, though, it was apparent the futuristic side to the EPCOT Center attractions could and should open simultaneously. The design of the park went through countless changes before its current form was selected. One of the original concepts was to house all of the attractions from Future World and World Showcase in one gigantic building.
Meanwhile, a beautiful new landmark for the Walt Disney World Resort was unveiled at the Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village in 1977. The Empress Lilly, an historic replica of a three-decked Mississippi sternwheeler, was "permanently docked" at Lake Buena Vista to provide a whole new restaurant/lounge complex for the shopping village. Measuring 220 feet long and sixty-two feet high, this riverboat took just over a year to construct, but it was quite a task. First, the area where it would be docked was dredged and barriers were put up around the open space. Pumps kept the land dry while workers built the foundation, or "hull" of the boat, then the rest of the body. The same elegant interior detailing found on steamers of old were re-created here in grand style. Eventually, the earthen barriers between the Empress Lilly and the lake were removed, giving the ship the appearance of being moored to a dock. In a dedication ceremony held May 1, 1977, the boat was christened by Walt Disney's widow, Lillian, for whom it was named. The Empress Lilly riverboat was later refurbished to become Fulton's Crab House in 1996.
Construction for EPCOT Center began in October 1979. Its immense scale was regarded as the largest construction project in the country.
Over 10,000 workers were ultimately involved in bringing this theme park to life. Many of the same Imagineers that planned, designed, and oversaw the creation of the MAGIC KINGDOM Park returned for this project. Instead of building pirates and flying elephants, their task was to create dinosaurs and space colonies, advanced greenhouses and marine habitats. The experiences in EPCOT Center had to be the closest Guests could come to the real thing-past, present, or future.
Hundreds of scientific and historical experts were consulted to ensure consistent detail and accuracy of technology used and displayed. The various films in each attraction required over sixteen production crews to produce. With new and improved fiber optics, lasers, computers, and water controls, the park would have five times the amount of special effects used in the Magic Kingdom Park.
Imagineering teams traveled to foreign countries selected to open World Showcase. Along their journeys, they studied history, culture, and world contributions of each nation, then based the theme of each showcase on either a time-line, historical landmark, and/or famous cities familiar to the entire world. Merchandise, food, and even Cast Members working in the showcases would be authentic. Chefs were imported to create the perfect dining experiences for table-service restaurants.
Again, Imagineers used forced perspective on buildings to make them appear taller than they really are. The only exception in the park was The American Adventure. It was originally intended to have a contemporary style, but later changed to the historical, Georgian style typified in America's colonial days. An actual building from that time period would be too small to be seen from across the lagoon, so Imagineers used inverted forced perspective, making it much larger than it should be to achieve the far away effect.
The pavilions in Future World had corporate sponsors which helped fund and provide technical assistance in putting them together where necessary. For World Showcase, governments of those countries participated in the creation of the showcases, and also helped finance their construction.
The EPCOT Center landmark, Spaceship Earth, took two years and two months to build. As the symbol of the park and its statement of world peace, it needed a design found nowhere else on earth. Thus, the world's first geodesic sphere was created. It is 180 feet in height.
Innovative building techniques had to be used for Spaceship Earth. Support pilings are buried from 120 to 185 feet deep. The sphere is actually composed of two spheres, one inside the other. The inner sphere contains the track and rooms of the attraction, plus maintenance decking. The outer sphere is held about two feet away from the inner sphere by aluminum hubs. About 1,700 tons of steel were used to build the sphere. A special form of aluminum called alucobond was used for the 12,000 panels covering the entire globe. This material can withstand the Florida climate and essentially clean itself. A special gutter system was developed to prevent rain from cascading off the sphere. Water is channeled through the structure and sent to underground drains, where it replenishes the World Showcase Lagoon.
During construction, a group of endangered birds called the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker was discovered nesting in a wooded area destined for development. The entire construction site had to be moved 300 feet in order to preserve that area's natural state. A back service road was named after the birds as a reminder of the company's conservation efforts.
The Walt Disney Story on Main Street, U.S.A., over in the Magic Kingdom Park became the EPCOT Preview Center. It informed Guests of the new park with a film and concept artwork. Once the monorail track to EPCOT Center was completed, trains took Guests to the site for a view of the construction progress.
The Opening of Epcot Center, 1982
Dedication plaque by Card Walker
Spaceship Earth, the icon of Epcot
The monorail over Epcot
Mission: Space, the pavillon dedicated to Space exploration
World Showcase: Italy
World Showcase: Japan
World Showcase: Morroco
World Showcase: Canada
World Showcase: China
World Showcase: Norway
(Photos by Sebastien Barthe)
October 1, 1982, was the EPCOT Center grand opening. More than 100 television crews from all over the world descended on property. Bands and orchestras played before huge crowds. Celebrities and dignitaries, including Waltss wife, Lillian, helped dedicate areas of the park. The International Ceremony of the Waters took place in the large fountain behind Spaceship Earth. Young adults from 23 nations each poured a gallon of their country's water into the fountain, symbolizing the unity of world friendship. Water came from as far away as the Arctic Ocean, the Nile River in Africa, and Yangtze River in China, and as close as the Mississippi.
Dedication plaque by Card Walker
Spaceship Earth, the icon of Epcot
The monorail over Epcot
Mission: Space, the pavillon dedicated to Space exploration
World Showcase: Italy
World Showcase: Japan
World Showcase: Morroco
World Showcase: Canada
World Showcase: China
World Showcase: Norway(Photos by Sebastien Barthe)
The dedication plaque was read by Card Walker, then Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Walt Disney Productions:
To all who come to this Place of Joy, Hope and Friendship, Welcome. Epcot is inspired by Walt Disney's creative vision. Here, human achievements are celebrated through imagination, wonders of enterprise and concepts of a future that promises new and exciting benefits for all. May EPCOT Center entertain, inform and inspire and, above all, may it instill a new sense of belief and pride in man's ability to shape a world that offers hope to people everywhere.
October 24, 1982
During the mid-eighties, construction began on many Walt Disney World projects to benefit not only Guest experience, but serve the resort and its mission of EPCOT itself. The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the company, Michael Eisner, guided the growth by planning additional resorts so more Guests could stay on property and projects that would surpass the Walt Disney World reputation for outstanding entertainment.
The first luxury resort, Disney's Grand Floridian Beach Resort, opened in 1988. Its elegant wood siding and details, ornate balconies, and Victorian windows take Guests back to turn-of-the-century Florida. The first moderately priced resort, Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort, debuted later in 1988. Each series of buildings is named after different islands of the Caribbean.
EPCOT Center hosted several entertainment extravaganzas throughout its history. Previous shows included the EPCOT Intergalactic Daredevil Circus Spectacular (in the CommuniCore area); Skyleidoscope (dragon boats); New World Fantasy (picture barges); and the "Laserphonic Fantasy" (fireworks and lasers) in the World Showcase Lagoon. On January 30, 1988, the theme park debuted "IllumiNations."
This epic show began with an international festival from nine of the nations around World Showcase. Spotlights, special-effects projectors, themed music, and lights illuminated each showcase with color and sound. The second part of the show ignited the sky with fireworks and classical music. Several barges which contain water jets and fireworks were towed into the lagoon every evening. Epcot Computer Central kept the entire program in sync. Along with the musical score, it simultaneously controlled thirteen projectors, six lasers, eight searchlights, 108 water nozzles on the barges, more than 700 pieces of fireworks, and 50,000 bulbs lining every showcase. During the Christmas season of 1994, the show was transformed into a festive program called "Holiday IllumiNations" and has continued since during Christmas seasons.
October 3, 1996, saw the premiere of the all-new "IllumiNations 25," a nightly celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Walt Disney World Resort. This new show uses much of the original equipment and special effects (no longer using the projectors), and has an additional four barges that launch many rapidly exploding fireworks.
The year 1989 brought the opening of the third major theme park in the Walt Disney World Resort. The Disney-MGM Studios is a tribute to the world of Hollywood magic.
The Opening of the Disney-MGM Studios, 1989
Crossroads of the world, entrance of Disney-MGM Studios
A reproduction of the Carthay Theater of Los Angeles, where Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered in 1937
The most famous cinema in the world: The Chinese Theater of Los Angeles (exact reproduction and home of The Great Movie Ride)
The Twilight Zone Tower Of Terror
The Water tower, classic icon of hollywood movie studios.
Scupture of Walt Disney
Echo Lake
Star Tours
New York Streets set
The Brown Derby
(Photos by Sebastien Barthe)
Crossroads of the world, entrance of Disney-MGM Studios
A reproduction of the Carthay Theater of Los Angeles, where Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered in 1937
The most famous cinema in the world: The Chinese Theater of Los Angeles (exact reproduction and home of The Great Movie Ride)
The Twilight Zone Tower Of Terror
The Water tower, classic icon of hollywood movie studios.
Scupture of Walt Disney
Echo Lake
Star Tours
New York Streets set
The Brown Derby(Photos by Sebastien Barthe)
The idea for a Disney-styled, Hollywood theme park had been circulating around the company since the 1950s. Walt's original design for the Disneyland Park was to be a small park on the Disney studio lot. Not only could Guests enjoy themselves on park rides, but also watch movies being made on the studio lot.
The Disney-MGM Studios would be designed to do just that, using classic films past and present to entertain and educate Guests of all ages. Plans called for several rides and shows that paid tribute to famous movies, or were entirely based on one film.
The theme park would do more than entertain. It would also include actual working soundstages and production buildings, where real filming and taping could take place. The Florida film industry had grown tremendously in the previous few years. Here was an opportunity for the Disney resort to be part of that growth. The working studios would be intricately linked with the park, using attractions and audience opportunities to bring Guests into the soundstages and the middle of the action.
Facilities would include several soundstages, complete with lighting and camera storage, sound booths, and editing rooms, all with the latest in equipment technology. These buildings were planned with glass-partitioned accessways so Guests could watch daily studio activities taking place.
Dominant theme park architecture would feature the glitz and glamour of Hollywood from the 1930s and 1940s. Imagineers watched thousands of hours of film and television to create certain atmospheres, landscaping, and interior designs for buildings. Particular streets such as Hollywood and Vine were to be re-created for authenticity. Familiar Los Angeles landmarks that typified the era were photographed and analyzed. Imagineers scaled down building plans so they would fit inside the park. Other designers brought in ideas featuring "California Crazy" architecture, like oversized boats and dinosaurs for retail space.
Since television programs could be produced in the working studios, the entire broadcasting medium would be showcased as well. A fully functioning radio station was planned inside the park which could broadcast local or visiting stations' programs.
The Disney company signed an agreement with MGM Studios, one of the most prestigious movie studios in history, for the use of its name and logo. This added an extra touch of class to the theme park's title and instant recognition to anyone familiar with many of Hollywood's greatest films.
The announcement for the theme park was in 1985, and construction began in 1986. Consultants were brought in to bring some of the working facilities to life. George Lucas of Star Wars fame became a major addition to the Disney family. His knowledge of story-telling on film, combined with the technical magic of Imagineering, helped create thrilling attractions based on his films.
One of the most important additions to the park was the Walt Disney Animation Florida division of the Disney animation industry. Guests could now see how classic and current cartoons were made in a working studio. With the help of Disney animators, old and new, Imagineers came up with a facility that complimented the animation studio's workplace, while allowing Guests to view each aspect of production from start to finish. Classic Disney films set the tone for imagination and adventure on the big screen and in the creative processes.
The movie studios in California used to have water towers on their lots for heating and cooling purposes, so one was designed for this park's own studios. Though the Earffel Tower does not function as its predecessors did, it is the theme park's landmark. It stands 130 feet tall, and the eye-catching mouse ears weigh 5,000 pounds each. They were constructed on the ground and then lifted to the top by crane.
The Chinese Theater, America's most famous and recognizable Hollywood movie house, is the visual draw for Guests to journey deeper into the park. Unlike most attraction buildings, this theater has no forced perspective. Imagineers used the actual architectural drawings of the original theater and built Florida's to the same scale. Even the lobby is an exact reproduction. The 22-ton copper shingle roof in the center of the building was installed separately. The courtyard was designed to be slowly filled by cement handprints of visiting stars.
Practically all of the attractions would use the most high-tech computer and special-effects equipment in existence. There were endless trial runs for the "natural" disasters occurring in Catastrophe Canyon. Computers had to be adjusted perfectly so the effects would happen just at the right moment, equipment would not toss any Backstage Shuttles into the water pit, or heat wouldn't melt the metal parts involved in the oil drill explosions. An actual oil tanker was lifted into the canyon, stripped of its insides, and fireproofed. The Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! had similar tests performed.
Visual and audio controls had to be recorded and timed perfectly for the Audio-Animatronics cast of The Great Movie Ride. Permission to use certain actors' and actresses' voices was obtained for some attractions, while other voices were computer-created.
The Walt Disney Story in the Magic Kingdom Park became a preview center again, this time for the Disney-MGM Studios. The preview film featured what a typical family's visit to the park would be like.
May 1, 1989 . . . The opening day press event for the Disney-MGM Studios was the largest in Walt Disney World history. Although it rained throughout the day, the park was packed. The parking lot closed an hour after opening, and traffic backed up for miles. Hundreds of radio and television broadcasts took place around the attractions. "Streetmosphere" characters and bands kept the large crowds and long lines entertained. Celebrities were on hand to dedicate each attraction. Michael Eisner read the dedication plaque:
The world you have entered was created by The Walt Disney Company and is dedicated to Hollywood-not a place on a map, but a state of mind that exists wherever people dream and wonder and imagine, a place where illusion and reality are fused by technological magic. We welcome you to a Hollywood that never was-and always will be.
The Disney-MGM Studios was an instant success. It proved so popular that park officials quickly opened up backstage sections to increase crowd flow. This soon led to more attractions planned in those newly traveled sections. Future park expansion plans were immediately put into action. With the help of several popular live shows, the park was able to handle crowds while still developing more attractions. Trailers were brought in to make room for the already-expanding animation department.
Long-range plans included building more studios across the main highway alongside the park, connecting it with access roads and walkways. An entire new street opened in 1994: Sunset Boulevard, which pays tribute to the theater district of Hollywood. The theaters on the block are actual reproductions of several found in California, including the Carthay Circle, where Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered. It is also home to two feature attractions: "The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror," the tallest attraction on property at 199 feet, and a large amphitheater for the live "Beauty and the Beast" stage show
Expanding Walt Disney World during the nineties
Downtown Disney: Pleasure Island entrance & Planet Hollywood
Downtown Disney: Marketplace
Downtown Disney: Fulton's Crabhouse
Downtown Disney: Cirque du Soleil
Downtow Disney: Cirque du Soleil & Disney Quest
Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin
Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin
Fantasia Gardens
Port Orleans Resort
Port Orleans Resort
Typhoon Lagoon Water Park
The Disney Institute
Downtown Disney: Pleasure Island entrance & Planet Hollywood
Downtown Disney: Marketplace
Downtown Disney: Fulton's Crabhouse
Downtown Disney: Cirque du Soleil
Downtow Disney: Cirque du Soleil & Disney Quest
Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin
Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin
Fantasia Gardens
Port Orleans Resort
Port Orleans Resort
Typhoon Lagoon Water Park
The Disney InstitutePlans to add hotels around EPCOT Center had been on the drawing boards for some time. In fact, Walt had always intended to build his resorts near the theme parks for Guests' convenience.
First workers dug the 25-acre Crescent Lake to be encircled by hotels. At one time, a nighttime water show called "Noah's Ark" was planned to take place in the middle of the lake, but never went past design stages. Crescent Lake was attached by water channel to the World Showcase Lagoon to allow resort Guests easy access to EPCOT Center through the International Gateway. This channel would later be connected for boat travel to the Disney-MGM Studios.
The first resorts to open around Crescent Lake were the Walt Disney World Swan and Walt Disney World Dolphin in 1990. Not owned or operated by the Disney company, these two hotels were designed by architect Michael Graves. Their eye-catching architecture features oversized geometric buildings and windows, and five-story statues of swans and dolphins on the rooftops.
Next door came Disney's Yacht and Beach Club Resorts, both opening about the same time in late 1990. In this Disney resort "first," the two hotels share similar themes and are physically connected together by a common recreation area, health club, and restaurant.
Disney's Yacht Club Resort is styled after New England's summer cottages of the 1880s. The nautical theme is unmistakable, with oak wood floors, porthole-styled windows, antique chandeliers, and brass fixtures.
Disney's Beach Club Resort returns to the seaside hotels of the 1870s. This casual setting features ceiling fans, wicker furniture, and seashell motifs.
The unique swimming area between them is called Stormalong Bay. It features a winding, sand-bottom lagoon and a 150-foot water slide originating from a shipwreck on the beach of Crescent Lake.
Two more small-scale theme parks also opened in 1989: Pleasure Island, a nighttime entertainment complex, and Typhoon Lagoon, the second Walt Disney World water park.
Pleasure Island opened officially on May 1, 1989, the same date as the Disney-MGM Studios. Walt Disney Imagineers created an extensive legend for the island's history and former owner, Merriweather Adam Pleasure. Pleasure was an entrepreneur who enjoyed traveling around the world. He had a flourishing sail-making business, but in 1941 disappeared at sea trying to sail around the globe. The island fell into ruin in the following years, and a hurricane severely damaged the existing buildings. Imagineers cleared out the overgrown jungle and rebuilt the island, using the original "funmeister's" philosophy for good entertainment to turn the old buildings into innovative nightclubs.
A large movie theater complex, using the latest in presentation technology, was built next door. The theater has hosted several film premieres, such as Dick Tracy, and special screenings, such as Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin.
Plaques detailing Pleasure's original use for each building are posted throughout the island. Pleasure's large greenhouse became a country dance bar, the Neon Armadillo Music Saloon. Imagineers converted his engine factory into Mannequins Dance Palace, a hot dance club similar to those found in New York. Magician Doug Henning contributed to the special effects found at Adventurers Club, a throwback to English safari clubs of the thirties. Memorabilia from around the world (that were given to Pleasure or brought in by international friends) cover the walls, hallways, and strange rooms.
Two unique table-service restaurants opened with the island. The Fireworks Factory used to be Pleasure's own fireworks-making facility. Inside, tables and chairs have been arranged around blackened metal siding and blown-out brick walls. The Portobello Yacht Club has a nautical setting, with model boats and sailing paraphernalia decorating its interiors.
A few changes have been made since Pleasure Island opened. The under-21 dance club Videopolis eventually became a progressive club called Cage, then the retro '70s club, 8TRAX. XZFR Rockin' Rollerdrome, a dance club and skating rink, was converted into the Rock & Roll Beach Club. A food market area is now Pleasure Island Jazz Company.
In December 1994, Planet Hollywood, an international restaurant chain owned by actors Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, and Demi Moore, opened with a gala press event. This sphere-shaped building is 95 feet tall, and rests in Village Lake, between the AMC Pleasure Island 10 movie theaters and Pleasure Island. To achieve that effect, water was drained from the area of construction. Two hundred steel pilings were pounded into the ground to establish a solid foundation, and then a concrete slab was poured on top of that. The rest of the restaurant was completely built and watersealed before water was returned to the lagoon around it. Inside is a treasure trove of movie memorabilia: props, costumes, and models housed in wall cases or hung from the ceiling. There is even a full-size Herbie the Love Bug Volkswagen suspended high above the floor.
Typhoon Lagoon was created, according to some, by the same hurricane that swept through Pleasure Island:
A furious storm once roared across the sea, catching ships in its path, helpless to flee. Instead of a certain and watery doom, the winds swept them here to Typhoon Lagoon...
The huge wave of wind and water left nothing in the tropical village untouched. Surfboards were embedded in trees. Parts of boats and buoys dangled in thatched roofs of surviving buildings. Miss Tilly, a small shrimp boat caught in the typhoon, was left precariously atop a nearby volcano called Mount Mayday.
Originally called "Splash" in preliminary designs, this water park is four times larger than River Country. It contains more slides (including one of the world's tallest and fastest), a giant wave pool, and a large children's water area. Special heaters are strategically placed around the landscaping and in pools to keep the "tropical waters" warm year round. Typhoon Lagoon opened June 1, 1989, providing Guests with even more cool relief from the Florida summer heat.
Plans to add hotels around EPCOT Center had been on the drawing boards for some time. In fact, Walt had always intended to build his resorts near the theme parks for Guests' convenience.
First workers dug the 25-acre Crescent Lake to be encircled by hotels. At one time, a nighttime water show called "Noah's Ark" was planned to take place in the middle of the lake, but never went past design stages. Crescent Lake was attached by water channel to the World Showcase Lagoon to allow resort Guests easy access to EPCOT Center through the International Gateway. This channel would later be connected for boat travel to the Disney-MGM Studios.
The first resorts to open around Crescent Lake were the Walt Disney World Swan and Walt Disney World Dolphin in 1990. Not owned or operated by the Disney company, these two hotels were designed by architect Michael Graves. Their eye-catching architecture features oversized geometric buildings and windows, and five-story statues of swans and dolphins on the rooftops.
Next door came Disney's Yacht and Beach Club Resorts, both opening about the same time in late 1990. In this Disney resort "first," the two hotels share similar themes and are physically connected together by a common recreation area, health club, and restaurant.
Disney's Yacht Club Resort is styled after New England's summer cottages of the 1880s. The nautical theme is unmistakable, with oak wood floors, porthole-styled windows, antique chandeliers, and brass fixtures.
Disney's Beach Club Resort returns to the seaside hotels of the 1870s. This casual setting features ceiling fans, wicker furniture, and seashell motifs.
The unique swimming area between them is called Stormalong Bay. It features a winding, sand-bottom lagoon and a 150-foot water slide originating from a shipwreck on the beach of Crescent Lake.
Also in 1990, The Walt Disney Company created a new corporate office for its expanding responsibility in protecting our natural resources. Since the beginning of the Walt Disney World Resort, all projects have been carefully arranged around protected wetlands. Company biologists go into the field and examine any area under consideration for development. Their goals are to determine that construction will not harm or destroy any endangered species or water environment necessary to Florida wildlife. Other scientists continually take water and soil samples, monitoring property-wide natural resources.
Throughout Walt Disney World history, the resort has experimented with different ways to save energy and fuel for utilities and its parks. Environmental Affairs was established to implement and oversee recycling programs across the corporate board. The Walt Disney World Resort put extensive recycling programs on line, beginning with backstage areas and a few resorts. Soon several types of Cast Member and Guest handouts were being printed on recycled paper. Recycling programs expanded to all the resorts and parks and backstage areas were soon outfitted to handle recyclable materials, such as separate barrels for different colored glass, plastics, etc. All areas now receive monthly report cards comparing how well they did during the current month to the previous month.
Jiminy Cricket is the "Environmentality" program mascot, promoting preservation of the environment. Chip 'n Dale are the official recycling mascots.
In 1990, Michael Eisner announced "The Disney Decade," an unparalleled list of expansion plans for Walt Disney World that promised more attractions, more resorts, and more entertainment for the "Vacation Kingdom of the World." Some of the projects mentioned have yet to appear, others have been shelved, but more have been created, providing a plethora of entertainment options for young and old.
Nightlife at Magic Kingdom Park would never be the same after October 1991. The "Main Street Electrical Parade" made its final run before record crowds in September; the new parade appeared to take its place: "SpectroMagic."
Show technology had improved dramatically in the past twenty years. This parade uses the same lighting and synchronized show concepts as the previous one, but includes the latest in holographic images, military lighting, fiber-optic cable (over 100 miles), video projectors, and liquid-nitrogen smoke. Scenes from the Silly Symphonies, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, and Fantasia are brought to life in several series of floats, live performers, and characters. The "Main Street Electrical Parade" moved to Disneyland Paris and can still be seen there.
The Walt Disney Company moved into the vacation ownership trend by creating the Disney Vacation Club. This was the first of several vacation clubs opened throughout the country. Each resort would be uniquely themed after traditional styles found in the region in which it was built. This particular resort is named Disney's Old Key West Resort, representing that South Florida style of community around the turn of the century. Condominium-style vacation homes feature pastel colors with white trim and balconies. The entire resort is also linked to the Lake Buena Vista Golf Course. This resort opened in 1991.
Two more moderately priced resorts made their debut in 1991 and 1992. Similar to Disney's Yacht and Beach Club Resorts, they are similar in theme, yet contain atmospheres unique to themselves. They are not physically connected, but rather are separated for theming purposes. In the tradition of Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort, they feature rooms with a central check-in, food court, and swimming areas.
Opened May 17, 1991, Disney's Port Orleans Resort re-creates the streets and rowhouses of New Orleans' French Quarter. Various ornate house styles are decorated with wrought-iron railings and typical Southern landscaping. Oak trees, crepe myrtles, and magnolias are abundant throughout the riverside buildings. The large food court area is fashioned after warehouses where float pieces and decorations are stored for the city's Mardi Gras celebrations.
The waterway which slowly curves around the resort banks is called the Sassagoula River. It provides access to the Disney Village Marketplace and Pleasure Island by water taxi. The journey follows the lazy water channel through some of the resort's more quiet, natural areas, and the Disney Village ResortJust up the Sassagoula River is Disney's Dixie Landings Resort. It represents several styles of Louisiana homes found farther up the Mississippi. There are three styles of dwellings, ranging from the small cottages of the rural bayous, cracker-style houses, and the elegant manors found on many southern plantations.
The story behind the resort, a once-bustling riverfront community, begins with an individual known as the Ol' Man. He was the first settler in this area in 1835. He built a small home, a well with a water flume, and a dock on a small island near the river. He lived all alone for some time, building his own bridges and walkways, until the area went under massive growth. River commerce brought in new settlers and businessmen. A small community, complete with a steamboat company, cotton mill, and a boatwright shop, was soon built. The Ol' Man created a play area for children and opened his fishing hole to everyone.
Disney's Dixie Landings Resort opened on February 2, 1992. All the buildings built at this prosperous river hub remained intact and were used as the hotel's main facilities. Even the old fishing hole is stocked for Guests to try their luck.
Imagineers wanted a very large, old oak tree for the recreation area's swimming pool. They finally found one more than one hundred years old, located twelve miles away. No problem for Disney engineers and horticulture experts to move it. A special cypress box 22 feet square was built to hold the tree's immense and delicate root system. The tree-moving team slowly unearthed the tree, keeping it hooked to cranes above. The 85-ton oak was then lifted onto a flatbed tractor trailer and moved at a cautious speed of four miles per hour. It took three days to reach the resort, and because of its height and branch span, 108 light poles and six traffic signals had to be moved out of its path. This resort is also connected by water taxi and can transport Guests up the lazy river to the Disney Village Marketplace and Pleasure Island.
The Bonnet Creek Golf Courses opened in 1992. The two championship courses, Eagle Pines and Osprey Ridge, were designed by noted course architects Pete Dye and Tom Fazio. The courses took two years to construct around the natural woodlands near Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground.
Also in 1992, the 28,000-square-foot Materials Recovery Facility opened its doors near the tree farm. The facility separates and processes many materials, such as office paper, cardboard, aluminum cans, and steel. Separated materials are bought by vendors, used as compost, or taken to landfills.
A new sports tradition at the Walt Disney World Resort began on the cold January morning of the 16th, 1994. Approximately 8,200 runners from around the world lined up for the first annual Walt Disney World Marathon. Regular Cast Member and Guest pathways were blocked or detoured to form an ingenious and captivating course. The 26.2-mile route ran along normal and backstage roads, past several resorts, and literally through all three theme parks. Now the marathon course includes music played in selected areas, light shows, bands, and of course, waving Disney characters and Cast along the route to keep participants alert and motivated.
The success of this marathon also paved the way for a whole new venue for the Resort. Within three years, more sports events would be coming to property, and a full-scale facility would be built.
Once again, to fill the need of moderately priced resorts, a unique concept was brought to life. This time, it would feature an innovative salute to two of America's popular entertainment themes. With rooms comparable to Disney's Caribbean Beach, Port Orleans, and Dixie Landings Resorts, Disney's All-Star Sports and Music Resorts would be surrounded by larger-than-life icons familiar with each genre.
Disney's All-Star Sports Resort opened in May 1994. Each building section features a specific section. Touchdown! has giant footballs and team helmets, with large Xs and Os lined up on a football field for the hotel courtyard. The Home Run Hotel pays tribute to baseball, with towering bats and drink cups. The Hoops Hotel theme features basketball goals, whistles, and megaphones. Center Court has a tennis theme, with referee chairs and tennis ball cans. Finally, Surf's Up! features gigantic surfboards and shark fins. Along the top of each building are cutouts of spectator heads, as if a crowd were watching the games below.
The All-Star Music Resort, which opened in November 1994, has five themed areas. Calypso features giant maracas and conga drums. Jazz Inn has saxophones and spotlights. Juke boxes and guitars represent the Rock Inn, and cowboy boots are the predominant theme for Country Fair. Finally, Broadway Hotel is highlighted with top hats and ticket booths. The pools at the music resort are shaped like a guitar and a piano.
After twenty-four years of sitting on the drawing boards, the Fort Wilderness resort hotel finally made its debut as Disney's Wilderness Lodge. The early designs of this fort are strikingly similar to the current resort: a large, rustic fort with timber walls.
Disney's Wilderness Lodge is themed after the national park lodges of the Northwest, such as Yosemite and Yellowstone, circa 1860-70. The spirit of the West is captured in many designs, paintings, and artifacts of Native American culture decorating the resort. Totem poles with carved deer, buffalo, and other animals rise majestically toward the seven-story ceiling in the lobby. Some of the tribes represented here are the Blackfoot, the Cheyenne, the Crow, and the Sioux. There are also many maps and paintings of Western explorers advancing into the wilderness.
Much of the material used to construct the lodge was shipped in from the West. Hundreds of lodgepole pines decorate the interior or are outside, supported by a foundation of granite flagstone. In the lobby, a bubbling pool flows out into the back promenade, where outside, it becomes a small river, meandering around a forest landscape. The river flows over rocky outcroppings and into the main swimming pool. Disney's Wilderness Lodge opened in May 1994. A similar-type resort has already been built at Disneyland Paris called the Sequoia Lodge.
Two dramatic changes occurred in the Magic Kingdom Park and EPCOT Center in 1994 that promise lasting effects on both parks' entertainment and education value. Tomorrowland in the Magic Kingdom Park had been growing out of date ever since opening in 1971. Its original purpose was to showcase and demonstrate new technologies mankind would be using someday, a bit more serious theme than the park's other lands. Clearly the architecture and attractions represented how we viewed the future in the 1970s. Visions of how the future could appear constantly changed every year, while Tomorrowland stayed the same. One attraction, Flight to the Moon, lasted only four years because traveling to the moon was no longer an unfathomable goal. Mission to Mars was the next step into the solar system, but even its technology grew old quickly.
Numerous refurbishment's were planned throughout the years, but no one had a perfect angle to keep Tomorrowland up to date while adding more entertainment. The answer finally came from Discoveryland in Disneyland Paris. It pays tribute to the world of visionaries like Jules Verne and H. G. Wells. Their view of what the future would look like included one-man rocket ships, time machines, and gigantic, oddly shaped city buildings.
Tomorrowland took that theme even further. Using futuristic images created by science fiction writers and filmmakers of the 1920s and '30s, it would become a specific community. This city has oversized, machine-like architecture, neon towers that light the night sky in a multitude of colors, and attractions that could only have been invented in "the future that never was." It has its own mass transportation system (the Tomorrowland Transit Authority), electric company (Tomorrowland Light & Power Co.), and convention center (Metropolis Science Centre).
EPCOT Center modified its technology displays in the CommuniCore pavilions into dynamic, innovative exhibit areas now known as Innoventions that will constantly change as new products are created. Innoventions showcases the latest home, work, and entertainment technologies with hands-on demonstrations. Guests can try out the hottest new computers, gadgets, and games, some of which are not even on the market yet. In 1996, the name of the theme park became simply Epcot.
Up until now, River Country and Typhoon Lagoon had experienced record crowds summer after summer. Water recreation parks were gaining popularity across the country, especially in Central Florida. With the two water parks on property closing their doors due to capacity every day, the Disney company decided to create a third: Blizzard Beach, the largest water park at the Walt Disney World Resort and the most unusually-themed resort attraction in Disney history.
According to Imagineering legend, a freak winter storm blew ice and snow over 57 acres of land near Disney's All-Star Resorts. But intended plans for Florida's first snow-ski resort ground to a halt when summer temperatures began melting the snow-covered area. The resort operators were about to close the lodge when they noticed an alligator sliding down the slopes on "liquid ice." They soon discovered what the alligator already knew: the melting snow had actually created thrilling water-park attractions out of the ski and sledding courses.
The 120-foot-high Summit Plummet, the ski jump on top of resident mountain Mt. Gushmore, is the world's tallest and fastest free-fall speed slide. Several other slides, toboggan runs, and flumes twist and turn along the mountain's half snow/half tropical slopes. There are pre-teens' and children's play areas, as well as a lazy creek circling the entire park, and a beach area. Blizzard Beach opened in April 1995.
For the past few years, the Walt Disney World Resort had an increasing amount of Guest groups coming to the resort for pre-arranged events. Out of this need to accommodate these large numbers of people and events, a convention department was created specifically to coordinate everything from hotel-room reservations to hall arrangements to catering. Disney's Grand Floridian Beach Resort and Disney's Contemporary Resort opened their own convention centers to join the already packed convention space across property.
The most popular events requested on property are weddings. The "Fairy Tale Wedding" department evolved out of convention sales, again coordinating each event with the Guests involved. It eventually developed entire packages for Guests so that they didn't have to plan their own at all. The centerpiece for this department is the Disney Wedding Pavilion, which opened just down the beach from Disney's Grand Floridian Beach Resort on July 15, 1995. Featuring the same Victorian-style architecture as the nearby beach resort, this pavilion is large enough to host weddings of 250 Guests or more and can be rearranged for smaller, intimate ceremonies.
On January 27, 1996, the Walt Disney World Resort hosted the inaugural Indy 200 race in the new, state-of-the-art Walt Disney World Speedway. The race was put together by the Resort's new sports department and the Indy Racing League. From design to reality, the racetrack took about ten months to construct next to the Magic Kingdom parking lot. Each curve in the one mile track has its own unique banking, providing a bigger challenge to veteran drivers.
A collection of old-growth trees were growing right in the middle of where the track was to be, but they were spared and moved near the backstretch. The "Mickyard" was designed for temporary seating so space would not be wasted when no races were taking place.
A unique vacation experience opened next to the Disney Village Marketplace on March 2, 1996. The Disney Institute, described as a "discovery resort," was designed to let Guests explore their own creative abilities through 40 different educational programs. Guests have the opportunity to be a chef, television producer, artist, interior designer, and more by choosing their own set of classes, ranging from entertainment arts (like animation, television, and radio production) to environment (bird-watching, gardening, topiary growing, and wilderness study), from fitness (sports medicine, aerobics, and outdoor programs) to culinary (cooking techniques, healthy dining, and planning for parties), and others. Featured program facilitators include celebrities from each field, such as recognized actors and actresses, musicians, and chefs.
Disney designers built a complete set of classrooms, audio/visual studios, a fitness center, and theater for the institute's learning facilities. The entire area is themed as a 'quintessential' rural American town, with tree-lined streets and many garden areas. Architect Tom Beeby used specific country building architectural styles to create a quiet, relaxing atmosphere. Now Guests not only have the opportunity to visit a world where dreams come true, but produce their own in an environment catering to their every need. The villas at Disney Village Resort were renamed the Villas at the Disney Institute. Although a section of rooms has been designated as campus housing for the institute, the rest are still open to Guests.
With a brilliant swirl of color, Roman architecture, and Disney magic, another hotel amenity designed for Guests and conventioneers appeared between the Walt Disney World Dolphin and Walt Disney World Swan on May 20, 1996: Fantasia Gardens Miniature Golf. There are two putting courses, Fantasia Gardens and Fantasia Fairways. Fantasia Gardens re-creates five different scenes of the Disney animated feature Fantasia, complete with Gothic statues and dancing fountains. Set in the traditional style of miniature golf, this course is interactive, requiring Guests to putt around hopping mushrooms, falling snowflakes, and pirouetting ostriches in a variety of challenges. Fantasia Fairways is a regular putting course, but designed to challenge even the most skillful golfers. It is literally a miniaturized golf course complete with exaggerated contours, water hazards, and tricky sand traps. There is also a 22,000-square-foot meeting facility for outdoor events next to the courses.
The last of the Epcot resorts planned around Crescent Lake opened July 1, 1996. Disney's BoardWalk re-creates the vacation charm of the Mid-Atlantic coastal cottages of the 1930s. The resort complements the similar atmosphere found across the lake at Disney's Yacht and Beach Club Resorts (all three were in fact designed by architect Robert A.M. Stern). This resort is unique in that it combines a regular Guest room section named Disney's BoardWalk Inn with a number of units belonging to the Disney Vacation Club named Disney's BoardWalk Villas. The buildings wind along a large, wooden promenade (made of Ekki wood from South America) overlooking Crescent Lake. Guests can enjoy an entertainment district featuring a lively collection of restaurants, merchandise shops, a sports bar, a dueling piano bar, and a 1940s-style dance hall which showcases music from the '40s to the '90s.
Celebration, 1996
Though it would not be a collection of towering skyscrapers and electronic sidewalks, Celebration, a brand new city in Central Florida, would be themed after a typical small American town of the 1940s and '50s. Still, its charter would follow Walt Disney's view of a self-sufficient city linked together with advanced technologies. Celebration was built in northwest Osceola County on previously-owned company property. Its features include residential neighborhoods, its own school, office buildings, hospital, and mall, but using the latest in communications, mechanical, and other technologies to operate and educate daily. To handle the large amount of requests for homes in Celebration, officials used a lottery system to grant homes to the first bidders.During preliminary planning for Celebration, 600 acres to be developed were discovered to be wetlands. These state-protected areas were bound by law to be preserved and prevented companies across the state from developing on their own land.
The Walt Disney Company, however, made an agreement with the South Florida Water Management District that allowed the company to develop the designated acres in exchange for purchasing the 8,500-acre Walker Ranch, only twelve miles south of the Resort. Consisting of wetlands, endangered species, and sixteen separate plant communities, the ranch was close to being destroyed by overgrazing, lumbering, and digging.
At a dedication service on April 23, 1993, Walker Ranch officially became Disney Wilderness Preserve. This unprecedented agreement has led several other companies to follow suit, agreeing to purchase protected wetlands in Florida for permission to develop acreage already on their property.
The first phase of Celebration was officially dedicated on July 4, 1996. Phase Two is to expand the residential (the city is designed to handle 20,000 residents) and the commercial business districts.
Walt Disney World: Remember the Magic,1996-1997
100 Years Of Magic, 2001-2002
100 Years Of Magic, 2001-2002
The Walt Disney World Resort celebrated its 25th anniversary in October 1996. The resort pulled out all the stops to "Remember the Magic" for new Guests and those that had been here before. Hundreds of media representatives, children's groups, dignitaries, and celebrities helped celebrate the momentous occasion. Festivities included changing the Cinderella Castle into a giant birthday cake, a re-creation of the press event where Walt and Roy announced that the Disney company was coming to Florida, several new and refurbished attractions, a live extravaganza at the Orlando Arena, and the debut of the Guest-interactive "Remember the Magic" parade.
The NASCAR Chevy Trucks Challenge was added to the January events taking place at the Walt Disney World Speedway. The Richard Petty Driving Experience, allowing Guests to get behind the wheel of an actual race car, opened one month later.
With its long-standing golf classic, an internationally recognized marathon, and two auto races set as annual traditions, the Walt Disney World Resort firmly established itself in the sports world. It took a giant leap further with the opening of Disney's Wide World of Sports in 1997. The 200-acre facility, located south of the Disney-MGM Studios, contains a main event stadium, a multi-sports field house for basketball, volleyball, and gymnastics, a tennis arena, baseball diamonds, field hockey and soccer fields, outdoor tracks, weight rooms, racquetball courts, classrooms, and broadcast facilities. The facilities can accommodate college, high school, and youth team events, from amateur to individual professional athletes. Noted sports organizations who use the facilities for training and exhibition games are the Atlanta Braves baseball team, the Harlem Globetrotters, the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, and the Amateur Athletics Union.
With the Florida convention market showing no signs of slowing, Disney built another resort catering to that business. Disney's Coronado Springs Resort opened August 1, 1997. The architecture is reminiscent of that found in Mexico and the American Southwest. In fact, the resort is actually named after explorer Francisco de Coronado. Coronado might have fit in to the Disney storyline of this hotel. According to legend, a Spanish explorer set out in 1569 to find the Lost Cities of Gold. He stumbled upon an ancient Mayan pyramid but found no gold. The maps to this pyramid were discovered centuries later, and a team of scientists and their families soon created a small community of pueblos and ranch houses as they continued studying the surrounding country and Spanish ruins.
For conventioneers, the resort has a 95,000-square-foot convention center containing up to 45 meeting rooms and the largest ballroom in the United States-at 60,000 square feet. Guest rooms even have computer data ports, so that Guests need not disconnect the telephone to hook up their computers.
Expansion and refurbishment's had been taking place at the Disney Village Marketplace and Pleasure Island over the past two years. The Pleasure Island AMC 10 movie theater underwent renovation to include 24 screens, complete with stadium seating, wider aisles, new sound systems, and even balconies in two individual theaters. Famous restaurant chains around the country were brought in to run various Disney eateries. This trend goes back to the early days of Disneyland Park, when outside companies like Frito Lay and Aunt Jemima were brought in to service the park's restaurants (because the Disney Studios had no prior experience in that business).
A shopper's paradise of some of the nation's most popular stores and restaurants called Disney's West Side opened next to Pleasure Island in September 1997. Taking a cue from dynamic downtowns of cities all over the country, the area features well-known names and sponsors, including Virgin Megastore, Bongos Cuban Cafe, House of Blues, and Wolfgang Puck Cafe.
All three entertainment areas (the Marketplace, Pleasure Island, and West Side) were linked together and renamed the Downtown Disney area.
The Walt Disney World Resort has come a long way from swampland to vacationland. Through several more land purchases in the past twenty years, it now covers 30,000 acres, or about 46 square miles. Its original number of Cast Members has grown from 5,500 to 51,500. There are now three major theme parks, three water parks, two nighttime entertainment districts, and twenty-five resorts/hotels in which to stay. If you wanted to stay overnight in every room on property, it would take you over 61 years to do it. And resorts, attractions, even additional theme parks are in development for years to come.
The Vacation Kingdom of the World has entertained and enlightened people young and old from all over the globe. Nowhere else on earth can one meet a snow skiing alligator, robot shuttle pilots, and cartoon stars . . . fly a magic pirate ship, or ride an authentic steam train through the Old West . . . or explore a haunted hotel or sophisticated greenhouses, where growing techniques showcase the future of our planet's food supply. in development for years to come.
It promises every visitor that anything can truly happen when they wish upon a star. And it is the realized dream of one man who believed that anyone can accomplish what they set their mind to: Walt Disney.
2000 was a year-long celebration of the new millenium and the addition of a huge "2000" logo on the Epcot landmark, SpaceShip Earth.
Then, 2001 was the beginning of the celebration of "100 Years of magic", celebrating the 100th birthday of Walt Disney. Walt Disney World is bigger than ever, always growing and evolving along with the number of guests who enjoy since 1971 the Vacation Resort dreamed almost 40 years ago by Walt Disney.
The Opening of Animal Kingdom, 1998
Tree of Life
Kilimanjaro Safaris
Tree of Life
Expedition Everest
Discovery Island
Kilimanjaro Safaris
Asia
Africa
Tree of Life
Kilimanjaro Safaris
Tree of Life
Expedition Everest
Discovery Island
Kilimanjaro Safaris
Asia
AfricaIn 1998, Walt Disney World opened its fourth themepark, Disney's Aimal Kingdom, dedicated to the world of animals of the past and of the present. Disovery Island was closed and most of its animals were moved to Animal Kingdom.
Disney's Animal Kingdom is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort. The fourth park built at the resort, it opened on April 22, 1998, and it is the largest single Disney theme park in the world, covering more than 500 acres (2 km²). It is also the first Disney theme park to be themed entirely around animal conservation, a philosophy once pioneered by Walt Disney himself. Disney's Animal Kingdom is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, meaning they have met and exceeded the standards in Education, Conservation and Research.
Shortly after the park opened, Disney advertised the park using the fictional word "nahtazu". Pronounced "not a zoo," the word emphasized that the park was more than animal displays found in a typical city zoo. Disney stopped using the phrase in January 2006.
In 2007, the park hosted approximately 9.49 million guests, ranking it the fifth-most visited amusement park in the United States and eight-most visited in the world.
Welcome to a kingdom of animals... real, ancient and imagined: a kingdom ruled by lions, dinosaurs and dragons; a kingdom of balance, harmony and survival; a kingdom we enter to share in the wonder, gaze at the beauty, thrill at the drama, and learn.
Michael Eisner April 22, 1998
Timeline 1971-1980
Magic Kindgom Park Opens October 1, 1971
Main Street U.S.A.
- Walt Disney World Railroad
- Main Street Cinema
- The Crystal Palace
- Walt Disney Story (1972)
- Swan Boats (1972)
Adventureland
- Jungle Cruise
- Swiss Family Treehouse
- Tropical Serenade
- Pirates Of The Carribean (1973)
Frontierland
- Country Bear Jamboree
- Diamnond Horseshoe Saloon Revue
- Mike Fink Keelboats
- Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes
- Tom Swayer Island (1973)
- Richard F. Irvine Steamboat (1975)
Liberty Square
- The Hall of Presidents
- The Liberty Tree
- The Haunted Mansion
Fantasyland
- Cinderella's Golden Carrousel
- Skyway to Tomorrowland
- Cinderella Castle
- Dumbo The Flying Elephant
- Mad Tea Party
- Mickey Mouse Revue
- Peter Pan's Flight
- Snow White's Scary Adventure
- Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
- It's A Small World
- 20000 Leagues Under The Sea
Tomorrowland
- Grand Prix Raceway
- Flight To The Moon
- America The Beautiful
- If You Had Wings (1972)
- Carrousel of Progress (1972)
- Star Jets (1974)
- WEDWay People Mover (1975)
- Space Mountain (1975)
Events
- Electrical Water Pageant
- Fantasy In The Sky Fireworks
- Happy Easter Parade (1972)
- American On Parade (1975)
- Main Street Electrical Parade (1977)
- Mickey's 50th Birthday Celebration (1978)
- Tencennial Celebration (1981)
Resorts
- Contemporary Resort
- Polynesian Reosrt
- Fort Wilderness Camground & Resort
- Golf Resort (1973)
Disney's Discovery Island Opens
- 1974 Originally called Treasure Island
Disney Village Marketplace Opens
- 1975 Originally called Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village
River Country Opens
- 1976
Timeline 1980-1990
Magic Kingdom
Frontierland
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (1980)
Tomorrowland
- Take Flight (1989)
Mickey's Birthdayland (1988)
- Renamed Mickey's Starland (1989)
EPCOT Center Opens October 1, 1982
Future World
- Spaceship Earth
- Communicore
- The Land
- Universe of Energy
- World Of Motion
- Journey Into Imagination (1983)
- Horizons (1983)
- The Living Seas (1986)
World Showcase
- Mexico
- China
- Germany
- Italy
- American Adventure
- Japan
- France
- United Kingdom
- Canada
- Morocco (1984)
- Norway (1988)
- Illuminations (1988)
-Wonders of Life (1989)
Events
- Mickey's 60th Birthday Celebration (1988)
- Walt Disney World Very Merry Christmas Parade (1983)
- Donald Duck's 50th Birthday Parade (1984)
- 15th Anniversary Celebration (1986)
- Disney Character Hit Parade (1989)
Resorts
- Grand Floridan Beach Resort & Spa (1988)
- Carribean Beach Resort (1988)
Disney-MGM Studios Opens May 1, 1989
HollyWood Boulevard
- The Great Movie Ride
- Backstage Studio Tour
- The Looney Bin
- Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
- Superstar Television
- The Monster Sound Show
- Behind The Scenes Special Effects Tour
- The Magic Of Disney Animation
- New York Street
- 50s Prime Time Cafe
- The Hollywood Brown Derby
- Streetmosphere
- Echo Lake
Pleasure Island Opens May 1, 1989
- Adventurers Club
- Neon Armadillo
- Comedy Warehouse
- Cage
- Mannequins Dance Palace
- XZFR Rock'N' Roll Beach Club
Disney's Typhoon Lagoon Opens June 1, 1989
Timeline 1990-2001
Magic Kingdom
Frontierland
- Splash Mountain (1992)
Fantasyland
- The Legend Of The Lion King (1994)
- Snow Shite's Adventure's (1994 Renovation)
Liberty Square
- Hall Of Presidents (1993 Renovation)
Tomorrowland
- Carrousel of Progress (1993 Renovation)
New Tomorrowland (1995)
- The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter (1995)
- Astro Orbiter (1995)
- The Timekeeper (1995)
- Galaxy Palace Theater (1995)
Mickey's Toontown Fair (1996)
- Renamed from Mickey's Starland
Events
- The Sword In The Stone (1993)
- World Wide Kids Day (1993)
- 20th Anniversary Suprise Celebration (1991)
- Spectromagic Parade (1991)
- Mickey Mania Parade (1994)
- 25th Anniversary Celebration (1996)
- Millennium Celebration (October 1999)
EPCOT
Future World
- Honey I Shrunk The Audience (1994)
- Innoventions (1994)
- The Land (1994 Renovation)
- Global Neighborhood (1995)
- Ellen's Energy Adventure (1996)
- Test Track (1999) replaced World of Motion
- Journey to Imagination (1999 Renovation)
Events
- Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival (1994)
Disney-MGM Studios
Attractions
- Honey I Shrunk The Kids Movie Set Adventure (1990)
- Star Tours (1990)
- Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater (1991)
- Jim Henson's MuppetVision 3D (1991)
- Voyage Of The Little Mermaid (1992)
- Beauty And The Beast - Live On Stage (1991)
- The Twilight Zone Tower Of Terror (1994) re-programmed for different drops over the years
- Sunset Boulevard (1994)
- Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame: A Musical Adventure (1996)
- 101 Dalmations Special Effects Tour (1996)
- Goosebumps Horrorland (1997)
Events
- Aladdin's Royal Caravan Parade (1992)
- Sorcery In The Sky (1990)
- Macy's Balloons (1992)
- Disney's Toy Story Parade (1995)
- Spectacle Of Lights (1995)
- Disney's Hercules "Zero To Hero" Victory Parade (1997)
- Fantasmic! (1998)
Resorts
- Old Key West Resort (1992)
- Walt Disney World Swan And Dolphin (1990)
- Port Orleans Resort (1991)
- Dixie Landings Resort (1992)
- Yacht And Beach Club Resorts (1990)
- Wildernesss Lodge (1994)
- All-Star Sports & Music Resorts (1994)
- BoardWalk Resort (1996)
- Disney Institute (1996)
- Coronado Springs Reosrt (1997)
Pleasure Island
- 8-Trax Replaced Cage
- Pleasure Island Jazz Company (1993)
- Planet Hollywood (1994)
- BET Soundstage (1998) Replaced Neon Armadillo
- Wildhorse Saloon (1998) Replaced Fireworks Factory
Walt Disney World Marathon (1994)
Walk Around the World (1994)
Christmas Around the World (1994)
Disney's Wedding Pavilion (1995)
Dining Around the World (1995)
Disney's Blizzard Beach Opens April 1, 1995
City of Celebration (1996)
Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex (1996)
Downtown Disney West Side (1997)
- AMC Theatres now 24 cinemas
- Virgin Megastore
- House of Blues
- Candy Cauldron
- Forty Thrist Street
- Wolfgang Puck's
- Bongo's Cuban Cafe
- Wildhorse Saloon Store
- All-Star Sports Store
- Hoypolia
- Magnetron
- Sosa Family Cigar's
- Guitar Gallery
Fantasia Gardens Mini-Golf Course (1996)
Indy 200 at the Walt Disney World Speedway (1996)
Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park Opens April 22, 1998
- The Oasis
- Safari Village
- The Tree Of Life
- Africa
- DinoLand USA
DisneyQuest (1998)
Cirque Du Soleil (1998)
Timeline 2002-2008
coming soon
coming soon
