Phils WDW Guide - Phil´s Introduction To WDW

Ask a child where they would like to go on vacation, and most likely it's the same place you would like to go. The answer of course is Walt Disney World. Fantasy, adventure and the mouse. Escape is the name of the game at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. Walt Disney and the Disney company invented what we now know today as theme parks with Disneyland's Magic Kingdom in California, which will give you the oportunity to escape reality. Ever since 1971 Walt Disney World has grown in popularity and is now the world's most popular vacation destination, attracting nearly 40 million people a year. Kids dream about it, the competition studies it but none have ever been able to duplicate it.

A lot of people think that it is just for kids but whenever you are at Walt Disney World you'll feel like you're ten years old all over again. Walt Disney World of course is locateed just a few miles outside of Orlando in sunny central Florida. It spans over 47 square miles, which is twice the size of Manhattan. When Walt Disney found the perfect location in central Florida for 'Project Disney World', he knew if word got out the land price would sky-rocket. Walt Disney hired operators that went on a secret mission and were able to buy more than 27,000 acres of land with false identities and five dummy corporations. In 1965 Disney's cover was blown and prices jumped from $200 an acre to $1,000 over night.

Unfortunately Walt never saw his dream realized because he passed away in December of 1966. Walt's death almost put the whole project on hold and without Walt's guidance, the first theme park at Walt Disney World was modeled after the Magic Kingdom in California. Senior Vice President of Walt Disney Imagineering, Tony Baxter: "I think of Disneyland in California as charming and the one in Florida is spectacular." In October of 1971 Walt Disney World finally opened to the public. At first the Disney Company thought the main audience would be mainly old people because of the big senior population in Florida but they soon realized that the people who came to Disney World were the same audience as could be found at Disneyland.

According to 'Amusement Business Magazine', the Magic Kingdom is now the top dog in US theme park attendance. Now most of the theme parks around the world follow Disney's park design with the 'hub' in the center and different themed areas radiating out like a wheel. The Magic Kingdom was the only theme park at Walt Disney World for eleven years straight, until Disney Imagineers finally came up with a way to breathe life into Epcot Center. Original concepts for Futureworld and World Showcase were to build two different theme parks. Later though they were then combined to create Epcot, the Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow. The size of Epcot dwarfed the first theme park with it's 260 acres.

This was more than twice the size of the Magic Kingdom. It took a decade of planning and three years of initial construction, 3,000 designers and 4,000 construction workers to build. 54 million cubic feet of dirt were moved and at the end of year one of construction the costs were already more than one billion dollars. In October of 1982 Epcot finally opened. But Disney had a hard time getting the message over as to what Epcot was. The public thought that it would just be a giant worlds fair but Disney said that it was very different. Another question Disney Imagineers had to ask themselves was if people really wanted to learn on their vacation.

More and more people started streaming into Epcot Center though and the Imagineers could take a deep breath. Epcot Center was only the beginning though and after the Disney Company went through some turmoil in the early 80s and Michael Eisner took over, the Disney - MGM Studios opened it's doors in May of 1989. At first the MGM Studios had only two rides, The Great Movie Ride and the Backlot Studio Tour, and was lacking a crucial element, thrill rides. That is until Disney partnered up with George Lucas. George Lucas of course brought in Star Warsª and Indiana Jonesª. George Lucas: "If I wasn't able to do it on my own, the only company that I'd want my product in would be Disney."

After Star Tours thrill rides started popping up at the MGM studios. Rides like the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, which to date is one of the most advanced rides in any theme park, and with the Tower the Disney - MGM Studios became the theme park for thrill-junkies at Walt Disney World. In the beginning of the 90s Michael Eisner announce the 'Disney Decade' and nobody really knew what he was talking about. During the 90s Disney concentrated mostly on hotels and added an additional 12,500 hotel rooms, bringing it to a total of over 30,000, which is half as many as in all of New York. Like the theme parks Disney themes their resort hotels making it a perfect stay for everyone.

Also during the 'Disney Decade' Disney opened it's latest theme park, Disney's Animal Kingdom. Disney's concern was of course how they could compete with Zoos. The answer, don't build a Zoo! Build a theme park filled with rides, shows hundreds of domestic and exotic animals. With it's 500 acres it could easaly fit the Magic Kingdom, the Epcot and the MGM Studios combined comfortably. It took six years of planning for Animal Kingdom. The Disney Decade was over and many were surprised about how much Disney under the lead of Michael Eisner (CEO, Walt Disney Co. -- 1984 - present) were able to achieve. The expansion at Walt Disney World is far from over though.

Disney has land available to expand for many more decades to come and they'll be able to add to the four theme parks, two waterparks, over 18 resort hotels, over 170 restaurants, over 100 attractions, more than ten night clubs and tons of shops.