Disney World- Orlando, Florida
What Is It? - Disney World in Orlando is the world’s largest theme park which attracts over 53 million visitors annually. Equally important, it provided the foundation for transforming the city of Orlando which had 300,000 residents and was surrounded by lakes and citrus groves in 1970 into an entertainment and technology center with two million residents fifty years later. The Disney World complex now includes four separate parks, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Disney Studios, and EPCOT. It also features a transportation system with a monorail, boats, buses and aerial tramway to circulate guests between the themes parks, water attractions, shopping venues, sports facilities and more than 30,000 hotel rooms on site.
What You Will See Here – The most popular park at Disney World is the original one, Magic Kingdom, which opened in 1971. It features close to a hundred separate rides, shows and attractions. Most importantly, this park includes attractions covering just about all the traditional Disney characters which generations of North Americans have grown up with - starting with Mickey Mouse and continuing with everyone from Snow White to Buzz Lightyear to Jack Sparrow. The Magic Kingdom has six entertainment areas centered on the huge Cinderella’s Castle which Walt Disney built to resemble the fairy tale castles he saw on a trip to Europe. These include Adventureland with rides like the Jungle Cruise, Frontierland with rides like Splash Mountain, Fantasyland with the classic “It’s A Small World” boat ride, Tomorrowland with the Space Mountain roller coaster, Liberty Square with the Haunted Mansion, and Main Street USA with shops, eateries and plenty of souvenirs.
In contrast to Magic Kingdom, EPCOT was originally designed to be a complete community with residents, businesses, and entertainment called the Environmentally Planned Community of Tomorrow. This plan was later converted into a more conventional series of attractions designed for both adults and kids. Opened in 1982, EPCOT featured large rides based on various technologies such as transportation (“Test Track”), space (“Mission to Mars”), energy (“Ellen’s Energy Adventure”), agriculture (“Living with the Land”) and communication (“Spaceship Earth”), coupled with venues for kids to enjoy such as the humorous “Figment of Imagination” ride and “Frozen Ever After”. EPCOT also functions as a permanent world’s fair with 11 pavilions from diverse nations offering food, stores, cultural shows, and other entertainment. Some of EPCOT’s attractions have been redesigned since 2021 or replaced by more youth-oriented rides. Nevertheless, the spacious layout of EPCOT’s grounds and the broader themes of its attractions make it a unique theme park in the Disney family. While Disney has other theme parks in California, France, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Tokyo, none of those destinations have a park or attractions similar to those found at EPCOT.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios opened in 1989. It debuted with many attractions presenting vestiges of the glory days of Hollywood studios. The “Great Movie Ride” took guests on moving cinema seats through displays of legendary movies and stars while other attractions demonstrated how stuntmen work, animators and cartoonists bring characters to life, and disasters are filmed. There were also live shows with favorite characters like the Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, and thrill rides like the Tower of Terror and the Rock and Roller Coaster. In recent years, Hollywood Studios has opened several large attractions dedicated to its Star Wars and Toy Story movie franchises which both draw long lines of devoted fans.
Animal Kingdom is the newest theme park at Disney World. Opened in 1998, Animal Kingdom features hundreds of animals scattered around the park. Some “animals” are automated such as the beasts in Dino land, but others such including the Big Five can only be observed by touring the woods in safari trucks or viewing them in enclosed habitats. Disney has also integrated many of its animal and environmental themed movies such as Tarzan, Lion King, and Avatar into attractions there. Two other worlds at Animal Kingdom seek to replicate the exotic decor and animals of Asian and African locales for guests.
As the world’s largest global entertainment company with product dominance in many different fields, it is likely that visitors will continue to flock to Disney’s theme parks at Disney World.
Interesting Facts- People visiting the Orlando area can enjoy much more than Disney World. The area also hosts Universal Studios which has two theme parks, Sea World, Legoland, an aquarium, and the nightlife attractions of the Church Street Station section of Downtown Orlando. Orlando also hosts numerous convention and trade show events centered around the nation’s second largest convention center.
How to Get Here- With the third largest airport in the nation, passenger rail service from Amtrak, and Interstate 4 connecting Disney World to Tampa, Miami and Jacksonville, Orlando is an easy destination to reach. All major airlines have flights to Orlando which connects directly to over 150 cities around the world. From the airport both Routes 528 and 417 connect with Interstate 4 and exits onto the internal highways of Disney World.
When to Go- The busiest times to visit Disney World are during summer vacations and school vacations, and Holiday weekends. Nevertheless, many families end up having to bear the heat, the thunderstorms, and the crowds from May to early September. The best times to go to Disney World are non-Holiday weeks from October to the end of April. Weather wise those are the most comfortable months for visiting the parks although even the heated pools can be chilly in winter.
Where to Stay- There are 22 Disney owned and operated hotel resorts located on the grounds of Disney Word which are popular with guests because of easy access to multiple theme parks, extra hours of access to the parks, character appearances, and other special privileges. Some premier Disney resorts have recently been renovated or are in transition including the Grand Floridian, the Contemporary Resort, the Polynesian Village, and the Boardwalk Inn and Villas. There are five family oriented budget hotels on site such as the three All-Star Resorts, the Pop Century Resort, and the Art of Animation Resort. There are also 10 hotels on the Disney property which are independently owned and operated. The best known ones are the huge 2619 room Swan and Dolphin Hotel complexes located close to EPCOT and Hollywood Studios which come with some special privileges. Many of the major hotel properties on site have implemented substantial price increases in recent years.
Costs- The base ticket price for admission to a single park at Disney World by a family of four with two adults and two children under 10 will range from $426 to $525 depending on the time of the year. In addition, there are special charges for single ride tickets to popular attractions if daily reservations for those rides cannot be obtained.