In the early 1960s, Walt Disney drove the success of Disneyland California.
Disneyland had a problem, however. Only a small fraction of the guests came from the US east coast, which meant Disney was missing out on a huge potential audience for its theme park. To expand the company’s reach and reach, he looked for a location that matched his great ambitions, and Florida, with its abundance of cheap land and warm climate, was a natural choice.
On November 22nd, 1963 – coincidentally the day JFK was murdered – Walt flew to Orlando to conduct a survey of the locations. At the time, most of the area was marshland, although an area next to a highway under construction caught his attention.
Using mailbox companies to maintain anonymity (and keep the price down), Disney began purchasing the sprawling land that would become what is now Walt Disney World (WDW).
Walt Disney World: The First Iteration
When Walt Disney World finally opened in 1971, it comprised the main Magic Kingdom location, plus two golf courses and two hotels – the Contemporary Resort and the Polynesian Village Resort. These areas were all connected by a monorail system.
As these maps show, the plan was to develop three unique themed zones around the Seven Seas Lagoon: Persian, Asian and Venetian.
However, these projects were suspended after the 1973 oil crisis due to the decline in tourism.
The original master plan for Walt Disney World did not include plans for the Seven Seas Lagoon and was likely added so that the displaced earth could be used to fortify swampy portions of the property to make it suitable for construction.
Epcot extension
The first major expansion to Disney World was the Epcot Center, which opened in 1982. The site, which was twice the size of the Magic Kingdom, can best be described as a permanent world exhibition.
The park was anchored by Future World and Spaceship Earth, the iconic geodesic spherical structure that was located at the entrance to the park.
Around the nearby lake stood pavilions, which were themed according to different places in the world.
Although the scope of Epcot was impressive at the time, it was still greatly reduced in size by Walt Disney’s original vision of a fully functional “City of the Future”. Ultimately, the company was unsure whether it would be possible to run a functioning city and so the idea was dropped in favor of the current iteration.
Hollywood is coming to Florida
Disney-MGM Studios opened in 1989 at a location south of Epcot. The park showed “imagined worlds from film, television, music and theater, inspired by the golden age of Hollywood”.
To make this possible, Disney has signed a licensing agreement with MGM to increase the variety of film displays in the park.
About 11 million visitors pass through Hollywood Studios each year.
Animal kingdom and rapid expansion
In 1998, WDW added a fourth theme park called Animal Kingdom. It is the largest theme park in the world with an area of 580 hectares and combines elements of a zoo and a theme park.
A central feature of Animal Kingdom is the massive tree of life. The 45 meter high work of art contains 325 unique animal carvings and over 100,000 artificial leaves. The park itself is home to around 2,000 animals representing 300 species.
Around 13 million people visit the amusement park every year.
Walt Disney World today
How big is Walt Disney World today? 43 square miles, which is about the size of San Francisco and twice the size of Manhattan.
The scope of today’s WDW has completely dwarfed the original version of the site. The resort, which comprised two hotels in 1971, now has more than 20 with 30,000 hotel rooms. WDW is also the largest single location employer in the United States.
Looking at the map above, one might wonder if this sprawling entertainment empire is bursting at the seams. Will WDW build over its entire property at some point? The answer is a bit complicated.
What’s missing on Walt Disney World Maps?
While the stylized maps above do a great job of highlighting WDW’s many attractions, they generally downplay an important fact. Much of the Disney-owned land is still undeveloped, and there is plenty of space between the various parks. Many of these areas are designated as nature reserves, only part of the remaining areas is actually suitable for development. Despite the sheer size of the property inhabited by WDW, the space for expansion is becoming scarcer with every new building.
The stylized maps also downplay the size of the WDW parking lots, which are sprawling. The Magic Kingdom parking lot, for example, is actually larger than the theme park itself.
The huge map below is an accurate depiction of the park and includes facts about some of the park’s attributes.
This huge property is also unique in that it is a kind of self-governing community with its own fire and rescue service. The district – officially known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District – is governed by a five-person board of directors elected by the district’s landowners. As a result, senior Disney employees essentially run the entire region that includes WDW.
In the 50 years since the Magic Kingdom first opened its hubs, Disney’s own kingdom in central Florida has changed dramatically. With Disney’s continued financial success and the freedom to make major moves within their property, the next 50 years will undoubtedly bring even more dramatic changes to the world’s largest theme park.
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