Summary

Before Disney World, Walt Disney, the founder, opened a theme park called Disneyland in July of 1955 in Anaheim, California. In 1964, the success of Disneyland gave him and the Disney “Imagineers” the idea of opening another theme park on the East Coast. Secretly for months, they travelled up and down the coast to find the best place and bought 27,400 acres of land from 51 landowners for roughly $5 million in central Florida. Walt’s ideas consisted of a place of the future called Epcot. Sadly, he died in December of 1966, but his brother, Roy Disney, took over. The first ground was broken on May 30, 1967 and opened on Oct 1 1971. The name was just going to be Disney World, but to pay tributes to Walt, Roy decided to rename it to Walt Disney World. The first park to open was Magic Kingdom. Tickets first cost $3.50 (equates to $24 in 2021) for adults, and $1 (equates to $6.75 in 2021) for children. With the help of it’s “sister,” Walt Disney World was a hit from the beginning. In its first 2 years of opening, Walt Disney World attracted nearly 20 million visitors (now closer to 60 million). Orlando became the fastest growing city in the state and was known as the “Action Center of Florida.” They later opened with 3 more parks: Hollywood Studios, Epcot(but wasn't built how Walt’s nearly impossible design was,” and Animal Kingdom. They also opened 2 water parks, Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach, along with 25 resort hotels and counting.