By Robert Vaux
Walt Disney World was built to give East Coast residents a taste of California's Disneyland. Studies showed that only 2 percent of Disneyland visitors hailed from west of the Mississippi. The solution was to open a new park in Florida, which eventually surpassed Disneyland in attendance and now ranks as one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world.
Opening
Walt Disney World first opened to the public on Oct. 1, 1971. It included a single park -- The Magic Kingdom -- along with several hotels and a pair of golf courses.
EPCOT
EPCOT Center -- Walt Disney World's first expansion park -- opened on Oct. 1, 1982. The name means "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow."
Disney's Hollywood Studios
The third park at Walt Disney World -- Disney-MGM Studios -- opened on May1, 1989. It featured a Hollywood theme and was later renamed Disney's Hollywood Studios.
Disney's Animal Kingdom
Disney added a zoo and wild animal preserve -- Disney's Animal Kingdom -- to the resort on April 22, 1998.
Water Parks
Walt Disney World added its first water park -- River Country -- on June 20, 1976. It closed in 2001, but by then had been supplanted by two other water parks: Typhoon Lagoon (open on June 1, 1989) and Blizzard beach (open on April 1, 1995).
Resources
About the Author:
Robert Vaux has been a professional writer and editor since 1995. He has traveled throughout Europe and North America as well as parts of North Africa. Since 2000 he has been a professional movie critic at Flipside Movie Emporium, the Sci-Fi Movie Page and Mania.com. Vaux has a Master of Arts in English literature from Syracuse University.
