The Walt Disney World Resort is a theme park complex near Orlando, Florida, and is part of the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products division of The Walt Disney Company.
The resort includes four theme parks, two water parks, 27 themed hotels, 9 non-Disney hotels, several golf courses, a camping resort and other amusement facilities, and the Disney Springs shopping center. Together, the parks plus ancillary facilities such as roads, utility buildings, and unused open space add up to a gross area of about 11,330 acres, making Walt Disney World Resort the largest leisure complex in the world by area.
Telephone: +1 407-939-5277
Founded: October 1, 1971, Bay Lake, Florida, United States
Founders: Walt Disney, Roy O. Disney
In 1958, Walt Disney came up with the idea for a new theme park project after Disneyland in California became a huge success. As a result of the great success of the Disneyland Resort, all the surrounding land had quickly been bought up by other investors, so there was no thought of expanding Disneyland. In 1958, 1959 and 1961, he therefore commissioned Buzz Prize, an economist, to study the East Coast of the United States for the Disneyland East project[1]. Prize recommended Florida to Disney as the next location for a major project. A search was then made for areas in Florida where Disney could purchase land as large as 4,000 acres and which was not located on the coast. He justified the requirement that Disney not open a theme park on the ocean by saying that they would create lakes and waterways themselves where they needed them.