96-700: MyMagic+ is a suite of technologies first implemented at the Walt Disney World Resort that enable a number of services and enhancements to guests of the resort. Influenced by wearable computing and the concept of the Internet of Things , the system is primarily designed to consolidate various functions, such as payments, hotel room access, ticketing, FastPass , into a digital architecture consisting primarily of radio systems, RFID -enabled wristbands known as MagicBands , and features accessible via online services and mobile apps . Development of
192-446: A horror movie and accept its images as absolute fact, they would have a true-to-life set of reactions that are impractical and contradict the safety of the leisure of viewing the movie. For instance, if this logic generally applied, then audience members would try to help endangered on-screen characters, or call authorities when witnessing on-screen murders. Not all authors believe that "suspension of disbelief" adequately characterizes
288-553: A vehicle for hire service for a fee. The Minnie Van Service are Chevy Traverses dressed in a Minnie Mouse red-and-white polka dot design that can accommodate up to six people and have two carseats available to anyone that is within the Walt Disney World Resort limits. Cast members can install the car seats. Some of the unique advantages that the Minnie Van Service offers over a normal ride share
384-567: A 54.1% reduction in annual attendance. This capacity limit causes less annual revenue, and may lower the number of visitors to the Orlando region. The Walt Disney World Resort is serviced by Disney Transport , a complimentary mass transportation system allowing guest access across the property. The fare-free system utilizes buses, monorails, gondola lifts, watercraft, and parking lot trams. The Walt Disney World Monorail System provides free transportation at Walt Disney World; guests can board
480-615: A competition to find a town to become twinned with. In December 2009, after Rebecca Warren won the competition with a poem, they announced the resort will be twinned with the English town of Swindon . George Kalogridis was named president of the resort in December 2012, replacing Meg Crofton , who had overseen the site since 2006. As of October 27, 2014, Walt Disney World is covered by a permanent FAA prohibited airspace zone that restricts all airspace activities without approval from
576-463: A competitive sports complex and a shopping, dining, and entertainment complex. Additionally, there are 19 Disney-owned resort hotels and one camping resort on the property, and many other non-Disney-operated resorts on and near the property. Designed to supplement Disneyland in Anaheim, California, which had opened in 1955, the complex was developed by Walt Disney in the 1960s. Walt wanted to build
672-616: A complimentary transportation and luggage service offered to Walt Disney Resort guests that began in 2005, ended in January 2022. In August 2021, the Walt Disney Company announced that FastPass +, which had been free since its introduction in 1999, would be retired and replaced with Genie+, starting at $ 18 to $ 35 per day. This new system includes the option of adding "Lightning Lane", which will be used for top-tier attractions, for an additional charge. The pricing range depends on
768-532: A few miles southwest of Orlando in Osceola County . In addition, two large tracts totaling $ 1.5 million were sold, and smaller tracts of flatlands and cattle pastures were purchased by exotically named companies, such as the "Ayefour Corporation", "Latin-American Development and Management Corporation", and the "Reedy Creek Ranch Corporation". Some are now memorialized on a window above Main Street, U.S.A. in
864-590: A fleet of watercraft, ranging in size from water taxis , up to the ferries that connect the Magic Kingdom to the Transportation and Ticket Center. Disney Transport is also responsible for maintaining the fleet of parking lot trams that are used for shuttling visitors between the various theme park parking lots and their respective main entrances. In addition to its free transportation methods, in conjunction with Lyft , Walt Disney World also offers
960-461: A group before they travel to the resort; they are available in various color options — all of which contain a removable grey-colored trimming, and inscriptions of guests' names. Accessories for customizing the bands, including trinkets based on Disney properties (including Frozen and Star Wars ) can be purchased at the resort as well. Those who do not pre-order a MagicBand receive a grey-colored version upon their check-in, and those who opt out of
1056-402: A human interest and a semblance of truth sufficient to procure for these shadows of imagination that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith. Mr. Wordsworth on the other hand was to propose to himself as his object, to give the charm of novelty to things of every day, and to excite a feeling analogous to the supernatural, by awakening the mind's attention from
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#17327724436701152-466: A new park because Disneyland in California was limited from expanding by the establishments that sprung up around it. "The Florida Project", as it was known, was intended to present a distinct vision with its own diverse set of attractions. Walt Disney's original plans also called for the inclusion of an " Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow " (EPCOT), a planned community intended to serve as
1248-471: A popular rumor that Disney was building an "East Coast" version of Disneyland. However, the publication denied its accuracy based on an earlier interview with Disney at Kennedy Space Center. In that interview, he claimed a $ 50 million investment was in the works for Disneyland, and that he had no interest in building a new park. In October 1965, editor Emily Bavar from the Sentinel visited Disneyland during
1344-569: A resort similar to Disneyland, abandoning the planned community concept. Magic Kingdom was the first theme park to open in the complex in 1971, followed by EPCOT (known then as EPCOT Center) in 1982, Disney's Hollywood Studios (known then as the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park) in 1989, and Disney's Animal Kingdom in 1998. Roy insisted the name of the entire complex be changed from Disney World to Walt Disney World, to memorialize his brother. In 2018, Walt Disney World
1440-417: A single hotel instead of some managing multiple hotels. On October 18, 2017, it was announced that resort visitors could bring pet dogs to Disney's Yacht Club Resort , Disney's Port Orleans Resort – Riverside, Disney's Art of Animation Resort , and Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground . In 2019, Josh D'Amaro replaced George Kalogridis as president of the resort. He had previously held
1536-403: A story—rather than simply the implausibility of the phenomena in a story. The phrase "suspension of disbelief" came to be used more loosely in the later 20th century, often used to imply that the burden was on the reader, rather than the writer, to achieve it. This might be used to refer to the willingness of the audience to overlook the limitations of a medium, so that these do not interfere with
1632-476: A testbed for new city-living innovations. Walt Disney died on December 15, 1966, during the initial planning of the complex. After his death, the company wrestled with the idea of whether to bring the Disney World project to fruition; however, Walt's older brother, Roy O. Disney , came out of retirement to ensure Walt's biggest dream was realized. Construction started in 1967, with the company instead building
1728-650: A variety of activities throughout the year, including runDisney marathon races and dance and cheer competitions in partnership with Varsity Cheer. It was also the site for the MLS is Back tournament . On July 11, 2020, Disney World officially reopened, beginning operations at 25% capacity at the Magic Kingdom and Disney's Animal Kingdom , as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Florida . Four days later, EPCOT and Disney's Hollywood Studios for operation at 25% capacity to
1824-437: Is 22.7 sq mi). The company acquired nearly 3,000 additional acres, in separate transactions, between December 2018 and April 2020. 12% of the site area is occupied by hotels and resorts, and 5% of the area is water. Disney's property includes four golf courses open to the general public. The 18-hole golf courses are Disney's Palm (4.5 stars), Disney's Magnolia (4 stars), and Disney's Lake Buena Vista (4 stars). There
1920-464: Is a willing act that is supported by the value of a narrative that is being engaged with. When the person stops perceiving to think about what has been seen or heard, its "truth-value" is assessed. Aesthetic philosophers generally reject claims that a "suspension of disbelief" can accurately characterize the relationship between people and "fictions". American philosopher Kendall Walton noted that if viewers were to truly suspend disbelief when viewing
2016-699: Is also a nine-hole walking course called Disney's Oak Trail , that features junior tees for younger golfers and a Footgolf course. Palm, Magnolia, and Oak Trail are connected and share one entrance near Shades of Green in the Magic Kingdom Resort Area, while the Lake Buena Vista course is located in the Disney Springs Resort Area. Walt Disney World golf courses are staffed by third-party Arnold Palmer Golf Management. The Magnolia and Palm courses played home to
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#17327724436702112-542: Is an entertainment resort complex located about 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Orlando, Florida , United States. Opened on October 1, 1971, the resort is operated by Disney Experiences , a division of The Walt Disney Company . The property covers nearly 25,000 acres (39 sq mi; 101 km ), of which half has been developed. Walt Disney World contains numerous recreational facilities designed to attract visitors for an extended stay, including four theme parks, two water parks, four golf courses, conference centers,
2208-628: Is in memory of the man who started it all, so people will know his name as long as Walt Disney World is here." After the dedication, Roy Disney asked Walt's widow, Lillian , what she thought of Walt Disney World. According to biographer Bob Thomas, she responded, "I think Walt would have approved." Roy Disney died at age 78 on December 20, 1971, less than three months after the property opened. Admission prices in 1971 were $ 3.50 for adults, $ 2.50 for juniors under age 18, and one dollar for children under twelve. Much of Walt Disney's plans for his Progress City concept were abandoned after his death and after
2304-730: Is not within Orlando city limits but is southwest of Downtown Orlando. Much of the resort is in southwestern Orange County , with the remainder in adjacent Osceola County . The property includes the cities of Lake Buena Vista and Bay Lake which are governed by the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (formerly Reedy Creek Improvement District). The site is accessible from Central Florida's Interstate 4 via Exits 62B (World Drive), 64B ( US 192 West), 65B ( Osceola Parkway West), 67B ( SR 536 West), and 68 ( SR 535 North), Exit 6 on SR 417 South ,
2400-425: Is offered to all Cast eligible at the start of employment. Each staff location on property has an official designated as shop steward , who bargains with Disney leadership when needed to defend the rights designated within the contract. In the first year of opening, the park attracted 10,712,991 visitors. In 2018, the resort's four theme parks all ranked in the top 9 on the list of the 25 most visited theme parks in
2496-399: Is poetry". According to David Chandler, Coleridge also originally drew his notion from Johann Jakob Brucker 's Historia Critica Philosophiae which cited the phrase " assensus suspensione " ("suspension of assent"); Brucker's phrase was itself a modernization of the phrase " adsensionis retentio " ("a holding back of assent") used by Cicero in his Academica . The traditional concept of
2592-618: Is the ability to be dropped off in the Magic Kingdom bus loop (instead of at the TTC like the other ride shares) and being able to ride to any point in Fort Wilderness. Walt Disney World requires an estimated 1 billion kilowatt-hours (3.6 billion megajoules) of electricity annually, costing the company nearly $ 100 million in annual energy consumption. In addition to relying primarily on fossil fuels and nuclear energy from
2688-509: The Beauty and the Beast -themed Be Our Guest Restaurant . As part of the digital reservation system, which would be known as FastPass+, Frog called for attractions to be equipped with RFID readers embedded within specially-designed posts; these posts contain an encircled Mickey Mouse symbol, which serves as an indicator to users for where the bands can be used, as implied by a similar symbol on
2784-623: The COVID-19 pandemic , beginning March 15, 2020. In 2020, Disney World laid off 6,500 employees and only operated at 25% capacity after reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic . In June 2020 , Walt Disney World was chosen to host the NBA Bubble for play of the 2019–20 season of the National Basketball Association (NBA) to resume at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex . The ESPN Complex, hosts
2880-639: The Centers for Disease Control as the delta variant drove a significant increase in local cases. These reinstated mandates were lifted in February 2022. In April 2022, following a court decision ending the federal mask mandate for public transportation, the mask mandates on Disney transportation were lifted. Starting on October 1, 2021, the resort honored its 50th anniversary with "The World's Most Magical Celebration", which lasted for 18 consecutive months ending on March 31, 2023. Disney's Magical Express ,
2976-519: The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District , respectively. The entire Disney Transport bus fleet uses R50 renewable diesel fuel , obtained from used cooking oil and non-consumable food waste from the resort. Disney's security personnel are generally dressed in typical security guard uniforms, though some of the personnel are dressed as tourists in plain clothes. Since September 11, 2001 , uniformed security has been stationed outside each Disney park in Florida to search guests' bags as they enter
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3072-553: The Magic Kingdom , EPCOT , Wide World of Sports , Animal Kingdom , or Disney Springs . Informally known as the "Disney Bubble", staying on property is considered an immersive experience. Additionally, 12 independently operated hotels are located on property leased from Disney, offering approximately 7,300 additional rooms. There is also an on-site pet hotel operated by Best Friends Pet Care for guests traveling with animals. Walt Disney World has several departments that handle various activities and events that are offered throughout
3168-501: The federal government of the United States , including usage of drones . On January 21, 2016, the resort's management structure was changed, with general managers within a theme park being in charge of an area or land, instead of on a functional basis, as previously configured. Theme parks have already had a vice-president overseeing them. Disney Springs and Disney Sports were also affected. Now hotel general managers manage
3264-647: The Central Florida GreeneWay and Exit 8 on SR 429 , the Western Beltway. At its founding, the resort occupied approximately 27,443 acres (43 sq mi; 111 km ). Portions of the property have since been sold or de-annexed, including land now occupied by the Disney-built community of Celebration . By 2014, the resort occupied nearly 25,000 acres (39 sq mi; 101 km ) (larger than Manhattan, New York City, which
3360-461: The Lock , one of the few English poems of the century that invoked the supernatural. American psychological critic Norman N. Holland provided a neuroscientific theory of suspension of disbelief. Neurally, when a person engages with a narrative in a work of fiction, the brain goes wholly into a perceiving mode, engaging less intensely with the faculties for acting or planning to act; "poetic faith"
3456-529: The Magic Kingdom. The smaller parcels of land acquired were called "outs". They were five-acre (2 ha) lots platted in 1912 by the Munger Land Company and sold to investors. Most of the owners in the 1960s were happy to get rid of the land, which was mostly swamp at the time. Another issue was the mineral rights to the land, which were owned by Tufts University . Without the transfer of these rights, Tufts could come in at any time and demand
3552-669: The Magical Express shuttle service from Orlando International Airport , hotel check-in and room access, park ticketing, and FastPass+. MagicBands may optionally be linked to a resort reservation for contactless payments via room charge within shops and restaurants at the resort; spending limits can be placed on an individual guest's MagicBand to prevent overuse, and a PIN must be entered for purchases. MagicBands are distributed to guests of Disney-controlled hotels and annual pass holders as part of their admission costs, and can also be bought on-site. Customized MagicBands can be shipped to
3648-576: The MyMagic+ concepts to its other properties due to advancements in technology, but that they would be implemented in "different ways". Iger stated that "[because] mobile technology and personal mobile devices can offer a lot of the functionality that a lot of the bands we created offer", MagicBands would not necessarily be used elsewhere. The company previously announced that MagicBands would not be utilized at Disney's California parks, and that Shanghai Disney Resort would use smartphones to accomplish most of
3744-427: The MyMagic+ system began in 2008 at the request of Walt Disney World president Meg Crofton , who requested the development of a system to address the various "pain points" that visitors had encountered throughout the company's properties and had affected their likelihood to return to the resorts, and other "barriers to getting into the experience faster". A former Disney executive stated that in regards to technology,
3840-532: The NGE project. The NGE research and development lab moved to an unused soundstage building at Disney's Hollywood Studios near the Toy Story Midway Mania! attraction. A large-scale "living blueprint" of the system's workflow was constructed, which incorporated how a family makes a reservation and receives their wristbands in advance, their travel from the airport to the resort, hotel check-in, and how
3936-922: The PGA Tour's Walt Disney World Golf Classic from 1971 to 2012. Additionally there is a fifth course, the Tranquilo Golf Course , located at the Four Seasons Resort on Disney property. The course is open only to guests staying at Four Seasons. As of 2024 , there are 19 Disney owned and operated resort hotels and Disney Vacation Club (DVC) villas at the Walt Disney World Resort, along with one camping resort, Fort Wilderness, which includes traditional campgrounds and wood cabins. Together, they have approximately 23,000 rooms, 3,600 DVC villas and 500,000 square feet (46,000 m ) of conference meeting space. They are organized into three categories—Deluxe, Moderate, and Value—and five resort areas:
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4032-489: The Walt Disney Company has used to run the area since May 1967, when then Florida Governor Claude Kirk signed into law legislation which granted the company special status. The law went into effect in June 2023. Along with this, as of May 2023, Governor Ron DeSantis has also been planning to target Disney's monorail system and let Florida's Department of Transportation inspect the privately owned system. The Florida resort
4128-438: The ability for guests to plan and manage their visit to the resort, including FastPass+ reservations, maps, queue times, and the ability to share itineraries with friends who may also be attending the resort at the same time. Free Wi-Fi access was implemented across the resort to enable on-site use of the app, and MagicBand-enabled kiosks are also available for managing FastPass+. PhotoPass Memory Maker allows guests to associate
4224-408: The acceptance of those premises. These premises may also lend to the engagement of the mind and perhaps proposition of thoughts, ideas, art and theories. With a film, for instance, the viewer has to ignore the reality that they are viewing a staged performance and temporarily accept it as their reality in order to be entertained. Early black-and-white films are an example of visual media that require
4320-506: The accomplishment of many years into an hourglass". Poetry and fiction involving the supernatural had gone out of fashion to a large extent in the 18th century, in part due to the declining belief in witches and other supernatural agents among the educated classes, who embraced the rational approach to the world offered by the new science. Alexander Pope , notably, felt the need to explain and justify his use of elemental spirits in The Rape of
4416-497: The audience to suspend their disbelief for this reason. Cognitive estrangement in fiction involves using a person's ignorance to promote suspension of disbelief. Suspension of disbelief is sometimes said to be an essential component of live theater, where it was recognized by Shakespeare , who refers to it in the Prologue to Henry V : "make imaginary puissance [...] 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings [...] turning
4512-436: The audience's relationship to imaginative works of art. J. R. R. Tolkien challenged this concept in " On Fairy-Stories ", choosing instead the paradigm of secondary belief based on inner consistency of reality: in order for the narrative to work, the reader must believe that what they read is true within the secondary reality of the fictional world . By focusing on creating an internally consistent fictional world ,
4608-460: The band itself for the purposes of usability . Conflicts brewed between Frog and Imagineers , who believed that they were interfering with their roles as the team responsible for designing park experiences. Of particular objection was a proposal that the posts have a consistent appearance across the entire resort — with the Imagineers arguing that they would ruin the suspension of disbelief of
4704-410: The bands would be used at attractions. Schwalb justified the manner in which the system was demonstrated, joking that "At Disney, you can't just create a PowerPoint presentation and say, 'Hey, give me $ 10 million to build this.'" Various Disney board members, including Bob Iger , and other notable figures such as James Cameron and Pixar 's John Lasseter , visited the lab to witness demonstrations of
4800-416: The bus stops. Guests arriving via Magic Kingdom Resort boat launch are bag checked on the arrival dock outside Magic Kingdom. Suspension of disbelief Suspension of disbelief is the avoidance—often described as willing—of critical thinking and logic in understanding something that is unreal or impossible in reality, such as something in a work of speculative fiction , in order to believe it for
4896-513: The company board decided that it did not want to be in the business of running a city. The concept evolved into the resort's second theme park, EPCOT Center , which opened in 1982 (renamed EPCOT in 1996). While still emulating Walt Disney's original idea of showcasing new technology, the park is closer to a world's fair than a "community of tomorrow". One of EPCOT's main attractions is the World Showcase, which highlights 11 countries across
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#17327724436704992-480: The company was "failing to recognize key consumer trends that were starting to influence how people interacted with brands", such as social networking , and increased use of devices such as smartphones . They believed that the parks' inability to adopt new technologies to enhance the guest experience was harming their "relevancy". The project, codenamed "Next Generation Experience" (NGE) and backed by Disney Parks chairman Jay Rasulo , president Al Weiss , and Crofton,
5088-413: The crowd and day of purchase. On April 22, 2022, the self-governing status which the Walt Disney Company had in the area around Disney World for more than 50 years came to an end after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law legislation requiring the area to come under the legal jurisdiction of the state of Florida. The new law also officially abolished The Reedy Creek Improvement District which
5184-502: The current use of "Birthday buttons ") and have cast members react accordingly. However, as of 2015, some of these announced features have not yet been implemented; employees have cited resistance to incorporating MyMagic+ into attractions by Imagineers due to their internal culture, technical issues that had been experienced throughout the rollout of the platform, and a need to determine how it would be leveraged. In April 2016, Bob Iger announced to shareholders that Disney planned to expand
5280-409: The end-user component of the system, codenamed the "xBand", began in a lab within the former Epcot Body Wars attraction. The system was to incorporate RFID technology, which would allow the band to serve as a contactless smart card to consolidate several common functions (including FastPass, hotel room key, and payments ), help track guests for park traffic management, and for analytics . With
5376-434: The globe. Some of the urban planning concepts from the original idea of EPCOT would instead be integrated into the community of Celebration, Florida , much later. The resort's third theme park, Disney-MGM Studios (renamed Disney's Hollywood Studios in 2008), opened in 1989 and is inspired by show business. In the early 1990s, the resort was seeking permits for expansion. There was considerable environmentalist push-back, and
5472-404: The help of external contractors, as well as the design agency Frog, concepts for uses of the system were brainstormed, including a digital reservation system, and personalized experiences — such as summoning characters for birthday greetings, and a restaurant concept where pre-ordered meals would be delivered to guests' tables using the bands to locate them — a concept that would later be realized as
5568-507: The imagination can seem to be truthful and present a greater contrast between fiction and reality. Coleridge also referred to this concept as "poetic faith", citing the concept as a feeling analogous to the supernatural, which stimulates the mind's faculties regardless of the irrationality of what is being understood. Coleridge recalled: It was agreed, that my endeavours should be directed to persons and characters supernatural, or at least romantic, yet so as to transfer from our inward nature
5664-419: The infrastructure. In February 2011, Disney approved a budget of $ 1 billion for implementing the NGE system at Walt Disney World Resort, targeting a roll-out by February 2012; however, this target was missed. On January 7, 2013, Disney officially unveiled the new platform, known as MyMagic+. The system would be rolled out over the course of the year; implementing MyMagic+ and its associated functionality required
5760-426: The installation of new equipment across the entire resort — a process complicated by its large size, and the need to minimize disruption to the resort's operation throughout the transition. Alongside upgrades to entry points, Wi-Fi had to be installed across the resort in order to allow use of the associated mobile apps by cast members and guests, and locks on over 28,000 hotel room doors had to be upgraded to support
5856-452: The lethargy of custom, and directing it to the loveliness and the wonders of the world before us. This concept had previously been understood in antiquity, particularly in the Roman theoretical concerns of Horace and Cicero who wrote in a time of increasing skepticism about the supernatural. In Horace's Ars Poetica , he used the quotation Ut pictura poesis , meaning "as is painting so
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#17327724436705952-409: The moment, which constitutes poetic faith". The phrase first appeared in English poet and aesthetic philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge 's Biographia Literaria , where he suggested that if an author could infuse a "human interest and a semblance of truth" into a story with implausible elements, the reader would willingly suspend judgement concerning the implausibility of the narrative. Coleridge
6048-814: The monorail and travel between the Magic Kingdom and EPCOT, including select on-property resorts such as the Grand Floridian and the Polynesian Village . The system operates on three routes that interconnect at the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC), adjacent to the Magic Kingdom's parking lot. Disney Transport owns a fleet of Disney-operated buses on the property, that is also complimentary for guests. A gondola lift system, dubbed Disney Skyliner , opened in 2019. The system's three lines connect Disney's Hollywood Studios and EPCOT with four resort hotels. Disney Transport also operates
6144-478: The need to carry various passes and other items with them, and analysis showing that families often backtracked towards Cinderella Castle in their efforts to navigate Walt Disney World. The team took influence from other sources, such as a magnet therapy wristband Padgett saw within a SkyMall catalog en route to Orlando, and wearable devices such as the Nike+ activity tracker . Work on rudimentary prototypes of
6240-464: The new RFID system. In 2014, the system was awarded Fast Company magazine's "Innovation by Design" award for the year. The MyMagic+ platform consists of four main components: MagicBands , FastPass+, My Disney Experience, and PhotoPass Memory Maker. These features are associated with guests via a Disney.com account. MagicBands are waterproofed, RFID wristbands that provide access to various functions across Walt Disney World, including access to
6336-439: The new theme park "the greatest attraction in the history of Florida". The official reveal was kept on the previously planned November 15 date, and Disney joined Burns in Orlando for the event. Walt Disney died from circulatory collapse caused by smoking-related lung cancer on December 15, 1966, before his vision was realized. His brother and business partner, Roy O. Disney , postponed his retirement to oversee construction of
6432-485: The park's 10th-anniversary celebration. In an interview with Disney, she asked him if he was behind recent land purchases in Central Florida. Bavar later described that Disney "looked like I had thrown a bucket of water in his face", before denying the story. His reaction, combined with other research obtained during her Anaheim visit, led Bavar to author a story on October 21, 1965, where she predicted that Disney
6528-477: The parks. Additionally, guests can print the pictures at their residence, at a retailer, or they can have the pictures printed and mailed to them for an additional charge. The guests have up to 45 days from the date the individual photo was taken to download the photo, after which the photo will expire. Disney has also taken steps to automatically link photos taken on rides with the guest's MagicBands. The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train has two spots where photos are taken and
6624-478: The parks. Starting April 3, 2017, bag checkpoints have been placed at Magic Kingdom's resort monorail entryways and the Transportation and Ticket Center's ferry entry points prior to embarkation as well as the walkway from Disney's Contemporary Resort. Guests arriving at the Transportation and Ticket Center by tram or tour bus will be screened at the former tram boarding areas. Guests arriving by Disney Resort hotel bus or Minnie Van have their own bag check just outside
6720-596: The photos are then sent to the guest's PhotoPass Memory Maker without the guest needing to identify their picture. MagicBands are also utilized for interactive features within the park; the relaunched Test Track allows users to design a car during the queuing area, and upload it into other areas of the attraction (including the ride itself, and interactive areas in the post-ride area). Disney announced plans to enable personalization features through MagicBands, such as animatronics interacting with guests, or being able to recognize guests celebrating their birthdays (in contrast to
6816-445: The pictures taken on attractions, dining, character meets, and entertainment locations with their MagicBand, Memory Maker card, or Disney PhotoPass card for 30 days. If the advanced purchase option was chosen, the guest must wait three days before associating photos with their account. Guests have a digital-only entitlement to the photos which enables them to download as many photos or all of the photos that were taken during their visit to
6912-541: The position of vice president of Animal Kingdom. D'Amaro was subsequently promoted to chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products in May 2020, succeeding Bob Chapek , who was promoted to CEO of The Walt Disney Company in February 2020. Jeff Vahle, who served as president of Disney Signature Experiences subsequently took over as president of the resort. On March 12, 2020, a Disney spokesperson announced that Disney World and Disneyland Paris would temporarily close due to
7008-434: The program are instead issued an RFID card. The FastPass + service allows guests to pre-book reserved times for up to three attractions per-day (including rides, dining, and VIP access to other events) in advance (60 days for Disney hotel guests, and 30 days for all other guests). Guests may make a further reservation after they have used their initial three selections. The My Disney Experience website and mobile app provide
7104-418: The public. Masks were required at all times (including outdoors, on attractions, and while taking photos), all guests were required to have their temperature taken upon entry, plexiglass was installed on various attractions and transportation offerings, and shows that drew large crowds, such as parades and nighttime shows including Fantasmic! and Happily Ever After were not offered. In November 2020,
7200-600: The removal of buildings to obtain minerals. Eventually, Disney's team negotiated a deal with Tufts to buy the mineral rights for $ 15,000. Working strictly in secrecy, real estate agents unaware of their client's identity began making offers to landowners in April 1964, in parts of southwest Orange and northwest Osceola counties. The agents were careful not to reveal the extent of their intentions. They were able to negotiate numerous land contracts with some landowners, including large tracts of land for as little as $ 100 an acre. With
7296-474: The resort increased the guest capacity to 35% at all four theme parks, and on May 13, 2021, CEO Bob Chapek announced a further increase of capacity, effective immediately; however, he did not say to what capacity level it would be raised. By mid-June 2021, temperature checks and mask mandates (except while on Disney transportation) had been lifted. In late July 2021, mask mandates were reinstated for all attractions and indoor areas in light of new guidance issued by
7392-615: The resort was convinced to engage in mitigation banking . In an agreement with The Nature Conservancy and the state of Florida, Disney purchased 8,500 acres (3,400 ha) of land, adjacent to the park for the purpose of rehabilitating wetland ecosystems. The Disney Wilderness Preserve was established in April 1993, and the land was subsequently transferred to The Nature Conservancy. The Walt Disney Company provided additional funds for landscape restoration and wildlife monitoring. The resort's fourth theme park, Disney's Animal Kingdom , opened in 1998. In October 2009, Disney World announced
7488-666: The resort's first phase. On February 2, 1967, Roy O. Disney held a press conference at the Park Theatres in Winter Park, Florida. The role of EPCOT was emphasized in the film that was played. After the film, it was explained that for Disney World, including EPCOT, to succeed, a special district would have to be formed: the Reedy Creek Improvement District with two cities inside it, Bay Lake and Reedy Creek, now Lake Buena Vista . In addition to
7584-499: The sake of enjoying its narrative. Historically, the concept originates in the Greco-Roman principles of theatre , wherein the audience ignores the unreality of fiction to experience catharsis from the actions and experiences of characters. The phrase was coined and elaborated upon by the English poet and philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge in his 1817 work Biographia Literaria : "that willing suspension of disbelief for
7680-463: The same functions accomplished by the MagicBands in Orlando. This decision was later revised as MagicBand technology was announced to be coming to the California parks in 2022. It became available on Disney Cruise Line in 2023. Disneyland Paris uses an RFID card MagicPass system. Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort (also known as Walt Disney World or Disney World )
7776-548: The site employed about 5,500 "Cast Members". In 2020, Walt Disney World employed more than 77,000 Cast Members. Walt Disney World has more than 3,000 job classifications with a total 2019 payroll of over $ 3 billion. Almost all hourly guest-facing Cast Members work under union contracts . The most recent contract was negotiated and put in effect in 2023 and is valid through 2027, setting the starting hourly rate for part-time and full-time Cast at 17 dollars per hour, with additional premiums available for select roles. Union membership
7872-493: The standard powers of an incorporated city, which include issuance of tax-free bonds, the district would have immunity from any current or future county or state land-use laws. The only areas where the district had to submit to the county and state would be property taxes and elevator inspections. The legislation forming the district and the two cities, one of which was the Reedy Creek Improvement Act ,
7968-437: The state's power grid, Walt Disney World has two solar energy facilities on property; a 22-acre (0.034 sq mi; 0.089 km ) Mickey Mouse -shaped solar panel farm near EPCOT, and a 270-acre (0.42 sq mi; 1.1 km ) facility near Disney's Animal Kingdom. The larger facility produces enough solar energy to provide electricity to two of the resort's theme parks. The sites are operated by Duke Energy and
8064-406: The suspension of disbelief as proposed by Coleridge is not about suspending disbelief in the reality of fictional characters or events, but the suspension of disbelief in phenomena that is regarded as implausible. This can be demonstrated in the way a reader suspends disbelief in supernatural phenomena itself—simulating the feelings of a character that is experiencing the phenomena in the narrative of
8160-556: The time revealed that only 5% of Disneyland's visitors came from east of the Mississippi River , where 75% of the population of the United States lived. Additionally, Walt Disney disliked the businesses that had sprung up around Disneyland and wanted more control over a larger area of land in the next project. Walt Disney took a flight over a potential site in Orlando, Florida —one of many—in November 1963. After witnessing
8256-589: The understanding that the recording of the first deeds would trigger intense public scrutiny, Disney delayed the filing of paperwork until a large portion of the land was under contract. Early rumors and speculation about the land purchases assumed possible development by NASA in support of the nearby Kennedy Space Center , as well as references to other famous investors, such as Ford , the Rockefellers , and Howard Hughes . An Orlando Sentinel news article published weeks later, on May 20, 1965, acknowledged
8352-487: The various areas of the resort by contradicting their respective themes. However, Frog would later compromise to allow the readers to have themed appearances whilst maintaining consistent elements that indicate their purpose. In January 2010, Jay Rasulo left the Disney Parks division to become chief financial officer of Disney, with his predecessor Thomas O. Staggs replacing him as chairman of Disney Parks and head of
8448-571: The well-developed network of roads and taking the planned construction of both Interstate 4 and Florida's Turnpike into account, with McCoy Air Force Base (later Orlando International Airport ) to the east, Disney selected a centrally located site near Bay Lake . The development was referred to in-house as "The Florida Project". To avoid a burst of land speculation, Walt Disney Productions used various dummy corporations to acquire 27,443 acres (43 sq mi; 111 km ) of land. In May 1965, some of these major land transactions were recorded
8544-465: The world: (1st) Magic Kingdom—20,859,000 visitors; (6th) Disney's Animal Kingdom—13,750,000 visitors; (7th) EPCOT—12,444,000 visitors; and (9th) Disney's Hollywood Studios—11,258,000 visitors. By October 2020, maximum Disney World attendance was still allowed to only remain at 25% capacity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A recent study found that reducing Magic Kingdom park capacity to 25% would result in
8640-465: The year. These departments include: The campus of Walt Disney World includes numerous buildings and spaces used solely for corporate management, castmember only services, and castmember recreation. The Walt Disney Company also owns and operates a corporate office complex in Celebration, Florida, home to Disney Cruise Line and Adventures by Disney offices. When the Magic Kingdom opened in 1971,
8736-447: Was building a second theme park in Florida. Three days later, after gathering more information from various sources, the Sentinel published another article headlined, "We Say: 'Mystery' Industry Is Disney". Walt Disney had originally planned to publicly reveal Disney World on November 15, 1965, but in light of the Sentinel story, Disney asked Florida Governor Haydon Burns to confirm the story on October 25. His announcement called
8832-633: Was completed in time for the park's opening on October 1, 1971, and the Polynesian Village Resort opened shortly after. The Palm and Magnolia golf courses near the Magic Kingdom had opened a few weeks before, while Fort Wilderness opened one month later. Twenty-four days after the park opened, Roy O. Disney dedicated the property and declared that it would be known as "Walt Disney World", in his brother's honor. In his own words: "Everyone has heard of Ford cars. But have they all heard of Henry Ford , who started it all? Walt Disney World
8928-609: Was initially staffed by a group of Disney Parks executives known as the "Fab Five" (a term referring to the five main characters of the Mickey Mouse universe ); including Andy Schwalb, Eric Jacobson, John Padgett, Kevin Rice, and Jim MacPhee. The group aimed to address how families navigate Walt Disney World and "maximize" their time there: MacPhee felt that the park was becoming "dangerously complex and transactional" in its operations, citing long queues , complicated ticketing systems,
9024-429: Was interested in returning fantastic elements to poetry and developed the concept to support how a modern, enlightened audience would continue to enjoy such types of literature. Coleridge suggested that his work, such as Lyrical Ballads , his collaboration with William Wordsworth , essentially involved attempting to explain supernatural characters and events in plausible terms so that implausible characters and events of
9120-432: Was signed into law by Florida Governor Claude R. Kirk, Jr. on May 12, 1967. The Supreme Court of Florida then ruled in 1968 that the district was allowed to issue tax-exempt bonds for public projects within the district, despite the sole beneficiary being Walt Disney Productions. The district soon began construction of drainage canals, and Disney built the first roads and the Magic Kingdom. The Contemporary Resort Hotel
9216-486: Was the most visited vacation resort in the world, with an average annual attendance of more than 58 million. The resort is the largest single-site employer in the United States, the flagship destination of Disney's worldwide corporate enterprise and has become a staple of American popular culture . In 1959, Walt Disney Productions began looking for land to house a second resort to supplement Disneyland in Anaheim, California, which had opened in 1955. Market surveys at
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