The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, or simply abbreviated WDW, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, governed by the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. The resort is located within Orange and Osceola counties, and located closest to the cities of Winter Garden and Kissimmee in Greater Orlando. 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, of which half has been used. Walt Disney World contains four separate theme parks, two water parks, two mini-golf courses, and four golf courses. There are twenty-one Disney-operated resorts on the property, and many other resorts on and near the property. Disney World also contains the Boardwalk, Disney Springs, and Flamingo Crossings areas for shopping, dining, and entertainment. The Fort Wilderness area offers guests numerous outdoor recreational activities and includes the Tri-Circle D. Ranch. The ESPN Sports Complex on the property hosts a variety of activities throughout the year, including runDisney marathon races and dance and cheer competitions in partnership with Varsity Cheer.
Magic Kingdom Park is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Orlando Florida. It opened on October 1, 1971, and is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Experiences division. The official park name has changed slightly over the years, from Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom (1971–1994) and The Magic Kingdom (1994–2017). The park was initialized by Walt Disney and designed by WED Enterprises. The park layout and attractions were based on Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California, and are dedicated to fairy tales and Disney characters.
Disney Transport is the public transit system of the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista and Bay Lake, Florida. The system provides free transportation to guests of the resort and consists of buses, a monorail system, a gondola lift system, watercraft, a rideshare system, and parking lot trams. Most of the routes operated by Disney Transport are buses that run along the resort's public roads maintained by the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District and private roads. None of these modes of transportation charge a fare, which makes the entire network free to use.
The Disney Vacation Club (DVC) is a vacation timeshare program owned and operated by Disney Vacation Development, Inc., a subsidiary of Disney Signature Experiences, a division of Disney Experiences, a segment of The Walt Disney Company. It allows buying a real estate interest in a DVC resort via a flexible points-based membership system. There are an estimated 220,000 club members.
Disney's River Country was the first water park at Walt Disney World Resort, Florida. River Country, located along the shores of Bay Lake and near Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground, was themed as a rustic, old-fashioned swimming hole. Opening on June 20, 1976, the park closed indefinitely on November 2, 2001; on January 20, 2005, after roughly three years of closure, The Walt Disney Company announced that the park would remain closed, permanently. This made River Country the second Disney park in the company's history to close its doors permanently, with nearby Discovery Island on the lake closing previously, in 1999. A new hotel called Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Lodge was set to be built on the former site of River Country, set to open in 2022; however, construction was halted during the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 15, 2022, Walt Disney World Resort announced that the hotel was being cancelled to make way for new DVC villas at Disney's Polynesian Village Resort.
The Seven Seas Lagoon is an artificial lake at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. Located south of the Magic Kingdom theme park, the Seven Seas Lagoon serves as a natural buffer between the Magic Kingdom and its parking lot and connects with the adjacent Bay Lake. The lake reaches a depth of 14 feet (4.3 m). The lagoon is used mainly for recreational boating, as well as by the resort's three Disney Transport ferryboats that transport guests between the Magic Kingdom and the Transportation and Ticket Center.
Bay Lake is a natural lake about 1 mile across and with a depth of 35 feet (11 m), located in Orange County, Florida, United States, in the north end of the Walt Disney World property, in the Disney-controlled city of Bay Lake, Florida, and immediately to the east of the Magic Kingdom.
Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa is a Victorian themed hotel and spa located at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. The property opened on June 28, 1988, as the Grand Floridian Beach Resort. The name changed to Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa during the fall of 1997. The resort contains 867 rooms among six buildings at an average of 400 square feet (37 m2) per room.
Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge is an African-themed deluxe resort at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. It opened on April 16, 2001. The resort is owned and operated by Disney Parks, Experiences and Products.
Disney's Wilderness Lodge is a resort hotel located at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Opened on May 28, 1994, the resort is owned and operated by Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products. Disney's Wilderness Lodge is located in the Magic Kingdom Resort Area on Bay Lake. The resort is located near Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground. A similarly themed resort, Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, is located at the Disneyland Resort in California.
Discovery Island is an 11.5-acre (4.7 ha) island in Bay Lake, Florida. It is located on the property of Walt Disney World in the city of Bay Lake. Between 1974 and 1999, it was an attraction open to guests, who could observe its many species of animals. Disney originally named it Treasure Island, and later renamed it Discovery Island. It currently sits abandoned, but can be seen by any watercraft in Bay Lake. Discovery Island is now the name of one of the lands in Disney's Animal Kingdom.
Disney's Polynesian Village Resort is a Disney-owned and operated resort located at the Walt Disney World Resort. It began operation on October 1, 1971 as one of Walt Disney World Resort's first two on-site hotels. The resort has a South Seas theme, and originally opened with 492 rooms. It was designed by Welton Becket and Associates and constructed by US Steel Realty Development. The resort is owned and operated by Disney Parks, Experiences and Products.
Great Hotels is a television show on the Travel Channel. The show, hosted by Samantha Brown, travels around the United States to show some of its most renowned hotels. Brown stays at the hotel and walks the viewer through the layout, the rooms, and extra features the hotel has to offer that make it unique and desirable.
Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground is a themed camping resort located in the Magic Kingdom Resort Area at the Walt Disney World Resort in the U.S. state of Florida. It officially opened on November 19, 1971. The resort is situated adjacent to Bay Lake, near Disney's Wilderness Lodge. It also formerly contained Disney's River Country, a water park which closed on November 2, 2001.
Disney's Venetian Resort was to be a Disney-owned resort at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, that originally would have begun operation on October 1, 1971. It was going to be themed after Venice, Italy, located on Seven Seas Lagoon. Due to the 1973 Oil Embargo, the resort, along with Disney's Asian Resort and Disney's Persian Resort, were never built. In the late 1980s to early 1990s, Michael Eisner saw how well Disney's Grand Floridian Resort was doing and wanted an even better resort. The idea for the Venetian was scrapped in favor of Disney's Mediterranean Resort, which was also not built.
Disney's Mediterranean Resort was a proposed Disney Deluxe resort to be located at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida that originally would have begun operation in the late 1990s. It was going to be themed after a small Greek island and be located on Seven Seas Lagoon. Land was cleared for the building, but due to very swampy and poor ground samples, the resort was never able to be built. The resort was to be a 5 star resort rivaling Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, also on the lagoon.
The Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings & Honeymoons is a program offering wedding and honeymoon services to couples at the Disneyland Resort in California, the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, the Tokyo Disney Resort in Japan, the Disneyland Paris Resort in France, the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort in Hong Kong, the Shanghai Disney Resort in China, and on the Disney Cruise Line. It operates within the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products segment of The Walt Disney Company.
The Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC) is an intermodal monorail, ferry, and bus transportation hub on the Walt Disney World Resort. The station serves both the Magic Kingdom and Epcot spurs of the Walt Disney World Monorail System, as well as conventional bus and taxis in the Greater Orlando Region.
Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort, commonly known as Bay Lake Tower, is a Disney Vacation Club resort located at the Walt Disney World Resort that opened in 2009. It is located in the Magic Kingdom Resort Area, adjacent to Disney's Contemporary Resort, Bay Lake, and Magic Kingdom.
Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Lodge was a planned Disney Vacation Club resort at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It was to be built between Disney's Wilderness Lodge and Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground. It was to be constructed on the former site of Disney's River Country Water Park. The new hotel was to feature several Disney characters for each of the rooms including Bambi, Brother Bear, The Fox and the Hound, and Pocahontas among others. A lakeside restaurant featuring the characters from The Princess and the Frog was also slated to open along with the new resort.
