Walt Disney World: The Cliff Notes

Day #2 (sorry I'm a day late) of the 31 Days in May challenge: Educate us on something you know a lot about

Well if you ask anyone how knows me, one thing I know a lot about is Disney, and specifically Walt Disney World (there is a reason I'm a Disney travel agent) I could go on and on about WDW and all that in entails but I'm going to give you a Cliff Notes rundown....

*Walt Disney World is located in Central Florida, just outside of Orlando. The Disney property is 27,000 acres or 43 square miles

*The Walt Disney World (WDW) resort includes 4 theme parks, 2 water parks, a downtown shopping area and 31 on-property hotels

*The four parks include: The Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney's Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom Park

*The Magic Kingdom opened October 1st, 1971 and is the East Coast sibling to Disneyland. It shares many of the same elements and layout with some distinct differences to Disneyland as the Walt Disney company made sure to buy a lot more land in Florida to allow for expansion.

*EPCOT (also known at EPCOT Center or the Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow): Opened October 1st, 1982. EPCOT was Walt's idea for a futuristic utopian community where everyone had employment, housing at a modest cost and be a showcase for technological ingenuity. EPCOT the park is two park ideas that were combined together. "Future World" houses attractions that explore innovative aspects and applications of technology and "World Showcase" a permanent World's Fair with pavilions representing countries around the world.

*Disney's Hollywood Studios (formerly known at Disney's MGM Studios) opened on May 1st, 1989 and was once a functioning movie and TV studio. Guests could tour the studio and if they were lucky, see TV show or movie being filmed. Now the park embraces the spirit of motion pictures and television but no longer does productions (although there is a working prop shop and costumer). DHS also houses the annual "Star Wars Weekends" every summer from mid-May to early June.

*Animal Kingdom Park opened on April 22nd, 1998 and is a park meant to celebrate nature and our relationship with the planet Earth. While the park is full of animals for you to see and learn about, AK is not a zoo. It contains two shows, "Festival of the Lion King" and "Finding Nemo: The Musical"; a safari; and Expedition Everest a thrilling roller coaster ride through the forbidden mountain, home of the Yeti; among other attractions.

Some common misconceptions about WDW

*The Magic Kingdom and Walt Disney World are the same thing: The Magic Kingdom is NOT Walt Disney World, true for 10 years the Magic Kingdom was the only park on property, but now Walt Disney World refers to the entire 43 square miles of property

*Disney owns/runs everything in central Florida/the Orlando area: Universal Studios and Sea World are NOT part of Walt Disney World, they are there own parks and companies (in fact Universal and Sea World are not related). As large as the WDW property is, it doesn't take up all of Orlando, in fact WDW is technically not in Orlando at all but in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

*The parks are close to each other and the hotels: There are a few places you can get to by foot (The Contemporary to the Magic Kingdom; EPCOT to Hollywood Studios, although it is a bit of a trek but I've done it; many of the EPCOT area hotels (Boardwalk, Yacht Club, Beach Club, Swan and Dolphin) to both EPCOT and Hollywood Studios)) but that's about it. Everywhere else will require a car, taxi or the use of Disney's transportation.

*Disney is expensive: Well that's not entirely a misconception, Disney CAN be expensive if you don't know how to plan. There are ways to save money on park tickets, accommodations and food. Check out this post I did earlier this year comparing a trip to WDW staying on property vs. off property.

PS. I've added this post over at The Jenny Evolution for her Friday Flash Blog!