Walt Disney World Resort, Orlando Florida
Most of the Walt Disney Company’s Central Florida land, and all of the public areas, are located in the Cities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, located southwest of Orlando and a few miles northwest of Kissimmee.
Walt Disney World Resort features four major theme parks, each with a main attraction that serves as its symbol:
- The Magic Kingdom (Cinderella Castle)
- Epcot (Spaceship Earth, the geodesic sphere.)
- Disney-MGM Studios (the giant Mickey sorcerer’s cap, though formerly the ‘Earful Tower’ water tower represented it)
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom (the Tree of Life)
There are also two water parks, Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach (A third, River Country, is permanently closed), as well as a the Wide World of Sports sports park. The Downtown Disney area contains many shopping, dining, and entertainment venues, including DisneyQuest (a “virtual theme park” inside a building), the House of Blues, and a permanent Cirque du Soleil show (La Nouba).
Another notable aspect is the large number of hotel resort complexes on the Walt Disney World property. The non-themed hotels are owned by private, non-Disney hospitality companies such as Starwood, Holiday Inn, and Hilton. The themed resorts include:
- Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort
- Disney’s All-Star Music Resort
- Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge
- Disney’s Beach Club Resort
- Disney’s Beach Club Villas
- Disney’s BoardWalk Inn
- Disney’s BoardWalk Villas
- Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
- Disney’s Contemporary Resort
- Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort
- Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground
- Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa
- Disney’s Old Key West Resort
- Disney’s Polynesian Resort
- Disney’s Pop Century Resort
- Disney’s Port Orleans Resort Riverside (formerly Dixie Landings)
- Disney’s Port Orleans Resort French Quarter (formerly Disney’s Port Orleans Resort)
- Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa (formerly the Disney Institute)
- Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
- Shades of Green (named because of its location between two golf courses; it’s currently leased by the United States Department of Defense and used for vacationing active and retired military personnel and their families)
- The Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Walt Disney World Dolphin (operated by Starwood Hotel and Resorts Worldwide)
- Walt Disney World Swan (operated by Starwood Hotel and Resorts Worldwide)
The Walt Disney World resort also includes five world-class golf courses. The five 18-hole golf courses are the Magnolia, the Palm, Lake Buena Vista, Eagle Pines, and Osprey Ridge (the last two are part of the Bonnet Creek Golf Club). There are two miniature golf courses: Fantasia Gardens and Winter Summerland.
There is a fleet of Disney-operated buses on property, branded Disney Transport free for use by resort and park guests. They are not to be confused with the Disney Cruise Line and Disney’s Magical Express buses, which are run by Mears Transportation. Taxi boats link some locations. Two monorail lines also operate at Walt Disney World Resort: one links the Magic Kingdom, the Contemporary and Polynesian and Grand Floridian resorts, and the Transportation and Ticket Center (with an express track in the other direction, only stopping at the TTC and the Magic Kingdom); the other links Epcot and the Transportation and Ticket Center.