John Lennon officially ended the Beatles at Walt Disney World
It was December 29, 1974 and John Lennon was vacationing at Walt Disney World when the paperwork he needed to sign to officially end the Beatles arrived at his room at the Polynesian Resort
hotel. The other three members of the group had already signed the paperwork in New York, so when John signed it in his hotel room at The Polynesian Resort the Beatles officially came to an end.
Walt Disney World wasn't the original name
Walt Disney wanted more than a Disneyland in terms of size. For his Florida theme park he wanted and entire "world" so he named the 43 square mile development "Disney World." Early preview information refers to the site as "Disney World" but Walt's brother Roy changed the name to "Walt Disney World" after his brother's passing and on opening day in 1971 said "Walt Disney World is in memory of the man who started it all, so people will know his name as long as Walt Disney World is here."
The Magic Kingdom is build one story above the ground
Disneyland opened in 1955, 16 years before Walt Disney World opened in 1971. In those years, there Walt Disney saw things he thought took away from the fantasy he wanted to create for park visitors. He didn't like seeing people in space suits heading for work in Tomorrowland by walking down Main Street USA, nor did he like seeing bags of trash being dragged across the park midday. His solution was to build service tunnels under his new Magic Kingdom to provide access to all areas of the park for employees, trash removal, and restocking of food and merchandise. The only problem was that if you dig just a few feet under the surface in Florida you hit water. The solution was to build the service tunnels on the ground level and build the park on top of the service tunnels; one story above ground.
Mickey Mouse is hidden everywhere
Sure, you know you can meet Mickey Mouse in person at Walt Disney World, but did you know his likeness his hidden all around, too? In everything they build, Disney's Imagineers place "hidden Mickeys" in their work. All over Walt Disney World there are thousands of hidden Mickeys. It can be a lot of fun trying to find them. For example, in many of the fountains, some of the coins you see in the water are actually permanent and arranged in the shape Mickey Mouse. And here's one hidden Mickey to get you started on your search for more... In the Haunted Mansion in the Magic Kingdom, look closely at the dinner party scene. On the table, one of the place settings is arranged to look like Mickey Mouse.
Did you miss the 1964 World's Fair? No worries, it's alive and well at Walt Disney World (sort of)
Walt Disney designed two attraction for the 1964 World's Fair in New York; It's a Small World and the Carousel of Progress. When the World's Fair ended, Walt moved these two enormously popular attractions to Disneyland where they basically remained they same as they did at the World's Fair. In 1973, the Carousel of Progress was moved to Walt Disney World and, expect for the show's final scene, which depicts the future, the attraction remains as it did when it played at the World's Fair in 1964.
Giving credit where credit is due
As you walk down Main Street USA, you'll notice name of the "proprietors" of the businesses on Main Street on the windows above the stores. The names, actually, are the names of people who helped build Walt Disney World or who were important to the resort. The last name on the street, above the ice cream parlor and facing Cinderella Castle is Walt Disney's.
Need a drink after enduring "It's a Small World?" Sorry, you're out of luck
Walt Disney wanted the Magic Kingdom to be a family park and to ensure that he banned alcohol from being served at the Magic Kingdom. Sure, you can buy beer and wine at Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios, or Disney's Animal Kingdom, but not at the Magic Kingdom. There was one exception made during the grand opening party in 1971 in which Champaign was served to guests and dignitaries.
Epcot is the Center of Walt Disney World... Just 300 feet off
At least, the center of Walt Disney World is marked in Epcot, sort of. In the plaza between Innoventions East and West there is a design of interconnecting circles that was to represent the center of Walt Disney World. The problem, it's 300 feet off!
The story is that during the design of Epcot, the marker of the physical center of Walt Disney World was to be the true center but all of Epcot was built 300 feet from the where it originally was to be built to protect the habitat of endangered woodpeckers.
There's a private landing strips for airplanes at Walt Disney World
Although not in use, you can still see the private runway next to the Magic Kingdom's parking lot. The runway was originally used for company executives who were flying back and forth between California to Walt Disney World. In fact, you can still see Walt Disney's private plane that was used for these flights on display at Disney's Hollywood Studios.
Need a job? Head to Walt Disney World
Walt Disney World is huge. In size alone, it's 43 square miles, or large enough to place Manhattan twice within its boarders and still have room left over. It also means that there are a lot of people working at Walt Disney World. Walt Disney World is the largest single site employer in the United States with around 55,000
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