Whether you've been to Walt Disney World one time or one hundred times, the Disney parks are designed for guests to have a new experience each time! Walt Disney World property covers 27,258 acres, housing 27 themed resort hotels, four theme parks, two water parks, three 18-hole golf courses, two themed miniature golf courses, one camping resort, a downtown-like shopping district, and other entertainment venues. In Orlando, Florida, Magic Kingdom was the first and original theme park to open followed by Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios, and Disney's Animal Kingdom. No matter what part of the property you've been on, the Disney Imagineers make sure there is always magic to be found!
Did You Know...
"Hidden Mickeys" are hidden in plain sight
All throughout Disney World there are references to Mickey Mouse in unexpected places. A hidden Mickey is the 3 circle silhouette of the head and ears of Mickey Mouse disguised and subtly hidden in decor, rock formations, table settings and designs of all sorts. Thousands of hidden Mickey's have been recorded and more included with each park update.
Walt Disney World is on the second level
The utilidor system is a system of some of the world's largest utility tunnels. The utilidors, short for utility corridors, are a part of Disney's "backstage" (behind-the-scenes) area. They allow Disney cast members to perform park support operations. The system of utilidors are not a basement. Because of an elevated water table, most of these tunnels were actually built at ground level, and the Magic Kingdom was built above that.
The buildings in Liberty Square are historically accurate
The addresses on the doors are all two numbers. If you put 18 in front of it, that is the style of door that they would have had for that year. As you walk along, you can see the progression of the style, from the windows to the hardware to the door and window styles themselves.
The Disney Hollywood Studios' Mickey has two purposes
There's a Mickey Mouse on top of Crossroads of the World right inside the entrance to Hollywood Studios that waves to all who enter and exit, but that Mickey also serves another purpose. He's a lightning rod. One of his ears is made of copper to attract the lightning.
Epcot was supposed to be a community
The Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT) was an unfinished concept being developed by Walt Disney. Its purpose was to be a "real city that would 'never cease to be a blueprint of the future,'" designed to stimulate American corporations to come up with new ideas for urban living. The idea was lost when Walt Disney passed away in 1966.
Animal Kingdom is built like a bowl
Once you enter Animal Kingdom, you have to cross a bridge to get to Discovery Island. The park is sunken into the ground to create a climate suitable for all the animals in the park. This is also why the temperature inside the park is much warmer than outside.
Hall of President's Presidential Seal
Disney Hollywood Studios was supposed to be an operating studio
Disney-MGM Studios was originally built as a working studio, not a theme park. The Mickey Mouse Club was filmed there with Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Ryan Gosling and Christina Aquilera. On August 9, 2007, Walt Disney World President Meg Crofton announced that Disney-MGM Studios would be re-branded as Disney's Hollywood Studios, effective January 7, 2008.
There's a hidden story in the pavement outside the Haunted Mansion
While waiting in line to enter the Mansion, look closely and you'll find a wedding ring stuck in the concrete path. It is believed to be the wedding ring of the Bride in the Attic. However, it didn't start that way. The object was actually what remained of an old turnstile that was removed. Many people thought it resembled a wedding ring, and a legend was born. It was removed during 2007's Re-Haunting. In 2011, when the new interactive queue was added, an "official" Bride's ring was embedded in the path to honor the popular legend.
The reason behind those views on the safari
The exotic species on Animal Kingdom’s Kilimanjaro Safari are treated exceptionally well, but naturalists do use exercise and feeding to their advantage. Staff shoot raisins out of cannons to get the gorillas to move out and about by the safari vehicles and put elephants to work for honey, their treat of choice, by smearing it on their roof so they need to use their trunks to earn it. If you see the lions out on your next trip, the top rock is actually air conditioned to entice them to spend time there!
There is a trash can within 30 steps of you at all times
When designing Disney, Walt went to other parks and counted how long a person would hold onto a piece of trash before dropping it on the ground. He came up with 30 steps. Today, not only will you find many trash bins, but small pipes will shoot the trash through the utilidors at 60 mph.
All the hinges in Liberty Square are at an angle
In Liberty Square, all of the shutters are hung slightly at an angle. This is because during the revolutionary war, England stopped shipping the US almost everything made of metal because the colonials would melt them down for bullets. One thing they did continue to ship was shutters. The colonials would take the metal hinges off the shutters to melt down for bullets and would hang the shutters with leather straps. Over time, the leather would stretch out, causing the shutters to hang at an angle.
The naming of "Walt Disney World"
Walt Disney died from lung cancer on December 15, 1966, just a year after his proposing the soon to be named "Walt Disney World." His brother and business partner, Roy O. Disney, took over the project. At the park's opening, 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 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 Disney Company has become a symbol of America. On your next trip to Orlando, Florida be sure to stop in on "the happiest place of Earth" to find these hidden secrets!
