Disney World
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Walt Disney World Resort, often referred to as simply Walt Disney World or Disney World, is a major recreational resort containing four theme parks. Owned and operated by the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts segment of The Walt Disney Company, it is located in Lake Buena Vista and Bay Lake, Florida, outside the city limits of Orlando. Construction began in 1967, less than a year after Walt Disney's death. It opened on October 1, 1971, as the Magic Kingdom, and since has added Epcot on October 1, 1982, Disney-MGM Studios on May 1, 1989, and Disney's Animal Kingdom on April 22, 1998 as new theme parks. In addition to the four main theme parks, the resort contains two water parks, six golf courses, a sports complex, an auto race track, twenty resort hotels and numerous shopping, dining, and entertainment offerings. It even has its own fire department.When the Magic Kingdom opened in 1971, the Walt Disney World Resort employed about 5,500 "cast members". Today it employs more than 58,000, spending more than $1.1 billion on payroll and $478 million on benefits each year. The largest single-site employer in the United States [4], Walt Disney World Resort has more than 3,000 job classifications. The Walt Disney World Resort also sponsors and operates the Walt Disney World College Program, an internship program that has American college students live on site and work for the resort, providing much of the theme park and resort "front line" cast members. The 20,000 acre property is the largest theme park resort in the world, although over the past decade significant land has been sold off for housing and other developments, including land now occupied by the Disney-built community of Celebration. |