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Walt Disney Resort, Florida
Around the Park
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.
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