As the largest and most popular theme park resort in the world, Walt Disney World tends to do things on a grand scale. We’ve already taken a detailed look at how the resort as a whole was constructed, but we thought it would be fun to highlight 10 stunning “megastructures” that deserve special attention. It’s easy to take these incredible architectural and engineering feats for granted – after all, they are designed to hide the “backstage magic” that went into creating them. But the next time you glimpse one of these beasts, spare a thought for the men and women that put them together.
10. Spaceship Earth
Image: Disney
What it is: An 18-story geodesic sphere that acts as the icon of Epcot. It also doubles as a ride building, hosting a dark ride that takes guests on a trip through time, showing them important moments in the development of communications.
Image: Disney
How it was built: Construction took some 26 months. “Quadropod” structures were used to support a series of steel beams that form Spaceship Earth’s skeleton. The outer skin was then applied, consisting of some 11,324 aluminum and plastic-alloy triangles. The finished article weighs some 16 million pounds. Fun fact:Stand under Spaceship Earth when it is raining, and you won’t get wet. The structure boasts a special drainage system designed to collect rainwater, funnel it through the support structure and let it eventually run off into the park’s lagoon.
9. Cinderella Castle
What it is: The iconic fairytale image of the Magic Kingdom, rising to a height of 189 feet tall.
How it was built: The castle took 18 months to construct. The inner structure consists of a 600-ton steel-braced frame, while a 10-inch-thick reinforced concrete wall encircles it to the height of the outermost “stone” walls. Most of the exterior of the building was built using fiber-reinforced gypsum plaster, with fiberglass being used for the walls of some of the ornate towers.The towers consists of plastic attached to a cone of steel, and were lifted into place by a crane before being bolted onto the main structure. The castle uses “forced perspective” techniques to appear larger – as it gets taller, its width gets smaller.
Image: Disney
Fun fact: The luxurious Cinderella Castle Suite sits in the upper floors of the castle. Unfortunately, you can’t make a reservation for the suite. You can’t even join a waiting list. You have to win
your stay.
8. American Adventure theater
Image: Disney
What it is: A theater that hosts an audio-animatronic show that tells the story of the development of the United States of America. During the show, multiple different scenes are shown on the stage, in front of an enormous movie screen. How it was built: The various scenes and animatronic characters sit underneath the audience’s seats. To enable them to be changed, Disney’s Imagineers had to develop an innovative system that is controlled by computers. Dubbed “the War Wagon”, this is a device that measures 65x35x14 feet and weighs a huge 175 tons. It slides back and forth on tracks, but is suprisingly quiet. The movie was the longest single loop of film employed by a Disney show, and was some 3,330 feet long. It required seven custom storage cabinets to be produced, with the film snaking through rollers. Fun fact: For once, Disney has employed forced perspective techniques to make the exterior of the American Adventure look smallerthan it really is. The USA Pavilion is 5 stories tall, but enormous doors and windows are used to make it appear only 3 stories tall. The façade was created using 110,000 bricks handmade from Georgia red clay – each of which was aged to look authentic.
7. Big Thunder Mountain
What it is: An enormous faux mountain resembling Monument Valley in Arizona, which hosts a thrilling mine train-style roller coaster. 
How it was built: Big Thunder Mountain required an extraordinary amount of “rockwork”. The structure that supports the mountain was made using 650 tons of steel. Some 4,675 tons of concrete “mud” were used to create the rocky terrain, with 4,000 gallons of paint being employed to complete the finished look. Fun fact:The track layout of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at the Magic Kingdom is virtually a mirror image of the Disneyland original. However, the Magic Kingdom’s mountain is actually 25 percent larger than Disneyland’s.
6. Contemporary Hotel
Image: Disney
What it is: The iconic Contemporary Resort was one of Walt Disney World’s original hotels, and features a unique A-Frame design. 
How it was built: The Contemporary was constructed by the United States Steel Corporation, which hoped to prove the viability of a new technique using modular rooms that were put together off-site and then slotted into place. An enormous steel superstructure was installed, and the rooms themselves were manufactured on an assembly line at a 150,000-square-foot factory on-site at Walt Disney World. They were equipped with utilities such as plumbing and even bathroom fixtures. Each completed room weighed nine tons, and was slotted into place in the frame using enormous cranes. Fun fact: “The Contemporary” was just a working title for the hotel. The final title was to be the “Tempo Bay Hotel”, but Roy Disney (who took over the company after Walt Disney died in 1966) vetoed it and the Contemporary stuck.
5. The Seas aquarium
What it is: An enormous saltwater aquarium that holds 5.7 million gallons of water, located in The Seas with Nemo & Friends Pavilion at Epcot. 
How it was built: An enormous budget of $90-million made The Living Seas Pavilion the most expensive attraction ever built at a Disney park when it opened in 1986. It took 22 months to build, with 12,000 cubic yards of concrete and 900 tons of reinforcing steel being used to build the tank. The rest of the pavilion consumed 8,000 cubic yards of conrete and 850 tons of structural steel. The recipe for the artificial saltwater called for 27 truckloads of common table salt. Fun fact:The aquarium is so huge that Spaceship Earth would fit inside it.
4. The Utilidors
Image: Disney
What it is: An enormous network of tunnels underneath the Magic Kingdom, used for utilities and to enable Cast Members to move around the park without being seen by guests.
How it was built: The 15-foot-high concrete utilidors were built first. They were then covered over using soil excavated from the man-made Seven Seas Lagoon in front of the park. The Magic Kingdom’s public walkways and attractions therefore sit above ground level. Fun fact:Until 2005, the costuming department – with over 1.2 million outfits – was housed in this underground lair.
3. Tree of Life
Image: Disney
What it is: An enormous 145-foot-tall, 50-foot-wide tree at the heart of Disney’s Animal Kingdom. It houses the It’s Tough to be a Bug show. 
How it was built: In an ironic twist for an “environmentally-friendly” park, the Tree of Life is based around an old oil rig. This was wide enough to house the attraction’s theater, and strong enough to hold around 8,000 branches. These host 103,000 mock leaves, each of which was individually placed. It took 10 artists and three Imagineers around 18 months to create the 325 animals carved into the tree. The sculptors had around 6-10 hours to produce the final image before the plaster hardened. Fun fact:There are more than 4 million living plants at Disney’s Animal Kingdom – very few are fake like the Tree of Life.
2. The Forbidden Mountain
What it is: The huge mock mountain that towers over Asia in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, housing the Expedition Everest roller coaster.
How it was built:The Forbidden Mountain was created using 5,000 tons of structural steel and 10,000 tons of concrete. A rigid steel structure holds the mountain in place. More than 2,000 gallons of stain and paint were used on the mountain’s rockwork and the buildings in the surrounding village. To recreate the lowlands surrounding Mount Everest, more than 900 bamboo plants, 10 species of trees and 110 species of shrubs were planted.
Image: Raul 654, Wikimedia (license)
Fun fact:At 199 feet tall the Forbidden Mountain is the tallest of Walt Disney World’s faux mountains. It is just below the Federal Aviation Authority’s 200-foot limit, which would require it to have a flashing red light on its peak.
1. Hollywood Tower Hotel
What it is: The enormous fake hotel that houses the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. 
How it was built: The design of the hotel, which is meant to evoke the golden age of Hollywood, was inspired by The Mission Inn in Riverside, California. Some 1,500 tons of steel were used to construct it, along with 145,800 cubic feet of concrete. The roof is lined by 27,000 tiles. The drop sequence is powered by two huge motors, which are 12 feet tall, 35 feet long and weigh a massive 132,000 pounds. Fun fact: In his autobiography, former Disney CEO Michael Eisner reveals that he suggested that the Hollywood Tower Hotel be an actual hotel, as well as hosting the Tower of Terror. This proved to be impractical.
