In the late 1960s, Disney acquired 25,000 acres of barren swampland in Florida. Over the next four decades, the company transformed it into the world’s leading theme park resort.
It wasn’t an easy job. Miles and miles of drainage canals were built, millions of trees, shrubs and other plants were introduced and entire lakes were excavated. Four enormous theme parks were eventually built, along with two water parks, a shopping and entertainment district and dozens of huge hotels.
We’re all familiar with images of the finished theme parks. But what did Walt Disney World’s attractions look like while they were being constructed? We’ve dug out a series of stunning photographs that show how the enormous structures were put together, and put them into a single article that shows how 40 years of intense development led us to where we are today.
Magic Kingdom
Walt Disney World’s first theme park, the Magic Kingdom, opened in 1971. It is a virtual clone of the original Disneyland in California, but on a larger scale – Disneyland covers 85 acres, whereas the Magic Kingdom sprawls across 107 acres.
To enable Cast Members to move around the park without being seen, a series of tunnels, known as “utilidors”, were built underneath the park. To do this, soil excavated from the Seven Seas Lagoon in front of the park was used to build up the level of the park.
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Here’s a look at Cinderella Castle as it was being built. The castle stands at 189 feet tall, compared to Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland which is just 77 feet tall. Both castles used “forced perspective” techniques to make them appear larger – as each gets taller, its width gets smaller. No stonework was used to create Cinderella Castle, despite its appearance. The building’s shell is made out of fiberglass.
The next few photos show the Rivers of America (a false waterway that winds its way around Frontierland and Liberty Square), as well as the Haunted Mansion and the Hall of Presidents in Liberty Square.
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And here’s a look at the finished product…
Space Mountain
Here’s a look at one of the first major additions to the Magic Kingdom’s line-up: Space Mountain. The ride opened in 1975, and you can see images of both the exterior and interior below.
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Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
In 1980, a second “mountain” opened at the Magic Kingdom. The enormous Big Thunder Mountain required 650 tons of steel, 4,675 tons of “mud” and more than 9,000 gallons of paint to construct.
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Splash Mountain
Splash Mountain joined the Magic Kingdom’s line-up in 1992. More than 65 Audio-Animatronic characters populate the attraction, with the concrete flume winding for more than 2,600 feet.
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Epcot
Originally conceived as a futuristic, working city, Epcot eventually became the second theme park at Walt Disney World when it opened in 1982. It sprawls across a massive 300 acres, making it almost three times as large as the Magic Kingdom. Despite this, it’s still not the largest theme park at Walt Disney World – that crown is taken by Disney’s Animal Kingdom. To build the park, some 54 million cubic feet of dirt was excavated.
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Epcot’s icon is Spaceship Earth, which weighs some 16 million pounds. The outer skin is made up of 11,324 aluminum and plastic-alloy triangles. You can see an early model of it below, followed by several images of it being put together.
The World Showcase area of the park sits around an enormous lagoon, which covers some 40 acres. If you walk around the entire World Showcase lagoon, from Mexico to Canada, you’ve covered a distance of some 1.25 miles.
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Morocco Pavilion
Over the years, a number of new pavilions have been added to the World Showcase line-up. Here’s a look at the Morocco Pavilion, which debuted in 1984.
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Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Disney-MGM Studios (as the park was originally known) grew out of the Great Movie Ride Pavilion, which was proposed as a new addition to Epcot’s line-up. When rival Universal announced plans to build Universal Studios Florida, Disney CEO Michael Eisner ordered the company’s Imagineers to expand the design into a complete new theme park, and it opened in 1989.
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In its original guise, the park resembed a Mickey Mouse face from the air.
Sunset Boulevard and Tower of Terror
Disney-MGM Studios proved to be an immediate hit, but it originally featured only a handful of attractions. Ambitious expansion plans were put into place, culminating in the addition of Sunset Boulevard, leading to the enormous Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Some 1,500 tons of steel were used to construct the ride building, along with 145,800 cubic feet of concrete. The roof is lined by 27,000 tiles. On the inside, sections of the lobby were inspired by the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.
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Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster was originally built outside, with the enormous ride building then being constructed around it. The volume of the building is more than 3.7 million cubic feet. The ride opened in 1999.
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Typhoon Lagoon
Typhoon Lagoon was the second water park at Walt Disney World, after the much-smaller (and now abandoned) River County. At its heart sits Mt. Mayday, with the wrecked Miss Tilly boat at its peak.
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Disney’s Animal Kingdom
A combination of a zoo and a theme park, Disney’s Animal Kingdom is enormous. Disney’s own website claims that the park covers either 500 acres or 403 acres. More than 4 million trees, plants, shrubs, vines, grasses and more from every contintent on Earth (except Antarctica) were planted during the construction of the park.
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The iconic Tree of Life was topped with more than 103,000 leaves, each of which was individually placed on 8,692 branches. 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.
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Expedition Everest:
Dominating the Asia area of the park, Expedition Everest was opened in 2006. Designed to fill a thrill ride-shaped hole in Disney’s Animal Kingdom’s line-up, it has proven to be immensely popular.
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 village.
To recreate the lowlands surrounding Mount Everest, more than 900 bamboo plants, 10 species of trees and 110 species of shrubs were planted.
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Blizzard Beach:
The 60-acre Disney’s Blizzard Beach water park opened in 1995, with the enormous Mt. Gushmore at its heart.
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