Magic Kingdom Park

The park was initialized by Walt Disney and designed by WED Enterprises. Its layout and attractions are based on Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California, and are dedicated to fairy tales and Disney characters. The park is represented by Cinderella Castle, inspired by the fairy tale castle seen in the 1950 film. In 2019, the park hosted 20.9 million visitors, making it the most visited theme park in the world for the thirteenth consecutive year and the most visited theme park in North America for at least the past nineteen years.

History

Planning

Although Walt Disney had been highly involved in planning the Florida Project, he died before he could see the vision through. After Walt's death, Walt Disney Productions began construction on Magic Kingdom and the entire resort in 1967. The park was built as a larger, improved version of Disneyland Park in California.

Magic Kingdom was built over a series of tunnels called utilidors, a portmanteau of utility and corridor, allowing employees (called "cast members") or VIP guests to move through the park out of sight.

Because of Florida's high water table, the tunnels could not be put underground, so they were built at the existing grade, meaning the park is built on the second story, giving the Magic Kingdom an elevation of 108 feet (33 m). The area around the utilidors was filled in with dirt removed from the Seven Seas Lagoon, which was being constructed at the same time. The utilidors were built in the initial construction and were not extended as the park expanded. The tunnels were intended to be designed into all subsequent Walt Disney World parks but were set aside mostly because of financial constraints. Epcot's Future World and Disney Springs' Pleasure Island each have a smaller network of utilidors.

Address: 1180 Seven Seas Drive, Lake Buena Vista, FL 32836, United States
Opened: October 1, 1971
Area: 43 ha
Hours: Closed ⋅ Opens 9AM Thu
Slogan: The most magical place on earth