Copyright: walt disney world

The Walt Disney World Resort is an entertainment complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. The Disney-owned resort opened on October 1, 1971, and is the most visited vacation resort in the world with an average attendance of over 52 million. The resort is part of the collective Disney Parks.

The property covers 27,258 acres (43 sq mi; 110 km²), housing four theme parks, two (previously three) water parks, twenty-seven themed resort hotels, nine non–Disney hotels, several golf courses, a camping resort, and other entertainment venues such as the Disney Springs outdoor shopping complex. Designed to supplement Disneyland in Anaheim, California, the complex was developed by Walt Disney in the 1960s. "The Florida Project", as it was known, was intended to present a distinct vision with its own diverse set of rides.

Walt Disney's original plans also called for the inclusion of an "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow" (EPCOT), a planned community intended to serve as a test bed for new city living innovations. After extensive lobbying, the Government of Florida created the Reedy Creek Improvement District, a special government district that essentially gave The Walt Disney Company the standard powers and autonomy of an incorporated city. Walt Disney died on December 15, 1966, during the resort's construction. Without Disney spearheading the construction, the company created a resort similar to Disneyland, abandoning experimental concepts for a planned community.

(Article based on Wikipedia text)