Disney World Celebrates Mickey’s 60th Year

What once took a couple of days to explore can now involve weeks. Disney World keeps growing.

The coming seasons are bringing new resorts and hotels, new theme park attractions, even a film production studio.

With a sizable chunk of Central Florida (28,000 acres) to play with, space is no problem. Situated 20 miles southwest of Orlando, Disney World has grown to twice the size of New York’s Manhattan Island.

In 1971, after turning a vast swampland into lakes, streams and islands, the Disney people ushered in their Magic Kingdom, patterned after Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif.

Epcot Center, focusing on the world of the future, was next.

Hotels were created along with Ft. Wilderness with its 1,190 campsites. To serve the Wilderness area, restaurants were added, including Pioneer Hall (with its nightly vaudeville revue), plus the Trading Post (for souvenirs and groceries), boat rentals, tennis courts, swimming pools, a marina, a protected beach and nearby river country with Tom Sawyer’s Island.

Transportation Systems

An excellent monorail system continues to serve major attractions and hotels, including the new Grand Floridian, the Polynesian Village and Disney World’s Contemporary Hotel.

In addition to the monorail, ferryboats and shuttle buses still deliver park guests to the various properties.

Near Epcot, Walt Disney World Village features a 30-shop marketplace, clubhouse, restaurants, housekeeping villas, tree-house units, tennis, golf, swimming and a cluster of other hotels.

Roads in Disney World are a city planner’s dream of the future. Bordered by wide stretches of lawn, trees, jungle, shrubs and flowers, it is without neon, litter or graffiti.

New to the Magic Kingdom this summer--and in honor of Mickey Mouse’s 60th birthday--Duckburg (named for Donald) is drawing crowds to Fantasyland. Guests tour Mickey’s house and join an audience participation show in Minnie’s kitchen.

At Epcot, Norway has joined 10 other national pavilions rising around the park’s lake: Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, United States, Italy, West Germany, China, Mexico and Morocco, each featuring shops, exhibits, films, musical entertainment and restaurants.

A dazzling nighttime spectacle, Illuminations--a combination of music, lasers, fountains, fireworks and imagery incorporating the 11 world pavilions--also is new at Epcot this summer.

Another attraction is the Disney-MGM Studios. News programs, TV shows and a movie have already been filmed there. Visitors view the filming from specially constructed soundproof walkways and galleries above the stages.

The current major opening, though, is the elegant, Victorian-style Grand Floridian Hotel near the Magic Kingdom and the Polynesian Village resort.

The 900-room hotel is loaded with turn-of-the-century Southern charm: white wood siding with red gabled roofs, wide verandas and wicker rockers, plus ceiling fans and magnolia and palm trees, making it the most luxurious hotel on the Disney property. Rates start at $165 a room.

In other areas, construction is nearing completion and reservations are being taken for the first half of Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort on 200 acres near Epcot Center.

Ship on a Mountaintop

Opening early next year, Typhoon Lagoon will feature a derelict ship marooned on a mountaintop. Guests will ride water slides and rapids, as well as rafts and inner tubes through a rain forest and grotto.

Also scheduled for opening in early 1989, Pleasure Island will entertain guests with comedy, magic shows, country music, jazz and rock ‘n’ roll, plus a teen-age video dance club and roller skating.

Feature films in 10 theaters are planned for the park, along with a convention hotel complex at Epcot with 2,300 guest rooms.

With an attendance of more than 20 million visitors annually, Walt Disney’s dream continues to grow.

For more information, contact your travel agent or write to Walt Disney World Guest Information, P.O. Box 10,040, Lake Buena Vista, Fla. 32830-0040. Telephone: (407) 824-4321.