Today in History

October 01, 1971
Walt Disney World Opens in Orlando
Walt Disney Productions opens its second theme park, at an East Coast location just outside Orlando, Florida, to complement its west coast Disneyland park. Walt Disney had envisioned the new park as a community for the future to include an amusement park, a vacation center and an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT). Disney dies in 1966 before his dream is realized, but today Walt Disney World is the largest (twice the size of Manhattan) and most visited theme park resort on the planet. About 10,000 people attend on opening day; today during peak times, Christmas week and New Year's week, attendance hits 75,000 visitors per day. There are also Disney theme parks in Tokyo, France and Hong Kong.



Today's Feature History Article

Goodbye My Coney Island?

A new development plan may alter the face of New York's famous amusement park





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