Orlando landmarks

 Disneyland

The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, the resort is operated by Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, a division of The Walt Disney Company. The property covers nearly 25,000 acres (39 sq mi; 101 km2), of which half has been used. The resort comprises four theme parks (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios, and Disney's Animal Kingdom), two water parks (Disney's Blizzard Beach and Disney's Typhoon Lagoon), 31 themed resort hotels, nine non-Disney hotels, several golf courses, a camping resort, and other entertainment venues, including the outdoor shopping center Disney Springs.

Designed to supplement Disneyland in Anaheim, California, which had opened in 1955, 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 attractions. 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 testbed for new city-living innovations. Walt Disney died on December 15, 1966, during the company wrestled with the idea of whether to initial planning of the complex. After his death, the bring the Disney World project to fruition; however, Walt's older brother, Roy O. Disney, came out of retirement to make sure Walt's biggest dream was realized. Construction started in 1967, with the company instead building a resort similar to Disneyland, abandoning the experimental concepts for a planned community. The Magic Kingdom was the first theme park to open in the complex, in 1971, followed by Epcot (1982), Disney's Hollywood Studios (1989), and Disney's Animal Kingdom (1998). It was Roy who insisted the name of the entire complex be changed from Disney World to Walt Disney World, ensuring that people would remember that the project was Walt's dream. 

                                                                                     In 2018, Walt Disney World was the most visited vacation resort in the world, with an average annual attendance of more than 58 million. The resort is the flagship destination of Disney's worldwide corporate enterprise and has become a popular staple in American culture. In 2020, Walt Disney World was chosen to host the NBA Bubble for play of the 2019–20 season of the National Basketball Association to resume at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. Walt Disney World (as well as Disneyland) is also covered by an FAA prohibited airspace zone that restricts all airspace activities without approval from the Federal government of the United States, including usage of drones; this level of protection is otherwise only offered to American critical infrastructure (like the Pantex nuclear weapons plant), military bases, the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area Special Flight Rules Area, official presidential travels, and Camp David.

     

In 2020, Disney World laid off 6,500 employees and only operated at 25% capacity after reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On April 22, 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law which officially stripped the Walt Disney Company of its longtime self-governing status in the area around Walt Disney World by June 2023.

Disney's animal Kingdom

Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park is a zoological theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. Owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division, it is the largest theme park in the world, covering 580 acres (230 ha).The park opened on Earth Day, April 22, 1998, and was the fourth theme park built at the resort. The park is dedicated and themed around natural environment and animal conservation, a philosophy once pioneered by Walt Disney himself. Disney's Animal Kingdom distinguishes itself from the rest of Walt Disney World's theme parks by featuring traditional attractions as well as hundreds of species of live animals. Due to these sensitive conditions, special designs and provisions were incorporated throughout the park to protect the animals' welfare. The park is located on the western edge of the resort, and is isolated from the other theme parks and properties to minimize external disruptions to the animals; as a result, the park's nighttime show doesn't feature fireworks that would otherwise disturb the animals. In efforts to be more eco-friendly, the park uses biodegradable paper straws and prohibits plastic straws, lids, and balloons. Disney's Animal Kingdom is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, indicating they have met or exceeded the standards in education, conservation, and research.

In 2019, Disney's Animal Kingdom hosted 13.888 million guests, ranking it as the third-most-visited theme park in North America and the sixth-most-visited theme park in the world. The park's icon is the Tree of Life, a 145-foot-tall (44 m), 50-foot-wide (15 m) artificial baobab tree. The park is the second-most-visited at Walt Disney World Resort, behind Disney's Magic Kingdom.

                                                                                         

                                                                               Oasis 

The Oasis is the park's logistic equivalent to Main Street U.S.A. and provides the transition from the park's entrance to the world of animals. The main paths feature animal exhibits and dense vegetation and trees lead deeper into the park and then onto Discovery Island.

Between the parking lot and the Oasis sits a Rainforest Cafe, which can be entered from both inside and outside the ticketed area.

Pandora – The World of Avatar is themed to the fictional alien exoplanetary moon, Pandora, from James Cameron's Avatar. The land's marquee attraction is Avatar Flight of Passage, a 3D flying simulator that allows guests to fly on a banshee across the Pandoran landscape. Another attraction, the Na'vi River Journey, places guests aboard a boat ride through Pandora's bioluminescent rainforests.The area opened on May 27, 2017.

                                                                     Discovery Island is located at the center of the park, and is an island within the park's Discovery River waterway. It serves as the "central hub" connecting the other sections of the park by bridges, with the exception of Rafiki's Planet Watch. It was originally called Safari Village, as Discovery Island was the name for the small zoological park located in Walt Disney World's Bay Lake, but renamed after that area closed in 1999. The Tree of Life, the park's sculpted, man-made baobab tree, is located in this section and is surrounded by trails and animal enclosures. Inside the Tree of Life is It's Tough to Be a Bug!, a 4D film inspired by the 1998 Disney·Pixar animated film, A Bug's Life. The park's largest gift shops and two of its major restaurants are on Discovery Island.   

Dinoland

DinoLand U.S.A. is themed around dinosaurs and other extinct prehistoric life. The area is anchored by the Dino Institute, a fictitious palaeontological facility which is home to Dinosaur, a dark thrill ride loosely inspired by the 2000 Disney animated film of the same name, featuring a harrowing trip through time to the Late Cretaceous Period. Just outside the institute is "Dino-Sue", a casting of a Tyrannosaurus rex fossil that is the most complete yet found. At the nearby Boneyard, there is a multi-leveled playground area with a Columbian mammoth fossil to be uncovered and a cast skeleton of a Brachiosaurus. Adjacent to the Institute and its surrounding facilities, is Chester and Hester's Dino-Rama, which recalls the many roadside attractions that were once scattered throughout the United States, being constructed by the owners of an old gas station hoping to take advantage of the tourism business the institute has brought in. The area features the TriceraTop Spin aerial carousel ride, carnival games and gift shops. At the eastern edge of DinoLand U.S.A. is the Theater in the Wild, which hosts Finding Nemo – The Musical, a live-action musical stage show based on the story of the 2003 Disney·Pixar animated film Finding Nemo.

Like the other sections of Disney's Animal Kingdom, there are animals on display. The animals, such as the American crocodile, red legged seriemas, Abdim's stork and Asian brown tortoise, have evolutionary links to the age of the dinosaurs. They are animal species that have survived since the dinosaur era and can be found along the Cretaceous Trail along with a collection of Mesozoic plants. The area was sponsored by McDonald's until 2009.

    

Beastly Kingdom

Beastly Kingdom

When conceived, Disney's Animal Kingdom was to focus on three broad classifications of animals: those that exist in today's reality; those that did exist but are now extinct (i.e., dinosaurs); and those that only exist in the realm of fantasy. The original design for Animal Kingdom included a themed section called the Beastly Kingdom (possibly spelled as "Beastly Kingdomme"), devoted to creatures of legend and mythology. During the final stages of planning of development, Michael Eisner decided that either Beastly Kingdom or Dinoland USA would be built first, due to budget cuts after the failure of Euro Disney (known today as Disneyland Paris) and the higher cost of the upkeep and care of the animals at the park. Dinoland USA was chosen first mostly due to its low budget concept but, in addition, Camp Minnie-Mickey was built instead of Beastly Kingdom and was meant to serve as a temporary placeholder until Beastly Kingdom could be built.

 Disney's Animal Kingdom also opened with river boats that showcased the more mythical elements soon to be in the parks, including a unicorn statue, a mention of the Dinosaur Animated movie, and images of knights near a dragon's cave. Beastly Kingdom was to feature mythical animals such as unicorns, dragons, and sea monsters, featuring realms of both good and evil creatures

Camp Mickey Minnie

Camp Minnie-Mickey was themed as a rustic summer camp, built as a placeholder on the location where Beastly Kingdom was intended to be built. It served as a meet-and-greet for Disney characters including Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Koda, and Thumper. The area's main attraction was the Festival of the Lion King, a live stage show featuring acrobatics and musical performances inspired by The Lion King. It currently plays in Africa's Harambe Theater. Pocahontas and Her Forest Friends, based on the 1995 animated film, was a live stage show that ran from April 22, 1998, to September 27, 2008. The area closed on January 5, 2014, and was replaced by Pandora – The World of Avatar.

Disney's Boardwalk

Disney's BoardWalk Resort is a hotel and entertainment              complex at the Walt Disney World resort, in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando, Florida. First opened in 1996, the BoardWalk Resort lies in the Epcot Resort Area, alongside Crescent Lake, and is situated between Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios. The resort is owned and operated by Disney Parks, Experiences and Products. The inn and the villas share a common lobby with the rest of the resort. The Inn, Atlantic Dance Hall, and other features of the boardwalk were designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects.

The BoardWalk entertainment district lies along a 0.25 miles (0.40 km) long authentic boardwalk, reminiscent of Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York. Several restaurants are present on the BoardWalk, including the Big River Grille & Brewing Works, the only microbrewery at Walt Disney World; the ESPN Club, a sports bar presented by the eponymous Disney-owned sports network and also containing broadcast facilities for special events; and Kouzzina, a Mediterranean cuisine restaurant opened by celebrity chef Cat Cora.As of December 2014 a new restaurant called Trattoria al Forno, serving family style Italian cuisine, replaced Kouzzina.

 

Disney's Hollywood Studios

         Disney's Hollywood Studios is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Based on a concept by Marty Sklar, Randy Bright, and Michael Eisner, the park opened on May 1, 1989, as the Disney-MGM Studios (Theme) Park, and was the third of four theme parks built at Walt Disney World. Spanning 135 acres (55 ha), the park is dedicated to the imagined worlds from film, television, music, and theatre, drawing inspiration from the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Disney's Hollywood Studios was initially developed as both a theme park inspired by show business and an operating production studio, with active film and television production services, an animation facility branch, and a functioning backlot. Construction on the combined park and studio began in 1987, but was accelerated when the construction of the similarly-themed Universal Studios Florida began a few miles away. To increase public interest and the variety of film representation within the park, Disney entered into a licensing agreement with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, from which the park's original name was derived. The park's production facilities were removed throughout the 2000s, and many of the park's soundstages were retrofitted for newer attractions and guest use. The park's current name took effect in 2008, with the removal of the MGM-branding throughout the park. In the 2010s, the park began to distance itself from the original studio backlot intention and entered a new direction of immersive theming and attraction development inspired by Hollywood stories.

The park's icon was originally the Earffel Tower from the park's opening until 2001 when the Sorcerer's Hat—a stylized version of the magical hat from Fantasia—was erected in the park's central hub. It then served as the park's icon until its removal in January 2015. In 2018, the park hosted 11.258 million guests, ranking it the fifth most-visited theme park in North America and the ninth most-visited theme park in the world

                   Echo Lake  

Echo lake, inspired by the similarly-named neighborhood in Los Angeles, is designed to mimic the suburban "California Crazy" form of architecture from Hollywood's Golden Age and is anchored around the area's namesake lake.

Echo Lake includes three major attractions based on characters and films created by George Lucas and produced by Lucasfilm. Star Tours – The Adventures Continue is a 3-D motion simulator ride set in the Star Wars universe. The Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple, a live-action stage show, invites children to become "padawan learners" and receive lightsaber training from a Jedi master. The live-action Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! re-enacts various scenes from Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark, while illustrating how professional film stunts are performed.

The Hyperion Theater houses For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration, a musical show based on Disney's 2013 animated film Frozen. Behind this building lies a subsection named Commissary Lane, that connects Hollywood Boulevard directly to Grand Avenue and bypasses Echo Lake altogether. In this area, resides the ABC Commissary and the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant, a dinner theater with a retro-style theme featuring vintage car themed tables and a large movie screen featuring continuous clips of science-fiction films from the 1950s.