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Magic Kingdom Facts
- Magic Kingdom opened as the first part of Walt Disney's planned Florida Project on October 1, 1971. It was the only theme park on the resort at the time and opened concurrently with two hotels on the property: Disney's Contemporary Resort and Disney's Polynesian Resort. The park opened with 23 attractions, three unique to the park and 20 copies of attractions at Disneyland.
- Yes there is an underground tunnel system below the Magic Kingdom called the utilidor...but it is not really underground. The utilidor system is actually constructed at ground level and the park itself was constructed over that.
- The Seven Seas Lagoon located in front of the Magic Kingdom is actually a man made lake. The soil that was excavated to construct was used to "build up" the ground level for the construction of the Magic Kingdom.
- When the Magic Kingdom first opened, Disney was planning on an attendance of approximately 100,000 guests but in fact, the opening day attendance was only 10,000.
- Main Street, USA was inspired by the town located in Marceline, Missouri, which is where Walt grew up.
- There are pipes underneath the Magic Kingdom in the utildoor that use pressurized air to jet trash to it's final destination at over 60 MPH.
- Most trash cans are no more that 30 steps apart. Walt came up with this calculation when first designing Disneyland. We observed guests in other parks and averaged out how many steps a person would take with trash in their hand before dropping it.
- The Magic Kingdom Park located at the Walt Disney World Resort is itself spread over an area of 107 acres, which makes it larger than Disneyland California.
- The tallest structure in Disney's Magic Kingdom is the Cinderella Castle, standing 189 ft tall. The honor for the second tallest structure goes to the Space Mountain, which is 183 ft tall.
- In 1967, Disney purchased Cinderella's Golden Carousel from the Olympic Park in Maplewood, New Jersey. The carousel was originally built in 1917 by The Philadelphia Toboggan Company, one of the most prestigious carousel companies. Ninety of the horses are from the original carousel, hand carved from wood. In addition, there are eleven fiberglass horses made by Disney.
- Big Thunder Mountain took 10 years of planning and 18 months of construction to complete. The construction used 650 tons of steel, 4,675 tons of specially-formulated 'mud,' and more than 9,000 gallons of paint. The cost of $17 million equals that of the California Disneyland opening in 1955. Additionally, $300,000 was spent on authentic set decorations.
- The Liberty Tree is well over 100 years old (a.k.a. Southern Live Oak). The 13 lanterns hanging in the tree represent the original 13 colonies.
- Listen for the subtle music changes between lands in the MK. Also, notice how the pavement changes as well, especially as you travel across the nation and through time from Liberty Square (the Colonial Eastern US) into the Frontierland (Western US).
- Cinderella's Castle stands 189 feet tall--100 feet taller than the castle in Disneyland in California--but the Florida counterpart appears even taller due to "forced perspective" that is used on most of the buildings in the Magic Kingdom. As the building gets taller, its width gets smaller, which gives those looking up the feeling that the building is higher than it is.
- Since 1971, an estimated 1.5 million pairs of sunglasses have been submitted to the Walt Disney World Lost and Found department. The sunshine state seems to encourage over 100 pairs of sunglasses to be stored into the Magic Kingdom every day
- Thunder Mountain at Magic Kingdom is based on Monument Valley, AZ, while the ride at Disneyland is based on Bryce Canyon, UT
- Space Mountain was the first ride to debut at Disney World before coming to Disneyland
- Pirates of the Caribbean did not open until 1973, 2 years after MK opened..originally Imagineers thought Pirates would not be popular in Florida due to its proximity to the Caribbean, but Guests demanded it, and it quickly became the most popular ride at the park
- When Disney’s Magic Kingdom® Park first opened its doors on October 1, 1971, adult admission cost $3.50.
- Both the Carousel of Progress and It’s A Small World made their debut at the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair
- The Haunted Mansion uses state-of-the-art Omnimover vehicles called “Doom Buggies.â€
- In conjunction with the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men’s Chest, the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction at Disney’s Magic Kingdom Park was renovated to add several characters from the movie such as Jack Sparrow and Hector Barbossa.
- Astro Orbiter first opened in Tomorrowland in 1974 as Star Jets.
- The Hall of Presidents had its origins as an audio-animatronic exhibition called “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln,†which premiered at the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair.
- Originally known as the “Tropical Serenade,†the Tiki Room in Adventureland was once sponsored by Florida Citrus Growers.
- The 60-foot-tall Swiss Family Treehouse in Adventureland weighs approximately 200 tons and is made of concrete and thousands of polyethylene leaves.
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Frontierland features six trains: I.B. Hearty, I.M. Brave, I.M. Fearless, U.B. Bold, U.R. Daring and U.R. Courageous.
- The replica of the Liberty Bell that can be found in the center of Liberty Square was built from the same authentic cast as the original in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- The Walt Disney World Railroad, which serves approximately 1.5-million passengers annually, is an authentic 1928 steam-powered train.
- Mickey’s Toontown Fair was once known as both Mickey’s Birthdayland and Mickey’s Starland.
- Astronauts Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper and Jim Irwin were present at the grand opening of Space Mountain in 1975.
- The Tomorrowland Transit Authority was originally called the WEDway People Mover (WED standing for Walter Elias Disney).
- Splash Mountain in Adventureland features a five-story, free-fall plunge at a 45-degree angle into a splash pool at a speed of 40 miles per hour.
- Cinderella's Castle is made from no stones at all (even though they appear to be stones for the outside walls). The entire castle is actually made out of fiberglass.
