Walt Disney's vision for the "Florida Project" begins with Disneyland and the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair. After an imaginative and expansive design, a unique land acquisition process, and an innovative construction period, Walt Disney World celebrated its opening in 1971. It featured a theme park dubbed the Magic Kingdom and three exquisitely themed resorts: Disney's Contemporary Resort, Disney's Polynesian Village, and Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground.

As Walt Disney World consistently grew and evolved through the five decades that have followed, certain themes keep reverberating: there's an appreciation for nostalgia, a joy in fantasy, a hunger for discovery, and an unending hope for a better tomorrow. Inspirational and memorable theme parks, water parks, sports arenas, recreational water sports options, world-class golf courses, vast shopping villages, and a transportation network unlike any other in the world resulted in fun and familiar characters, traditions, spectacles, merchandise, and so much more. The resort has come to represent the pulse of American leisure and has served as a backdrop for life's milestones both big and small, public and private.

A Portrait of Walt Disney World: 50 Years of The Most Magical Place on Earth serves as a treasure trove for pop culture enthusiasts, students of hospitality, artists, art collectors, and Disney fans.

Searching for ways to celebrate the Walt Disney World Resort? Explore more books from Disney Editions:

• Delicious Disney: Walt Disney World
• Art of Coloring: Walt Disney World
• People Behind the Disney Parks: Stories of Those Honored with a Window on Main Street, U.S.A.

• Poster Art of the Disney Parks, Second Edition

• Maps of the Disney Parks: Charting 60 Years from California to Shanghai