Disney Parks: Walt Disney Resort Behind The Scenes

0:00 (light music) - [Narrator] Fantasy, discovery, adventure, and the mouse. Walt Disney World is a world like no other. It's where people check reality at the gate, and step into a land of imagination and escape to an all embracing resort of theme parks and water parks, hotels, and night life. In the next hour, we peel back the curtain to see how it all works. (fireworks exploding) Forget everything you thought you knew.

0:47 This is Walt Disney World Resort Behind the Scenes. (dramatic music) (light music) Walt Disney World. These three words evoke images that almost everyone has seen or experienced. A world of fantasy, make believe, and incredible thrill rides that make this place the most popular vacation destination on Earth. - Nothing's ever gonna be like Disney. - [Narrator] Kids dream about it,

1:34 the competition studies it, no one has been able to duplicate it. So what makes Walt Disney World number one? - Disney is held to a higher standard, because Disney holds itself to a much higher standard. - [Narrator] How do they keep people coming back? - The expectations of people who come to Disney, I think, are probably higher than when they do anything else in their life. - [Narrator] What is the story behind the story of Walt Disney World? - Walt Disney World is definitely the number one destination for tourism in the entire world. - [Narrator] Four theme parks, two water parks, and endless resort hotels.

2:22 An estimated 40 square miles of central Florida, twice the size of Manhattan, it's every kid's fantasy, and adults spend millions to make it come true. - I think going to Walt Disney World had become a right of passage for American children. And I think that once they get grown up and have their own children, that they're gonna bring them back. - We came here just to enjoy the place as a family. There's a lot of times in our busy lives that we don't get to spend as a family. - I love Disney World, it's my favorite place. - We'll come back for years to come. - Our dreams come true! - [Narrator] And it's not just a place for kids. - It's the greatest place on Earth. Every time you come into the hotels and they say, "Welcome home," it really feels like you're coming home. - I'm from Indiana, and we come to Walt Disney World every single year.

3:08 - The Magic Kingdom was awesome, it was brilliant. It was something that we'd always dreamt of as a little child, and it made me believe that my dreams could all come true. It was brilliant. - We came on dedication day, October 25th, 1971, and we've come practically every month since that time, so that's been at least 400 times or more. - [Narrator] How did it all begin? When Disneyland opened in 1955, there was nothing like it. It was an escape from the carnivals and sideshows of the day. Families were safe at Disneyland. Walt Disney attractions were unique among theme parks, in that they were designed to tell a story. Critics predicted failure, but the public disagreed,

3:56 and they came out in droves. Today it's different, but in the '50s, the park was surrounded by tacky restaurants and cheap hotels. - Harbor Boulevard had become just a neon jungle of terrible signs. And Walt hated it, because it was the way people came to the entrance to Disneyland. - I just got mad down at Disneyland, and I said, "When we go out again," I said, "we're not gonna have this happen to us, "where we take the plane." - [Narrator] Disney scoured the country for a place to start over. ("Theme from Mission: Impossible") - The Disney entourage was flying over central Florida and Walt looked down and he saw the crisscross of I4 and Florida's turnpike. - [Narrator] To prevent another neon jungle,

4:41 Walt knew he needed to buy a lot of land, and if word got out, the price of that land would skyrocket. He would have to keep it secret. Special agents were hired to oversee this covert mission. They were able to stay under the radar, and purchase more than 27,000 acres using false identities. - They created five dummy corporations that bought the land so that people here in central Florida, who were watching this take place, could not tell that it was the Walt Disney company that was behind these land purchases. - [Narrator] Disney wanted to have complete control over his land, and shrewdly came up with an unusual scheme. - They had this problem that Florida law said that only a popularly elected government

5:27 could exercise its own planning and zoning laws. Therefore they had to create a general purpose government with real residents, and they did. They created two cities, Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista. - [Narrator] In 1965, Disney's cover was blown, and land prices jumped from $200 an acre, to a thousand dollars, virtually overnight. - This is where the early planning is taking place for our so-called Disney World project. - [Narrator] Walt never saw his dream realized. He died in December of 1966. - When Walt died, and I think it really slowed us down quite a bit. - [Narrator] The loss of Walt Disney was a serious

6:14 blow to the company. Without Walt's guidance, the company decided to model their first Florida theme park, The Magic Kingdom, after Disneyland. - When I think of Disneyland in California as charming, and the one in Florida is spectacular. Obviously they had the land, and there was no Harbor Boulevard 10 feet to the side of Tomorrowland. - I have a photograph of myself, standing in October, 1967, standing where we had cleared a hundred acres for The Magic Kingdom, and we put a big yellow X where the castle was going to go. And that was all we had done on the land. - [Narrator] Turning Florida swampland into a magic kingdom

7:00 was nothing short of a miracle. Thousands of construction workers labored day and night. It was one of the world's largest construction projects. - He really did create a place where there was enough land and enough room for growth, that anything we could imagine can come up. - [Narrator] A large part of the design is what visitors don't see. Guests won't notice it when they enter the park, but when they're in The Magic Kingdom, they're actually a full 14 feet above ground. So what is going on below the surface? - On the lower level all the servicing is done, and all the employees come to work and distribute out into the park, while the guests are on the upper level, where all the guest activities and the magic unfolds. - [Narrator] The Magic Kingdom is the heart and soul

7:46 of Walt Disney World. Modeled after 1955's original Disneyland in California, this was the very first outpost for Disney. (people chattering) Through the years, The Magic Kingdom has evolved and grown. Adding a medley of rides and attractions, it is now reportedly number one in US theme park attendance. (audience laughing) - Magical place, I cry when I walk in, I cry when I leave, and every little bit of the child that still lives in me just breaks free. - [Narrator] Its design is unique. Seven themed lands that radiate from a central hub. Adventureland, Frontierland Tomorrowland

8:32 Fantasyland, Main Street, Toontown, and Liberty Square. These themes seem random, but they're not. They were themed to promote Disney's films and TV shows. - Uncle Walt showed every kid growing up in America the adventures of Davey Crocket in Frontierland, and the adventures of the African lion for Adventureland. - [Narrator] Most theme parks today follow Disney's hub and spokes design. (upbeat music) Near the center stands one of the world's most recognizable icons, Cinderella Castle. At 189 feet, it can be seen for miles. How many stones did it take to build this princess palace?

9:18 None. It may look like stone, but it's actually a mass of steel and fiberglass. And what about the inside of the castle? - One thing that is interesting is there actually was going to be an apartment for Walt Disney's family inside the castle. The room was built, but of course Walt Disney passed away before The Magic Kingdom opened, so it was used for many years by the telephone operators here at Walt Disney World. (groovy music) - [Narrator] In 2007, Disney's Imagineers climbed back upstairs and transformed the space into living quarters. They call it the Cinderella Castle Suite. The goal was to create a space that makes you feel like you're in a 17th century chateau,

10:05 while still offering all the technology and conveniences of the 21st century. The 650 square foot suite is equipped with a bed chamber, a bathroom, parlor, and one glass slipper. (train bell chimes) Every day thousands visit The Magic Kingdom. The first thing they see, Main Street, USA, a theme park version of Walt's childhood town. The shops here would be right at home in Hollywood. Why? They're built like film sets. - The buildings on Main Street are full scale at the bottom, and then they get a little bit smaller as they go up higher.

10:51 - [Narrator] The Magic Kingdom is Walt Disney's legacy. It's a Small World, Peter Pan's Flight, and The Jungle Cruise are all his creations. - This little miniature here. - [Narrator] The last attraction Walt personally supervised? Pirates of the Caribbean. A park staple since it's Disneyland debut in 1967, this classic attraction has entertained generations of visitors. (dramatic music) Years later, the park attraction became the inspiration for the feature films with Captain Jack Sparrow and his scurvy crew. Then the Pirates films turned right around and reinspired the park attraction.

11:37 - We have come full circle. Pirates of the Caribbean, the attraction, inspired the movies, which inspired the attraction. - [Narrator] Part of which involves sneaking in some of Hollywood's most infamous buccaneers. - [Pirate] Get on the right side! - To create the new figures, we extensively researched the scene, met with the actors, and had our sculptors, designers and artists really, really study it. If you're a big Johnny Depp fan, which most people are, it won't be too hard to pick him out. - [Narrator] Pirates of the Caribbean has inspired generations of kids to be pirates. - [All] Arr! - [Narrator] Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom opened in 1971, 16 years after California's Disneyland. There were no other parks like it, thanks in part to new ride technologies like the groundbreaking audio animatronics

12:23 found in Pirates of the Caribbean, It's a Small World, and a park favorite, The Haunted Mansion. (creepy organ music) (intense music) In The Haunted Mansion, dune buggies carry you through the moldering sanctum of the spirit world. (ravens cawing) Within these walls lies some of Disney's oldest and best special effects. A disembodied head sees the future as ghosts roam creepy corridors. And there is one of Disney's best kept secrets,

13:09 the dining hall phantoms. These spooks have been mystifying visitors for years. Curiously, the technology behind them is pretty simple. - In The Haunted Mansion we have several special effects, and a lot of those are based on techniques that were developed by magicians years ago in parlor tricks, reflections in glass, and things that have been around since long, long, long before Disney was designing attractions. (woman shrieking) - [Narrator] The spirits in The Haunted Mansion are all controlled in a highly sensitive and restricted area, the Digital Animation Control System, or DACS. - DACS is the nerve center, electronically, of the park.

13:56 - [Narrator] More than 1,100 audio animatronic figures and 700 soundtracks are controlled from here. This is the brainstem of The Magic Kingdom. This single cabinet handles every spook inspector in The Haunted Mansion. - This contains all of the sounds throughout the attraction from end to end. This is a raven (raven caws) from the graveyard scene. Here are some cats (cats meowing) from the graveyard. (dog howling) And of course one that everyone will recognize, the howling dog, he's on the outside. - [Narrator] Through the years, Disney knew it had to keep the park fresh and relevant for generations of new guests.

14:43 - Technology has been a major force in the evolution of the parks. - We have technologies that can bring the characters to life in more ways than ever before. - [Narrator] With that in mind, The Magic Kingdom continues to develop new technologies and attractions, like Mickey's PhilharMagic, Stitch's Great Escape, and of course, the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor Comedy Club. (upbeat music) (crowd cheers) - Every show is different, and that's because the monster comics that are up on stage are able to see and talk to the guests. - Neal. (audience laughs) - [Narrator] The 400 seat theater sits in Tomorrowland right across from where Stitch likes to escape everything. - You actually leave the world of Tomorrowland

15:28 through a magical process, a door. - The monster doors open, the light lights, and you step through into the monster world. And you find yourselves at Monstropolis, and here they've taken one of their test chambers and turned it into a comedy club. - [Narrator] At the comedy club, guests can laugh, joke, and match wits with comedian wannabes recruited by Mike Wazowski, the one-eyed hero from Disney Pixar's Monsters Incorporated. (audience cheers) (audience yells) - Mike is our MC, Monster of Ceremonies. - And he's gonna introduce you to a number of wacky monsters who are doing standup comedy, some for the first time,

16:15 and your laughter will help power their world. - [Narrator] The goal of the show, for Mike at least, is to fill up his laugh can. - And so when we laugh, we see spikes in power. There may even be a part of the show where the laugh can gets too full, like Mike should have changed the can. - [Narrator] Before Mike could do any of this, the Imagineers had to tackle a few challenges of their own. (light music) - It's the most interactive, live, real time feeling show we've ever done with Disney characters. - This show has been probably one of the hardest shows I've ever worked. - [Mike] Hey, hey, raise your hand if you're here! (audience cheers) - The monsters actually recognize the guests in the audience

17:02 and can talk with them one on one, four on one, five on one. One of the monsters has two heads, so that's two on one, I guess that would be. - [Narrator] How do the monsters come up with their material? - The monsters actually have their own material. They have a staff of writers. There's a lot of writers in monster world. - [Narrator] Guests can even get into the act. They can text message jokes from their cell phones to the comics before the show begins. - We're very excited about how the humans will be giving their jokes to the monsters, because I think for the very first time in a Disney attraction we will be asking guests if they want to participate, to text message, using their cell phones or PDAs. Text message jokes back to the monster world.

17:48 - [Narrator] The comedy club is a monster smash, but it might never had made it to Walt Disney World if something remarkable had not occurred. (audience cheers) In January 2006, the Walt Disney company and its longtime friend and partner, Pixar, two of the world's largest animation entities, finally got together. It was touted as a marriage made in heaven. - We're very excited to be able to work with John Lasseter and our friends at Pixar. - I think it's great, working with Pixar. We have a great creative collaboration relationship. - [Narrator] With Goofy and Woody now corporate cousins, what would that mean for Walt Disney World? - John got his start at Disneyland as a sweeper and later as a Jungle Cruise operator, so he loves the parks.

18:33 And coming from animation, as many of the early Imagineers did, he completely understands stepping into dimensional worlds and creating dimensional worlds. He's the perfect partner for us. (upbeat rock music) (people chattering) (light music) - [Narrator] During its first decade, Walt Disney World was anchored by one theme park, The Magic Kingdom. But in 1982 the doors were open to Epcot. (people yelling)

19:19 - Epcot is probably our most real world park of all the things that we have to Walt Disney World. And it's due in part to Walt Disney's fascination with the world. - [Narrator] Epcot was Walt's vision for a utopian city of the future, with a little touch of Disney. - Epcot gave us a new opportunity for our storytelling, because we were taking real world subjects and trying to make magical experiences from them. - So many people think that Epcot's not for kids, but there's really so much for children to do there. (people chattering) - I just saw kids over near the aquarium, and they were so excited. They were pointing out to their parents, we've gotta go here, we've gotta go here, we've gotta go here.

20:04 It's definitely a great place for kids. - The most exciting, and by far the most important part of our Florida project will be our experimental prototype city of Tomorrow. We call it Epcot. - [Narrator] Future World and World Showcase were concepts for two different parks. Then, in one pivotal moment, it all came together. - We knew we didn't have two projects, so John Hench and I got on each end of two models and we pushed them together, and that became Epcot. - And Epcot in a sense is a synergy of those two things that Walt was fascinated with. You have Future World, which is really focused on technology and how it will change our lives in the future, and you have the World Showcase,

20:50 which is a celebration of cultures and the global community that we have. - [Narrator] For World Showcase, picture perfect pavilions representing various countries were created with fanatical attention to detail. - [Vendor] One dollar here, one dollar. - For example the Moroccan Pavilion, the king of Morocco sent his personal architect to work with us and make sure that all the details were correct. - [Narrator] In October 1982, Epcot opened. It was a radical departure from The Magic Kingdom, and at 260 acres, more than twice the size. - When they first opened, they had a rough time getting the message across as what it was. And a lot of people said, oh, this is just a World's Fair.

21:37 And the Disney officials kept saying, no, it's much, much more. - [Narrator] Walt Disney World knew Epcot had to change, and evolve. One of the world's largest man made ocean environments and a 3D special effects show kept the turnstiles turning, but it still wasn't enough. To make Epcot a destination for all ages, one final and essential ingredient was needed. - Through the years they realized that the people that come to Disney wanted thrill rides. - [Narrator] So Disney gave the people what they wanted. One of Epcot's early attractions, The World of Motion, got a facelift, and some knuckles, white knuckles.

22:24 In 1999, Test Track blew the hood off Epcot, taking guests for punishing vehicle production tests. (intriguing music) There are teeth chattering suspension tests, breath catching break tests, and hot and cold climate tests. The gut wrenching finale? A 65 mile an hour speed test. (people screaming) The result, the fastest ride at Walt Disney World. - I didn't know it was gonna be so fast. - [Narrator] For a thrill of a different kind, World Showcase sets the stage for Disney's most ambitious spectacle, IllumiNations. (grand music)

23:11 (fireworks booming) - I don't think there's any place else in the world where you can see something in the round for a nighttime spectacular that incorporates not only a story, but a significant amount of effects that I think are done exceptionally well. - [Narrator] Thousands of fireworks, massive fountains, blinding flame effects, an enormous spherical television. This nighttime extravaganza packs them in for every show. It's how Epcot ends its day. With thousands of live fireworks shells, the IllumiNations staging area has rarely been seen.

23:58 - The Air Launch Shell, or ALF shell, is a propriety Disney piece of product. And what it is, instead of having a lift charge underneath the shell to lift it out of the tube, it uses 90 Psi of air to push it out. And then at a pre-determined time, on a chip that's built into the firework, the firework ignites. The reason that we use this is so that you don't see the flame coming up out of the firework. It's suddenly just there, ignited. - [Narrator] With live fireworks wired to detonate, the barges containing the show effects are floated onto the lagoon each day. - The first barge we take out is the Earth globe. It weighs approximately 350,000 pounds, has four 260 horsepower jet engines in it. - [Narrator] With 15,500 miniature video screens,

24:46 it's not your average television. This titanic TV floats, spits, and explodes. - The video on the Earth globe is very, very new. No one's ever wrapped a video around the world on an Earth globe and then made it turn. - [Narrator] In the center of it all, the inferno barge. Packed with 4,000 gallons of liquid propane, this fiery monster is primed to explode, but only on cue. - Each of the nozzles that you can see behind and around me are different types of effects. They might have a mushroom cloud come out, or the nozzles right behind me are straight impinging jets. (grand music) - Hopefully, there's just the spirit of fun

25:31 that goes with the nighttime spectacular at night that the last thing they see, and what we've always called it as our kiss goodnight. (fireworks booming) (audience cheers) - [Narrator] In 2003, Mission: SPACE took off, and virtually redefined the category of thrill ride. - You can be a pilot, you can be a commander, you can be a navigator, you can be an engineer. - [Narrator] A booming rocket launch to Mars, Mission: SPACE feels astonishingly realistic. - It's when those rockets ignite and you start to lift off the Earth's surface, your body feels pushed back into the seat. The entire capsule is shaking and rumbling,

26:19 and you start to see those clouds go by as you race off into space. - [Narrator] Some say Mission: SPACE is the most thrilling ride they've ever experienced. (people yelling) But for others, it may be a little too thrilling, so the park decided to offer two versions of the mission, the original ride and an option for those who prefer a tamer experience. This marks the first time Disney has ever offered two variations of the same ride. - By offering a second version of Mission: SPACE, we hoped to have broadened the attraction's appeal and offer a chance for even more guests to experience it. (rocket zooms)

27:05 - [Narrator] Meanwhile back on Earth, and at Epcot, guests can find one of Disney's most innovated attractions. It's called Soarin', an astonishingly realistic and immersive hang gliding ride. Because it was such a big success and the number one attraction at Disney's California Adventure, Disney decided to take it back east. - Our guests were demanding that we bring Soarin' to Epcot. - You get a little thrill right at the beginning, where you're sitting there in a subdued seat, and it goes whoa, and it swings you out, and you wonder if you're gonna keep going. - You tilt a little bit, you move with the scenery. It's really like you're going through the shot. - [Narrator] The demands of such an attraction

27:50 presented all sorts of challenges for Disney's Imagineers. - We had to figure out how to get the people up there. They came up with what I thought was a relatively simple mechanism, so I decided maybe I would make a little model. Then I remembered I had an old Erector Set. After about two hours I came up with a little model I could crank in place of an electric motor, and I could show how there could be a row of seats on a ground level, and how they could soar back up into a screen. (expansive music) - [Narrator] Out of the skies and into the seas. The Living Seas had opened to great fanfare in Epcot's early days, but even the world's largest man made ocean environment needs a little overhaul from time to time. So the new relationship with Pixar

28:36 was called upon to transform The Living Seas into a Nemo themed pavilion. (upbeat music) The star attraction here? The Seas with Nemo & Friends. - The Seas with Nemo & Friends is an attraction based on the film, "Finding Nemo," that we put in what was formally known as The Living Seas. And we've completely transformed the pavilion with this attraction. - [Narrator] Picking up where the film left off, the ride through attraction takes guests through a colorful coral reef setting. - The Seas with Nemo & Friends allows our guests to travel beneath the seas and meet the characters that they know and love from the movie in a context that fits in the Epcot setting. - Our guests board what we call Clam-Mobiles,

29:21 and go into Nemo's world. - [Narrator] Here, animated characters swim amid real marine life in a 5.7 million gallon saltwater environment. - It was extremely challenging to do that. It took us about two years of mocking it up, and getting this effect just right, and then working with the animators up at Pixar to produce the animation in such a way that it felt natural in this environment. So it was quite a process. (laid back music) - As part of The Seas with Nemo & Friends, you can dive into the digital deep with Crush, the totally awesome sea turtle from "Finding Nemo." (Crush laughs) - Oh, check out that most excellent double spinner, dudes.

30:09 That was awesome. (audience laughs) - In Turtle Talk with Crush, you get to talk to Crush. He's actually there taking your questions. He'll interact with the kids on the floor, and their reaction is as if they had seen Santa Claus and talked to him for the first time. It's just tremendous. - [Narrator] That's right, bro. This digital dude talks, jokes, and even recognizes the guests hanging out with him. Grab some show and dive into a righteous unrehearsed chat with the Crush man. - Ohh, look at all the humans in the human tank! - So Turtle Talk really is interactive. It's live, you never know what he's gonna say. - Aha, I wanna say hi to some of these dudes.

30:55 Gonna start with this dude right here in the short sleeve orange shell, yeah. What's your name, little dude? - Matthew. - Matthew, excellent. - Turtle Talk with Crush came out of a program we call The Living Character Initiative, A program we did with our R&D group to find new ways of using technology to allow our guests to interact with the characters. - With Turtle Talk in this particular instance, the technology came first. Crush is the perfect character to interact with. He's been around 150 years, he knows a lot, he's funny, he's engaging. So we started to develop a show specifically for him using that technology. - Dudes. (audience laughs) What?

31:41 This is far, dudettes, that's totally embarrassing, dudes. - No, he said, "What up, dude?" - [Both] "Gimme some fin." - Dude was funny, and he also told us that we need to say dude for the rest of the day. (upbeat music) (people yelling) (laid back music) - [Narrator] Walt Disney World, once just a magic kingdom, it made Epcot a household word. With the '90s looming, Disney executives knew it was time to take a step back and rethink Walt Disney World again. It was time to build another theme park,

32:26 and this time they wanted to build one that was based on the movies. - Hollywood, movies, television, you know, those are subjects that people love, around the world. It was only natural that that would be one of the subjects that came up that we said, this is fantastic. This we can take and turn into a great theme park. And we did. - [Narrator] So the magic of Hollywood would come to Florida in Disney's next theme park. - We were trying to go for a combination of sort of working studio and the Hollywood that everybody thinks was, but really never was there. The sort of dream of Hollywood. - It was all about pulling the curtain back and showing you how the magic is made. Very different from Magic Kingdom. - It's about the heyday of Hollywood, the '30s and '40s and all the glamor and glitz of Hollywood.

33:12 - For me, it's like a taste of Hollywood. It's the closest thing you have to Hollywood here in Orlando, Florida. - It's like you're in the movies. You go to every ride, it's a different movie, different show. - It's definitely like going to Hollywood. - When the park first opened, we had two rides, The Great Movie Ride and then the Backstage Studio Tour, featuring Catastrophe Canyon. - [Narrator] As with Epcot, Disney knew they had to expand, and there was only one way to do that. - One thing that was lacking, and the entire property was lacking at that time, were thrill rides. - [Narrator] But did Disney have what it takes to thrill the next generation? (digital beeping) - In the early '80s, that was Star Wars, E.T., Indiana Jones, and our company was not in touch

33:58 with where the young people were at that time. So I went to management and I said, "We really need to get involved with George Lucas." And it was sorta like heresy. - [Narrator] Finally, there was a meeting of the minds. Disney sat down with George Lucas. - And George said, "You know, if I wasn't able to do it "on my own, the only company that I'd want my product "in would be Disney, because I think both of us "have a recognized leadership "in the type of products we do." - We thought the idea of taking the George Lucas Stars Wars characters and that kind of adventure thing, and re-spinning the exterior so it felt like it was more of a movie set, would be a perfect addition to this park. (lasers zapping) - [Narrator] Star Tours was the first motion simulator ride ever created. By integrating film and motion simulation,

34:44 visitors are transported into the world of Star Wars. - I remember the trench shot in the first Star Wars film, and everyone in the audience was right there going, god, if I could only feel that, wouldn't it be great? (explosion booms) - [Narrator] Star Tours was a hit. Thrill rides were the name of the game, but how to top it? (creepy music) (people screaming) Years of design, testing, and construction led to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. The attraction looms over Disney's Hollywood Studios, and is one of the most intricately themed and mechanically complex rides at any park. - The moment you walk into the park, it's huge.

35:31 And when the doors pop open and you hear guests screaming, you know that's an attraction I wanna ride. (people screaming) - The insidious elevator can blow your socks off. During the controlled drop, riders descend at a rate of more than 1,900 feet per minute, and it doesn't stop there. The elevator drops guests again and again. (people screaming) Every ride experience is different and unpredictable. The elevator's computer program ensures variety. (people screaming) With the addition of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror,

36:19 Disney's Hollywood Studios became the Walt Disney World park for thrill junkies. The Studio's next thrill ride was a roller coaster, but being Disney, it wasn't just any coaster. Rockin' Roller Coaster is a high speed themed coaster with a catapult launch and more than a half mile of twists, turns, hills, dips, corkscrews, and three inversions. (people yelling) - Rockin' Roller Coaster represented many firsts for Walt Disney World. It was the first launching coaster, first roller coaster that was timed synchronously to music, and it was the first roller coaster that had inversions. We road Rockin' Roller Coaster 14 times last night. - I loved the Rockin' Roller Coaster. I love all the rock 'n roll, and the neon lights, and it's awesome.

37:05 - [Narrator] Now the Studios had a Rockin' Roller Coaster and a Tower of Terror, but like Epcot, the Studios needed a symbol, an icon, that would help identify the park. On September 28th, 2001, Disney unveiled a 122 foot tall sorcerer's hat, celebrating the wizardry of Disney magic and entertainment. Hat size, 605 7/8. In 2005, Disney's Hollywood Studios decided to take the back lot tour and kick it up a notch with a more dynamic look at the making of movies. In this case, action movies. (engine revs)

37:55 (upbeat music) (tires squealing) Lights, Motors, Action Extreme Stunt Show is a live high octave look at how vehicle action stunts are created for the movies. - Lights, Motors, Action Extreme Stunt Show is a perfect example of how we can show our guests how the magic that they see in the movies happens. (engines revving) - [Narrator] Drivers blast through all kinds of full throttle stunts with specially designed vehicles and carefully timed pyrotechnics. - A lotta guys think it's all about muscle and speed and squealing the tires, but there actually is a huge part of finesse involved in the show.

38:41 (engines revving) (explosion booms) This is the real deal. We are stunt drivers in the film industry, and the audience gets a chance to see how an action film is made. (upbeat music) - [Narrator] In 1996, Walt Disney World celebrated its 25th anniversary. Orlando was now the theme park capital of the world, and competitors had moved in down the block, beginning to chip away at Disney's success. But Walt Disney World was still number one, and Disney planned to keep it that way. Step one, keep people on the property. - Back in the '90s, Disney began to build more hotels on its property, because it saw a great opportunity for the guests to stay there and enjoy the amenities

39:27 that Disney could provide. - [Narrator] They also realized that large numbers of visitors were coming to Orlando and staying off property, so Walt Disney World added all kinds of rooms and resorts. - Now more and more parks are starting to try to do the same thing. They are learning from Disney that building hotels and building retail helps keep people on your property. (light music) - [Narrator] Many new attractions were also added to entice people to spend even more time at Walt Disney World. For part two of the plan, Disney had something else up its sleeve. They wanted to do something with animals, and in a big way. The idea would take them into uncharted territory.

40:15 - Building Animal Kingdom was a new challenge for the Walt Disney company, 'cause they'd never done it. - [Narrator] At 500 acres, Disney's Animal Kingdom is enormous. The Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Disney's Hollywood Studios combined fit comfortably inside this fourth theme park of Walt Disney World. - I think that probably the greatest challenge in creating Disney's Animal Kingdom is that for the first time we were creating a show that was alive. - And so what they were faced with is animals that eat. 24 hours a day, they roam 24 hours a day, so it wasn't something that they could leave the back gate and flip off the light and then come in the next morning and turn the roller coaster on.

41:01 - [Narrator] Asia, Africa, Discovery Island, Rafiki's Planet Watch, The Oasis, Dinoland U.S.A., and Camp Minnie Mickey. These are the lands that make up Disney's Animal Kingdom. Africa is where guests will find one of Animal Kingdom's star attractions. It's one of the largest and most ambitious rides ever created by Disney's Imagineers, Kilimanjaro Safari. It might just be the next best thing to a real African safari. - The architects and designers went to great lengths to try and replicate the African habitat here on the savannas. - [Narrator] Flooded roads, collapsing bridges, and more than 250 different animal species.

41:50 At 110 acres, this single attraction is bigger than the entire Magic Kingdom, and the largest Disney has ever built. Largest, yes, but not the tallest or most mystifying. (abominable snowman roars) (intriguing music) Rising nearly 200 feet into the clouds, Expedition Everest is a high speed scramble through the caverns and shadows of the Himalayan unknown. It ends with a nose to nose encounter with the guardian of the mountain. (people screaming) The Imagineers really did their homework on this one,

42:36 traveling as far as the Himalayas to make sure everything was right. What appears to be an authentic mountain setting from the outside, is actually a technological superstructure on the inside. - The process of designing the ride was really quite detailed. There's over a mile of ride in this attraction, so in order to incorporate all of that terrain following element with the facility that we had to build around it, was really very complex and required a lot of engineering. (people screaming) We drop over an 80 foot drop, we accelerate to 50 miles an hour. Yes, it's a family ride, but it's a very, very fast family ride. - [Narrator] The abominable snowman is another super advanced audio animatronics character

43:23 built by Disney. - We worked with world renowned primatologists to really anticipate what a figure of this size would look like, how it would move. - And I think anyone who's been on it will tell you, that is the most amazing audio animatronic character we've ever created. (people screaming) - It's scary to me. - He's scared of the roller coasters. - But I saw the yeti at the end. - Just for a brief moment you think, my god, that thing's real. - I think I maybe believe in yeti. (laughs) (upbeat music) (people screaming) - [Narrator] But the yeti isn't the only monster in Animal Kingdom. There's primeval forests, a mad dash through time, and a giant man eating carnosaurus at Dinosaur.

44:09 (dinosaur roaring) - The dinosaurs, they don't just stand there but they just jump at you, and just made us all jump back. (people screaming) - The idea was to put you in a place which was totally alien, surround you with sights and sounds and smells, in a way that's very disorienting. - [Narrator] The robotic dinos are among the biggest audio animatronics figures Disney has ever built. (upbeat music) Walt Disney World attracts a reported 40 million visitors a year. In fact, the Walt Disney company holds the top five spots for theme park attendance.

44:57 - Walt Disney World beyond a doubt is the most attended amusement resort in the entire world. - [Narrator] Disney strives for excellence, and many say their employees are no exception. - And you're gonna take a right, and then it's gonna be right over here. - We do our best to find individuals that really want to create happiness for our guests. But I'll tell ya, they're a pretty self motivated group of people. - Every time you ask for anything, they always have a smile and always prepared to help you with anything at all. - The thing that Walt Disney World does better than anyone else is service. - [Narrator] Disney calls their employees Cast Members, and over the years, their ranks have grown. - We have more than 59,000 Cast Members here on property, and more than 3,000 job classifications.

45:44 - We happen to be the largest single site employer in the United States. The expectations of people who come to Disney, I think, are probably higher than when they do anything else in their life. - [Narrator] In the battle for theme park visitors, Disney can't afford to get lazy. They relentlessly refurbish and update their resorts. - The Disney company will continue to expand because they need to expand to keep tourists coming back. - We have land set aside for more hotels, even for more theme parks. We can continue to develop for the next many decades. - The things that we're working on today, you may not see for two, three, four, five, 10 years into the future. - New experiences, immersive experiences, interactive experiences, the sky's the limit.

46:33 - [Narrator] While Disney won't release specifics about future plans for Walt Disney World, one thing is certain. They will rely on that element that no other theme park can duplicate, the philosophy and tradition of Walt Disney. - This place is not a normal theme park, it's a world, it captures magic and brings it to life here. And nothing else can do that. - I don't think that Walt Disney World will ever be complete. There is enough land there for us to dream up new ideas and keep evolving the park for generations to come. - [Narrator] What would Walt say if he saw Disney World today? - That he would look around and he'd say, "What took you so long?" (light music) (people screaming)

47:22 - Most excellent. (people screaming) (tires squealing) (fireworks booming) - To get started planning your Disney Parks vacation, just click on DisneyParks.com/fun. (upbeat music)