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