The Walt Disney Parks and Resorts division of The Walt Disney Company manages and builds the elite theme parks and vacation resorts that Disney is well known for. Together with Walt Disney Consumer Products, Walt Disney Media Networks and Walt Disney Studio Entertainment, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts forms one of the four major units of The Walt Disney Company.
It was founded in 1971 when the second Disney park opened - the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida - and Disney found that they needed a whole new part of the company to take care of the new park and the pre-existing Disneyland in California. 98% of everything you see in Disneyland Resort, Walt Disney World Resort, Tokyo Disney Resort, Disneyland Resort Paris and the forthcoming Hong Kong Disneyland have been created by Walt Disney Imagineering.
The President of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts is Jay A. Rasulo.
Administration
- President - Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Jay Rasulo
- President - Disneyland Resort Matt Ouimet
- President - Walt Disney World Resort Al Weiss
- President - Tokyo Disney Resort Toshio Kagami
- President - Disneyland Resort Paris Andre Lacroix
- President - Hong Kong Disneyland Resort Jay Rasulo (Temporary)
- President - Disney Cruise Line Tom McAlpin
Disneyland Resort
The resort was founded as a singular theme park by Walt Disney in 1955 in Anaheim, California. Disneyland soon became famous all over the world as a place where parents could take their children to enjoy the fun they had enjoyed as a child, with nostalgic looks at a turn-of-the-century American town (Main Street, USA), a magnificent trip into the stories of fairy tale and legend (Fantasyland), with several other 'realms' complimenting each other. The park had an adjoining hotel.
In 2001, a new theme park - Disney's California Adventure was opened, and the two parks formed a brand new 'Disneyland Resort'. This also came with two more hotels, and a shopping complex.
Walt Disney World Resort
The resort opened in 1971 with a Disneyland-style park and three hotels in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The site is about the size of a small city, but since opening only 27% of the land has been built on. Since then it has become the largest tourist destination on the planet, with four theme parks, three water parks, a shopping complex, dozens of hotels, eight golf courses - you can even go fishing on one of the many lakes on-site.
Tokyo Disney Resort
Tokyo Disney Resort, located in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan, opened in 1982. Tokyo Disneyland, is styled much around The Magic Kingdom (see above). In 2001, the resort expanded with Tokyo Disneysea. The resort has many hotels but only two are actually owned by the resort, and the largest parking structure in the world. It is fully owned and managed by The Oriental Land Company but is licensed by The Walt Disney Company. The resort was built by Walt Disney Imagineering, and Disney has a major say in what goes on at the parks.
Disneyland Resort Paris
Disney's fourth resort, Disneyland Resort Paris, opened in 1992 as Euro Disney, the name was changed in 1994 to fit the romantic image associated with Paris - the resort has two theme parks, a shopping complex, two camping grounds and five hotels. Lake Disney is open for boat rental and fishing. It is maintained and managed by Euro Disney SCA, a company jointly owned by Disney and the French government.
Hong Kong Disneyland Resort
Scheduled to open on September 12, 2005, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort is partly owned by Disney and partly owned by the government of Hong Kong. So far the plans are for one theme park and two hotels but there is land reserved for future expansion.
Disney Cruise Line
Although part of the Walt Disney World Resort venture, Disney Cruise Line is an all together separate part of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. The Line was founded in 1998 with the purchase of two ships, renamed the Wonder and Magic. Both ships stop at Disney's private Bahamas island, Castaway Cay.
Future Designs
It is inevitable that a fifth park will be built at Walt Disney World Resort, just because of the sheer amount of profit that can be made out of it, and the enormous expanse of land that Disney own in Florida.
As well as the forthcoming Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, Disney have sent scouts to Australia as of January 2005 looking for a new site. The most favoured site is just outside of Melbourne. Scouts are also looking for a suitable site for a Disney resort on mainland China. There is land in Hong Kong Disneyland Resort for a second park. Disney also have plenty of land to use in Disneyland Resort Paris. The only resort that is extremely short on land is the Disneyland Resort.
On February 2, 2005, Disney announced the commencement of the building of a third Disney Cruise Line cruise ship.
Timeline
1954-1971
1972-1993
- 1973 - Walt Disney Parks and Resorts is formed, and plans for the Epcot Center are prepared by Walt Disney Imagineering
- 1982 - Walt Disney World's second theme park, the Epcot Center, opens on the 1st of October 1982
- 1983 - The first international Disney theme park opens as Tokyo Disneyland at Urayusa, Japan
- 1989 - The third theme park at Walt Disney World opens, the Disney-MGM Studios
- 1993 - The second international Disney theme park opens in Marne-la-Vallee, France, as Euro Disney
1994-2005
