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R.U.R.

R.U.R. is a 1920 science fiction play by the Czech writer Karel Čapek. "R.U.R." stands for Rossumovi Univerzální Roboti (Rossum's Universal Robots, a phrase that has been used as a subtitle in English versions). The play had its world premiere on 2 January 1921 in Hradec Králové; it introduced the word "robot" to the English language and to science fiction as a whole. R.U.R. became influential soon after its publication. By 1923, it had been translated into thirty languages. R.U.R. was successful in its time in Europe and North America. Čapek later took a different approach to the same theme in his 1936 novel War with the Newts, in which non-humans become a servant-class in human society.

Characters

Parentheses indicate names which vary according to translation. On the meaning of the names, see Ivan Klíma, Karel Čapek: Life and Work, 2002, p. 82.

Synopsis
The play begins in a factory that makes artificial workers from synthetic organic matter. (As living creatures of artificial flesh and blood, that later terminology would call androids, the playwright's 'roboti' differ from later fictional and scientific concepts of inorganic constructs.) Robots may be mistaken for humans but have no original thoughts. Though most are content to work for humans, eventually a rebellion causes the extinction of the human race.

Prologue (Act I in the Selver translation)
Helena, the daughter of the president of a major industrial power, arrives at the island factory of Rossum's Universal Robots. Here, she meets Domin, the General Manager of R.U.R., who relates to her the history of the company. Rossum had come to the island in 1920 to study marine biology. In 1932, Rossum had invented a substance like organic matter, though with a different chemical composition. He argued with his nephew about their motivations for creating artificial life. While the elder wanted to create animals to prove or disprove the existence of God, his nephew only wanted to become rich. Young Rossum finally locked away his uncle in a lab to play with the monstrosities he had created and created thousands of robots. By the time the play takes place (circa the year 2000), robots are cheap and available all over the world. They have become essential for industry.

After meeting the heads of R.U.R., Helena reveals that she is a representative of the League of Humanity, an organization that wishes to liberate the robots. The managers of the factory find this absurd. They see robots as appliances. Helena asks that the robots be paid, but according to R.U.R. management, the robots do not "like" anything.

Eventually Helena is convinced that the League of Humanity is a waste of money, but still argues robots have a "soul". Later, Domin confesses that he loves Helena and forces her into an engagement.

Act I (Act II in Selver)
Ten years have passed. Helena and her nurse Nana discuss current events, the decline in human births in particular. Helena and Domin reminisce about the day they met and summarize the last ten years of world history, which has been shaped by the new worldwide robot-based economy. Helena meets Dr. Gall's new experiment, Radius. Dr. Gall describes his experimental robotess, also named Helena. Both are more advanced, fully-featured robots. In secret, Helena burns the formula required to create robots. The revolt of the robots reaches Rossum's island as the act ends.

Act II (Act III in Selver)
The characters sense that the very universality of the robots presents a danger. Echoing the story of the Tower of Babel, the characters discuss whether creating national robots who were unable to communicate beyond their languages would have been a good idea. As robot forces lay siege to the factory, Helena reveals she has burned the formula necessary to make new robots. The characters lament the end of humanity and defend their actions, despite the fact that their imminent deaths are a direct result of their choices. Busman is killed while attempting to negotiate a peace with the robots. The robots storm the factory and kill all the humans except for Alquist, the company's Clerk of the Works (Head of Construction). The robots spare him because they recognize that "He works with his hands like a robot. He builds houses. He can work."

Act III (Epilogue in Selver)
Years have passed. Alquist, who still lives, attempts to recreate the formula that Helena destroyed. He is a mechanical engineer, though, with insufficient knowledge of biochemistry, so he has made little progress. The robot government has searched for surviving humans to help Alquist and found none alive. Officials from the robot government beg him to complete the formula, even if it means he will have to kill and dissect other robots for it. Alquist yields. He will kill and dissect robots, thus completing the circle of violence begun in Act Two. Alquist is disgusted. Robot Primus and Helena develop human feelings and fall in love. Playing a hunch, Alquist threatens to dissect Primus and then Helena; each begs him to take him- or herself and spare the other. Alquist now realizes that Primus and Helena are the new Adam and Eve, and gives the charge of the world to them.

Čapek's conception of robots
The robots described in Čapek's play are not robots in the popularly understood sense of an automaton. They are not mechanical devices, but rather artificial biological organisms that may be mistaken for humans. A comic scene at the beginning of the play shows Helena arguing with her future husband, Harry Domin, because she cannot believe his secretary is a robotess:

DOMIN: Sulla, let Miss Glory have a look at you. HELENA: (stands and offers her hand) Pleased to meet you. It must be very hard for you out here, cut off from the rest of the world. SULLA: I do not know the rest of the world Miss Glory. Please sit down. HELENA: (sits) Where are you from? SULLA: From here, the factory. HELENA: Oh, you were born here. SULLA: Yes I was made here. HELENA: (startled) What? DOMIN: (laughing) Sulla isn't a person, Miss Glory, she's a robot. HELENA: Oh, please forgive me...

His robots resemble more modern conceptions of man-made life forms, such as the Replicants in Blade Runner, the "hosts" in the Westworld TV series and the humanoid Cylons in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, but in Čapek's time there was no conception of modern genetic engineering (DNA's role in heredity was not confirmed until 1952). There are descriptions of kneading-troughs for robot skin, great vats for liver and brains, and a factory for producing bones. Nerve fibers, arteries, and intestines are spun on factory bobbins, while the robots themselves are assembled like automobiles. Čapek's robots are living biological beings, but they are still assembled, as opposed to grown or born.

One critic has described Čapek's robots as epitomizing "the traumatic transformation of modern society by the First World War and the Fordist assembly line."

Origin of the word robot
The play introduced the word robot, which displaced older words such as "automaton" or "android" in languages around the world. In an article in Lidové noviny, Karel Čapek named his brother Josef as the true inventor of the word. In Czech, robota means forced labour of the kind that serfs had to perform on their masters' lands and is derived from rab, meaning "slave".

The name Rossum is an allusion to the Czech word rozum, meaning "reason", "wisdom", "intellect" or "common sense". It has been suggested that the allusion might be preserved by translating "Rossum" as "Reason" but only the Majer/Porter version translates the word as "Reason".

Production history and translations

The work was published in two differing versions in Prague by Aventinum, first in 1920, followed by a revised version in 1921. After being postponed, it premiered at the city's National Theatre on 25 January 1921, although an amateur group had by then already presented a production.

By 1921, Paul Selver translated either the original 1920 edition of R.U.R. or a manuscript copy close to this version into English. He probably translated the play freelance, and sold it to St Martin's Theatre in London. Selver's translation was adapted for the British stage by Nigel Playfair in 1922, but it was not produced straight away. Later that year performance rights for the U.S. and Canada were sold to the New York Theatre Guild, perhaps during Lawrence Langner's visit to Britain. Playfair's version included several changes to Čapek's original play, such as renaming the acts (the prologue became act one, and the heavily abridged final act became the epilogue), omitting around sixty lines (including most of Alquist's final speech), adding several more lines, and removing the robot character Damon (giving his lines to Radius). The omission of some lines may have been censorship from the Lord Chamberlain's Office, or self-censorship in anticipation of this, while some other changes might have been made by Čapek himself if Selver was working from a manuscript copy. An edition of Playfair's adaptation was published by the Oxford University Press in 1923, and Selver went on to write a satiric novel One, Two, Three (1926) based on his experiences getting R.U.R. staged.

The American première was produced by the Theatre Guild at the Garrick Theatre in New York City in October 1922, where it ran for 184 performances. In the first performance, Domin was portrayed by Basil Sydney, Marius by John Merton, Hallemeier by Moffat Johnston, Alquist by Louis Calvert, Busman by Henry Travers, the robot Helena by antiwar activist Mary Crane Hone in her Broadway debut, and Primus by John Roche. Spencer Tracy and Pat O'Brien played robots in their Broadway debuts. This production was based on Playfair's adaptation, though Theresa Helburn claimed that, together with two Czechs, they closely compared his version against Čapek's original text, and that all changes from the original were made by the Theatre Guild as part of the rehearsal process. Doubleday published this version of the play in 1923, though it omitted a change noted by John Corbin in the New York Times, of the robot Helena holding a robot baby in the final scene.

In April 1923 Basil Dean produced R.U.R. in Britain for the Reandean Company at St Martin's Theatre, London. This version was based on Playfair's adaptation, but omitted the characters Fabry and Hallemeier, and included several of the New York Theatre Guild revisions. The British Library holds a typescript copy of this version of the play, which had been submitted by St Martin's Theatre to the Lord Chamberlain's Office two weeks before the play opened.

In the 1920s, the play was performed in a number of American and British cities, including the Theatre Guild "Road" in Chicago and Los Angeles during 1923.

In June 1923, Čapek sent a letter to Edward Marsh, with the final lines of R.U.R. that had been omitted from the Selver/Playfair editions, which he described as being "suppressed in [the] English version". This letter is held in Southern Illinois University Carbondale's Morris Library, along with an English translation of these lines, perhaps in Marsh's handwriting. This translation was published in the journal Science Fiction Studies (2001). A full translation of the final lines of the 1921 version of the play was published in the journal ICarbS (1981).

In 1989, a new, unabridged translation by Claudia Novack-Jones, based on Čapek's revised 1921 version, restored the elements of the play eliminated by Playfair. Another unabridged translation was produced by Peter Majer and Cathy Porter for Methuen Drama in 1999. An open access unabridged translation by David Wyllie was published by the University of Adelaide in 2006, and updated in 2014.

In 2024, MIT Press published the book R.U.R. and the Vision of Artificial Life, which offered a new translation of the original 1920 edition by Štěpán Šimek. The book also contained a collection of essays reflecting on the play's legacy from scientists and scholars who work in artificial life and robotics.

Critical reception
Reviewing the New York production of R.U.R. in 1922, The Forum magazine described the play as "thought-provoking" and "a highly original thriller". John Clute has lauded R.U.R. as "a play of exorbitant wit and almost demonic energy" and lists the play as one of the "classic titles" of inter-war science fiction. Luciano Floridi has described the play thus: "Philosophically rich and controversial, R.U.R. was unanimously acknowledged as a masterpiece from its first appearance, and has become a classic of technologically dystopian literature." Jarka M. Burien called R.U.R. a "theatrically effective, prototypal sci-fi melodrama".

On the other hand, Isaac Asimov, author of the Robot series of books and creator of the Three Laws of Robotics, stated: "Čapek's play is, in my own opinion, a terribly bad one, but it is immortal for that one word. It contributed the word 'robot' not only to English, but through English, to all the languages in which science fiction is now written." In fact, Asimov's "Laws of Robotics" are specifically and explicitly designed to prevent the kind of situation depicted in R.U.R., since Asimov's Robots are created with a built-in total inhibition against harming human beings or disobeying them.

Despite getting mostly positive responses, Čapek himself was very disappointed by critics' simplistic understanding of the play. He saw the play as part comedy, and ending with faith that humanity would survive albeit in a different form, while the critics often considered it to be pessimistic or nihilistic, and purely either an updated Frankenstein, an anti-capitalist satire, or a critique of contemporary political ideologies. The critics' interpretation may have been influenced by how heavily abridged the final act (or Epilogue) was in the Selver/Playfair translation.

Adaptations

 * On 11 February 1938, a 35-minute adaptation of a section of the play was broadcast on BBC Television—the first piece of television science-fiction ever to be broadcast. Some low quality stills have survived, although no recordings of the production are known to exist. In 1948, another television adaptation – this time of the entire play, running to 90 minutes – was broadcast by the BBC, with Radius played by Patrick Troughton. Although some photographs exist, no audio or visual recordings of this production survive.
 * BBC Radio has broadcast a number of productions, including a 1927 2LO London version, a 1933 BBC Regional Programme version, a 1941 BBC Home Service version, and a 1946 BBC Home Service version, . BBC Radio 3 dramatised the play again in 1989, and this version has been released commercially. A light-hearted 2-part musical adaptation was broadcast on April 3 and 10, 2022, on BBC Radio 4, with story by Robert Hudson and music by Susannah Pearse; the second episode continues the story after all humans have been killed and the robots now have emotions.
 * The Hollywood Theater of the Ear dramatized an unabridged audio version of R.U.R. which is available on the collection 2000x: Tales of the Next Millennia.
 * In August 2010, Portuguese multi-media artist Leonel Moura's R.U.R.: The Birth of the Robot, inspired by the Čapek play, was performed at Itaú Cultural in São Paulo, Brazil. It utilized actual robots on stage interacting with the human actors.
 * An electro-rock musical, Save the Robots is based on R.U.R., featuring the music of the New York City pop-punk art-rock band Hagatha. This version with book and adaptation by E. Ether, music by Rob Susman, and lyrics by Clark Render was an official selection of the 2014 New York Musical Theatre Festival season.
 * On 26 November 2015 The RUR-Play: Prologue, the world's first version of R.U.R. with robots appearing in all the roles, was presented during the robot performance festival of Cafe Neu Romance at the gallery of the National Library of Technology in Prague. The concept and initiative for the play came from Christian Gjørret, leader of "Vive Les Robots!" who, on 29 January 2012, during a meeting with Steven Canvin of LEGO Group, presented the proposal to Lego, that supported the piece with the LEGO MINDSTORMS robotic kit. The robots were built and programmed by students from the R.U.R team from Gymnázium Jeseník. The play was directed by Filip Worm and the team was led by Roman Chasák, both teachers from the Gymnázium Jeseník.
 * On 21 June 2024 an adaptation of the play was staged in Australia at Phoenix Theatre, Coniston. The adaptation leaned into the science fiction inspiration it gave, with the scripts alteration containing over 100 references to popular sci-fi franchises otherwise inspired by R.U.R. The play is available to watch on YouTube.

In popular culture

 * Eric, a robot constructed in Britain in 1928 for public appearances, bore the letters "R.U.R." across its chest.
 * The 1935 Soviet film Loss of Sensation, though based on the 1929 novel Iron Riot, has a similar concept to R.U.R., and all the robots in the film prominently display the name "R.U.R."
 * In the American science fiction television series Dollhouse, the antagonist corporation, Rossum Corp., is named after the play.
 * In the Star Trek episode "Requiem for Methuselah", the android's name is Rayna Kapec (an anagram, though not a homophone, of Capek, Čapek without its háček).
 * In the two-part Batman: The Animated Series episode "Heart of Steel", the scientist that created the HARDAC machine is named Karl Rossum. HARDAC created mechanical replicants to replace existing humans, with the ultimate goal of replacing all humans. One of the robots is seen driving a car with "RUR" as the license plate number.
 * In the 1977 Doctor Who serial "The Robots of Death", the robot servants turn on their human masters under the influence of an individual named Taren Capel.
 * In the 1978 Norwegian TV series Blindpassasjer, Rossum is the name of a planet ruled by robots.
 * In the 1995 science fiction series The Outer Limits, in the remake of the "I, Robot" episode from the original 1964 series, the business where the robot Adam Link is built is named "Rossum Hall Robotics".
 * The 1999 Blake's 7 radio play The Syndeton Experiment included a character named Dr. Rossum who turned humans into robots.
 * In the "Fear of a Bot Planet" episode of the animated science fiction TV series Futurama, the Planet Express crew is ordered to make a delivery on a planet called "Chapek 9", which is inhabited solely by robots.
 * Within the 2005 IDW continuity of Transformers, the concept of the brain module, spark, and transformation cog being vital and dependent on the health of each other is called "Rossum's Trinity".
 * In Howard Chaykin's Time² graphic novels, Rossum's Universal Robots is a powerful corporation and maker of robots.
 * In Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone, when Wolff wakes Chalmers, she has been reading a copy of R.U.R. in her bed. This presages the fact that she is later revealed to be a gynoid.
 * In the 2016 video game Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, R.U.R. is performed in an underground theater in a dystopian Prague by an "augmented" (cyborg) woman who believes herself to be the robot Helena.
 * The main protagonist in Peter Brown’s The Wild Robot series (2016-2023) is “a robot character named Rozzum (a subtle nod to Čapek’s play)”.
 * In the 2018 British alternative history drama Agatha and the Truth of Murder, Agatha is seen reading R.U.R. to her daughter Rosalind as a bedtime story.
 * In the 2021 movie Mother/Android, the play R.U.R. of Karel Čapek comes up. In the movie, Arthur, an AI programmer, turns out to be an android.
 * A musical, based on the R.U.R. play, titled Entropics, has been written and performed in Chicago in 2024.

title: R.U.R.


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Central Florida Tourism Oversight District

The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD), formerly the Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID), is the governing jurisdiction and special taxing district for the land of Walt Disney World Resort. It includes 39.06 sqmi within Orange and Osceola counties in Florida. It acts with most of the same authority and responsibility as a county government. It includes the cities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, as well as unincorporated land.

The current district was created on February 27, 2023, after the Florida Legislature passed House Bill 9B to supersede the Reedy Creek Improvement Act, passed in 1967 at the behest of Walt Disney and his namesake media company during the planning stages of Walt Disney World. A major selling point in lobbying the Florida government to establish the original Reedy Creek Improvement District was Walt Disney's proposal of the "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow" (EPCOT), a real planned community intended to serve as a testbed for new city-living innovations. However, the company eventually abandoned Walt Disney's concepts for the experimental city, primarily only building a resort similar to its other parks.

The Reedy Creek Improvement District managed by the Disney Company had the authority of a governmental body, but was not subject to the constraints of a governmental body. That changed under the 2023 act, which gave the Florida governor the authority to name its board members, replacing the original five-member Board of Supervisors controlled by the Walt Disney Company, the majority landowner of the District.

In April 2022, the Florida Legislature passed a law to disestablish the RCID and other special districts formed before November 5, 1968, an act that some lawmakers said was retaliation for Disney's opposition to the controversial Parental Rights in Education Act, dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill by its critics. The law would have taken effect in June 2023, but it was unclear what would happen to the $1 billion in bond liabilities held by the RCID. On February 9 and 10, 2023, the state legislature voted to revert most of the changes, replace the RCID board's five Disney-selected members with five members appointed by the Governor with confirmation by the Florida State Senate, and remove parts of the district's authority, such as the power to construct a nuclear power plant, airport, and stadium. The district's name was changed the day the bill was signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis on February 27, 2023. On April 26, 2023, Disney filed a lawsuit against DeSantis. Federal Judge Allen Winsor ruled in favor of DeSantis on January 31, 2024, and Disney appealed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. On March 27, 2024, Disney settled its state court lawsuits with CFTOD and, per the agreement, put the appeal of their federal lawsuit on hold while the company negotiates a new development agreement with CFTOD. The settlement came a day after DeSantis replaced two Disney critics on the CFTOD with two Disney supporters and two weeks after The Parental Rights in Education Act was largely overturned by a court.

Initial steps
After the success of Disneyland in California, Walt Disney began planning a second park on the East Coast. He disliked the businesses that had sprung up around Disneyland, and wanted control of a much larger area of land for the new project. He flew over the Orlando-area site, and many other potential sites, in November 1963. Seeing the well-developed network of roads, including the planned Interstate 4 and Florida's Turnpike, with McCoy Air Force Base (later Orlando International Airport) to the east, he selected a centrally located site near Bay Lake. He used multiple shell companies to buy up land, at very low prices, that eventually would be included within the district. These company names are listed on the upper story windows of what is now the Main Street USA section of Walt Disney World, including Compass East Corporation; Latin-American Development and Management Corporation; Ayefour Corporation (named for nearby I-4); Tomahawk Properties, Incorporated; Reedy Creek Ranch, Incorporated; and Bay Lake Properties, Incorporated.

On March 11, 1966, these landowners, all fully owned subsidiaries of what is now The Walt Disney Company, petitioned the Circuit Court of the Ninth Judicial Circuit, which served Orange County, Florida, for the creation of the Reedy Creek Drainage District under Chapter 298 of the Florida Statutes. After a period during which some minor landowners within the boundaries opted out, the Drainage District was incorporated on May 13, 1966, as a public corporation. Among the powers of a Drainage District were the power to condemn and acquire property outside its boundaries "for the public use". It used this power at least once to obtain land for Canal C-1 (Bonnet Creek) through land that is now being developed as the Bonnet Creek Resort, a non-Disney resort.

Improvement district and cities
Walt Disney knew that his plans for the land would be easier to carry out with more independence. Among his ideas for his Florida project was his proposed EPCOT, the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, which was to be a futuristic planned city (and which was also known as Progress City). He envisioned a real working city with both commercial and residential areas, but one that also continued to showcase and test new ideas and concepts for urban living. Therefore, the Disney company petitioned the Florida State Legislature for the creation of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which would have almost total autonomy within its borders. Residents of Orange and Osceola counties did not need to pay any taxes unless they were residents of the district. Services like land use regulation and planning, building codes, surface water control, drainage, waste treatment, utilities, roads, bridges, fire protection, emergency medical services, and environmental services were overseen by the district. The only areas where the district had to submit to the county and state would be property taxes and elevator inspections. The planned EPCOT city was also emphasized in this lobbying effort.

On May 12, 1967, Governor Claude R. Kirk Jr. signed the Reedy Creek Improvement Act, adding the following Florida statutes to implement Disney's plans:

 * Chapter 67-764 created the Reedy Creek Improvement District;
 * Chapter 67-1104 established the City of Bay Lake; and
 * Chapter 67-1965 established the City of Reedy Creek (later renamed as the City of Lake Buena Vista around 1970.)

According to a press conference held in Winter Park, Florida on February 2, 1967, by Disney Vice President Donn Tatum, the Improvement District and Cities were created to serve "the needs of those residing there", because the company needed its own government to "clarify the District's authority to [provide services] within the District's limits", and because of the public nature of the planned development. The original city boundaries did not cover the whole Improvement District; they may have been intended as the areas where communities would be built for residential use. To maintain full control of the district, it was important for Disney to limit the voting rights of the inhabitants, rights which were only meant to include landowners owning more than one-half acre. Since Disney owned most of the land, the residents would simply be renting their homes. But after the 1968 Avery v. Midland County case, Disney feared that they would have to eventually give everyone living inside the district voting rights, and so the population was restricted to the two municipalities Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista.

Further development
After Walt Disney died in 1966, the Disney company board decided that it did not want to be in the business of running a city, and abandoned many of his ideas for Progress City. The planned residential areas that Walt originally advocated for were never built. Richard Foglesong would later argue in his 2003 book, Married to the Mouse: Walt Disney World and Orlando, that the Disney company abused its powers by remaining in complete control of the District.

In 1968, the Reedy Creek Improvement Act was held by the Supreme Court of Florida not to violate any provision of the state constitution. As the law, in part, declares that the District is exempt from all state land use regulation laws "now or hereafter enacted," the Attorney General of Florida has issued an opinion stating that this includes state requirements for developments of regional impact (DRIs).

In January 1990, the RCID was granted a $57-million allocation of tax-free state bonds over an agency with plans for a low-income housing development and all additional government applicants in a six-county region, as the state distributed the bond proceeds on a first-come order. Disney was criticized for the move, with a Republican gubernatorial candidate filing a lawsuit to stop the RCID from using the funds. Also, one state legislator moved to limit the RCID's ability to apply for the program.

In 1993, the land that eventually became the Disney-controlled town of Celebration, Florida—which was built with many of Walt Disney's original ideas that had since evolved into a form of New Urbanism—was deannexed from Bay Lake and the District. This was done to keep its residents from having power over Disney by providing for separate administration of the areas. Celebration lies on unincorporated land within Osceola County, with a thin strip of still-incorporated land separating it from the rest of the county. This strip of land contains canals and other land used by the District.

Abolition
On March 30, 2022, State Representative Spencer Roach tweeted that Florida legislators had met twice within the past week to discuss the possibility of repealing the Reedy Creek Improvement Act and stripping Disney of its "special privileges" in the state. Roach and Florida governor Ron DeSantis later criticized Disney for the "special perks" the company enjoyed through use of the RCID. Roach said there had been previous attempts to eliminate the district. A bill analysis and fiscal impact statement for the bill was created on April 19, 2022, by Senator Jennifer Bradley. However, this analysis was unable to determine the impact the bill would have on either the residents served by the special district, or the local governments that would absorb the district's debts.

On April 20, 2022, the Florida Senate passed Senate Bill 4C (SB 4C) with a 23–16 vote that would abolish the special taxing district. If it became law, the bill would dissolve any independent special district in Florida established prior to November 5, 1968, including the RCID; the dissolution would take effect June 1, 2023. On April 21, 2022, the bill was passed by the Florida House by a 70–38 vote. DeSantis signed the bill into law the following day. Some members of the Florida Legislature as well as political commentators said the bill was likely retaliation for Disney announcing its opposition to the Parental Rights in Education Act, dubbed by critics as the "Don't Say Gay bill". Representative Dotie Joseph dubbed SB 4C "un-American" adding that it was "[p]unishing a company for daring to speak against a governor's radical-right political agenda".

The bill which abolished the district did not have any provisions for the logistics or debt. Under its enabling act, the state vowed to bondholders that it wouldn't impair the ability of Reedy Creek to service its debt. By dissolving the district, the debt would have been subsumed by Orange and Osceola Counties. On May 16, 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that he is looking into making the government take control of the special district but promised that local and state tax payers would not be paying for Reedy Creek's outstanding debt.

In 2023, DeSantis announced he would rename the district to Central Florida Tourism Oversight District instead of dissolving it, and replace five-board members which has been selected by Disney, with a new board with five members hand-picked by the governor. This was approved by the Florida state legislature on February 9 and 10, 2023. The bill was signed by Governor Ron DeSantis on February 27.

Potential repercussions
The bill was passed after two days of discussions and without a fiscal impact analysis. This led to debates about the bill's effects on taxes and bond debt. Randy Fine, the Republican House sponsor of the bill, claimed a different type of district could be formed that would not move additional costs to taxpayers.

Disney already pays property taxes to Orange and Osceola counties. The bill would not increase these counties' revenues but would force both counties to increase services within the former jurisdiction of the RCID. A tax collector for Orange County claimed the RCID's abolition would increase costs for taxpayers. Florida Senate Democratic member Gary Farmer also highlighted concerns that the dissolution would transfer over $1 billion in bond liabilities to all Florida taxpayers.

Potential legal challenges
Analysts expected legal challenges to the dissolution. One argument was that because the law targeted Disney in retaliation for a political position, it violated the company's free speech rights under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Another argument is that the dissolution violates the contract the state of Florida made with bondholders not to alter or limit the powers of the district until all bonds were paid off, making the dissolution unconstitutional under the Contract Clause. Under Florida law, when a special district government, like the Reedy Creek Improvement District, is dissolved, the dissolution transfers "title to all property owned by the preexisting special district government to the local general-purpose government, which shall also assume all indebtedness of the preexisting special district." In 1866, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that "once a local government issues a bond based on an authorized taxing power, the state is contract-bound and cannot eliminate the taxing power supporting the bond".

Local taxpayers did file suit in federal court, but this was dismissed in May 2022 for lack of standing for the First Amendment issue, and lack of demonstrated injury to the taxpayers. It was refiled in state court the same month.

Reorganization
On December 2, 2022, the Financial Times reported that a deal between Representative Randy Fine, the Disney company and other members of the Florida state legislature was underway to keep the main Reedy Creek Improvement District agreement, since the District abolition law is yet to take effect. Such compromise was reportedly being drafted especially because former Disney CEO Bob Chapek, who openly opposed the Parental Rights in Education law, was fired, and the abolition of the District would represent a tax increase in cities and counties across Florida, which could endanger governor Ron DeSantis' nomination for the Republican Party in the 2024 presidential election.

Concerns over possible debt transfer to counties, and taxpayers in Orange and Osceola Counties having to start paying for some Disney World services such as police, fire protection and road maintenance, led the legislature to mostly revert the changes. On February 9 and 10, 2023, the Florida State House and Senate, respectively, passed bills in a special session allowing the special tax district to remain, as well as leaving the ability for Disney to issue tax-exempt bonds and approve development plans without scrutiny from certain local regulators in place. Disney would no longer be able to appoint the five members of the tax district's board, which would instead be appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Florida State Senate, and some parts of the district's authority would be removed, such as the power to potentially construct a nuclear power plant, airport, and stadium. Governor DeSantis signed the bill on February 27.

Geography
Reedy Creek is a natural waterway whose flow, drainage, and destination have been altered over the years by human development. It begins west of the Bay Lake city limits and the Magic Kingdom, and then meanders south through Disney property, passing between Disney's Animal Kingdom and Blizzard Beach. It crosses Interstate 4 and exits Disney property west of Celebration and runs mostly through undeveloped territory east of Haines City. It empties into Lake Russell, and continues flowing southward into Cypress Lake, which is connected to the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes.

Governance
The district is governed by a five-member Board of Supervisors. Each supervisor is appointed by the Governor of Florida and confirmed by the Florida Senate. Supervisors serve for terms of four years, and may serve for up to three consecutive terms. Any individual currently or within the past three years employed by a theme park or entertainment company is prohibited from serving as a supervisor. The members appointed to the board following changes to the district in 2023, subject to Senate confirmation, are as follows:

Controversy arose after the nominations, as all five proposed members are allies of Ron DeSantis, have donated to his political campaigns, or are active in other right-wing circles. Ziegler founded Moms for Liberty, a conservative group promoting "anti-woke" school policies and board members, and was a primary proponent of the Parental Rights in Education Act. Her husband was elected to lead the Republican Party of Florida shortly before the governance changes to the district went into effect. Martin Garcia, the proposed new chairperson of the board, donated $50,000 to DeSantis' political action committee, and according to Forbes, "was also named in court testimony as having been consulted when DeSantis' administration was preparing to suspend local prosecutor Andrew Warren for espousing pro-abortion rights views". Ron Peri runs The Gathering USA, a conservative Christian ministry for men in Florida, and previously claimed "estrogen in the water from birth control pills" has contributed to a rise in homosexuality, and has called homosexuality "shameful", "deviant", and that it was a cause of decline for the Roman Empire. Michael Sasso runs the Orlando chapter of the conservative Federalist Society, and Brian Aungst Jr. is a conservative Pinellas County attorney previously appointed to the 6th Circuit judicial nominating commission.
 * Charbel Barakat
 * Bridget Ziegler
 * Brian Aungst Jr.
 * Craig Mateer
 * Ron Peri

Over the course of two public meetings, with the second on the day before the new Central Florida Tourism Oversight District was to take control, The Walt Disney Company and the Reedy Creek Improvement District signed a development agreement. This enacted restrictive covenants to limit the Improvement District's governing power over Disney properties, which include Walt Disney World. According to Peri, "This essentially makes Disney the government. This board loses, for practical purposes, the majority of its ability to do anything beyond maintain the roads and maintain basic infrastructure." The agreement stated that, if a perpetual term is deemed invalid, a royal lives clause would be used in its place: namely, the agreement "shall continue until twenty-one (21) years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, king of England, living as of the date of this agreement."

Former governance structure
Before the passage of House Bill 9 in 2023 (HB 9 2023), the Board of Supervisors was elected by the landowners of the District, who receive one vote per acre of land. As the majority landowner in Reedy Creek, The Walt Disney Company essentially handpicked the members of the Board. Under this model, each member owned an undeveloped 5 acre lot of land within the District—the only land in the District not technically controlled by Disney or used for public road purposes.

The District headquarters are in a building in Lake Buena Vista, east of Disney Springs. The District runs the following services, primarily serving Disney:

 * Law enforcement – Officers from Orange County, Osceola County, and the Florida Highway Patrol are contracted to police the district. Arrests are made and citations are issued by the Florida Highway Patrol or the Orange County and Osceola County sheriffs deputies. In addition, the Walt Disney Company employs about 800 security staff in their Disney Safety and Security division, which maintains a fleet of private security Chevrolet Equinoxes equipped with flashing amber and green lights, flares, traffic cones, and chalk commonly used by police officers. Disney security personnel are involved with traffic control and may only issue personnel violation notices to Disney and RCID employees, not the general public. Security vans previously had red lightbars, but after public scrutiny following the death of Robb Sipkema, were changed to amber to fall in line with Florida State Statutes.
 * Environmental protection: Many pieces of land have been donated to the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation and the South Florida Water Management District as conservation easements, and the District collects data and ensures that large portions remain in their natural wetland state.
 * Building codes and land-use planning: The "EPCOT Building Codes" were implemented to provide the sort of flexibility that the innovative community of EPCOT would require. Still, most of the standards and design parameters are those of the Florida Building Code, which is based on the International Building Code (IBC) of 2000. Although the codes are ostensibly updated on a three-year cycle, the most recent and currently used version of the EPCOT Building Codes is the 2018 version. Today's RCID buildings are built to withstand 110 mi/h winds.
 * Utilities: Wastewater treatment and collection, water reclamation, electric generation and distribution, solid waste disposal, potable water, natural gas distribution, and hot and chilled water distribution are managed through Reedy Creek Energy Services, which has been merged with the Walt Disney World Company
 * Roads: Many of the main roads in the District are public roads maintained by the District, while minor roads and roads dead-ending at attractions are private roads maintained by Disney; in addition, state-maintained Interstate 4 and U.S. Highway 192 pass through the District, as does part of the right-of-way of County Road 535 (formerly State Road 535).

Disney provides transportation for guests and employees in the form of buses, ferries, and monorails, under the name Disney Transport. In addition, several Lynx public bus routes enter the District, with half-hour service between the Transportation and Ticket Center (and backstage areas at the Magic Kingdom) and Downtown Orlando and Kissimmee, and once-a-day service to more points, intended mainly for cleaning staff. Half-hourly service is provided, via Lynx, to Orlando International Airport (MCO).

Fire department

The Reedy Creek Fire Department (RCFD) was created in 1968 to provide fire suppression for RCID. Today, RCFD provides fire suppression, emergency medical services, 911 communications, fire inspections, technical rescue services, and hazardous materials mitigation. EMS makes up approximately 85 percent of the call volume, with RCFD providing both Advanced Life Support and Basic Life Support. Its name was changed to The District Fire Department in 2024.

RCFD currently staffs four fire stations located throughout the district with 138 personnel across three shifts. They also maintain a staff of 86 administrative and support personnel including EMS team members (primarily located in each of the four Walt Disney World theme parks), 911 communicators, and fire inspectors. There are four engines, two tower trucks, one squad unit, eight rescue ambulances, and several special units.

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Walt Disney World

The Walt Disney World Resort (also known as Walt Disney World or Disney World) is an entertainment resort complex located about 20 mi southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States. Opened on October 1, 1971, the resort is operated by Disney Experiences, a division of The Walt Disney Company. The property covers nearly 25000 acre, of which half has been developed. Walt Disney World contains numerous recreational facilities designed to attract visitors for an extended stay, including four theme parks, two water parks, four golf courses, conference centers, a competitive sports complex and a shopping, dining, and entertainment complex. Additionally, there are 19 Disney-owned resort hotels and one camping resort on the property, and many other non-Disney-operated resorts on and near the property.

Designed to supplement Disneyland in Anaheim, California, which had opened in 1955, the complex was developed by Walt Disney in the 1960s. Walt wanted to build a new park because Disneyland in California was limited from expanding by the establishments that sprung up around it. "The Florida Project", as it was known, was intended to present a distinct vision with its own diverse set of attractions. Walt Disney's original plans also called for the inclusion of an "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow" (EPCOT), a planned community intended to serve as a testbed for new city-living innovations. Walt Disney died on December 15, 1966, during the initial planning of the complex. After his death, the company wrestled with the idea of whether to bring the Disney World project to fruition; however, Walt's older brother, Roy O. Disney, came out of retirement to ensure Walt's biggest dream was realized. Construction started in 1967, with the company instead building a resort similar to Disneyland, abandoning the planned community concept. Magic Kingdom was the first theme park to open in the complex in 1971, followed by Epcot (known then as EPCOT Center) in 1982, Disney's Hollywood Studios (known then as Disney-MGM Studios) in 1989, and Disney's Animal Kingdom in 1998. Roy insisted the name of the entire complex be changed from Disney World to Walt Disney World, to memorialize his brother.

Walt Disney World is also covered by an FAA prohibited airspace zone that restricts all airspace activities without approval from the federal government of the United States, including usage of drones; this level of protection is otherwise only offered to American critical infrastructure (such as the Pantex nuclear weapons plant), military bases, the Washington, D.C., Special Flight Rules Area, Camp David, and other official presidential travels.

In 2018, Walt Disney World was the most visited vacation resort in the world, with an average annual attendance of more than 58 million. The resort is the largest single-site employer in the United States, the flagship destination of Disney's worldwide corporate enterprise and has become a popular staple in American culture.

Conception

In 1959, Walt Disney Productions began looking for land to house a second resort to supplement Disneyland in Anaheim, California, which had opened in 1955. Market surveys at the time revealed that only 5% of Disneyland's visitors came from east of the Mississippi River, where 75% of the population of the United States lived. Additionally, Walt Disney disliked the businesses that had sprung up around Disneyland and wanted more control over a larger area of land in the next project.

Walt Disney took a flight over a potential site in Orlando, Florida—one of many—in November 1963. After witnessing the well-developed network of roads and taking the planned construction of both Interstate 4 and Florida's Turnpike into account, with McCoy Air Force Base (later Orlando International Airport) to the east, Disney selected a centrally located site near Bay Lake. The development was referred to in-house as "The Florida Project". To avoid a burst of land speculation, Walt Disney Productions used various dummy corporations to acquire 27443 acre of land. In May 1965, some of these major land transactions were recorded a few miles southwest of Orlando in Osceola County. In addition, two large tracts totaling $1.5 million were sold, and smaller tracts of flatlands and cattle pastures were purchased by exotically named companies, such as the "Ayefour Corporation", "Latin-American Development and Management Corporation", and the "Reedy Creek Ranch Corporation". Some are now memorialized on a window above Main Street, U.S.A. in the Magic Kingdom. The smaller parcels of land acquired were called "outs". They were 5 acre lots platted in 1912 by the Munger Land Company and sold to investors. Most of the owners in the 1960s were happy to get rid of the land, which was mostly swamp at the time. Another issue was the mineral rights to the land, which were owned by Tufts University. Without the transfer of these rights, Tufts could come in at any time and demand the removal of buildings to obtain minerals. Eventually, Disney's team negotiated a deal with Tufts to buy the mineral rights for $15,000.

Working strictly in secrecy, real estate agents unaware of their client's identity began making offers to landowners in April 1964, in parts of southwest Orange and northwest Osceola counties. The agents were careful not to reveal the extent of their intentions, and they were able to negotiate numerous land contracts with some landowners, including large tracts of land for as little as $100 an acre. With the understanding that the recording of the first deeds would trigger intense public scrutiny, Disney delayed the filing of paperwork until a large portion of the land was under contract.

Early rumors and speculation about the land purchases assumed possible development by NASA in support of the nearby Kennedy Space Center, as well as references to other famous investors, such as Ford, the Rockefellers, and Howard Hughes. An Orlando Sentinel news article published weeks later, on May 20, 1965, acknowledged a popular rumor that Disney was building an "East Coast" version of Disneyland. However, the publication denied its accuracy based on an earlier interview with Disney at Kennedy Space Center, in which he claimed a $50 million investment was in the works for Disneyland, and that he had no interest in building a new park. In October 1965, editor Emily Bavar from the Sentinel visited Disneyland during the park's 10th-anniversary celebration. In an interview with Disney, she asked him if he was behind recent land purchases in Central Florida. Bavar later described that Disney "looked like I had thrown a bucket of water in his face", before denying the story. His reaction, combined with other research obtained during her Anaheim visit, led Bavar to author a story on October 21, 1965, where she predicted that Disney was building a second theme park in Florida. Three days later, after gathering more information from various sources, the Sentinel published another article headlined, "We Say: 'Mystery' Industry Is Disney".

Walt Disney had originally planned to publicly reveal Disney World on November 15, 1965, but in light of the Sentinel story, Disney asked Florida Governor Haydon Burns to confirm the story on October 25. His announcement called the new theme park "the greatest attraction in the history of Florida". The official reveal was kept on the previously planned November 15 date, and Disney joined Burns in Orlando for the event.

Roy Disney's oversight of construction
Walt Disney died from circulatory collapse caused by smoking-related lung cancer on December 15, 1966, before his vision was realized. His brother and business partner, Roy O. Disney, postponed his retirement to oversee construction of the resort's first phase.

On February 2, 1967, Roy O. Disney held a press conference at the Park Theatres in Winter Park, Florida. The role of EPCOT was emphasized in the film that was played. After the film, it was explained that for Disney World, including EPCOT, to succeed, a special district would have to be formed: the Reedy Creek Improvement District with two cities inside it, Bay Lake and Reedy Creek, now Lake Buena Vista. In addition to the standard powers of an incorporated city, which include issuance of tax-free bonds, the district would have immunity from any current or future county or state land-use laws. The only areas where the district had to submit to the county and state would be property taxes and elevator inspections. The legislation forming the district and the two cities, one of which was the Reedy Creek Improvement Act, was signed into law by Florida Governor Claude R. Kirk, Jr. on May 12, 1967. The Supreme Court of Florida then ruled in 1968 that the district was allowed to issue tax-exempt bonds for public projects within the district, despite the sole beneficiary being Walt Disney Productions.

The district soon began construction of drainage canals, and Disney built the first roads and the Magic Kingdom. The Contemporary Resort Hotel was completed in time for the park's opening on October 1, 1971, and the Polynesian Village Resort opened shortly after. The Palm and Magnolia golf courses near the Magic Kingdom had opened a few weeks before, while Fort Wilderness opened one month later. Twenty-four days after the park opened, Roy O. Disney dedicated the property and declared that it would be known as "Walt Disney World", in his brother's honor. In his own words: "Everyone has heard of Ford cars. But have they all heard of Henry Ford, who started it all? Walt Disney World is in memory of the man who started it all, so people will know his name as long as Walt Disney World is here." After the dedication, Roy Disney asked Walt's widow, Lillian, what she thought of Walt Disney World. According to biographer Bob Thomas, she responded, "I think Walt would have approved." Roy Disney died at age 78 on December 20, 1971, less than three months after the property opened.

Admission prices in 1971 were $3.50 for adults, $2.50 for juniors under age 18, and one dollar for children under twelve.

1980s–2020
Much of Walt Disney's plans for his Progress City concept were abandoned after his death and after the company board decided that it did not want to be in the business of running a city. The concept evolved into the resort's second theme park, EPCOT Center, which opened in 1982 (renamed EPCOT in 1996). While still emulating Walt Disney's original idea of showcasing new technology, the park is closer to a world's fair than a "community of tomorrow". One of EPCOT's main attractions is the "World Showcase", which highlights 11 countries across the globe. Some of the urban planning concepts from the original idea of EPCOT would instead be integrated into the community of Celebration, Florida, much later. The resort's third theme park, Disney-MGM Studios (renamed Disney's Hollywood Studios in 2008), opened in 1989 and is inspired by show business.

In the early 1990s, the resort was seeking permits for expansion. There was considerable environmentalist push-back, and the resort was convinced to engage in mitigation banking. In an agreement with The Nature Conservancy and the state of Florida, Disney purchased 8500 acre of land, adjacent to the park for the purpose of rehabilitating wetland ecosystems. The Disney Wilderness Preserve was established in April 1993, and the land was subsequently transferred to The Nature Conservancy. The Walt Disney Company provided additional funds for landscape restoration and wildlife monitoring.

The resort's fourth theme park, Disney's Animal Kingdom, opened in 1998.

In October 2009, Disney World announced a competition to find a town to become twinned with. In December 2009, after Rebecca Warren won the competition with a poem, they announced the resort will be twinned with the English town of Swindon.

George Kalogridis was named president of the resort in December 2012, replacing Meg Crofton, who had overseen the site since 2006.

On January 21, 2016, the resort's management structure was changed, with general managers within a theme park being in charge of an area or land, instead of on a functional basis, as previously configured. Theme parks have already had a vice-president overseeing them. Disney Springs and Disney Sports were also affected. Now hotel general managers manage a single hotel instead of some managing multiple hotels.

On October 18, 2017, it was announced that resort visitors could bring pet dogs to Disney's Yacht Club Resort, Disney's Port Orleans Resort – Riverside, Disney's Art of Animation Resort, and Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground.

In 2019, Josh D'Amaro replaced George Kalogridis as president of the resort. He had previously held the position of vice president of Animal Kingdom. D'Amaro was subsequently promoted to chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products in May 2020, succeeding Bob Chapek, who was promoted to CEO of The Walt Disney Company in February 2020. Jeff Vahle, who served as president of Disney Signature Experiences subsequently took over as president of the resort.

March 2020–present
On March 12, 2020, a Disney spokesperson announced that Disney World and Disneyland Paris would temporarily shut due to the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning March 15, 2020.

In 2020, Disney World laid off 6,500 employees and only operated at 25% capacity after reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic.

, Walt Disney World was chosen to host the NBA Bubble for play of the 2019–20 season of the National Basketball Association (NBA) to resume at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. The ESPN Complex, hosts a variety of activities throughout the year, including runDisney marathon races and dance and cheer competitions in partnership with Varsity Cheer. It was also the site for the MLS is Back Tournament.

On July 11, 2020, Disney World officially reopened, beginning operations at 25% capacity at the Magic Kingdom and Disney's Animal Kingdom, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Florida. Four days later, Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios for operation at 25% capacity to the public. Masks were required at all times (including outdoors, on attractions, and while taking photos), all guests were required to have their temperature taken upon entry, plexiglass was installed on various attractions and transportation offerings, and shows that drew large crowds, such as parades and nighttime shows including Fantasmic! and Happily Ever After were not offered.

In November 2020, the resort increased the guest capacity to 35% at all four theme parks, and on May 13, 2021, CEO Bob Chapek announced a further increase of capacity, effective immediately; however, he did not say to what capacity level it would be raised. By mid-June 2021, temperature checks and mask mandates (except while on Disney transportation) had been lifted. In late July 2021, mask mandates were reinstated for all attractions and indoor areas in light of new guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control as the delta variant drove a significant increase in local cases. These reinstated mandates were lifted in February 2022. In April 2022, following a court decision ending the federal mask mandate for public transportation, the mask mandates on Disney transportation were lifted.

Starting on October 1, 2021, the resort honored its 50th anniversary with "The World's Most Magical Celebration", which lasted for 18 consecutive months ending on March 31, 2023.

Disney's Magical Express, a complimentary transportation and luggage service offered to Walt Disney Resort guests that began in 2005, ended in January 2022. In August 2021, the Walt Disney Company announced that FastPass+, which had been free since its introduction in 1999, would be retired and replaced with Genie+, a system starting at $18 to $35 per day with the option of adding "Lightning Lane", which will be used for top-tier attractions, for an additional charge. The pricing range depends on the crowd and day of purchase.

On April 22, 2022, the self-governing status which the Walt Disney Company had in the area around Disney World for more than 50 years came to an end after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law legislation requiring the area to come under the legal jurisdiction of the state of Florida. The new law also officially abolished The Reedy Creek Improvement District which the Walt Disney Company has used to run the area since May 1967, when then Florida Governor Claude Kirk signed into law legislation which granted the company special status. The law went into effect in June 2023. Along with this, as of May 2023, Governor Ron DeSantis has also been planning to target Disney's monorail system and let Florida's Department of Transportation inspect the privately-owned system.

Location
The Florida resort is not within Orlando city limits but is southwest of Downtown Orlando. Much of the resort is in southwestern Orange County, with the remainder in adjacent Osceola County. The property includes the cities of Lake Buena Vista and Bay Lake which are governed by the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (formerly Reedy Creek Improvement District). The site is accessible from Central Florida's Interstate 4 via Exits 62B (World Drive), 64B (US 192 West), 65B (Osceola Parkway West), 67B (SR 536 West), and 68 (SR 535 North), Exit 6 on SR 417 South, the Central Florida GreeneWay and Exit 8 on SR 429, the Western Beltway. At its founding, the resort occupied approximately 27443 acre. Portions of the property have since been sold or de-annexed, including land now occupied by the Disney-built community of Celebration. By 2014, the resort occupied nearly 25000 acre (larger than Manhattan, New York City, which is 22.7 sq mi).

The company acquired nearly 3,000 additional acres, in separate transactions, between December 2018 and April 2020.

12% of the site area is occupied by hotels and resorts, and 5% of the area is water.

Theme parks

 * Magic Kingdom, opened October 1, 1971
 * Epcot, opened October 1, 1982
 * Disney's Hollywood Studios, opened May 1, 1989
 * Disney's Animal Kingdom, opened April 22, 1998

Water parks

 * Disney's Typhoon Lagoon, opened June 1, 1989
 * Disney's Blizzard Beach, opened April 1, 1995

Mini-golf courses

 * Fantasia Gardens, opened May 20, 1996
 * Winter Summerland, opened March 12, 1999

Shopping, dining, and entertainment areas

 * Disney Springs, opened March 22, 1975
 * Disney's BoardWalk, opened July 1, 1996
 * Flamingo Crossings, opened 2021, located off property but developed by Disney

Golf courses
Disney's property includes four golf courses open to the general public. The 18-hole golf courses are Disney's Palm (4.5 stars), Disney's Magnolia (4 stars), and Disney's Lake Buena Vista (4 stars). There is also a nine-hole walking course called Disney's Oak Trail, that features junior tees for younger golfers and a Footgolf course. Palm, Magnolia, and Oak Trail are connected and share one entrance near Shades of Green in the Magic Kingdom Resort Area, while the Lake Buena Vista course is located in the Disney Springs Resort Area. Walt Disney World golf courses are staffed by third-party Arnold Palmer Golf Management. The Magnolia and Palm courses played home to the PGA Tour's Walt Disney World Golf Classic from 1971 to 2012.

Additionally there is a fifth course, the Tranquilo Golf Course, located at the Four Seasons Resort on Disney property. The course is open only to guests staying at Four Seasons.

Other attractions and areas

 * ESPN Wide World of Sports, sports complex, opened March 28, 1997
 * Drawn to Life, resident Cirque du Soleil show, venue opened in Disney Springs on December 23, 1998
 * Tri-Circle D Ranch, a working ranch and stable, located at Fort Wilderness

Former attractions and areas

 * Discovery Island, an island and former ticketed attraction in Bay Lake that was home to many species of animals and birds. Guests would access the island via boat from Fort Wilderness. It opened on April 8, 1974, and closed on April 8, 1999.
 * Disney's River Country, the first water park at the Walt Disney World Resort. It opened on June 20, 1976, and closed on November 2, 2001.
 * Walt Disney World Speedway, a racetrack at Walt Disney World that included the Richard Petty Driving Experience. It opened November 28, 1995, and closed on August 9, 2015.
 * Pleasure Island, a former gated section of Downtown Disney, centered on late-night entertainment. Most of the area was demolished upon the transformation of Downtown Disney into Disney Springs. It opened 1989 and closed in 2008.
 * Walt Disney World Airport, a small landing strip built for private aircraft. The airway stopped being used in the 1980s. It is located off Vista Blvd and World Drive and used as a storage area.
 * DisneyQuest, an indoor theme park that featured arcade games and virtual attractions, intended to be the first location in a chain of similar theme parks, which was unsuccessful. It opened June 19, 1998 and closed on July 2, 2017.
 * Crossroads Shopping Center, originally developed by Disney in the 1980s and located near Disney Springs, the shopping and dining center was popular for guests and cast-members, built at a time when there was few dining options in the area. Disney later sold the land, and in 2021 the entire center was demolished using eminent domain for the Interstate 4 reconstruction project.

Resorts
, there are 19 Disney owned and operated resort hotels and Disney Vacation Club (DVC) villas at the Walt Disney World Resort, along with one camping resort, Fort Wilderness, which includes traditional campgrounds and wood cabins. Together, they have approximately 23,000 rooms, 3,600 DVC villas and 500000 sqft of conference meeting space. They are organized into three categories—Deluxe, Moderate, and Value—and five resort areas: the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Wide World of Sports, Animal Kingdom, or Disney Springs. Informally known as the "Disney Bubble", staying on property is considered an immersive experience.

Additionally, 12 independently operated hotels are located on property leased from Disney, offering approximately 7,300 additional rooms. There is also an on-site pet hotel operated by Best Friends Pet Care for guests traveling with animals.

Former resorts

 * Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser – resort that offered a two-day immersive experience aboard a simulated cruise in outer space within the Star Wars galaxy. It opened on March 1, 2022, and closed on September 30, 2023.
 * Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser – resort that offered a two-day immersive experience aboard a simulated cruise in outer space within the Star Wars galaxy. It opened on March 1, 2022, and closed on September 30, 2023.

Annual events

 * Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party (1995–present) – held at Magic Kingdom throughout the fall season.
 * Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party (1983–present) – held at Magic Kingdom throughout the holiday season.
 * Epcot International Food & Wine Festival (1995–present) – held at Epcot throughout the fall season. Includes the Eat To The Beat! concert series.
 * Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival (1994–present) – held at Epcot during the spring and summer. Includes the Garden Rocks! concert series.
 * Epcot International Festival of the Arts (2018–present) held at Epcot each February and March. Includes the Disney on Broadway concert series.
 * Epcot International Festival of the Holidays – held throughout the holiday season Epcot.
 * Disney's Candlelight Processional (1971–present) – held at Epcot throughout the holiday season.
 * runDisney – marathon races are conducted each year, including the Wine N Dine Half-Marathon and Disney Princess-Half Marathon.
 * H2O Glow Nights – a special ticket event held on select nights each summer at Typhoon Lagoon. A night-time glow party.
 * Disney After Hours – a special ticket event held at select parks on select nights.
 * Moonlight Magic – exclusive Disney Vacation Club-only nights at select parks on select days throughout the year.
 * Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade (1983–present) – filmed each year at Disney World and broadcast nationally Christmas Day.

Business segments
Walt Disney World has several departments that handle various activities and events that are offered throughout the year. These departments include:
 * Disney Imagination Campus – operates Magic Music Days, Disney Performing Arts, Festival Disney, The Dreamers Academy, and other youth programs providing opportunities for youth to learn and perform inside Walt Disney World.
 * Disney Meetings and Events – schedules large meetings, events, and conferences at Walt Disney World.
 * The Disney Institute – offers professional development, team-building and networking opportunities using Disney models and principles.
 * Disney Weddings – schedules and plans weddings at various locations inside Walt Disney World, including locations inside the parks or at the wedding pavilion.
 * Disney Internships and Programs – operates various internships geared toward college-age students, including the Disney College Program (DCP), Disney International Programs (ICP), Disney Hospitality Leadership Program (DHLP), Cultural Representative Program (CRP), Brazilian Summer Super Greeters, Disney Culinary Program, and Professional Internships (PI).

Campus
The campus of Walt Disney World includes numerous buildings and spaces used solely for corporate management, castmember only services, and castmember recreation. The Walt Disney Company also owns and operates a corporate office complex in Celebration, Florida, home to Disney Cruise Line and Adventures by Disney offices.

 * Team Disney – the central location of corporate offices at Walt Disney World.
 * Disney University – the central location of training for castmembers.
 * Walt Disney World Casting Center – the central location for human resources and employee recruitment and retention.
 * Partners Federal Credit Union – an internal bank system only for Disney employees, with several locations throughout Walt Disney World.
 * Disney Event Group – office complex for various business segments.
 * Maingate Office Complex – houses offices for various business segments.
 * Amateur Athletic Union – corporate office building located inside the historic preview center building on Hotel Plaza Blvd.
 * Central Florida Tourism Oversight District headquarters building, located near Disney Springs on Hotel Plaza Blvd.
 * Mickey's Retreat – a Disney-employee only recreational complex located on Little Lake Bryan.
 * AdventHealth – operates two emergency rooms, located on the east and west of property near Disney Springs and in Flamingo Crossings. Guests with serious conditions and injuries are transported to the larger AdventHealth Celebration.
 * YMCA of Central Florida – operates two locations on property that provide daycare and educational programs for children of Walt Disney World employees.
 * The Center for Living Well – provides health services for Disney employees, operated by Premise Health.
 * Flamingo Crossings Village – home of Disney Programs and Internship students.
 * Disney Aspire – offers free college tuition to eligible employees of Walt Disney World. Launched in 2018, the program offers select academic tracks in partnership with certain schools and degree programs.
 * Voluntears – Disney's in-house volunteer program. Disney cast members volunteer their time for local non-profit and environmental causes.

Employment
When the Magic Kingdom opened in 1971, the site employed about 5,500 "cast members". In 2020, Walt Disney World employed more than 77,000 cast members. Walt Disney World has more than 3,000 job classifications with a total 2019 payroll of over $3 billion.

Union representation
Almost all hourly guest-facing cast members work under union contracts. The most recent contract was negotiated and put in effect in 2023 and is valid through 2027, setting the starting hourly rate for part-time and full-time cast at 17 dollars per hour, with additional premiums available for select roles. Union membership is offered to all cast eligible at the start of employment. Each staff location on property has an official designated as shop steward, who bargains with Disney leadership when needed to defend the rights designated within the contract.

 * UNITE HERE Local 362 – Represents roles in Attractions, Custodial, and Vacation Planning.
 * Transportation Communications International Union
 * Local 737 – Represents housekeeping and food and beverage cast.
 * Local 1908 – Represents numerous roles including concierge, lifeguards, bell services, and monorail and watercraft cast.
 * United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1625 – Represents merchandise cast.
 * International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 385 – Represents entertainment, bus drivers, laundry cast and parking cast.
 * International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 361 – Represents costuming, cosmetologists, and entertainment technicians.
 * Actors' Equity Association Orlando Area Theatre – Represents members performing under contract at Walt Disney World, including casts of Festival of The Lion King, Voices of Liberty, The Dapper Dans, Mickey's Royal Friendship Faire, Beauty and the Beast: Live on Stage, Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, the Hoop-Dee-Do Review, and Finding Nemo: The Big Blue and Beyond.

Attendance
In the first year of opening, the park attracted 10,712,991 visitors. In 2018, the resort's four theme parks all ranked in the top 9 on the list of the 25 most visited theme parks in the world: (1st) Magic Kingdom—20,859,000 visitors; (6th) Disney's Animal Kingdom—13,750,000 visitors; (7th) Epcot—12,444,000 visitors; and (9th) Disney's Hollywood Studios—11,258,000 visitors. By October 2020, maximum Disney World attendance was still allowed to only remain at 25% capacity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A recent study found that reducing Magic Kingdom park capacity to 25% would result in a 54.1% reduction in annual attendance. This capacity limit causes less annual revenue, and may lower the number of visitors to the Orlando region.

Transportation
The Walt Disney World Resort is serviced by Disney Transport, a complimentary mass transportation system allowing guest access across the property. The fare-free system utilizes buses, monorails, gondola lifts, watercraft, and parking lot trams.

The Walt Disney World Monorail System provides free transportation at Walt Disney World; guests can board the monorail and travel between the Magic Kingdom and Epcot, including select on-property resorts such as The Grand Floridian and The Polynesian Village. The system operates on three routes that interconnect at the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC), adjacent to the Magic Kingdom's parking lot. Disney Transport owns a fleet of Disney-operated buses on the property, that is also complimentary for guests.

A gondola lift system, dubbed Disney Skyliner, opened in 2019. The system's three lines connect Disney's Hollywood Studios and Epcot with four resort hotels.

Disney Transport also operates a fleet of watercraft, ranging in size from water taxis, up to the ferries that connect the Magic Kingdom to the Transportation and Ticket Center. Disney Transport is also responsible for maintaining the fleet of parking lot trams that are used for shuttling visitors between the various theme park parking lots and their respective main entrances.

In addition to its free transportation methods, in conjunction with Lyft, Walt Disney World also offers a vehicle for hire service for a fee. The Minnie Van Service are Chevy Traverses dressed in a Minnie Mouse red-and-white polka dot design that can accommodate up to six people and have two carseats available to anyone that is within the Walt Disney World Resort limits. Cast members can install the car seats. Some of the unique advantages that the Minnie Van Service offers over a normal ride share is the ability to be dropped off in the Magic Kingdom bus loop (instead of at the TTC like the other ride shares) and being able to ride to any point in Fort Wilderness.

Energy use
Walt Disney World requires an estimated 1 e9kWh of electricity annually, costing the company nearly $100 million in annual energy consumption. In addition to relying primarily on fossil fuels and nuclear energy from the state's power grid, Walt Disney World has two solar energy facilities on property; a 22 acre Mickey Mouse-shaped solar panel farm near Epcot, and a 270 acre facility near Disney's Animal Kingdom. The larger facility produces enough solar energy to provide electricity to two of the resort's theme parks. The sites are operated by Duke Energy and the Reedy Creek Improvement District, respectively.

The entire Disney Transport bus fleet uses R50 renewable diesel fuel, obtained from used cooking oil and non-consumable food waste from the resort.

Self-Government and security
Disney's security personnel are generally dressed in typical security guard uniforms, though some of the personnel are dressed as tourists in plain clothes. Since September 11, 2001, uniformed security has been stationed outside each Disney park in Florida to search guests' bags as they enter the parks. Starting April 3, 2017, bag checkpoints have been placed at Magic Kingdom's resort monorail entryways and the Transportation and Ticket Center's ferry entry points prior to embarkation as well as the walkway from Disney's Contemporary Resort. Guests arriving at the Transportation and Ticket Center by tram or tour bus will be screened at the former tram boarding areas. Guests arriving by Disney Resort hotel bus or Minnie Van have their own bag check just outside the bus stops. Guests arriving via Magic Kingdom Resort boat launch are bag checked on the arrival dock outside Magic Kingdom.

The land where Walt Disney World resides is part of the Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID), a governing jurisdiction created in May 1967 by the State of Florida at the request of Disney. RCID provides 911 services, fire, environmental protection, building code enforcement, utilities and road maintenance, but does not provide law enforcement services. The approximately 800 security staff are instead considered employees of the Walt Disney Company. Arrests and citations are issued by the Florida Highway Patrol along with the Orange County and Osceola County sheriffs deputies who patrol the roads. Disney security does maintain a fleet of security vans equipped with flares, traffic cones, and chalk commonly used by police officers. These security personnel are charged with traffic control by the RCID and may only issue personnel violation notices to Disney and RCID employees, not the general public.

Despite the appearance of the uniformed security personnel, they are not considered a legal law enforcement agency. Disney and the Reedy Creek Improvement District were sued for access to Disney Security records by Bob and Kathy Sipkema following the death of their son at the resort in 1994. The court characterized Disney security as a "night watchman" service, not a law enforcement agency, meaning it is not subject to Florida's open records laws. An appeals court later upheld the lower court's ruling.

In late 2015, Disney confirmed the addition of randomized secondary screenings and dogs trained to detect body-worn explosives within parks, in addition to metal detectors at entrances. It has also increased the number of uniformed security personnel at Walt Disney World and Disneyland properties.

Disney Security personnel in Florida have investigated traffic accidents and issued accident reports. The forms used by Disney Security may be confused with official, government forms by some.

The Orange County Sheriff maintains an office on Disney property, but this is primarily to process guests accused of shoplifting by Disney security personnel.

Although the scattering of ashes on Disney property is illegal, The Wall Street Journal reported in October 2018 that Walt Disney World parks were becoming a popular spot for families to scatter the ashes of loved ones, with the Haunted Mansion at Magic Kingdom being the favorite location. The practice is unlawful and prohibited on Disney property, and anyone spreading cremated remains is escorted from the park.

On April 22, 2022, the Walt Disney Company's self-governing authority of all the area surrounding Walt Disney World came to an end after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law legislation requiring Walt Disney World's Reedy Creek Improvement District to come under the legal jurisdiction of the state of Florida on June 1, 2023.

Corporate culture
Walt Disney World's corporate culture uses jargon based on theatrical terminology. For example, park visitors are always "guests", employees are called "cast members", rides are "attractions" or "experiences", cast members costumed as famous Disney characters in a way that does not cover their faces are known as "face characters", jobs are "roles", and public and nonpublic areas are respectively labeled "onstage" and "backstage".

Closures
Walt Disney World has had twelve unscheduled closures, ten of which have been due to hurricanes:

 * September 15, 1999, due to Hurricane Floyd
 * September 11, 2001, after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D.C.
 * August 13, 2004, due to Hurricane Charley
 * September 4–5, 2004, due to Hurricane Frances
 * September 26, 2004, due to Hurricane Jeanne
 * October 25, 2005, in the morning, due to Hurricane Wilma
 * October 7, 2016, due to Hurricane Matthew
 * September 10–11, 2017, due to Hurricane Irma
 * September 3, 2019, for about half the day (with the exception of Epcot and Disney Springs), due to Hurricane Dorian
 * March 15 – July 11, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (excluding Disney Springs, which reopened on May 19, 2020 )
 * September 28–29, 2022, due to Hurricane Ian
 * November 9–10, 2022, phased closure from the evening of November 9 until noon of the next day, due to Hurricane Nicole

Like its sister resort, parks at the resort may close early to accommodate various special events, such as special press events, tour groups, VIP groups, and private parties. It is common for a corporation to rent entire parks for the evening. In such cases, special passes are issued which are valid for admission to all rides and attractions. At the ticket booths and on published schedules, the guests are notified of the early closures. Then, cast members announce that the parks are closing, sometime before the private event starts, and clear the parks of guests who do not have the special passes.

In October 2020, it was revealed that full capacity attendance was still not permitted, following the COVID-19 closure which occurred earlier in the year. In July 2021, Disney World announced that all its staff workers in the US would have to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to return to work. It also announced that those who are unvaccinated would have a period of time to get their shots and aimed to return to full capacity for people who are immunized.

title: Walt Disney World