Known as the happiest place on Earth, Disney World is celebrating its golden anniversary.
Lesson summary
Welcome back, I’m Jeff and this is Plain English lesson number 403. JR is the producer, and as always, he has uploaded today’s lesson to PlainEnglish.com/403. There you’ll also find the full transcript, how-to videos, translations, fast audio, and more. PlainEnglish.com/403.
Disney World is the most-visited theme park worldwide with 21 million people visiting the Florida hotspot in 2019 before COVID hit. And this year, the attraction turns 50 years old. It’s being billed as the “World’s Most Magical Celebration” and kicks off on October 1st. There will be a ton of new experiences unveiled and one new ride. Let’s explore Disney World’s 50 years of wonder and check out the planned festivities. At the end of the lesson, I’ll show you how to use the English phrase “come to fruition.”
Disney World’s golden moment
Disneyland opened in California in 1955, but few people living on the east coast of the U.S. could afford to make the trip: plane travel was a lot tougher in 1955 than it is today. Walt Disney also grew frustrated by some of the businesses that sprung up around the California resort and he wanted to have more control over the area around his parks. So, he decided to start buying millions of dollars of Florida farmland around Orlando in 1964. He was super secretive about it; locals thought maybe the government was going to build another space center on the land. But pretty soon it became clear that wasn’t the case.
Unfortunately, Walt Disney died in 1966, so he could not see his dream come to fruition . So, his brother carried on with the construction project. It took two years and over 9,000 people to build the park. When it finally opened in October 1971, the total cost of the project had been $400 million. Of course, Mickey Mouse personally escorted the first visitor inside and celebrities like Bob Hope and Julie Andrews helped to mark the occasion. In the first two years, the attraction drew 20 million visitors and employed 13,000 people. It also put Orlando on the international map.
What all the excitement is about
The park’s first day open was October 1, 1971, exactly fifty years ago tomorrow. Unfortunately, the fiftieth-year anniversary will not be quite as special as Disney had hoped. The pandemic hurt the Disney World resorts because they were forced to close or drastically reduce their capacity to maintain social distancing. Although things are better today, they’re still not fully back to normal.
Even so, plans are set to celebrate the 50th anniversary with 18 months of new attractions, restaurants, day and nighttime entertainment, specialty food items, merchandise (how can we forget the merchandise?) and more. McDonalds has even gotten in on the action offering custom Disney toys in their Happy Meals for kids and offering one lucky diner a chance to win a vacation to Disney’s big milestone event in Orlando.
If you’re not familiar with Disney World, it can be a lot to take in at one time. Disney World is actually made up of four separate parks: Magic Kingdom Park, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, EPCOT, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park. Each one has its own themes, rides, characters, restaurants, and events. It can be so confusing that there’s now a Disney World mobile app to help keep it all straight. The app also tells you how long the lines are for the rides and how much money you have remaining on your meal plan. There are so many tips and tricks to getting around in Disney that there are numerous blogs and websites all devoted to helping you navigate the parks and make the most of your trip.
All aboard Disney’s newest attractions
So what’s new this year? A new ride called Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure opens at EPCOT on October 1. EPCOT is the giant ball-looking theme park inside Disney World. It features cultural traditions and food from around the world. The new ride is family-friendly and based on the animated movie Ratatouille. It’s designed to make riders feel like they’ve shrunk down to the main character Remy’s eye level, with rat-shaped vehicles that scurry through a cartoon-ish Paris and Gusteau’s Restaurant. If you haven’t seen the movie, it’s cute. There’s also a new restaurant opening outside the ride entrance inspired by the Brittany region of France.
Disney World is also known for its parades and fireworks shows. The anniversary will debut new elements based on movies like Hercules, Brave, Aladdin, Alice in Wonderland, Beauty and the Beast, Tangled, Onward, and Mulan. Tinker Bell from Peter Pan will continue to fly around the various venues. Some of the new additions are still being kept quiet. For example, each park is getting new “Fab 50” golden character statues that will be interactive but there’s been no explanation of what that means. It’s a surprise.
Roller coasters over the years
I have never been to Disney World. I’ve been to Universal Studios, which is an unrelated theme park nearby, but just for a few hours one night. I don’t have kids, so I can’t say that I’m really into the theme parks. When I was a kid, I was terrified of roller coasters. The moment when the car gets to the top was the worst. When it’s going up, you hear this clicking sound. And just at the top, the clicking stops and the first plunge begins. That was terrifying. Not anymore, unfortunately. Now, all the biggest rollercoasters do is give me a headache.
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