Orlando Mini Guide
The tourist area generally known as Orlando actually consists of three counties. Orange County is the home of the city of Orlando, but much of Disney's fun and frolics are to be found in Osceola County, with Kissimmee its main town. Seminole County, home of Orlando Sanford Airport, is north of Orange County.
The local population tops the 1.8 million mark, of which some 244,000 are actively employed in the tourist business. But, in 2003, more than 40 million people made Orlando their holiday choice, spending in excess of $20 billion in the area.
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Britain accounts for more than 40 per cent of all foreign visitors to Orlando, and in 2003 that was almost 1 million of us. Those figures represent a huge increase in the last ten years (even allowing for a dip after September 11), with the international airport seeing its traffic boom from 8 million passengers in 1983 to a massive 30 million just 17 years later. In addition, the Orlando area boasts more than 112,000 hotel rooms and 4,000-plus places to eat. And shopaholics have the choice of an amazing 250 shopping centres, including 30 malls. But let's give you a quick taste of the main attractions.
Walt Disney World Resort - in Florida
This is where the 'Magic' really starts - and the effect is vividly real. This vast resort actually consists of four distinct, separate theme parks, 20 speciality hotel resorts, a camping ground, two water parks, a sports complex, five 18-hole golf courses, four mini-golf courses and a huge shopping and entertainment complex {Downtown Disney). It covers 47 sq miles (122 sq km). The likes of Alton Towers ana Thorpe Park would comfortably fit into its car parking space! Indeed, Alton Towers, Britain's biggest theme park, is 60 times smaller. Disney's most popular park, the Magic Kingdom Park, has a single-day record attendance in the region of 92,000 -most British parks peak at around 20,000. The Disney organisation does things with the most style, but the others have caught on fast and are rapidly creating new amenities.
Intriguingly, less than half of Disney's massive site has been developed, leaving plenty of room for new accommodation and attractions, while even the existing parks have potential for an extra ride or two, ana there are several major projects on the drawing board. Disney maintains an extremely high level of customer service and is always looking at ways to refresh the existing attractions. Everyone who works for Disney is officially a Cast Member, not just staff, and they take that ethic to heart.
