In their souls, some people are happier than others. Do you know why? They haven't buried their childhood. They still carry with them whatever childhood relates to - wonder, play and that airy feeling about them. Now don't feed me this "inner child" mumbo-jumbo crap, you'll say. And I agree! We're not in any science class, neither trying to bring in any psychology topic. We just try to figure out what is it that makes us a little bit happier.
Remember when the real world didn't matter that much? We used to live in a "wonder world". Now, there was a man who wanted to bring back this world and share it with all the others. Fortunately, he was closer to it than adults usually are. That is how Mickey and Pluto and Donald and Goofy, Snow White and Cinderella and Belle and Little Mermaid, The 101 Dalmatians and The Aristocats came to life. And that is how "The Happiest Place on Earth" came into being.
Walt Disney's dream of turning fairytale into reality came true in 1955. A Magic Kingdom arose in California. The Walt Disney Company took the fairytale throughout the world and opened three more parks ever since - Walt Disney World in Florida, Disneyland in Paris and Tokyo. Hong Kong Disneyland is the following park to be opened in October 2005. Every year, the Disney magic brings 100 million visitors on the three continents and the number is still growing.
Find out, in a few lines, about world's Disney locations and, in the following articles, information on accomodation and facilities meant to exempt you from waste of precious time of your Disney vacation.
World's Disney Locations
This year marks the anniversary of 50 years since Disneyland California opened. In view of this occasion, the park is being restored but its original aspect is protected. Disneyland Resort was officially inaugurated in 2001 and includes Disney hotels, theme parks and restaurants:
- Disneyland
- Disney's California Adventure
- The Disneyland Hotel
- Disney's Grand Californian Hotel
- Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel
- Downtown Disney
Walt Disney World - was opened on October 1, 1971 near Orlando, Florida. It is the largest theme park resort in the world. And the most visited - 25 million per year.
Walt Disney World Resort was formally open in 2001. There are four major theme parks. Their main attractions are:
- The Magic Kingdom - Cinderella Castle;
- Disney-MGM Studios - the giant Mickey sorcerer's cap;
- Epcot - Spaceship Earth, the giant geodesic sphere;
- Disney's Animal Kingdom - the Tree of Life.
There are also three water parks:
- Typhoon Lagoon
- Blizzard Beach
- River Country (currently closed)
The resort also includes hotels, golf courses, shopping, dining, and entertainment venues and a cruise line.
Disneyland Resort Paris - initially opened as Euro Disney in 1992. The American model wasn't that warmly received by Europeans at the beginning. Its popularity increased only later, by 1995, but it still has some hindrances for visitors - for example, the long lines and the waiting time and the the fact that there are a lot of entertainments in French only.
Disneyland Paris includes:
- the Magic Kingdom, a version of the Disneyland theme park;
- the Walt Disney Studios Park, similar to Walt Disney World's Disney-MGM Studios theme park;
- a version of the Disney Village;
- Disney Hotels;
- Golf Disneyland.
Tokyo Disney Resort - Tokyo Disneyland, as named originally, was the first Disney resort outside the US. The theme park opened on April 15, 1983. It is said to be the cleanest of Disney resorts.
The resort has three main sections:
- the original Tokyo Disneyland Park;
- the Tokyo Disney Sea theme park;
- Ikspiari - the dining, shopping and entertainment area.
Hong Kong Disneyland Resort - will be inaugurated this year, in autumn. The park will be mainly based on the original Disneyland themes:
- Main Street USA
- Adventureland
- Fantasyland
- Tomorrowland
Yet, another land will be included at the request of the public - Frontierland.