Orbit Around The Magic Kingdom

Mar 22, 2020

4 min read

Magic Kingdom is Disney’s flagship park. It opened on October 1, 1971. Sadly, Walt Disney never was able to see his “Florida Project” come into fruition. Walt Disney died of lung cancer, at the age of 65, on December 15, 1966. His brother, Roy, postponed his retirement to make sure his brother’s dream became a reality.

The Magic Kingdom is, not only the most popular park at Disney World, but it has been the most visited theme park in the World for the past 13 years. The Magic Kingdom, by far, has the most attractions. By attractions, I mean rides and shows that run continuously throughout the day. The park has a, relatively, unique set up. The main street, which is actually called “Main Street,” leads you into a central hub area. Here, is where the castle is located. Surrounding the castle are six unique “lands.” Each land has a different theme. From the decorations and the rides, to the cast members’ costumes, everything contained within each land, goes with the theme. This makes each section of the park unique, and you become immersed in new surroundings with each transition.

Here is a visual of the hub design that I am talking about. You can see that the seven different lands surround the center hub.

When you first enter the park, you will first walk under the railroad tunnel, then you immediately enter Main Street U.S.A. This is the first land that everyone starts out in. Main Street U.S.A. was inspired by Walt Disney’s hometown of Marceline, Missouri. It is supposed to resemble an idealized version of a turn of the 20th century American town. With only one “attraction” (the main railroad stop), this land is mostly shops, restaurants, and street shows. It is a great place to hang out, watch the fireworks at night, and it certainly does it’s job of setting the tone for the entire park!

From Main Street, if you go clockwise, you will enter Adventureland. Here, you can ride a jungle river cruise, experience the lives of pirates, ride the magic carpets of Aladdin, and try one of everybody’s favorite Disney World snacks, the “Dole Whip.”

If you keep going, you will hit Frontierland. This land is themed like the American Old West. Here, you will be able to ride 2 of the famous “mountain” rides (Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain), practice your aim at the “Shootin’ Arcade, and watch audio-animatronic bears perform a country music jamboree.

Continue clockwise, and you will be in Liberty Square. This land is themed after colonial America. In this land, you will find The Hall of Presidents, where you can watch an audio-animatronic show starring every single U.S. president. You will also find historic artifacts while you are waiting for the show. Fun fact, this is the only place outside of The White House that the Presidential Seal is displayed. Who would’ve thought that it would be in a theme park? That just shows the power of Disney! Liberty Square is also home to one of the most popular classic attractions, The Haunted Mansion.

Next up is Fantasyland. In 2012, this land more than doubled it’s size with the largest expansion ever to be done in the Magic Kingdom. This area is jam packed with attractions. The land features rides and attractions based off of Disney’s most classic animated movies. You will be immersed in fairy tales, with the princesses being featured heavily in this area. But, princesses aren’t the only thing in Fantasyland. You can fly on Peter Pan’s boat, experience a “4-D” attraction featuring Mickey and Donald, and ride on Dumbo the Flying Elephant. Dumbo is located in the Storybook Circus section of Fantasyland, which could almost be considered a land of it’s own.

Last, but certainly not least, is Tomorrowland. It was once a more realistic vision of the future. In 1994, it’s concept changed to a more dystopian view of the future dubbed, “the future that never was but always will be.” The inspiration for this blog name came from a Tomorrowland attraction, Astro Orbiter. This attraction is a simple spinner ride, like Dumbo, but it is unique in that it spins a little bit faster, and it is about 60 feet in the air! Tomorrowland can be quite a busy area, with popular attractions, such as, Buzz Light Year’s Space Ranger Spin (an interactive ride) and the ever beloved, Space Mountain.

This is just a little overview of the Magic Kingdom to help you get started in your planning. I will end this post with a full list of Magic Kingdom’s major attractions, sorted by land. This doesn’t include shows that don’t run continuously throughout the day, such as fireworks.

Just in case you are interested, if the attraction has a star next to it, that means that it was an “opening day” attraction. A few of the opening day attractions have gone through some minor changes over the years, or have even changed names, but they were all open on October 1, 1971. They all remain true enough to their original state that they can all claim to have been there when the park opened. There are also some opening day attractions that aren’t listed simply because they aren’t there anymore.

(Of note, Liberty Square Riverboat set on it’s first voyage on October 2, 1971, one day after Magic Kingdom opened. Unfortunately, because of this, it doesn’t have the honor of being considered an “opening day” attraction).

Main Street U.S.A.