History of Florida to use I-75, and settled along the west coast of Florida. Florida's first theme parks were developed in the 1930s and included Cypress Gardens (1936) near Winter Haven, and Marineland (1938) near St. Augustine. Disney selected Orlando over several other sites for an updated and expanded version of their Disneyland Park in California. In 1971, the Magic Kingdom, the first component of the resort, opened and became Florida's best-known attraction, attracting tens of millions of visitors a year. It stimulated the development of other attractions, as well as large tracts of housing and related businesses. The Orlando area became an
Walt Disney "Disney World" (now Walt Disney World), a few miles southwest of Orlando, Florida. Disney World was to include the "Magic Kingdom"a larger and more elaborate version of Disneylandplus golf courses and resort hotels. The heart of Disney World was to be the "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow" (EPCOT), which he described as: an experimental prototype community of tomorrow that will take its cue from the new ideas and new technologies that are now emerging from the creative centers of American industry. It will be a community of tomorrow that will never be completed, but will always be introducing and testing