Walt Disney World as the Lake Buena Vista STOLport. During the early 1970s, scheduled passenger service was operated by Shawnee Airlines with small de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter commuter turboprops which had STOL (short take off and landing) capabilities on flights to Tampa and Orlando. The airport is no longer in operation. When the Magic Kingdom opened in 1971, the site employed about 5,500 "cast members". Today, Walt Disney World employs more than 74,000 cast members, spending more than $1.2 billion on payroll and $474 million on benefits each year. The largest single-site employer in the United States, Walt Disney World has
Magic Kingdom film. In 2017, the park hosted 20.450 million visitors, making it the most visited theme park in the world for the twelfth consecutive year and the most visited theme park in North America for at least the past eighteen years. Although Walt Disney had been highly involved in planning the Florida Project, he passed away before he could see the vision through. After Walt's death, Walt Disney Productions began construction on Magic Kingdom and the entire resort in 1967. The park was built as a larger, improved version of Disneyland Park in California. There are several anecdotes regarding some of