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 never printed without the Walt Disney World prefix. This purpose was to differentiate between the park and Disneyland in California, which was and is also commonly referred to as the Magic Kingdom. In 1994, to differentiate it from Disneyland, the park was officially renamed Magic Kingdom Park, but is still known as Magic Kingdom or sometimes The Magic Kingdom. Like all Disney theme parks, the official name of the park does not start with an article ("the"), though it is commonly referred to that way; however, a sign on the railroad station at the front of the park reads "Magic