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
Disney Vacation Club Beach, Florida. Disney would then open Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort just five months later on March 1, 1996 in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas opened its first phase in 2007 at $17,000 for a membership. By September 17, 2008, Disney Vacation Development had two new time share properties being built, Bay Lake Tower and Treehouse Villas in Orlando at existing Disney park hotels and both were to open in 2009. Bay Tower was expect for its timeshares to open at $18,000. On October 3, 2007, Disney announced it would open its latest Disney Vacation Club