The Wandering Disciple

Lake Buena Vista, Florida: As you enter through the wrought iron gates and pull up to the sounds of jazz fills the air as you approach the main building. No you are not in the heart of New Orleans, but rather the Port Orleans: French Quarter resort at Walt Disney World. It doesn’t take long to feel like your not in Florida anymore. Opened in May 1991, Port Orleans was designed to reflect the architecture of the French Quarter of New Orleans. The three story buildings feature the ironwork that is known to the French Quarter, giving the look and feel of the Big Easy. The resort featured just over 400 room when it first opened. Since then it has expanded to seven three story buildings featuring 1,008 rooms total. The resort is a moderate resort, meaning its room are slightly larger at 314 square feet each and feature side by side vanities and a sitting area. Another perk to being a moderate hotel is the amenities. The swimming pool features a serpent water slide as well. There i...

Lake Buena Vista, Florida: Since the Walt Disney Company was built on the silver screen, its only fitting that the third park at Walt Disney World Resort would be built around the movies. Disney-MGM Studios is not only a theme park but also a working production studio. Opening in 1989, the 135 acre theme park was built to resemble the golden era of Hollywood. The themed lands of the park were like soundstages from Hollywood dropped right in the middle of Central Florida. Unlike the other Disney parks, the park is not laid out with the typical wagon wheel layout, it is situated much like a city with intersecting streets leading to the different lands of the park. There are six lands to the park: Hollywood Boulevard, Sunset Boulevard, Animation Courtyard, Pixar Place, Streets of America and Echo Lake. The rides and attractions of the park pay tribute to the many great films from Hollywood. The Great Movie Ride features live actors that recreate scenes from some of the best known m...

Lake Buena Vista, Florida: The newest and largest theme park in the Walt Disney World complex in central Florida, Animal Kingdom is an entire theme park dedicated to animal conservation. With almost 10 million guests a year, it is the fifth most visited theme park in the country. Opened in April 1998, Animal Kingdom is dedicated solely to animal conservation. All rides and attractions focus on specie conservation and education. Since its opening, the park has been accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquarium for meeting and exceeding the standards of education, conservation and research. The park is layout like many of the other Disney theme parks with a wagon wheel layout. At the center of the wheel is the fourteen story Tree of Life, the icon of the park. The Tree of Life is found on Discovery Island and outward from there are the lands of The Oasis, Camp Minnie-Mickey, Africa, Rafiki’s Planet Watch, Asia and Dino Land USA. The park encompasses over 500 acres making it t...