The Land of Make Believe is for real. Walt Disney World, which opened last October, has made it so—with resort as well as amusement facilities on 27,000 acres in Orlando, Fla. The resort will include at least five hotels based on a national culture or architectural style. Shown here is the 1,050-room Contemporary Resort Hotel, designed by Welton Becket & Associates (for Walt Disney Production’s WED Enterprises and U.S. Steel's USS Realty Development Division). The hotel is of modular steel construction; individual room units are delivered on site fully furnished, then plugged into a 14-story steel A-frame in a terraced arrangement. The resulting interior concourse includes a lobby, boutiques, social activity areas and a skyroom-level restaurant. A monorail runs through the hotel, connecting it to other Disney World areas, including the adjacent Magic Kingdom (amusement) section (plan, top). Three garden annexes provide 660 rooms.
