More than 100 million people have visited Walt Disney World since it opened ten years ago in Orlando, Florida. The Disney people maintain it is the leading resort in the world today, outdrawing the United Kingdom and Germany combined. Its 43 square miles, about the size of San Francisco, includes a Magic Kingdom theme park, resort hotels, golf courses, campgrounds, a man-made 200-acre lake for recreational purposes, and an island with trails winding through a jungle chock-full of colorful tropical birds. Of course, Disney World is not exactly everyone's idea of paradise. Some object to its "plastic" nature: others complain that it has gobbled up a bit of our increasingly scarce wildemess. Nevertheless, one advantage of the great size and economic strength of the complex— now a $700-million-plus investment and still growing fast— is that the Disney World people can afford to experiment. And, more credit to them, they do. To an amazing extent. Disney World has become an important research center.
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