Orlando's Walt Disney World is home to two water parks: Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon. The latter, which opened in 1989, is home to waterslides such as the Crush 'n' Gusher and Miss Adventure Falls, as well as the Typhoon Lagoon surf pool — North America's largest wave pool.

Spaceship Earth is the name of EPCOT's iconic symbol, as well as the time-traveling ride contained inside it. Visitors to the futuristic park can enter the dome and watch a 16-minute animatronic explanation of the advancement of human technology, all while riding in a slow Omnimover car. The experience is narrated by Dame Judi Dench and allows riders to see the inside of one of Disney World's most memorable structures.

The spires of Cinderella’s castle reach an impressive 183 feet, but Big Thunder Mountain takes the title of the Magic Kingdom’s tallest attraction at 197 feet. Both the Tower of Terror at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom clock in at 199 feet. No Disney attraction is taller than 200 feet, since the Federal Aviation Authority requires all structures that tall to have a blinking red light.

The tallest structure in Disney World's Hollywood Studios theme park is the 199-foot Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Upon entering a seemingly abandoned hotel, Disney guests are greeted by "The Twilight Zone" host Rod Serling, who narrates a spooky tour through the tower's many stories. The ride drops visitors down an elevator shaft and is known to be one of the park's most frightening thrill rides.

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola and executive produced by George Lucas, “Captain EO” played at EPCOT from 1986 to 1998. Michael Jackson both choreographed and starred as the title character, assembling a ragtag group of aliens confronting the evil Supreme Leader, played by Academy Award winner Anjelica Houston. The film cost $30 million to make — roughly $1.76 million per finished minute.

Located around the World Showcase Lagoon in Disney's EPCOT theme park is a series of 11 internationally-themed pavilions collectively known as the World Showcase. At each stop, visitors can experience a slice of culture from countries across the globe, including Mexico, China, Germany, Canada, and Japan, among others. However, Brazil isn’t featured as of yet.

Main Street, U.S.A., is lined with red, white, and blue American flags, but close examination of those flags reveals they have small errors — like too many stripes or not enough stars. Disney does this so they technically aren’t American flags and therefore are not subject to flag regulations, such as flying at half mast.

One of the original attractions at Disney World upon its opening in 1971, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride was based on the 1949 feature film "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad," and took thrill-seeking passengers on a joy ride to nowhere in particular. Ultimately, though, the character's popularity wore off, and his ride was replaced by the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

In Disney World's Animal Kingdom is a land of floating stones and alien creatures based on the fictional moon Pandora from the 2009 movie "Avatar." In addition to shops, restaurants, and incredible scenery, Pandora features a ride called Avatar Flight of Passage that allows parkgoers to simulate the feeling of riding on the back of a flying mountain banshee.

As the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster goes from 0 to 57 mph in just 2.8 seconds, riders are blasted with a medley of Aerosmith's classic hits coming from the ride’s 900 different speakers. Band members Steven Tyler and Joe Perry took part in re-recordings for the attraction, and the whole band is part of the pre-ride film.

Yetis don’t come cheap! Everybody’s favorite abominable snowman shows up in Expedition Everest, which Disney World dished out $100 million to build in 2006, following six years of construction, as the centerpiece of the fledgling Animal Kingdom. It is the first Disney coaster to propel riders both backward and forward.

It's a Small World is one of Disney World’s signature rides. Originally constructed for the 1964-65 world’s fair in New York, the ride was one of the original rides open on Disney World's first day in 1971. Described by the park as “the happiest cruise that ever sailed,” the ride features a maddeningly catchy theme song.

Opened in 2019, Galaxy's Edge is a section inside Disney World's Hollywood Studios that dedicates 14 acres of land to "Star Wars"-themed rides, restaurants, and shops. The area includes a cantina, a droid depot, a custom lightsaber shop, and two rides: Millennium Falcon - Smugglers Run and Rise of the Resistance.

The Haunted Mansion uses a system called an omnimover, which consists of a continuous chain of vehicles that move as one unit. The technology first debuted in the Adventure Through Space attraction, but received a playfully scary new name — “doom buggies” — when it was repurposed for the Haunted Mansion.

Walt Disney created four attractions for the 1964 New York World’s Fair to showcase a new kind of animation in which statues could talk. The Carousel of Progress, which was developed with General Electric, debuted at the fair and was a Disneyland park attraction from 1967 to 1973. it moved to its home at Magic Kingdom in 1975.

Despite not being finished until a decade after Disney World’s opening, EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) was part of Walt Disney’s original vision for his Florida project. But instead of being just a theme park, EPCOT was intended to be an actual functioning city of the future. After Disney passed away, the company’s board of directors deemed the project too ambitious and ditched the idea.

Standing 145 feet tall and featuring wood carvings of more than 300 animals, the Tree of Life towers over Disney World's Animal Kingdom theme park. The massive model of a baobab tree has a giant theater inside its hollow root system, which plays the 3D multimedia movie "It's Tough to Be a Bug!"

Astronauts Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, and Jim Irwin were in attendance at Space Mountain’s 1975 grand opening, as were Mickey and Goofy rocking silver space suits with fishbowl helmets. The space-themed ride proved so successful that a duplicate was built at Disneyland two years later, albeit on a much smaller scale.

While Anaheim's Disneyland has Sleeping Beauty Castle, Florida's Disney World is home to Cinderella Castle, the iconic symbol and centerpiece of the Magic Kingdom. The 189-foot landmark is the gateway to the park's Fantasyland section and includes Cinderella's wishing well, a moat, handcrafted glass mosaics, and the restaurant Cinderella's Royal Table.

In 2021, Disney World celebrated its 50th year as “The Most Magical Place on Earth.” Walt Disney had hoped to recreate the success of Southern California’s Disneyland on the East Coast and secretly bought central Florida farmland in 1964. By opening day, October 1, 1971, he had put in an estimated $400 million to build Disney World.