Visiting Walt Disney World, Florida

Known as the most magical place on earth, Disney World is the largest theme park in the United States, with the highest number of guests of any resort in the world. The resort holds four theme parks and two water parks.

Perhaps the best known of the four theme parks is the Magic Kingdom. The Magic Kingdom is where visitors will find Main Street USA, Adventureland, Frontierland, Liberty Square, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. In Main Street USA, guests can attend the Main Street Electrical Parade. The Magic Kingdom is also where rides such as Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Splash Mountain, The Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean and Stitch's Great Escape can be found. Frontierland is where visitors will find the Frontierland Shootin' Arcade. The Liberty Square Riverboat takes guests on a cruise around Tom Sawyer Island, Frontierland and Liberty Square. The Walt Disney World Railroad takes visitors on a tour of the Magic Kingdom.

The Epcot Center is double the size of the Magic Kingdom and is spread out over 300 acres. Epcot Center is divided into World Showcase and Future World. The World Showcase features restaurants, stores and other attractions representing Canada, Norway, France, China, Mexico, the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, Japan, Morocco and Germany. Future World is all about technology and features many futuristic rides and attractions.

Disney Hollywood Studios shows visitors the inner workings of Hollywood through attractions, backstage tours and live shows. One of the attractions in Hollywood Studios is the American Idol Experience, where visitors can compete in a mock version of the show. All of the attractions are based on TV shows and movies.

The Disney Animal Kingdom is where visitors will find over 1,700 animals and 250 species of animals. It is the world's largest animal park and is divided into seven areas. Those areas are Africa, Asia, Oasis, Camp Minnie-Mickey, Dinoland U.S.A., Rafiki's Planet Watch and Discovery Island. Among the attractions in this park are a petting zoo and various animal themed shows.

Disney World's two water parks are Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon. The Blizzard Beach Water Park, designed to look like a ski resort, has the tallest and fastest waterslide in the world, the Summit Plummet. Some of the other rides and attractions that can be found in Blizzard Beach are Runoff Rapids, Toboggan racers, Tike's Peak and Cross Country Creek. The park has a family friendly raft ride called Teamboat Springs and a Wave Pool called Melt-Away Bay. Typhoon Lagoon boasts nine waterslides and rides such as Gang Plank Falls, the Surf Pool, Castaway Creek, Shark Reef and a water roller coaster called Crush 'n' Gusher.

Disney legend says that Typhoon Lagoon was created as the result of a storm of epic proportions and that surfboards ended up in palm trees and boats were thrown around as if they were simply plastic toys. The storm resulted in Mount Mayday being able to hold the parks' best water slides.

In addition to the various parks that make up Disney World, there are also attractions such as golf courses, the Disney Boardwalk, Downtown Disney, Wide World of Sports Complex and Cirque du Soleil. The Disney Boardwalk boasts over 90,000 restaurants, shops and nightclubs. The boardwalk was designed to look like famous boardwalks, such as Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York, and the Atlantic City, New Jersey boardwalk. Some of the attractions on the Disney boardwalk are cruises with a sports theme, a piano bar and a dance hall.

Downtown Disney is divided into three sections, which are the West Side, Marketplace and Pleasure Island. Downtown Disney West Side has an AMC movie theatre, an interactive indoor theme park called DisneyQuest and the Cirque de Soleil show La Nouba. The Marketplace features the world's largest Disney character store. Pleasure Island features a cigar shop and an Irish Pub & Bar.

The ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex is an attraction featuring sports schools and camps and showcase events where major league sports teams come to recruit potential college athletes. This sports complex also hosts events such as The ESPN RISE Games, Disney's Soccer Showcase and the Pop Warner Super Bowl and National Cheer & Dance Championships.

La Nouba is a Cirque de Soleil show performed exclusively at Disney World. The theatre the show takes place in was built specifically for Cirque de Soleil. The cast members of the show come from 15 countries. Thousands of guests attend this show each year.

There are five golf courses for visitors to choose from and golf rentals and lessons are always available at these courses. The five golf courses are Magnolia, Palm, Osprey Ridge, Lake Buena Vista and Oak Trail. Magnolia can be found near the Polynesian Resort and features Magnolia trees. Also near the Polynesian Resort is the Palm golf course, which shows off the woodlands of Florida. Osprety Ridge can be found near the Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground and features pine, oak, palmetto, bay and cypress trees. Located near Downtown Disney, the Lake Buena Vista golf course is designed to look like it is on the grounds of a country club. The Oak Trail golf course is near the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa and is the most family friendly golf course in Disney World.

Walt Disney World boasts three spas, which are the Grand Floridian Spa & Health Club, The Spa at Disney's Saratoga Springs and the Mandara Spa. At The Grand Floridian, adults and children can get a spa treatment. The spa also features a boutique selling beauty products. The Spa at Saratoga Springs offers the same services the Grand Floridian does, but The Spa at Saratoga is designed with the look and feel of an upstate New York spa. The Mandara Spa offers treatments for adults and specialized treatments for teenagers. The Mandara Spa also has a hair and nail salon.

Visitors to Disney World can't go wrong, as there is something within the resort to entertain everyone. The magic of Disney World is breathtaking.