World Celebration Disney World Marks 25 Years With Big Party

“Happy birthday, dear Walt Disney Worrrrrld, happy birthday to yoooooou.”

This month, the 30,000-acre mini-country that masquerades as a theme park - this place where elephants and small children can fly and drooling alien monsters lurk within walking distance of Mickey Mouse’s house, this “happiest place on Earth” - turns 25.

We’re not talking about a one-day celebration here. We’re talking about an anniversary bash that will go on for the next 15 months. And you’re invited, especially if you’ve been to Disney World Resort in the past.

As befitting a birthday, look for some new stuff and a few surprises.

A new parade will roll down Main Street U.S.A. A new fireworks and laser light show will flash over Epcot. And you’ll find new rides; a new land to visit in the Magic Kingdom, where you can shake hands with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Snow White; some new, first-rate restaurants; and a new resort hotel complex.

What’s more, the big 2-5 will feature the biggest bright pink birthday cake you’ve ever seen. The Disney folks have converted the 185-feet-high Cinderella’s Castle into a huge birthday cake. No word yet on flavor.

It will have candles, of course. Twenty-five, plus one to grow on.

When Walt Disney World opened in October 1971, it had one theme park - the Magic Kingdom, with 22 attractions - as well as two hotels, two golf courses and a monorail.

Now it has three major theme parks - having added Epcot and Disney-MGM Studios three water parks, a zoological park, the nighttime entertainment district of Pleasure Island, 14 hotels, the monorail and the Disney Institute, where you can study everything from rock climbing to gourmet cooking.

Who would have imagined all this in 1965?

In that year, just about everyone in Orlando was wondering about the Great Land Buying Mystery.

Who was buying up all the acreage around town? Thousands of acres were being bought by dummy companies, apparently fronts for some deep-pockets buyer. Speculations flared and vanished like fireflies in a July twilight. Maybe it was Howard Hughes, the bizarre and reclusive mega-millionaire. Maybe it was Ford Motor Co. with a better idea. Maybe it was Leisure World Developers. Maybe the White House would announce something.

But in mid-October, a reporter for the then-Orlando Sentinel-Star was in California for Disneyland’s 10th anniversary. Walt Disney was there. She asked him about the rumors that he might be buying the Florida property.

He hemmed, hawed and dodged the question. A pretty big clue.

Two days later, the Orlando paper ran Emily Bevar’s small story deep inside the paper. It appeared to be just another rumor.

But after she got back from California, the newspaper decided Bevar was right. So Bevar’s story was rerun with this huge headline: “Is Our Mystery Industry Disney?”

That story and others forced Florida Gov. Hayden Burns to confirm the rumors a week later. On Nov. 15, Walt and Roy Disney and Burns announced that Disney had bought 27,000 acres near Orlando and would spend $100 million to set up an attraction. The name - Walt Disney World - came years later.

Walt Disney never saw his Florida world completed. He died in 1966. But by the time it opened in 1971, the price tag has risen to $400 million.

Julie Andrews showed up for the grand opening on Oct. 23-26. Bob Hope was there, too. So were Glenn Campbell and scores of other business and entertainment luminaries. Boston Pops maestro Arthur Fiedler conducted a 60-nation World Symphony Orchestra, and Meredith Wilson led a 1,076-piece marching band - including 76 trombones - down Main Street USA.

But that was then.

This year, visitors will get a real treat for the silver anniversary. In addition to celebration festivities, look for:

A New Parade: The 25th anniversary parade will start at 3 p.m. every afternoon up Main Street U.S.A. It will feature floats and characters from Disney movies including “Aladdin,” “The Lion King,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Peter Pan,” “Cinderella” and “The Little Mermaid.”

Each day, the parade will feature 12 or more past visitors to Disney World. They will ride in the lead float. For a chance to participate, pick up a recognition badge at the Past Guest Welcome Center. With it, you might be picked to ride on the float.

Illuminations 25: At Epcot’s closing each night, look out over the lagoon for a knockout laser light and fireworks show, pulsating to the music of the many nations represented around the Epcot lagoon. The wrap-up will feature explosions of light to the theme song from “The Lion King.”

Mickey’s Toontown Fair: This is the first new land to be added to the Magic Kingdom in a decade. Visiting Mickey’s land is a bit like stepping into a cartoon. It has Mickey’s Jellybelly-style house, with a teetering pile of dirty dishes in the sink; Minnie’s House; a dog house for Pluto; and Goofy’s barnstorming roller coaster for pint-size riders.

Disney’s Boardwalk Resort: This is like slipping back in time to the Atlantic City Boardwalk of the 1930s - only this one is Disney-style, so neat and nostalgic that you expect the doormen to break into song and dance routines. Along with the BoardWalk Inn, it has Disney’s first brew pub; a nightclub with dueling pianos for sing-alongs; a slick, Erte-style ballroom with a live band; and an ESPN sports bar that not only has a galaxy of TVs hanging from the bar, but TVs in the bathrooms as well.

Tower of Terror2: Very spooky, as Rod Serling leads you into the Twilight Zone in an old Hollywood Hotel, with dust on the reception desk and ghosts in the hallways. The Disney-MGM ride is an elevator that plunges 13 - what could be spookier? - stories into the T Zone. Not once, but twice.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame: New this summer, this is a Broadway show version of the hugely popular movie about Quasimodo, the handsome soldier and the beautiful gypsy girl. Great music, terrific dancing. You’ll like it.

Extraterrorestrial Alien Encounter: There are no steep falls, no roller coaster. But this Tomorrowland adventure is flat-out the scariest at Disney World. You enter the world of the future and suddenly find yourself locked in your seat in the dark with hot breath on your neck from the most frightening, drooling monster since Sigourney Weaver battled the Alien. Keep repeating to yourself: “This is NOT real. This is just a show. This is NOT real.” One young couple said their 9-year-old nephew was so frightened, he didn’t even want an Alien Encounter T-shirt.

For more information about Florida travel sites, visit Destination Florida on America Online at KEYWORD: Florida and on the World Wide Web at http://www.goflorida.com