WDW to celebrate 40 years

Walt Disney World is set to celebrate its 40th anniversary Saturday with a host of activities, including a parade and a ceremony to honor cast members who have worked at the resort since it opened.

The Magic Kingdom and three Disney-owned lodging options -- Disney's Polynesian Resort, Disney's Contemporary Resort and Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground -- opened on Oct. 1, 1971. Since then hundreds of millions of people have visited the Central Florida resort which now boasts four theme parks, two water parks, 33 resorts -- including two dozen resorts owned by Disney -- and other amenities.

"There were all kinds of predictions and expectations about how it might grow, but not very many people I knew had expected that it would grow the way that it did," Charles Ridgway, a veteran Disney publicist, said in a news release. "I knew that there were great expectations, but when we started out, they were relatively limited expectations."

Walt Disney World is in the midst of a massive expansion of the Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland. In addition, officials recently announced that a new Avatar attraction is coming to the Animal Kingdom.