All that stays of the now-legendary Walt Disney World Golf Resort is a small pee wee golf course known today as "Oak Trail Golf Course". Yet throughout 1975 to 1995, Magnolia, Palm, Osprey Ridge, and Lake Buena Vista are the full-sized courses Disney World continue to run. The Magnolia Golf Course is the trickiest and longest of them all, with numerous water features and sand traps to challenge even very skilled golfers.

Today, generally people know Walt Disney World to be a great and greatly varied attraction with points of interest for children of all ages. When it opened its doors in 1971, nonetheless, there was a few skepticism as to how different it may possibly be from its predecessor in Anaheim. The inclusion of a number of options for serious golfers was seen by Walt Disney among the approaches to solidify Walt Disney World as a vacation destination in the heads of Americans.

Sandy Quinn, the then-president of advertising for Disney, was place in charge of setting up a kickoff PGA golf tournament to herald the opening of Walt Disney World. Thankfully for him his path surpassed with Arnold Palmer's, and also the conversation quickly turned to establishing a PGA tourney. Amid November 29 and December 5 of 1971 the Disney golf championship ran its first course, with a $150,000.00 purse! Jack Nicklaus won the earliest three competitions, which befell in 1971, 1972 and 1973. Since then the competition has developed into part of the PGA tour, and it is currently the longest-running such happening in Florida. Annually one hundred twenty-eight golfers taken part over four days in an incredibly animated competition. Vijay Singh, Mark O'Meara, Hal Sutton, Tiger Woods, Davis Love III and Payne Stewart all boast having won the purse at this much-anticipated affair.

1971 marked not only the first PGA tournament at Walt Disney World also, the opening of the Disney Golf Resort, which would later close, but it also saw the very first Disney Christmas Parade, which continues to this very day. The first Candlelight Processional took place on the night time of December 18 and 19 at six o'clock. Over a thousand Floridian carolers paraded through Disney World's Main Street right up until they arrived at Cinderella Castle. There, in the forecourt, the celebrations would occur, including a narration of the Christmas Story by Rock Hudson, orchestra performance ? la Frederick Fennell, and a human Christmas tree brought to life by the Orlando and St. Petersburg boys choirs. Several traditions endure nowadays, more than 40 years after that initial kick-off.

Todd Blay loves to research and write about the Walt Disney World Resort. Please check out his website that has Disney World Vacation information as well as Disney World Golf information.