What the Heck Is a STOLPort?

by Jim Korkis
Disney Historian

Feature Article

This article appeared in the July 5, 2016 Issue #876 of ALL EARS® (ISSN: 1533-0753)

Editor's Note: This story/information was accurate when it was published. Please be sure to confirm all current rates, information and other details before planning your trip.

Disney STOLport LocationWhile driving toward the Magic Kingdom, guests often wonder about a paved area off to the right side of the road. It has sometimes been used for overflow parking, for training bus drivers, for temporary storage of a variety of items and not too long ago for the staging of the tracks of the Magic Kingdom's Seven Dwarfs Mine Train attraction. There are a handful of buildings in the area, including two with the image of Sorcerer Mickey on them, which indicates that they are temporary field offices for Imagineers supervising some nearby new construction or development.

But when Walt Disney World opened in 1971, that area was actually an operating airfield for smaller propeller planes known as the Short Take-Off and Landing Airport, or STOLport for short.

Walt Disney's original plan for the Florida property was to have an operating international airport with at least three parallel runways on the land that is now occupied by the city of Celebration. With the expected influx of visitors, many of them from other countries, it was going to be necessary to build an "airport of tomorrow" to accommodate them. When Walt Disney World opened in 1971, there was no Orlando International Airport — that didn't come until 1976. There was just Orlando McCoy Jetport, which had limited capacity. (Orlando's "MCO" airport designation actually originates from the McCoy Jetport location.)

The plan was that the primary entrance to the Epcot project (the Main Gate) would be roughly across the street from Walt's airport. (The nondescript building that houses Entertainment, Merchandising and Disney Design Group on Sherberth Road is known as "Main Gate", since that is where the planned entrance to the property was to be located.)

Expectations were that more than 400 people would be working at the airport by the time Stage Two of the Florida property was completed in 1976. By then, there were to have been three new resorts near the Magic Kingdom and new attractions like Thunder Mesa with the Western River Expedition. Disney projected that by 1991 the airport would employ more than 2,000 full-time workers and would be surrounded by hundreds of motels accommodating the many travelers flying in and out to visit the Epcot area.

Building such a facility would take several years, so a temporary area was built to handle guests who arrived at the existing Orlando airport and needed to get to the Magic Kingdom. Just as Disneyland had a heliport for many years behind Tomorrowland to shuttle guests to and from the main Los Angeles airport, Walt Disney World had STOLport.

Construction began during late 1970/early 1971 to create the sole northwest/southeast runway (approximately 2,000 feet), with a taxiway leading to a small office on the northwest side. Though the WDW STOLport opened on October 17, 1971, the official dedication ceremony was a luncheon on October 22, attended by a group of local and state politicians, as well as executives from some airlines. Officials from the state of Florida presented the Walt Disney Company with STOLport license number 1, as it was the very first official United States STOLport.

Shawnee Airlines operated scheduled passenger service between the Lake Buena Vista STOLport (sometimes referred to as the Walt Disney World Airport or by the desigination "DWS", Disney World STOLport, in its earliest days) and Orlando McCoy Jetport, as well as the Tampa International Airport. For these short hops, Shawnee used 19 deHavilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter turboprop planes. Though Shawnee operated other aircraft, the turbine Twin Otters were used solely to take tourists to Disney's STOLport.

From a flyer dated November 7, 1971: "Shawnee Airlines….your magic carpet into Walt Disney World.

"A day, a week… how long do you have for some family fun? Shawnee Airlines can fly you to a Vacation Kingdom where you'll find miles of lakes and lagoons for swimming, skiing and boating, two championship golf courses and the Magic Kingdom Theme Park. There's something for every member of the family… even if you only have one day. Numerous daily flights in and out of Walt Disney World's STOLport can turn one day into a family vacation. Ask your travel agent or Shawnee Airlines about your magic carpet.

"STOL…Short Take Off and Landing Aircraft. Shawnee Airlines. The Convenient Commuter."

An updated version from 1972 stated: "Shawnee Airlines… your magic carpet into Walt Disney World.

"Now Shawnee has nine daily shuttle flights from McCoy Jetport, Orlando to the Vacation Kingdom of the World. When you deplane from your STOL flight, you are within three minutes of the Walt Disney World hotels, Magic Kingdom theme park, and the Golf Resort. Only $7.00 per person — for more information, ask your travel agent or Eastern Airlines representative." (Eastern Airlines was the official airline of Walt Disney World at the time. Tourists landing at the McCoy Jetport on an Eastern Airlines flight could make an almost instant connection for the hop to STOLport and vice versa.)

During its existence, Shawnee flew to 14 Florida cities, including Daytona Beach, Ft. Myers, and Palm Beach, on a daily basis. Shawnee's intrastate flights were so popular that major airlines eventually moved into key Shawnee markets, prompting a shutdown of Shawnee on December 28, 1972. As a result, commercial service to STOLport was discontinued and never resumed.

Disney World's STOLport was also used by celebrities, politicians, and Disney executives. Executive Airlines and Volusia Aviation Service also used STOLport on a limited basis for the first few months through January 1972 and then stopped operation.

One of the reasons for the WDW STOLport's eventual demise was that the airfield had very few facilities, like hangars to protect planes from the Florida weather. At most, the airport could only handle perhaps a maximum of four aircraft at a time, although it never had that many planes operating there.

There were never any plans for expansion because, after all, this was meant as a temporary facility until the big international airport was built.

The 1980 construction of the monorail extension to the new theme park also made using STOLport more difficult for pilots. The airport was still listed as a private airfield by the FAA through the end of the 1990s, but by the time Walt's famous corporate airplane (nicknamed "The Mouse") that he used to fly over the Florida property arrived on October 8, 1992, to take up residence at Disney-MGM Studios, STOLport was considered unsafe and too small to use. The corporate plane landed instead on World Drive and was towed to the movie theme park.

By 2004, STOLport was no longer on the FAA's list of private airfields. Disney officials told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune that the loss of airline service at the airport would have no significant effect on park attendance. It was considered a failed experiment.

As a side note, Disney could never get a major air carrier to partner with them in the costs for the larger airport, especially with the oil crisis in 1973, although Delta Airlines came close at one point to signing on. The continuing expansion of Orlando International Airport, as well as drastic changes to the original plans for Epcot, resulted in the large airport project quietly disappearing as an unneccessary expense. Basically, when Disney abandoned the plans to build the Epcot city that Walt Disney had envisioned, the airport was abandoned as well.

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Other features from the Walt Disney World Chronicles series by Jim Korkis can be found in the AllEars® Archives.

Jim also writes occasionally for the AllEars® Guest Blog, contributing entries under the heading of "Jim's Attic."

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Disney Historian and regular AllEars® Columnist Jim Korkis has written hundreds of articles about all things Disney for more than three decades. As a former Walt Disney World cast member, Korkis has used his skills and historical knowledge with Disney Entertainment, Imagineering, Disney Design Group, Yellow Shoes Marketing, Disney Cruise Line, Disney Feature Animation Florida, Disney Institute, WDW Travel Company, Disney Vacation Club and many other departments.

He is the author of several books, available in both paperback and Kindle versions. You can purchase them via our AllEars.Net Amazon.com store HERE. His newest book, The Unofficial Disneyland 1955 Companion, was released last month. It includes snippets of interviews with cast members who worked at Disneyland in 1955, along with additional explanatory material (including the first complete listing of every attraction, shop and restaurant that was there during the first six months) and much more.

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Editor's Note: This story/information was accurate when it was published. Please be sure to confirm all current rates, information and other details before planning your trip.