How did Orlando become such a booming tourist city?
Orlando is fifth in America in terms of international travel, and it didn’t happen overnight. A small town began to grow in 1840 after the end of the Seminole wars. Over the next century the area had a significant railroad boom, followed by a citrus boom in the 1950s which caused the area to blossom. When Disney World opened in 1971, it became one of the premier destinations in the world, after Walt Disney sought out a remote location that wouldn’t be infiltrated with so many highways and congestion, which is why he purchased over 40 square miles south of the city. Sea World, Universal Studios and a slew of other amusement parks followed in the next half century. Today, only Las Vegas has more hotel rooms than Orlando.
