Inside abandoned Disney World airport with its own singing runway where planes are banned from landing
GROUNDED Inside abandoned Disney World airport with its own singing runway where planes are banned from landing
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AN ABANDONED Disney World airport once welcomed visitors into the heart of the Magic Kingdom with a musical runway - but planes are now banned from the area.
Lake Buena Vista STOLPort was constructed in the early 1970s - with a runway which played When You Wish Upon a Star if pilots drove over it at the right pace.
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Hidden just off the road into Disney World, the stretch of tarmac literally sang when jets went over it at around 45mph.
The small airport was made in 1971 to fly in Disney World guests and employees from Orlando International Airport and Tampa International Airport, on a journey that lasted just a few minutes, according to Culture Trip.
For a short time, it was the only runway where you could fly directly into Disney's world-famous theme park.
The only jets to ever fly into the incredible airport were part of a now-defunct airline called Shawnee.
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The airport, which rests south of the Magic Kingdom park and north of Epcot, next to World Drive, was only big enough to operate four planes at a time.
The runway was also reportedly used for high-ranking Disney company executives until as late as 2006.
The concept was that the small airport would later be revamped into a much larger airport - but this idea never took off, and the fairytale flight service didn't last long before it was scrapped.
Lake Buena Vista STOLport was ultimately closed in the 1980s after the theme park built a Monorail close to the runway.
This meant planes were no longer able to land there safely.
Ever since, the one-of-a-kind airport has been used as backstage storage.
Bus drivers were even reportedly trained on the tarmac, where they revealed the bizarre musical feature of the singing airstrip.
Tragically, the musical grooves were removed in 2008 - though the airport still stands.
There is actually another bizarre reason no planes are allowed to land there today.
And it is because Disney World actually has the same airspace protections as the White House.
The park has a special "no-fly zone" called TFR 9/4985, which it was given shortly after 9/11.
This means no planes can fly low or land over attractions such as Cinderella's castle - much to the annoyance of Florida pilots.
Disney has even tried to bend the rule too.
They recently applying for permission to fly their own drones in the zone.
Planes aren't the only things that no longer exist at Disney World - mosquitoes have also been banned.
Disney has a comprehensive programme for keeping the park mozzie-free, which is called the Mosquito Surveillance Programme.
But while the airspace is locked down tight, the legend of Disney's once musical runway still lives on.
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