When Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom first opened on October 1, 1971, the initial construction cost for the park and its two original hotels (the Contemporary and the Polynesian) was approximately $400 million. Adjusted for inflation to 2026 dollars, that initial investment is equivalent to roughly $3.1 billion. However, the "total cost" of the resort has grown exponentially as it expanded into a 43-square-mile complex with four theme parks, two water parks, and over 25 hotels. Major individual expansions highlight this scale: for instance, Epcot cost about $1.4 billion to build in 1982 (approx. $4.6 billion today), and the more recent Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge land alone cost an estimated $1 billion. Unlike the original Disneyland, which was built on a shoestring budget of $17 million in 1955, Disney World was a massive "Project X" that required the creation of an entirely new self-governing district (the Reedy Creek Improvement District) and a vast underground utility network known as the "Utilidors," making it one of the most expensive private construction projects in history.