Disney Power Grid

[zurgandfriend]

Last night while watching the lineup of Disney shows on the “Destination Channel” my DS stated “Disney must use a huge amount of electricity each day. Does Walt Disney World have their own power station or are they on the Orlando power grid? If they are, how come they never have black-outs?” I told him I did know but would ask some of the experts. Does anyone know the answer to these questions? Thank You.

 

[Tom 55]

Last night while watching the lineup of Disney shows on the “Destination Channel” my DS stated “Disney must use a huge amount of electricity each day. Does Walt Disney World have their own power station or are they on the Orlando power grid? If they are, how come they never have black-outs?” I told him I did know but would ask some of the experts. Does anyone know the answer to these questions? Thank You.

Disney world does have its own power generator station. It is oil fired not nuclear. Most of the lines are underground so they do not lose power during hurricanes. I was there in 2004 when hurricane Jean came threw Orlando. Park was closed for the day so we had to stay at hotel watching free Disney movies on TV. They have a crew that stays at the park during storms called the hold over crew so they can get to work opening the park as soon as possible after the storm has past.

 

[RedDad]

WDW is within a separate town called Lake Buena Vista, and all utilties are owned and operated by Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID). All totally separate from Orlando proper as I understand it.

 

[RedDad]

You can read about it at http://www.rcid.org/, but Walt set up WDW as a city in itself so he could have more authority over improvements and developments within the bubble. RCID has it's own building codes, water treatment facilities, electrical, etc.

 

[SuprDav]

Large complexes such as WDW will many times have their own electrical system. That means they own and maintain the substations that serve their facilities. The also own and maintain the underground cables and transformers that serve the buildings. I don't know any specifics about their system but I would think it very unlikely that they generate their own electricity. That is beyond expensive and even the mighty mouse would lose money on that deal. It is much more feasible for the Disney subs to be served from transmission lines from the local utility. As for the reliability of the service there, I'm sure that their system is networked. That means that every substation and also the transformers that deliver power to the buildings are fed from 2 sources. If there is a failure from one source, the other source continues to keep the lights on. I hope this helps.

 

[lazyboy97o]

The Reedy Creek Improvement District's power plant only supplies about 25% of Walt Disney World's power needs. The rest is purchased.

WDW is within a separate town called Lake Buena Vista, and all utilties are owned and operated by Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID). All totally separate from Orlando proper as I understand it.

There is also the City of Bay Lake.

You can read about it at http://www.rcid.org/, but Walt set up WDW as a city in itself so he could have more authority over improvements and developments within the bubble. RCID has it's own building codes, water treatment facilities, electrical, etc.

It was Roy who did most of the work on getting the Improvement District established.

 

[SuprDav]

The Reedy Creek Improvement District's power plant only supplies about 25% of Walt Disney World's power needs. The rest is purchased.

Correct. Co-gen is a supplement, not a primary source.

 

[jato4x4]

Progress energy actually has an office building on property, north east of POR. I know this cuz we always drive over and there's a office building with a big statue of Sorcerer Mickey, and there's another building that has a bunch of paint samples sitting in the sun. I think the actual electric plant they have that supplies some of their electricity is located behind MK by where train / monorail barn is. I believe its called Reedy Creek Energy services.

 

[danlb_2000]

From the RCID site:

"Electric
The District operates and maintains an electrical generation, transmission and distribution system which provides service throughout the District. The system includes a state-of-the-art cogeneration facility currently aggregating 55,000 kW of net capability. RCID purchases the remainder of its needs from other utilities. The transmission system includes nine 69 kV substations and distributes all power via a 12.47 kV underground distribution system. The peak demand of the electrical system is approximately 196 MW."

 

[rob45]

WDW probably uses a "flip flop scheme", don't know for sure. This is a piece of equipment that has a preferred and an alternative electric supply. If one feed goes out the equipment senses it and flips to the live feed. If I'm not mistaken, the monorail system is DC powered.

 

[bethymouse]

I always thought WDW should be a city all by itself! Walt Disney World, Florida