The Walt Disney World Explorer

Disney Parks
Subseries of Disney
Coaster	1993
The Walt Disney World Explorer	1996
The Walt Disney World Explorer - Second Edition	1998
Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour	2000
Virtual Magic Kingdom	2005
Disney Magic Kingdoms	2016
Disneyland Adventures	2017

Disney Parks
Subseries of Disney
Coaster	1993
The Walt Disney World Explorer	1996
The Walt Disney World Explorer - Second Edition	1998
Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour	2000
Virtual Magic Kingdom	2005
Disney Magic Kingdoms	2016
Disneyland Adventures	2017

Key points

This page covers both the original 1996 release and 1998's The Walt Disney World Explorer – Second Edition.

Technically, this is an application that was made to promote the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, not a game. It has a few minigames, however.

Installing the Second Edition to the same folder as the original version will overwrite it, meaning that if a user wishes to downgrade back to the original version, then the Second Edition would have to be uninstalled first.

Although the program handbook for the Second Edition states that the original version must be uninstalled first, users can just run the installer normally without having to uninstall the original version first. It's also possible to have both versions installed on the same machine if they're installed on separate directories.

Despite the low resolution, the application runs well on modern systems, although some Windows Compatibility Mode settings are required to fully replicate the original experience and improve legibility on high resolution screens.

AVI videos may not play within the application; see AVI videos not available below for a fix.

Application (both the original version and the Second Edition) uses a 16-bit installer, despite the presence of 32-bit InstallShield 3 Engine files on the disc(s). A workaround is available (see Installing on 64-bit versions of Windows).

General information

The Walt Disney World Explorer on Fandom's The Disney Wiki, featuring a list of topics in the application

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail

This application is not available digitally.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows
Mac OS (Classic)

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows
Mac OS (Classic)

The only save data that the application saves are found Hidden Mickeys and the high score for The Walt Disney World Quiz Challenge.

Video

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution		The application runs at 640x480. Any unused space on a monitor is blacked out. Use Windows Compatibility Mode to upscale the application and improve legibility on large resolution screens.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		Always runs at fullscreen.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS		It's only for scrolling through the main overworld, viewing the 360° panoramas, and dragging the monorail on the Walt Disney World Timeline. None of the animations run at 60 FPS and the full-motion AVI videos are 15 FPS.
120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)		The application runs at 256 colors.

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus		Required to use the application.
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Controller types

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		No in-app settings.
Surround sound		Audio is monaural; all Wave audio tracks are in mono and have a sample rate of 22050 Hz. Application mixes all stereo tracks (should one be used in place of one of the application's tracks) down to mono.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		Without Windows Compatibility Mode, any audio that was last playing when the focus was lost will restart upon returning to the application. With Windows Compatibility Mode, the application will continue running in the background uninterrupted; any slideshows, audio, and animations will continue to play even though the audio is muted from loss of focus.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English

Issues fixed

All fixes apply to both versions.

Installing on 64-bit versions of Windows

Both original and Second Edition disc releases use a 16-bit installer.

Install with a modified 32-bit installer^[1]

Insert the CD.
Create a new folder somewhere on your hard drive and copy the contents of the disc to it.
Download the InstallShield 3 32-bit Generic Installer.
Extract the new installer into the folder you made.
Run setup32.exe and follow the steps.

You can leave the folder with the copied CD files on your computer if you want to run the game without the disc inserted.

Notes

If setup32.exe isn't working properly, check to see if there are any other processes preventing it from running normally. Open the Task Manager, go the Details tab, right-click on setup32.exe from the list, then select "Analyze wait chain" from the context menu.^[2] If there are any processes running that are causing the conflict, such as the Logitech Gaming Software's Discord applet,^[3] tick the box(es) for the conflicting process(es) and click on the "End process" button.

Installing the application messes with Windows Explorer on startup

After installing the application on a modern machine and going through the mandatory restart after setup, blank Explorer.exe errors with yellow warning signs appear on startup, and the machine always opens the File Explorer windows that were open when the application was being installed. This is due to the application adding a deprecated string value to the Windows Registry during the setup that was supposed to be deleted upon returning to Windows after the restart.

Fix registry^{[citation needed]}
Open the Registry Editor. In the Registry Editor, go to `HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows`. Delete the string value named "run".

AVI videos not available

The error as seen in the application; the video that is playing but cannot be properly shown is the "Backstage" video for the "Walt's Dream" topic.

When playing AVI videos from within the application on a modern computer, the application will only play the audio and show a white box with red diagonal lines, a black border, and a message that says, "Video not available, cannot find 'vids:IV32' decompressor."

Install Indeo 3.2 codec^{[citation needed]}
Download the Indeo 3.2 codec (file name: `indeo32.exe`). Run `indeo32.exe` as an administrator.

Sound effects do not play on overworld maps or from Tinker Bell cursor

While the application runs well on modern machines, it can only play one audio file at a time when running natively on such. This means that sound effects from elements seen in the overworld maps and from clicking with Tinker Bell will not play; only the background music and the narration (which is supposed to play on top of the music, but instead interrupts it).

You can ignore this fix if you want to hear the overworld narration more clearly or if you find the sound effects distracting.

Use Windows Compatibility Mode^{[citation needed]}

Go to <path-to-game>\code.
Open the properties for wdw25.exe (the application's executable).
Under the Compatibility tab, enable Compatibility mode (tick the box that says "Run this program in compatibility mode for:") and select "Windows 95" from the dropdown menu.
(Optional) If you also wish to upscale the application's screen to be able to see the application more clearly and improve text legibility on a large resolution screen, tick "Run in 640 x 480 resolution".
Click "OK" or "Apply" to apply the new settings.

Tinker Bell cursor jumps and sticks to corners in virtual machine

When running the application on a virtual machine, the Tinker Bell cursor jumps to the corners of the application's screen when moving her, hindering usability. This bug also causes the main Walt Disney World overworld map to scroll too fast.

This is probably because of how the virtual machine traps the cursor, which causes a problem for the application as it also traps the cursor within its screen.

If you are using VMware Workstation, change the mouse optimization setting to "always." This should fix the issue.
Otherwise, install it on the native OS and follow any of the fixes above if you need to.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play		2	Versus Walt Disney World Quiz Challenge minigame.

Other information

API

Executable	PPC	16-bit	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
Mac OS (Classic)

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	3.1, 95
Processor (CPU)	Original version: 486-50MHz or faster processor Second Edtion: 486-66MHz or faster processor
System memory (RAM)	8 MB	16 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	Original version: 14 MB Second Edition: 20 MB for minimum installation on Windows 95 30 MB for minimum installation on Windows 3.1	Original version: 27 MB Second Edition: 33 MB for normal installation on Windows 95 38 MB for normal installation on Windows 3.1
Sound (audio device)	8-bit sound card
Other	Double-speed (2x) CD-ROM drive 256-color VESA, PCI or other local bus video Microsoft compatible mouse

Information is taken from both the original release and the Second Edition.

Mac OS
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	System 7.1
Processor (CPU)	68040 or faster processor
System memory (RAM)	8 MB (16 MB for Power Macintosh)
Hard disk drive (HDD)
Other	Double-speed (2x) CD-ROM drive 640x480x256 color video display

Information is taken from the original release only.

References

[1] ttp://www.reactos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=10988

[2] ttps://www.reddit.com/r/techsupport/comments/452lyf/32bit_setup_launcher_not_working_on_windows_10/

[3] ttps://www.reddit.com/r/LogitechG/comments/6h6qq2/lgs_89486_logitechg_discordexe_cpu_usage_solution/

[1]

[2]

[3]

Developers

	Mindsai Productions
	Disney Interactive Studios
Publishers
	Disney Interactive Studios
Release dates
Windows	1996*
Windows	1998**
Mac OS (Classic)	1996*
Mac OS (Classic)	1998**
Taxonomy
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Relaxed
Controls	Point and select
Genres	Educational
Art styles	Cartoon, Pre-rendered graphics, FMV
Themes	Contemporary, North America, Amusement park
Series	Disney Parks