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The Walt Disney World Railroad was built due to Walt Disney's love of trains. Even before he built Disneyland, Walt had a miniature train in his backyard called the Carolwood Pacific Railroad. Walt was so enthralled with trains, that anytime he told guests about Disneyland, he would always conclude "and it will all be surrounded by a train". Sure enough, when Disneyland opened in 1955, the park was surrounded by the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad. Walt Disney himself was in charge of building the railroad, and he even financed the construction himself. The Disneyland Railroad opened with Disneyland, in 1955 and is a working steam engine trainhas been running ever since.

When Disney began designing Disney World in Florida, he they once again wanted to have a train surrounding the park. In 1969 Disney Imagineer scouts Roger Broggie and Earl Vilmer found and purchased five locomotives from the Ferrocarriles Unidos de Yucatan (United Railways of Yucatan) on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. While one of the five trains was deemed unrepairable, the other four were sent by railway to Tampa Bay. Here Disney Imagineer and train expert , Bob Harper oversaw their restoration. New boilers were built for the locomotives by the Dixon Boiler Works in Los Angeles, California. In order to make the trains look older, they were fitted with diamond smoke stacks and boiler jackets. The tenders also needed to be completely rebuilt and new fiberglass cabs were manufactured and installed. The trains were then painted with bright colors and brass, before being shipped to Walt Disney World. The Walt Disney World Railroad opened with the rest of the park on October 1, 1971.

When the Walt Disney World Railroad opened, it originally consisted of three trains. A few moths after the opening, the a forth train joined the fleet. For all of 1971, the Railroad provided guest with a roundtrip tour of Walt Disney World. Only At that time only the Main Street USA station was open, and it wasn't until 1972 that the Frontierland station opened, allowing guests to . Guests could now board and exit the train railroad at either end of the park. . The Frontierland station remained operational until 1990 when it was closed and demolished in order to make room for [[Splash Mountain]]. The station re-opened in a new location in 1991, and the railroad now runs through Splash Mountain , allowing guests to see the "Zip-A-Dee Lady" Scene. In 1988 another station was built in [[Mickey's Birthdayland]]. Known Orginally known as the Duckburg station, the station was renamed the Toontown Fair station in 1996 , before closing in 2010. It is expected that the station will reopen as part of the Storybook Circus expansion of Fantasylandin 2012. While Fantasyland is under construction, the train still stops at the location of the station, to top off the tender with water and to keep the railroad's operating schedule. While the train is stopped in Fantasyland, a new narration plays, telling guest that they are stopping at a "Watering Outpost". The narration also gives guests a preview of what is coming to Fantasyland as part of the expansion.

The Walt Disney World Railroad begins with guests boarding the train from one of the three railroad stations. If guests board in on Main Street, the narrator will welcome them to the Walt Disney World Railroad and tell them that the train will be stopping at Frontierland and Fantasyland. The narrator then gives riders a little history about the railroad saying:

{{Quotation|"For an old conductor like me, there is no better place to travel the rails then here at the Magic Kingdom. By the way, were we're traveling by pure steam power. This old locomotive is descended from the mighty trains that powered the golden age of steel."}}

He also mentions [[Thunder Mountain]] and [[Splash Mountain]], before the train enters a cave, alongside Splash Mountain. Through Here, through a window on their right, guests can look into Splash Mountain and see the Zip-A-Dee Lady scene. The train then pulls into the Frontierland station where guests can unload and load. As the train moves out of the station, it passes Big Thuder Mountain, and the boom town boomtown of Tumbleweed. It then travels over a small bridge, where the narrator informs guests that a trip around the park used to take a week! On the left, guests can see a small outpost, as the narrator informs them that Indians were the first people on the land. The train then rolls past an Indian Village and some wildlife.

As the train moves into Fantasyland, the narrator tells guests that in Fantasyland they can , "Fly with [[Peter Pan]] and even spin in a [[Tea Cup]]. As the train pulls into the former location of ToontownFair station, both the narrator and engineer gives guests a preview of what is going to builtthere. The narrator tells guests that part of the Fantasyland expansion will allow them to go "under the sea" with the Little Mermaid or even visit the Beast's Castle. When the train stops at the former Toontown Station, the conductor tells guests that they need to stop here and get water. Often times, while the train is getting the water, the engineer will give some of the history of Toontown and then explain what is it is going to become.

As the train pulls out of Fantasyland and into Tomorrowland, the narrator says that some people think that traveling by train is a little too old fashioned. As the train rolls past the [[Tomorrowland Speedway]], he says that any guest can travel the [[futuristic highway]], or choose another mode of transportation so such as ,the [[PeopleMover]], [[Space Mountain]] or [[Astro Orbiter]]. On their right, guests can see into Tomorrowland. As the train continues forward, the narrator informers riders that Main Street was inspired by the small towns of Walt's childhood. He also says that stepping onto Main Street is like stepping back in time. At this point that train reaches the Main Street Station, and the narration starts all over again.

There are four operation trains on the Walt Disney World Railroad. The four locomotives for the trains , were built between 1916 and 1928 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia. The trains consist of a steam locomotive, tender, and five passenger cars. Each train has a capacity of approximately 365 passengers and 2 wheelchairs. The tender has a capacity for 1,837 gallons of water and 664 gallons of fuel oil. The tender needs to be topped off with water every three or four trips around the park. Due to the fact that the water tower used to top off the tenders is located at the Fantasyland station, the trains still need to stop there, despite the fact that the area is under construction.