Just how big is the Walt Disney World resort? I read something the other day that made me laugh, and then made me realize just how little a lot of people know about Walt Disney World.
I was reading a personal blog online, and this girl was saying that her and her husband were going to go to Disney World. Okay, great, nothing wrong with that. But then she went on to say that they wanted to get a Disney hotel.
That way, she said, they would be right there at Disney and be able to walk to all the Disney parks! Oh my, I sure hope she sees this post, because if she really goes thinking that, she’s going to be in for a big surprise.
So, just how big is Walt Disney World? Well first lets make sure your talking about Walt Disney World, not Disneyland. Disneyland is the one in California, Walt Disney World is the one in Orlando, Florida.
Disneyland is much smaller than Walt Disney World, MUCH smaller! Also when you say Walt Disney World, your talking about the whole complex, not just one of the parks.
Walt Disney World is 47 square miles in size. Yes, 47 square MILES big! It is almost twice the size of Manhatten, New York. Or, about the same size as San Franciso, California.
Disney World has it’s own on and off ramps from Interstate 4, the main highway that runs through Orlando. It also has entrances from several other main roads.
What is on all that land then? It can’t be that the parks take up all that room? No, the four main Disney World parks only take up a little of that area. But Disney is much more than the four parks. Just for a brief list, here’s the main things you can find inside Walt Disney Worlds land:
Magic Kingdom
Epcot
Hollywood Studios
Animal Kingdom
Blizzard beach water park
Typhoon lagoon water park
Dozens of Disney hotels
A dozen or so resorts
Downtown Disney shopping complex
Dozens of Disney restaurants
Several golf courses
The Disney Institue
Disney’s wide world of sports complex
Spas
Disney’s campsites
And a whole lot more! It also has dozens of lakes, rivers, miles of roadway, it’s own fire station, it’s own police force and so on. Now just think of all the buildings they must have to store supplies, food, merchandise and all that. They have warehouse buildings for trucks to unload, a huge laundry building, food processing plant, auto warehouse, the list goes on.
They have dozens of office buildings, construction buildings, parade float warehouses, it just never ends. Walt Disney World is it’s own city, with just about everything you would find in a big city. There are around 67,000 employees who work at Disney, that includes everything inside the Disney grounds.
Each of the 4 main parks are anywhere from one to several miles apart from each other. You can be at a Disney hotel and still be 5 miles away from one of the parks. So as you can see, your not going to walk to all the parks! Despite how big it is, most of it is sprawled out with lots of green fields, forest and lakes between.
It’s not some polluted, cold city. It’s sunny and bright with palm trees and much “green” ground. Sort of a big city spread out in the woods you could say, only very flat! So that gives you an Idea of how big Walt Disney World is. Stay at a Disney hotel if you want, but don’t think your going to walk to the parks!
