Did you know that Walt Disney World is the largest and most visited theme park destination in the world? Whether celebrating a milestone, the vacation of a lifetime, or just a day of fun, millions travel to Florida every year to make unmatched memories at Disney. There’s just nothing like it.
Being nearly twice the size of the island of Manhattan, there’s a lot you might not know about our parks and resorts. So, here’s a list of some of my favorite facts about Walt Disney World that are perfect for your next trivia night with friends.
Magic Kingdom Facts
- Towering over Magic Kingdom, Cinderella Castle stands 189 feet tall. The landmark is donned with blue and gold turrets, lofty spires and yes, it’s true, there is a Cinderella Suite inside too.
- All aboard! The Walt Disney World Railroad operates four-steam powered trains originally built between 1916 and 1928. That means some of them are more than 100 years old.
- Thirteen lanterns hang from the Liberty Tree in Liberty Square and each one represents one of America’s original 13 Colonies.
- The costumes featured in the Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade were crafted in ten different shops in eight cities across two countries. Now that’s Disney magic!
- Next time you’re at TRON Lightcycle / Run, listen in for some great tunes. Disney enlisted the help of composer Joseph Trapanese to create a whole new soundtrack for the attraction in Magic Kingdom. Joseph previously worked with Daft Punk on the Grammy-nominated TRON: Legacy soundtrack as well as the music for the TRON attraction at Shanghai Disney Resort.
EPCOT Facts
- Did you know that EPCOT is an acronym? It stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow – a name coined by Walt Disney himself in 1966.
- The icon of EPCOT, Spaceship Earth, is a geodesic sphere standing 180 feet tall. It’s made up of two spherical structures with a ride track encased inside. On the outside, you can find 11,324 aluminum triangle tiles, catching the attention of guests as soon as they walk into the park.
- The EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival is one of the longest flower and garden festivals in the United States. It features more than a mile and a half of stunning gardens throughout the park and 70 individual topiaries, including many favorite Disney characters.
- Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is the first Disney coaster to include a reverse launch AND the first Disney Omnicoaster, which means the ride vehicles can rotate a full 360 degrees.
- World Showcase features 11 country pavilions located all along World Showcase Lagoon. At 40 acres large, World Showcase Lagoon is the largest body of water at any Disney Park around the world.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios Facts
- Since 2017, Walt Disney World has debuted a new attraction every year and 3 themed lands. At 14 acres, Stars Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is the biggest of them all and is the largest single-themed expansion in a Disney Park ever.
- The Millennium Falcon docked at the Black Spire Outpost Spaceport in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge measures more than 100 feet long.
- At 199 feet tall, it would take about 770 stacked Nestlé Mickey’s Premium Bars to reach the top of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. If you took the more than 3.7 million Nestlé Mickey’s Premium Bars served annually at Walt Disney World, it would stretch to the top of Tower of Terror 4,892 times.
- Keep your eye out next time you visit Tower of Terror … Every clock in the building is stopped at 8:05 – which is the exact time on Halloween night in 1939 that lightning struck the hotel, causing five unfortunate souls to mysteriously disappear.
- Toy Story Mania! made history as the first Disney attraction designed for and built at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort at the same time. On the west coast, it dons a slightly different name: Toy Story Midway Mania!
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Facts
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom was the fourth theme park to open at Walt Disney World Resort, debuting to the public on Earth Day, April 22 in 1998.
- The park’s massive Tree of Life icon stands 145 feet tall and features 337 sculpted animals in its trunk.
- What if I told you that Walt Disney World is home to the tallest “mountain” in Florida? Inspired by the icy peaks of the Himalayan Mountains in Asia, the Expedition Everest mountain is considered the tallest “mountain” in Florida at almost 200 feet.
- At 110 acres, Kilimanjaro Safaris is big enough to house 83 football fields. Imagineers mixed concrete with stones, dirt and twigs to create the bumpy road traveled on throughout the ride.
- This is a wild one for you: The amount of popcorn served annually at Walt Disney World adds up to the weight of 1,557 African elephants at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Disney Resort Facts
- If you wanted to stay in every room at every Disney Resort, it would take you decades. There are nearly 29,000 resort rooms at Walt Disney World with options for nearly every budget. Staying in one room per night would take you more than 79 years!
- From bed sheets, pillowcases, towels and more, our resort cleans tons of laundry – literally. Walt Disney World is home to one of the largest laundry facilities in North America. More than 100 million pounds of linen is washed, dried and sorted here every year. Even cooler: These facilities also clean laundry for Give Kids The World Village, a Florida nonprofit that Disney teams up with to help grant wishes for children facing critical illnesses and their families.
- Disney’s All-Star Sports has a tennis racquet that’s large enough to cover an entire tennis court. Seriously. It’s 51 feet tall! The resort also has a massive tennis can sculpture, which can hold nearly 9.5 million regulation sized tennis balls.
- Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort hands out more than 1,300 leis to guests every day.
- The Big Blue Pool at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort holds 310,000 gallons of water and is the largest resort pool at Walt Disney World. Now that’s truly a BIG blue pool!
Disney Transportation Facts
- We have four modes of free transportation at Walt Disney World, including our bus fleet of more than 400 Disney buses. 65 million guests travel on these buses annually, with more than 10,000 trips made every day. That’s 24 million miles driven every year.
- Each Disney monorail can hold about 300 guests per train.
- Can you guess how many polka dots are on each Minnie Van? Spoiler alert: It’s 95.
- Each parking tram at Walt Disney World is 171 feet long. You can spot these trams in eight different colors across our four theme parks.
- One of the coolest parts of a visit to Walt Disney World is traveling by air. The Disney Skyliner has traveled more than 1 million miles since its launch in 2019, connecting guests via gondola to two theme parks and four Resort hotels perfect for nearly every family size and budget.
Disney Cast Member Facts
- Walt Disney World Resort is the largest single-site employer in America. Shoutout to all 80,000 of our cast members for making happy happen every day for our guests and each other.
- Many cast love to spread happiness beyond our gates too. In 2024, 200,000 Disney VoluntEARS hours were contributed by cast giving back to our Florida neighbors.
- Say cheese! More than 350,000 smiles are captured every day by Disney PhotoPass photographers at our parks and resorts.
- Talented vets, nutritionists, animal keepers, educators and cast provide care to more than 5,000 animals across Walt Disney World. Ever think about how much food it takes to feed them? An estimated 10,000 pounds of food is prepared and served every day.
- Horticulture cast care for nearly 3,500 plant species across Walt Disney World, including flora species from every continent except Antarctica.
Bonus round! If your friends pass the test and nail the facts above, here are some extra stats to challenge your best buds with but beware … only a Walt Disney World super fan would know these.
Ready to experience the magic of Walt Disney World for yourself? Check out some of our latest deals, experiences and other fun for families coming this summer.