One of the questions I’m often asked about Walt Disney World is which of the theme parks has the most rides?
Which Walt Disney World Park Has The Most Rides? The Answer Is…
The Disney World Park that has the most rides with a total of twenty four is the theme park that started the grand WDW adventure over fifty years ago in October 1971, the Magic Kingdom.
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Disney’s Hollywood Studios Rides
9 Rides in Total
Hollywood Studios opened in 1989 and was based around a concept that legendary Imagineer Marty Sklar first envisioned. It was and is a park that was created to celebrate the world of show business and be a working studio, and even though the former has since taken precedence over the latter, it’s still a great place to spend a day.
Actually, that’s not true. Since Galaxy’s Edge and Toy Story Land opened, Disney’s Hollywood Studios has been transformed into a two, maybe even three-day park if you want to ensure that you get to ride everything in the park.
So, given that you’ll need to spend that long there, that must mean that there’s a lot of rides there, right? No, not really it’s because the park is so popular that you’ll need to be prepared to wait in line if you want to ride everything.
Like all Disney parks, Hollywood Studios is separated into a number of distinct and separate areas, in this case, seven, but as there aren’t any rides in either the Animation Courtyard or on the Grand Avenue, we can remove them from the equation. There are nine rides in total, spread out over five of the “lands” in Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Echo Lake
Named after a famous neighborhood in Los Angeles, which in turn was named after the lake that it was built on, Echo Lake was the original home of Star Wars in Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and rather “conveniently” and cleverly pays homage to the Rebel Alliance’s base in The Empire Strikes Back. There is only one ride in Echo Lake:
Star Tours: The Adventure Continues
Hollywood Boulevard
Again, there is only one ride in the area that was the original home of the Great Movie Ride and was the brainchild of former Disney CEO Michael Eisner.
Mickey & Minnies Runaway Railway
Toy Story Land
Themed to celebrate the Disney Pixar film franchise, Toy Story Land has three ride rides, which is more than any other location in Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Toy Story Mania
Slinky Dog Dash
Alien Swirling Saucers
Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge
The current jewel in the Hollywood Studio’s crown, “Star Wars Land” as it’s more commonly known, has two rides.
Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run
Star Wars: Rise Of The Resistance
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard may only have two rides, but they’re the biggest thrill rides in Walt Disney World.
Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Rides
9 Rides in Total
The biggest, and newest park in Walt Disney World, the Animal Kingdom covers five hundred and eighty acres and was designed, created, and modeled by Joe Rodhe and a team of Imagineers to be Disney’s zoological park.
Even though it’s spread over a relatively large area, because it’s also home to hundreds of different species of animals, the Animal Kingdom only has nine rides in its seven distinct and different areas, two of which, Discovery Island and the Oasis don’t actually contain any rides.
Africa
The original heart of the Animal Kingdom has two rides:
Kilimanjaro Safaris
Wildlife Express Train
Rafiki’s Planet Watch
Okay, it’s a bit of a cheat as Rafiki’s Planet Watch actually features one of the same rides as Africa does, and it’s the only way to get to the remotest part of the Animal Kingdom:
Wildlife Express Train
Pandora: The World Of Avatar
Based on James Cameron’s movie, Avatar, Pandora is the most recent addition to the Animal Kingdom and only opened in 2017. It’s also one of the most popular lands in the park, so if you want to experience both of its rides, you’ll need to be prepared to wait in line. And they are:
Na’Vi River Journey
Asia
The first “expansion” to the original Animal Kingdom, Asia is home to both of the parks biggest thrill rides, and they are:
Kali River Rapids
Expedition Everest
DinoLand
The Animal Kingdom isn’t just home to living creatures, it also pays tribute to the animals that stalked the Earth long before humanity evolved. The two rides in DinoLand are:
Dinosaur!
TriceraTop Spin
The Rides at EPCOT
11 Rides in Total
Based loosely around Walt’s original idea for an “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow” (hence the name EPCOT), the second of Walt Disney World’s theme parks that opened in 1982 (eleven years after the Magic Kingdom), pays homage to Walt’s dream by being dedicated to the furtherment of conservation and scientific research while acting as a theme park created to celebrate the unique identities of different countries and nations around the world.
EPCOT is one of two parks in Walt Disney World to feature rides in all of its locations, and in total there are ten rides in the second oldest theme park in WDW.
World Celebration
A “land” dedicated to celebrating the things that makes humanity unique, our history, our ability to learn, our curiosity, and our imagination, World Celebration has two rides, and they are:
Journey Into Imagination With Figment
Spaceship Earth
World Discovery
Designed as a testament to human ingenuity and the desire to unlock the secrets of the universe through scientific advancement, World Discovery has two rides:
Mission: Space
Test Track
World Nature
A “land” that celebrates the wonder of nature and humanity’s continuing efforts to live in harmony with the natural world, there are three rides in World Nature:
Living With The Land
The Seas With Nemo & Friends
Soarin’ Around The World
World Showcase
The “area” of EPCOT that most of us immediately think about when the park springs to mind, the World Showcase is a collection of “pavilions” that celebrates the unique culture and identity of some of the world’s different countries. There are three rides in the World Showcase:
Grand Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros (which is located in Mexico)
Frozen Ever After (which can be found in Norway)
Remis Ratatouille Adventure (which is France)
I think that I also need to point out that Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is due to open at the end of 2022 in World Discovery, which will take the total number of rides in EPCOT from ten up to eleven.
The Rides at Magic Kingdom
23 Rides in Total – The Most Rides in any of the Disney World Parks
The center of Walt Disney World and the first Disney theme park in Orlando, The Magic Kingdom opened on October 1st, 1971, eleven years to the day proper to EPCOT. The Magic Kingdom was based on the same blueprints as Disneyland and was designed to be an East Coast version of Walt’s original theme park, Disneyland.
Operating from the guiding principle that if something isn’t broken and works well, then you don’t need to fix or adjust it, Walt’s (who died in 1966, five years before WDW opened) older brother Roy was in charge of making sure that his sibling’s dream came true, and ensured that the Magic Kingdom included the same “six” lands as it’s California counterpart did.
When the Magic Kingdom was finished, the version of New Orleans Square that it included was renamed Liberty Square to celebrate the fast-approaching Bicentennial and to help to differentiate Walt Disney World from Disneyland.
It may have been copied in spirit (and to a large degree, content), but the Magic Kingdom needed to have its own identity and Liberty Square helped, in some small measure, to solidify and establish that.
The Magic Kingdom has a total of twenty-three different rides, spread out over the six lands, that can all be reached from the Castle that sits in its center.
Main Street USA
Walt Disney World Railroad
Adventureland
Jungle Cruise
The Magic Carpets Of Aladdin
Pirates Of The Caribbean
Frontierland
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Splash Mountain
Fantasyland
Dumbo The Flying Elephant
Mad Tea Party
Peter Pan’s Flight
Prince Charming Regal Carousel
Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train
The Barnstormer Featuring The Great Goofini
The Many Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh
Under The Sea: Journey Of The Little Mermaid
Liberty Square
The Haunted Mansion
Liberty Square Riverboat
Tomorrowland
Astro Orbiter
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
Walt Disney’s Carousel Of Progress
Tomorrowland Speedway
Tomorrowland Transit Authority
Again, it’s also worth bearing in mind that Tomorrowland is about to get a brand new ride, the TRON Lightcycle Run, which if everything goes according to plan, is scheduled to open sometime in 2022.
And you know what that means don’t you? It means that the lines in the Magic Kingdom, and especially in Tomorrowland, are about to get a lot worse and that the total number of rides in the Magic Kingdom will go up a single attraction notch from twenty-three to twenty-four.
A Brief Aside – A Crazy Magic Kingdom Fact
Because it’s fun to throw weird and wonderful facts into everyday conversation and make your friends a little bit jealous that you know something that they don’t, I’m going to throw an odd fact about the Magic Kingdom your way. And it goes a little something like this…
Disney has made three films based on their attractions (or rides), The Haunted Mansion (which is also being “reimagined” and an entirely new film based on the ride is due to start filming in November 2021), Pirates of the Caribbean, and Jungle Cruise and all three attractions can be found in the same Walt Disney World Park, The Magic Kingdom.
More on the Disney World Parks
- The Disney World Water Parks
- All the Parks at Walt Disney World
- What to Bring to the Disney World Parks
- Which Parks Should You Visit First?
More on the Rides at the Disney World Parks
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Disney World Rides You Must Ride
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