Before I dive headlong into numbers, figures, and how many acres is Disney World, I think it’s important to know how and when the idea for the park began and actually came into being, as it was a murky path that Walt and Roy Disney had to navigate slowly and cautiously if they wanted to it to succeed.
And after all, as every Disney fan knows, a little knowledge can go a surprisingly long way.
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The History Of The World… In The Beginning
Some secrets are harder to keep than others, and after Disneyland became more successful than either Walt Disney or his elder brother Roy, who secured most of the loans and finance for the original park in Anaheim, had ever dared dream possible, it was only ever going to be a matter of time until the siblings started to think about, and plan a new Disneyland.
After discovering that less than a quarter of the guests who came to the happiest place on Earth were from east of the Mississippi river, Walt decided that he needed to be bi-coastal if he wanted people from all over the United States to flock to his parks.
With that thought in mind, he set his sights on Florida, and after spotting the “perfect” location while flying over swampland in late 1963, along with his brother, he started to make plans for what would eventually become Walt Disney World.
After learning their lesson about buying land following their initial foray into theme park construction in 1954 and how the price per acre would rise sharply once those who owned it knew that Walt and Roy were the names behind the sales, the Disney brothers approached their new project with a rare, and careful sense of trepidation.
Having decided that their best course would be to make the purchases under the guise of multiple dummy corporations and for the deals to be handled by a third-party real estate broker from Miami called Roy Hawkins, in 1964, they began to purchase as much land in Osceola County and Orange County as they could without drawing undue attention to the fact that vast swathes of swampland were being sold and changing hands.
Doing The Deals
Under the guise of Florida Ranchlands Inc, Roy Hawkins began to do numerous different deals with landowners, most of whom were only too happy to sell their apparently worthless property that was more swamp than land.
Establishing a story that he was working on behalf of a mysterious philanthropist who wanted to invest in the area to reinvent its economy and would only reveal his identity once all the deals were done, Hawkins managed to secure all of the purchases before the Disney brothers were forced to reveal their hand after a local magazine, Orlando Sentinel’s Florida threatened to publish the story.
In October 1965, after twelve months of secretive deals with more than fifty-one separate landowners, Walt Disney finally told the world about his new “Florida Project, which would be built on the twenty-seven thousand four hundred acres of Orlando real estate that he, his brother and their company now owned.
It was the most ambitious theme park project that anyone anywhere had ever undertaken, and to this day Walt Disney World is the biggest specialty entertainment resort in the world.
Size Is Everything – How Many Acres Is Disney World?
I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that you already know big Walt Disney World is, it’s twenty-seven thousand four hundred acres, right? Well, yes and no. That’s how much land the company owns in Orlando, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that Disney World itself is that big, because it isn’t.
Taking the infrastructure, the resorts, and the parks into account, Disney World actually covers just over twenty-five thousand acres, which means that Disney still owns more than two thousand acres of undeveloped land which they could potentially use to build another theme park.
Will they? Who knows, but I know that I can’t wait to find out what they eventually use the land for.
How Many Acres is the Disney World Parks?
Twenty-five thousand acres is a lot of theme park real estate, or at least it would be if it was all dedicated to the four theme parks and two water parks in Disney World, which it isn’t.
In total, the four theme parks (Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and EPCOT) take up a combined total of one thousand and fifty acres (the Animal Kingdom is the largest of the four theme parks and is nearly five hundred acres in size) while the two water parks (Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon) take up less than one hundred acres between them.
So, out of the twenty-five thousand acres of land that Walt Disney World covers, less than twelve hundred of them, or roughly seven percent of the total land is occupied by theme parks.
So, what about the other ninety-three percent? Well, that land is devoted to the resorts and infrastructure that Disney needs to ensure that the seven percent of their flagship resort that millions of people from all over the world visit annually, runs smoothly and efficiently.
And Finally… A Few Disney World Size Facts
Lastly, to try and put the sheer size of Walt Disney World into some sort of perspective and give you an idea of just how big it really is, I thought it might be prudent to offer you a few interesting facts about WDW, such as did you know that Walt Disney World is roughly the same size as San Francisco and just like that famous historical city, Disney World also has is own police force? You didn’t, well you do now.
And, did you know that Disney World is bigger than five different countries, including Monaco and Vatican City, and twenty-two separate dependencies including Jersey and Bermuda?
I know, it seems crazy that a theme park, or rather a collection of affiliated theme parks, could actually be bigger than an entire country, but it’s absolutely true. And it just proves that when Walt Disney said “If you can dream it, you can do it” he really meant it and that with determination, and a lot of money, anything is possible.
Why Not Take a Look at These Articles…
Below are some more of my Disney World articles. These posts will hopefully find helpful when planning for your own Disney World vacation.
Take a look at my full Disney World planning guide here.
Take a look at my tips for your first time at Disney World.
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