Walt Disney World Statistics

With the initial success of Disneyland in the mid to late 1950s, Walt Disney set his sights on building another theme park, only this time on a much grander scale. After years in development, Walt’s vision became a reality when Disney World opened the gates of Magic Kingdom on October 1st, 1971. However, this momentous day came five years after Walt Disney succumbed to lung cancer, and thus, he was not able to witness the early and later successes of the park.

Although some elements of Disney World have slightly different outcomes than what Walt originally envisioned, we think he’d be pleased with how the park has evolved over the years, the giant it is today, the positive influence Disney World has had on society and culture along the way. The eye-popping Disney World statistics we discuss in this article really tell the story of Walt’s vision becoming a reality.

With an average annual attendance of over 58 million visitors, Walt Disney World is the most visited vacation resort in the world. The amount of manpower, creativity, machinery, and technology involved in keeping Disney World humming and innovating is simply astounding. Hidden beneath the attractions, resorts, restaurants, and shops are some eye-opening statistics that only an operation as grand as Walt Disney World could lay claim to.  Let’s look at some of these fascinating Walt Disney World statistics.

Walt Disney World covers 27, 258 acres (43 square miles) – about the same area as all of San Francisco and two times the size of Manhattan. The Florida swampland which is now home to Disney World was purchased by Walt Disney during the mid-1960s for only $5 million dollars.

Disney World’s Opening Day Statistics

• Walt Disney World was officially announced on November 15, 1965
• To keep his intentions a secret, Walt Disney originally called his plans for Disney World “The Florida Project”
• Walt Disney World Resort’s opening day was October 1, 1971
• Disney World had 10,422 visitors on its opening day
• There were 26 attractions on Disney’s opening day
• It originally cost $400 million – and took 52 months – to build Disney World
• William Windsor, Jr was the first guest of Walt Disney World
• There were approximately 5,000 Cast Members when Disney World opened
• Disney World had welcomed nearly 400,000 visitors by the end of 1971

Opening Dates for Disney World Theme Parks / Water Parks

Disney’s Theme Parks

• Magic Kingdom: October 1, 1971
• Epcot: October 1, 1982
• Disney’s Hollywood Studios: May 1, 1989
• Disney’s Animal Kingdom: April 22, 1998

Disney’s Water Parks

• Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon: June 1, 1989
• Disney’s Blizzard Beach: April 1, 1995

Disney World Attendance Statistics

Daily Visitors / Annual Visitors

Magic Kingdom Attendance

Average Daily Visitors: 57,000 (2021)

Annual Visitors: 21,170,000 (2021)  – [This is up from 20,859,000 in 2018 and 20,960,000 in 2019]

Epcot Attendance

Average Daily Visitors: 34,000 (2021)

Annual Visitors: 12,410,000 (2021)  – [This is down from 12,444,000 in 2018 and 12,440,000 in 2019]

Hollywood Studios Attendance

Average Daily Visitors: 31,000 (2021)

Annual Visitors: 11,315,000 (2021)  – [This is up from 11,258,000 in 2018 and down from 11,480,000 in 2019]

Animal Kingdom Attendance

Average Daily Visitors: 38,000 (2021)

Annual Visitors: 13,870,000 (2021)  – [This is up from 13,750,000 in 2018 and down from 13,890,000 in 2019]

Typhoon Lagoon Attendance

Annual Visitors: 2,248,000 (2019)

Blizzard Beach Attendance

Annual Visitors: 1,983,000 (2019)

• There are 77,000 Cast Members throughout the Disney World resort, which makes it the biggest single-site employer in the United States.
• Among the Cast Members at WDW, 2,500 work in costume design. Nearly 13,000 clothing items are manufactured every year, with a total of 1.8 million items in Disney’s enormous wardrobe. Minnie Mouse alone has more than 200 different outfits, while Mickey has nearly 300.
• Each year, WDW horticulturalists maintain over 2 million shrubs, 13,000 roses, and train 200 perennial shrubs on the property. With 2,000 acres of turf to maintain, WDW grounds crews log 450,000 mowing miles every year!
• PhotoPass photographers take between 100,000 to 200,000 photographs of guests on any given day.
• 285,000 pounds of laundry is cleaned by WDW employees every day.

• There are currently 36 resorts at WDW, including nine Disney Vacation Club properties.
• 26 of the resort hotels on Disney World property are actually owned and operated by WDW Resort itself
• In total, Disney World has over 30,000 hotel rooms, 409 wilderness cabins, 799 campsites, and 3,293 DVC units
• Disney’s Pop Century Resort has the most guest rooms of any Disney World Resort (2,880 rooms)

Number of Rooms at Disney World Resorts 

• Disney’s Value Resorts are Disney’s Art of Animation Resort (864 rooms /1,120 suites), Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort (1,920 rooms), Disney’s All-Star Music Resort (1,704 rooms/215 suites), Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort (1,920 rooms), Disney’s Art of Animation Resort (864 rooms /1,120 suites), and Disney’s Pop Century Resort (2,880 rooms).
• Disney’s Moderate Resorts are Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort (2,112 rooms), Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort (1,917 rooms), Disney’s Port Orleans Resort-French Quarter (1,008 rooms), and Disney’s Port Orleans Resort-Riverside (2,048 rooms).
• Disney’s Deluxe Resorts are Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge (972 rooms), Disney’s Beach Club Resort (576 rooms), Disney’s BoardWalk Inn (372 rooms), Disney’s Contemporary Resort (655 rooms), Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa (867 rooms), Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort (484 rooms), Disney’s Wilderness Lodge (727 rooms) and Disney’s Yacht Club Resort (621 rooms).
• Disney’s Deluxe Villa Resorts are Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort (295 units), Disney’s Beach Club Villas (177 units), Disney’s BoardWalk Villas (282 units), Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge (26 cabins and 158 villas), Disney’s Polynesian Villas and Bungalows (20 bungalows and 360 deluxe studio villas), Disney’s Old Key West Resort (558 units), Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa (924 units), The Villas at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge (449 units), The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa (106 units), and The Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge (114 units).

Official Walt Disney World Hotels

• Official Walt Disney World Hotels are B Resort & Spa (394 rooms), Buena Vista Palace (1,013 rooms), Walt Disney World Dolphin (1,509 rooms), Doubletree Guest Suites Resort (229 rooms), Drury Plaza Hotel Orlando Lake Buena Vista (604 rooms), The Hilton (814 rooms), Holiday Inn (323 rooms),  Shades of Green on Walt Disney World Resort (586 rooms), Walt Disney World Swan (756 rooms), and Wyndham Lake Buena Vista (626 rooms).

Camping at Walt Disney World

• The camping areas at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground include 409 Wilderness Cabins and 799 Campsites.

• WDW has over 300 dining outlets with a staff of 350 chefs.
• Every year, Disney World serves 10 million hamburgers, 6 million hot dogs, 9 million pounds of French fries, 300,000 pounds of popcorn, and 1.6 million turkey drumsticks.
• 13 million bottles of water and 75 million Coca-Colas are sold each year at WDW.

• An average of 250,000 guests travel daily to and from various WDW properties via the 400+ buses, 12 monorail trains, and the fleet of water taxis and boats owned by Disney.
• The monorail alone has an average of 150,000 daily riders
• Since its opening in 1971, WDW monorail trains have registered enough miles to make 30 round trips to the moon.

Magic Kingdom Statistics

• Over 250 million people have ridden the “It’s a Small World” attraction at Magic Kingdom.
• Cinderella Castle is 189 feet tall, has 27 towers, and took 18 months to build.
• Over 500 oak trees growing at WDW have come from the acorns of the Liberty Oak in Liberty Square.

See our Magic Kingdom Secrets, Best Magic Kingdom Rides, and Best Magic Kingdom Restaurants pages for more interesting insights on this iconic Disney theme park.

Epcot Statistics

• Epcot opened on Oct. 1st, 1982, and covers 305 acres.
• The outer skin of Epcot’s Spaceship Earth is constructed with 11,324 aluminum and plastic-alloy triangles. The structure weighs an astounding 16 million pounds!
• Over one million pizzas have been served at Epcot’s Via Napoli.
• There were over 225 million food dishes are served at last year’s Epcot Food & Wine Festival.
• Epcot’s The Land Pavilion grows more than 30 tons of fruits and vegetables every year. The produce is then served at WDW restaurants.
• When The Seas with Nemo & Friends pavilion first opened in 1986, its 5.7 million gallon tank was the largest saltwater tank in the world. In 2005, WDW’s tank dropped to the 2nd spot after the Georgia Aquarium surpassed them. If you were to empty all the water at The Seas with Nemo & Friends aquarium into one-gallon milk jugs, laying them side by side, the result would stretch 540 miles. This would equal the distance from Orlando to New Orleans!
• Test Track reaches speeds of up to 65 mph, making it the fastest ride at Disney World.

See our Epcot Secrets and Best Epcot Restaurants pages for more interesting insights on this Disney theme park.

Animal Kingdom Statistics

• There are more than 300 different species of animals at Animal Kingdom, with around 2000 total animals.
• Covering 580 acres, Animal Kingdom is roughly 5 times the size of Magic Kingdom and the largest theme park in the world in terms of acreage.
• It takes more power than a 747-jet engine to bring the Yeti on Expedition Everest to life.

See our Animal Kingdom Secrets and the Best Animal Kingdom Dining Locations pages for more interesting insights on this Disney theme park.

Hollywood Studios Statistics

• The theme park was initially named Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park before being re-branded as Disney’s Hollywood Studios on January 7, 2008
• The production facilities opened during the summer of 1988 while the entertainment facilities opened in May of 1989.
• “Ernest Saves Christmas” was the first movie to be filmed at Hollywood Studios
• Hollywood Studios covers 135 acres.
• Toy Story Land covers 11 acres
• Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge land covers 14 acres

See our Hollywood Studios Secrets and the Best Hollywood Studios Dining Locations pages for more interesting insights on this Disney theme park.

• The resort boasts over 600,000 square feet of function space throughout WDW for conventions and meetings
• WDW offers three 18-hole championship golf courses and a 9-hole walking course for family play
• The cost of an adult admission ticket was only $3.50 when Disney World first opened (it’s $116+ today)
• Disney spent $1 Billion to implement the MagicBands system.
• For FY2021, Disney had $67.418 billion in worldwide revenue.
• There are 150 shops and restaurants at Disney Springs. World of Disney is the largest retailer of Disney merchandise in the world.
• During the festive Christmas holiday season, more than 1,500-holiday trees, 8.5 million lights, 15 miles of garland, and 300,000 yards of ribbon are installed around Walt Disney World.
• Holding 750,000 gallons of water, Stormalong Bay – at Disney’s Beach Club Resort – is the largest sand-bottom pool in the world.
• Typhoon Lagoon is the second most visited water park in the world, while Blizzard Beach is the 3rd.
• Who was the 1st cartoon character to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame? Mickey Mouse, of course! This award was given on November 13, 1978.
• Disney World has fully closed 9 times in its history: Hurricane Floyd (Sept. 1999); 9-11 Terrorist Attacks (Sept. 2001);  Hurricane Charley (Aug. 2004); Hurricane Frances (Sept. 2004);  Hurricane Jeanne (Sept. 2004), Hurricane Matthew (Oct. 2016); Hurricane Irma (Sept. 2017); Coronavirus COVID-19 (March-July 2020); and Hurricane Ian (Sept. 2022).  There have been a few additional partial-day closures (early closings or late openings) due to hurricanes, most recently in 2022 for the storm Nicole; a full list is on our Disney Vacations During Hurricane Season page.
• 43,000 Disney World Cast Members were furloughed in 2020 during the pandemic (out of 77,000)
• Disney lost an estimated $20 – $30 million per day during the coronavirus shutdown

We hope that you find these Disney World statistics interesting and inspiring! Feel free to browse other MagicGuides pages, including our Disney World Crowd Calendar, Best Disney World Hotels, Disney World Map, How to Plan at Disney Vacation, How to Become a Disney Travel Agent, and Disney Travel Planners pages.

If you need help planning and booking your magical Walt Disney World vacation, contact our friends at The Vacationeer. Their services are always helpful and totally free of charge!  Click HERE for a free, no-obligation price quote.

Thank you for reading our page, and we hope you have a magical Walt Disney World vacation!