How Big Is Walt Disney World: is it easy to get round with UK Comparisons?

Disney World is 43 square miles, and the resort is home to the world’s most popular theme park, Magic Kingdom. For UK visitors planning that first Disney World holiday the size is impossible to grasp. When I took my first trip I was blown away, but there were no UK comparisons only US and I spent my whole trip wondering if and what UK comparisons there were.

In this article we’re looking at the size of Disney World and the UK comparisons to help you plan better with a real-life comparison. We’ll also be explaining the big difference between UK theme parks and Disney World: the number of rides!

How Big Is Walt Disney World?

Walt Disney World resort is 43 square miles, that’s approximately 27,000 acres. To put that into perspective, you aren't visiting a theme park; you are visiting a self-contained city. But only about half of that land is developed. The rest is conservation forest and wetlands, so you’ll see lots of wildlife about, including alligators, deer, and raccoons.

To give you an idea of the scale of the resort, here are some UK comparisons:

Liverpool is the closest UK city in size, so if you can imagine the entire city of Liverpool, from the docks to the suburbs, filled with all Disney has to offer; that is Disney World.

Disney World has:

• 4 theme parks

• 2 water parks

• A shopping area: Disney Springs

• Over 200 restaurants across the resort offering a range of dining experiences including:

  • Character restaurants

  • A Michelin starred restaurant

  • Dining packages including preferred viewing for fireworks shows and other events

• 25+ on-site hotels

• 2 miniature golf courses, access to which are included free until 4pm with 14-day Magic Tickets from the UK

• Horse riding experiences

• Bike hire and boat hire

• The world’s largest hand painted balloon which you can ride

• A transport infrastructure with buses, monorail, skyliner, and boats

And so much more. Disney World is a massive resort, and there are seasonal offerings too. The UK does not have a theme park destination that is equivalent, so instead let’s look at individual theme park comparisons.

Disney World, Florida and Universal, Great Britain

The site for the exciting new Universal theme park coming to Kempston Hardwick in Bedfordshire, is 476 acres with room to expand to around 700 acres. Even at it’s expanded size of 700 acres, this resort would fit in Disney World Resort 38.5 times with some space to spare. The theme park itself is only expected to be around 82 acres in size. That’s smaller than Magic Kingdom. The scope of Disney World is beyond both current theme park resorts and future UK theme park projects.

Comparing Disney World and Alton Towers

The "UK Theme Park" Reality CheckUK tourists are used to Alton Towers or Thorpe Park. The jump to Disney is massive.

Now you can see the size of the resort, let’s look in more detail at the size of the Disney theme parks themselves.

How Big Are Disney World Theme Parks?

Disney World theme parks have UK comparisons in size, but not in design or layout. UK touring strategy normally involves a one-day approach for a theme park, but in Disney World that is different even though sizes are comparable.

The difference lies in the Florida weather, the jaw-dropping scale and detail of theming, and the time-stopping experiences within the parks. Time simply disappears. In UK theme parks, you’ll have an attraction dense experience, in Disney Parks you’ll have a themed experience that engages all of your senses without you even realising.

Magic Kingdom and Blackpool Pleasure Beach

Now there are UK theme parks closer in size, Oakwood Theme Park is around 80 acres, but it’s the number of attractions that is most interesting from a size comparison point:

Magic Kingdom is 2 and a half times larger than Blackpool Pleasure Beach, yet there are more attractions to do in Blackpool Pleasure Beach. From an experience perspective they are night and day, but what you can see is the expanse: rides are spread out. This means you’ll walk a lot further in a day, and you’ll queue more too.

EPCOT and Drayton Manor: Similar Size; Different Experience

Drayton Manor Resort is officially set in 280 acres of parkland and lakes. This means it is very close in size to EPCOT which is around 305 acres. The experience you would have in the two parks however is very different. Although the size is similar on paper, you’ll walk more on an EPCOT day than you do at Drayton Manor.

If you’ve ever been to Drayton Manor, you’ve experienced a park that is a similar size to EPCOT. However, if you keep track of your steps you’ll likely find a step count of around 10,000 for a day in Drayton Manor in comparison to at least 14,000 in EPCOT. Why? Because EPCOT attractions are spaced out, with around 11 big rides, meanwhile Drayton Manor has over 50 attractions and 500 animals in a 15-acre zoo.

In EPCOT you’ll want to try food from Festival booths if you visit during one of the four Festivals. There’s two entrances linking to unique free transportation leading to Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studio. And it is all accessible with ease.

Hollywood Studios and 2 UK Theme Parks

If you've spent a day at Chessington World of Adventures or LEGOLAND Windsor, you've already walked the acreage of Hollywood Studios. But don't let the similar sizes fool you. The way Disney uses their land and layout attractions is very different from how there two UK theme parks are designed.

While the acreage is almost identical in the three parks, the number of rides you will come across tells a different story.

Chessington World of Adventures sits on approximately 128 acres. This makes it an almost identical match for Disney's Hollywood Studios (which ranges from 135 to 154 acres depending on how you count the parking and backstage areas). A huge portion of Chessington's 128 acres is dedicated to the Zoo and the Wanyama Reserve. This creates "dead space" where you aren't waiting in lines or walking through crowds-you're looking at giraffes.In Disney, those same 128 acres are packed with massive, multi-story show buildings (like the Tower of Terror) and high-traffic "lands" like Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. While they are the same size, Hollywood Studios will feel much busier because every square inch is designed for thousands of people, whereas Chessington has wide-open spaces for animals. f your legs can survive the hilly climb back to the car park at LEGOLAND Windsor, you have the stamina for Hollywood Studios. Just remember: at Disney, the 'rides' are bigger, the 'waits' are longer, and there are far fewer places to hide from the sun!

Disney Park Size (Acres) UK Comparison The "Real Feel"

Magic Kingdom ~142 2x Windsor Castle Grounds Dense and busy; you'll do a lot of "stop-start" walking.

EPCOT ~305 The City of London (Square Mile) Massive open spaces. It is very exposed to the sun!

Hollywood Studios ~154 4x The O2 Arena Feels "boutique" but packs a punch with large show buildings.

Animal Kingdom ~580 Over 2x Hyde Park The largest park. You can fit all of Alton Towers inside it!

get your head around. This table shows you the main Walt Disney World experiences and the closest UK equivalents:

Disney Water Parks: UK Comparison

Disney Springs: UK Comparison

Is It Easy To Get Around At Disney World?

All of these size comparisons might leave you wondering how easy is it to get round Disney World, and the answer is pretty easy and best of all you can do it for free!