It’s no secret that Walt Disney World is enormous, or that it is the most popular theme park resort on the planet. Just taking a look at the list of attractions, restaurants and hotelsat the resort gives a pretty strong impression of its scale. It has often been claimed that Walt Disney World requires an equivalent level of infrastructure to a city with a population of 300,000 people. We think that’s an intriguing claim, so we set out to see whether it was in the right ballpark by collating some statistics that really help to understand what a massive operation the resort really is. Here are 20 big numbers you can use to impress your Disney-loving friends…
20. 50…Miles of Canals
When Disney’s executives first caught a glimpse of the enormous site for Disney World – approved, of course, by Walt Disney himself – their hearts must have sunk. Possibly quite literally, as they were standing on acre after acre of damp, boggy swampland. The first challenge when building the resort was how to make this quagmire suitable for a gigantic theme park resort, without utterly destroying the surrounding environment. To achieve this, more than 50 milesof canals and levees were constructed. To avoid the resort looking like an ugly, manmade creation, the canals were designed to curve through the landscape like natural streams.
19. 60,000…Cast Members
No matter what your field, it’s likely that you could attempt to carve out a career at Walt Disney World. The resort employs an estimated 60,000 Cast Members – and they are spread across more than 3,000 different roles. Among them are attraction operators, security guards, housekeeping staff, airport representatives, bus drivers, chefs, entertainers, lifeguards, engineers and just about everything inbetween. We’re currently collating stories from current and former Cast Members to get an insight into exactly what they do – you can check them out here.
18. 24,000…tons of recycled waste
Walt Disney World’s guests produce a LOT of trash. Mountains and mountains of it. Some, of course, is sent to landfill – but Disney does make a real effort to recycle the rest. A huge recycling system processes over 24,000 tonsannually of aluminum, paper, steel cans, food waste, cardboard and plastic containers.
17. 290…miles of underground power distribution lines
Walt Disney World has its own government, the Reedy Creek Improvement District. Among the organization’s responsibilities is maintaining the resort’s power infrastructure, which includes its own gas-fired power plant. This only provides about 25 percent of the resort’s power needs, which result in a peak demand of 196 Megawatts. It’s impossible to be precise (as demand fluctuates so much, even at a household level) – but that’s approximately enough to power 40,000-80,000 homes. All that power has to be carried around somehow, and not just via pretty Mickey-themed power lines like the ones above. Indeed, the majority of the 12 kV feeders are located underground – some 290 milesof them, along with 14 miles of 69 kV lines (a further 11 miles of which are located above ground).
16. 15 million…gallons of dirty water
The Reedy Creek Improvement District also operates an enormous wastewater treatment plant, which can handle up to 15 million gallons per day. An effluent disposal system sprawls across a 1,000 acre site– making it larger than any of the resort’s theme parks!
15. 14 million…gallons of water per day
Although the wastewater treatment plant produces water that is clean enough to drink, Disney doesn’t serve it up to customers. Instead, it uses it to irrigate gardens, lawns and golf courses. That means that Walt Disney World still needs a lot of clean water from another source – and massive supply and distribution system fulfils this need. This includes 11 Floridan Aquifer wells and four pump stations, designed to distribute up to 60 million gallons per day (the average daily demand is a staggering 14 million gallons).
14. 13,000…costume pieces manufactured per year
There are more than 2,500 Cast Member costume designs in use at Walt Disney World, with a total of around 1.8 million pieces in the extensive wardrobe. Roughly 13,000 pieces are manufactured every year. Mickey Mouse has almost 300 different outfits, while Minnie has more than 200.
13. 250,000…transport passengers per day
Every day, 250,000 guests make their way to and from Walt Disney World’s various theme parks, attractions and hotels via a mass transit system that consists of more than 270 buses, 12monorail trains and a fleet of boats and water taxis.
12. 25,000…acres
11. 450,000…mowing miles per year
There are 2,000 acres of turf at Walt Disney World, requiring 450,000 mowing miles every year to keep in shape. That’s the equivalent of 18 trips around the Earth at the equator. The resort’s horticulture staff plants 3 million bedding plants and annuals every single year.
10. 10 million…hamburgers served up every year
There are more than 300 dining outlets at the resort, with 350 chefs on staff to help keep guests well-fed. Every year, the resort serves up 10 million hamburgers, 1.6 million turkey drumsticks, 6 million hotdogs, 9 million pounds of french french fries and 300,000pounds of popcorn.
9. 75 million…bottles of cola
All that food has to be washed down with something. Every year, Walt Disney World guests consume 75 million Coca-Colas and 13 millionbottles of water.
8. 68…years to sleep in every hotel room
There are almost 25,000 rooms spread across the resort’s hotels, campsites, cabins and Disney Vacation Club properties. It would take you more than 68 yearsto stay in every single one of these at a rate of one per night.
7. 194,871…miles of toilet tissue
We’re not sure exactly how many bathrooms there are at Walt Disney World. Certainly, there are dozens of toilet cubicles at each of its theme parks. Then there are the en-suite bathrooms of the 25,000+ rooms at its various on-site hotels. Whatever the precise count, there are a lot of them. As a result, in 2004 Walt Disney World reportedly used some 194,871 milesof toilet tissue.
6. 3.8 million…pens used every year
All those Cast Members have got to make notes occasionally. They can jot them down with some of the 3.8 millionballpoint pens that the resort buys every year.
5. 1.8 million…pounds of flour used every year
All those on-site bakeries have got to used something to make their bread and pastries. Walt Disney World uses an insane 1.8 million pounds of flour annually, along with around 3 million poundsof eggs.
4. 300,000…yards of decorative ribbon
The Christmas decorations at Walt Disney World are extensive, covering dozens of hotels, the four theme parks, Downtown Disney and many other areas. 300,000 yardsof ribbon are required for this task.
3. 150 million…sheets of paper
Almost 150 millionsheets of paper are used by Walt Disney World annually. But the resort does use recycled paper.
2. 700,000…gallons of bleach
Cleaning Walt Disney World’s theme parks, hotels and other attractions is an immense task undertaken by a vast army of staff. The resort consumes more than 700,000gallons of bleach in a typical year.
1. 200,000…bandages
All those clumsy children wandering around Walt Disney World’s theme parks are bound to trip and stumble occasionally (as are the drunken adults stumbling around Epcot’s World Showcase). No wonder, then, that the resort dishes out more than 200,000 bandages every year.
