Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom is the most popular theme park in the world, measured by attendance. Around 17.5 million guests visit the park every year, making operating it a vastly complicated task. There are some pretty astonishing numbers and facts associated with the Magic Kingdom. The next time you visit, why not impress your friends and family with your knowledge by memorising these 20 fun facts about Walt Disney World’s first theme park.
20. Larger than the original
The original Disneyland in California covers around 85 acres. The Magic Kingdom features the same basic layout, but is considerably roomier at 107 acres. Despite this, it’s still the smallest of Walt Disney World’s four theme parks!
19. An enormous parking lot
More than 12,000 cars can park in the Magic Kingdom’s sprawling parking lot, which is larger than the theme park itself at 125 acres.
18. Lots of characters
More than 1,000 audio-animatronic figures are spread across the Magic Kingdom’s various different attractions.
17. The nerve center
Located roughly underneath Cinderella Castle, the Digital Animation Control System is responsible for controlling the animatronics, doors, lighting, sounds and vehicles for the most complicated attractions.
16. Just tall enough
Cinderella Castle stands at 189feet tall, compared to Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland which is just 77 feet tall. This is just short enough to keep it below the Federal Aviation Authority’s 200-foot limit, beyond which buildings must display a flashing red light at their top. Both castles used “forced perspective” techniques to make them appear larger – as each gets taller, its width gets smaller. This has the added effect of making fireworks that explode behind them look larger and more impressive.
15. “Stonework”
No stonework was used to create Cinderella Castle, despite its appearance. The building’s shell is made out of fiberglass.
14. The castle mosaics
Image: Disney
The mosaic murals in Cinderella’s Castle were designed by Dorothea Redmond. There are 500,000 tiles in 500 different colors, including some made of 14 karat gold.
13. A LOT of water
The moat surrounding Cinderella Castle contains approximately 3.4 milliongallons of water.
12. Bang!
More than 1 millionfireworks are used annually in the displays above the Magic Kingdom.
11. The trash system
The Magic Kingdom’s trash collection system can handle up to 50 tons of trash per day. This is sent through the underground Automated Vacuum Assisted Collection System (AVACS) at 60 miles per hour to a central location for processing.
10. Spoilt for choice
The Emporium store on Main Street, USA covers a massive 16,742 square feet.
9. The oldest ride
The oldest ride at the Magic Kingdom is the Prince Charming Regal Carrousel. The ride was originally built in 1917 by The Philadelphia Toboggan Company. 90 of its horses are originals, made of hand-carved wood. There are 11 fibreglass horses added by Disney.
8. A landmark
The enormous Big Thunder Mountain required 650 tons of steel, 4,675 tons of “mud” and more than 9,000gallons of paint to construct.
7. The Liberty Tree
The enormous Liberty Tree in Liberty Square is a live oak tree, and commemorates the meeting place of the Sons of Liberty (as seen in Disney’s Johnny Tremaine). It was transplanted from elsewhere on Walt Disney World property, is more than 135 years old and weighed some 35 tons when it was moved. The tree is the “parent” of more than 500young trees, each of which started out as an acorn harvested from the oak.
6. The Liberty Bell
Nearby, the replica of the Liberty Bell was built from the same cast as the original in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
5. Not your average treehouse
The Swiss Family Treehouse in Adventureland stands at 60 feet tall, weighs around 200 tons and is made of concrete and around 300,000 fake polyethylene leaves.
4. Genuine locomotives
The four narrow-gauge locomotives used on the Walt Disney World Railroad were built between 1916 and 1928 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works for Ferrocarriles Unidos de Yucatán in Mexico.
3. The PeopleMover
The Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover uses 629linear synchronous motors to speed its cars along. It is an evolution of the original Disneyland system, whch used rotating Goodyear tiles to propel its vehicles.
2. A third home
Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress debuted at the 1964/65 World’s Fair in New York. It was then moved to Disneyland, where it continued to be sponsored by General Electric. Eventually, the company decided that most Californians had seen the attraction, and asked for it to be moved to the Magic Kingdom. It opened there in 1975.
1. Reusing materials
The Seven Seas Lagoon is located in front of the Magic Kingdom. The soil that was excavated from the man-made lake was used to cover a complex of “utilidor” tunnels that sit underneath the Magic Kingdom (so, as a guest, you are actually above ground-level).
