Families flying into Orlando often peek hopefully out the windows of the plane hoping to catch a glimpse of Cinderella Castle or Spaceship Earth, imagining them to be as big in real life as they are in their imaginations.
The reality, however, is that Walt Disney World looks much different than you’d expect when you see it from above. These pictures point out a few surprising facts you probably wouldn’t realize from the ground.
1. There are some gigantic Hidden Mickeys
If you know where to look, one of the most interesting things you’ll find with an aerial look at Walt Disney World is that hidden Mickeys go far beyond what you can see strolling through property. There are some gigantic Mickeys so big that they’re really only visible from the air.
Check out the appropriately named Lake Mickey inside the Richard Petty Driving Experience. You won’t even get close to this one if you’re not shelling out the extra money to take a spin on the track, but you can clearly see the Mickey when you check out a map of the area.
A Mickey that’s a bit harder to spot is hidden within the layout of Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Tilt your head to the right and you may see it. Echo Lake makes up his right ear, the Sorcerer’s Hat is his nose, and the Great Movie Ride is Mickey’s mouth. You’ll even see his eyes in the varying colors of the pavement. The left ear is less distinct, but the face is hard to dismiss once you’ve noticed it.
2. Animal Kingdom really is huge
It’s a well-known fact that Animal Kingdom is the largest park on property, but thanks to creative layouts and forced perspective, you never notice the difference that much. Look at a map of Animal Kingdom beside Magic Kingdom, however, and you’ll realize that Magic Kingdom is only big in your personal perception of it.
Magic Kingdom covers about 107 acres. Animal Kingdom, on the other hand, covers 403 acres. You could fit Magic Kingdom inside it nearly four times. A look at Animal Kingdom from above quickly shows where all that acreage goes. A huge loop of it on the left side of the map is Kilimanjaro Safaris. Unlike an attraction like the Jungle Cruise, where creative layout loops you around to make a small river seem big, Kilimanjaro Safaris may actually be a lot bigger than what you perceive on the attraction. Rafiki’s Planet Watch, set a short train ride away from the rest of the park, adds to the acreage as well.
3. Magic Kingdom is more compact than you think
Magic Kingdom has a larger than life reputation, but the park isn’t nearly as large as it seems. In fact, the entire theme park is hardly bigger than the area covered by the Contemporary Resort next door. You can barely spot Cinderella Castle in an aerial map.
The compact size of the Magic Kingdom is due in large part to its creative layout. Though you’ll never see it from any point on stage, the rivers of the Jungle Cruise are just behind Main Street USA, separated only by a parking lot. Keep in mind that the large river visible on a map of the Magic Kingdom isn’t the Jungle Cruise. Those are the Rivers of America that the Liberty Belle travels.
While most of what you notice about Magic Kingdom is focused on how small it is, there are also a few points that are much larger than you might expect. The two large grey buildings to the left of Be Our Guest in the top picture are It’s a Small World on the right, and the Haunted Mansion on the left. The façade of the Haunted Mansion is so small in comparison that you can hardly spot it.
4. The real world is just outside the walls
Walt Disney World is carefully designed to make you feel like the real world is far away. Unlike Disneyland, where Anaheim sprung up literally outside the gates, Walt Disney World was built on a giant tract of land where designers could ensure that guests would never see other unsightly attractions peeking over the walls.
Despite the illusion of distance, the reality is that Magic Kingdom is perched at the very edge of Disney property. Guests probably imagine this central park located right in the middle of the land that Walt purchased, but it’s really at the far northern end. North of the Magic Kingdom is a series of parking lots that again underscores just how small the park really is. These are the Cast Member parking lots. Magic Kingdom Cast Members have to ride a bus from the parking lot to get into the park. Literally across the street from the Cast parking lot are apartment buildings that are officially off property.
This close proximity means that it’s possible to live so close to the Magic Kingdom that your apartment parking lot is almost the same distance from the fireworks’ launching point as Main Street inside the Magic Kingdom. It also means that you can live so close your car alarm will go off when there are perimeter fireworks. Despite the illusion of being in a world all its own, the Magic Kingdom is really just a few minutes’ drive from the real world.
Thanks to the creativity of Disney’s Imagineers, you may never suspect how Walt Disney World really relates to the world around it. Though it’s really just a small retreat from the realities around it, Disney still offers an immersive world all its own.
5. There are large areas that are abandoned
With so much territory to work with, it doesn’t always make sense for Disney to actually dismantle attractions when they’ve reached the end of their useful life. That’s why two major Bay Lake attractions, Disney’s River Country and Discovery Island, both stand abandoned.
The Disney’s River Country water park was located on the shore of Bay Lake, and boasted a rustic “wilderness” theme. Packed with rocks and boulders, it was designed to resemble an old-fashioned swimming hole. The water for its pools and slides came from Bay Lake via a filtering system, and abundant sand was used to enhance the natural feel of the park.
When Michael Eisner took over as Disney CEO in 1984, he took a more competitive approach than his predecessors. He decided to build a full water park, Typhoon Lagoon, to take on nearby Wet ‘n’ Wild. River Country’s capacity was limited, and its days were numbered. It shut on November 2, 2001, but remains in place today – it was abandoned rather than demolished.
You can see more aerial shots of the decaying Disney’s River Country in this article.
