How big is WDW?

[plove53]

OK I know this sounds like a strange question... My gf said that WDW is around 40 sq miles (the whole park)... is this true? WOW if it is...

-phil

 

[peter11435]

Actually it is even larger. WDW covers about 49 square miles.

 

[Greg K.]

Actually it is even larger. WDW covers about 49 square miles.

I like to tell people it's roughly TWICE the size of Manhattan.

Then I pause.

And watch their jaws drop.

Most have no idea.

 

[Another Voice]

Disney sold off the property that Celebration sits on. The current size of the property is around 38 square miles.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Disney sold off the property that Celebration sits on. The current size of the property is around 38 square miles.

Pardon my ignorance, but I wasn't aware that Celebration was included in 48 square miles.
Everytime someone bought a piece of property in Celebration, was that acreage subtracted from advertised WDW acreage?

MG

 

[DancingBear]

I really wouldn't say the acreage was ever "advertised" as such.

Also I believe (A-V can you confirm) that they recently purchased some land on the western boundary, although probably not enough to change the gross square miles much.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

I really wouldn't say the acreage was ever "advertised" as such.

The link to the resort map at Disney's official Meetings and Conventions site says "View our 47 square miles of meeting magic."

But let's get back to the OP, who wrote, "My gf said that WDW is around 40 sq miles (the whole park)... is this true?"

Walt Disney directed the purchase of around 43 square miles over four decades ago. Since then, the Disney company has added land and divested land, leased out some land, and designated some land to remain in a natural state (while retaining ownership). So pick a number. Another Voice's 38 square miles sounds about right.

But, a key part of the OP's question is the term, "the whole park." I'd rather use the term "the whole property." The actual park land (theme parks and water parks) takes up a tiny percentage of the overall property.

Yes, the property is huge. The parks are miles apart. Off-site hotels advertise "one quarter mile from Walt Disney World," but they're actually five miles from the Magic Kingdom (which many novice guests consider the same thing as Walt Disney World).

 

[Another Voice]

The area of Celebration (roughly south of US192) had always been included in the WDW acerage and in the WDW master plan. The original plan (the one with EPCOT as a city), this area would have been the location of "jetport" linked via monorail to both EPCOT and the Vacation Kingdom areas. Even as recently as a few years ago, the idea of a regional airport was seriously considered. With the boom of regional turboprops and jets, direct flights to WDW would have been possible without all the environmental problems associated with "big" jets. It was also the utlimate in the "keep everyone on property" plans.

The land itself was also considered less desirable than the land in Orange County (e.g., north of the highway). And for political reasons Disney has always tried to limit development in Osceola County and Kissimee. However as The Company's financial problems grew in the mid- and late 90's there was greater and greater pressure to turn company assets into quick bucks. And the quickest way to turn Florida land into dollars is tract housing.

Most of the "southern section" of the property was sold off to a holding company for Celebration. It was also removed from the Reedy Creek Improvement District. While Disney did maintain some interest in Celebration for a while, they sold their entire stake in the land and the development company. A strip of land surrounding Celebration remains under RCID control, which if memory serves me right, was used as part of the wetlands offset for the development of Animal Kingdom (along long story...).

Disney has, from time to time, bought little plots of land to smooth out some of the boundries - the most recent was buying land to connect to the new toll road on the west. The same drive for cash that created Celebration aslo caused Disney to sell off the Crossroad Shopping Center and Little Lake Bryan areas, both of which were "Walt's Land".

You can find a detailed map of the both the RCID zone and WDW at http://www.rcid.org/PDF/political jurisdiction map.base05_11.pdf. Beware, this is a PDF file with many layers and does take a bit to load. But as an extra treat, it also shows the boundries of the City of Bay Lake and the City of Lake Buena Vista. Now there's another story...

 

[DannyDisneyFreak]

Read somewhere that WDW is about the size of Boston, is that accurate? Gives me a better picture than 40 sq. miles.

 

[seashoreCM]

Another size comparison made was with San Francisco, if you take a more or less square part at the north end of the peninsula. West to east all the way from the suburbs bordering the Pacific Ocean to SF Bay.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[2Xited4Disney]

Read somewhere that WDW is about the size of Boston, is that accurate? Gives me a better picture than 40 sq. miles.

I wouldn't compare WDW with any citys becuase many cities are divided up into many areas, these areas are very hard to decifer which parts belong to a city and which parts are seperate

to me boston is
North end
Roxbury
South end
Back bay
some parts of Cambridge
Some parts of Dorchester
the Common
the Fenway




Also ANOTHER VOICE from reading many of your posts you are seem incredibly knowledgable when it comes to WDW

Do you happen to know where I can find original concept design for Walt Disney World. Like how you were saying EPCOT would contain an airport. I was thinking about this the other day and would really like to see what the creative genious came up with.

 

[DancingBear]

I think that's why the comparison with Manhattan Island is a good one, because that's a discrete land mass of about 20 square miles.

 

[Another Voice]

Do you happen to know where I can find original concept design for Walt Disney World.

The best information available is the "Project X" film that Walt Disney himself made shortly before his death. It was his introduction of the entire "Disney World" project to the public and actual contains a lot of information. The film itself is available in its entirety in one of the “Disney Treasures” collections of DVDs. If memory serves it's in the "Tomorrowland" collection.

The original master plan called for a “Vacation Kingdom” area at the north end of the property complete with a theme park, hotels, motels, water sports, campground and other vacation activities. And today’s Magic Kingdom area is fairly close to that plan.

Further south would have been EPCOT, which in reality would have been more of a vacation town instead of a city. The large central tower shown in all the renderings is the landmark hotel for Disney World. Most of “downtown EPCOT” was to have been World Showcase – streets designed and various countries and cultures. The administrative offices for Disney World and assorted travel-related businesses would have been located here as well.

Surrounding the covered downtown area would have been rings of townhomes, apartments and houses for Disney World employees, guests and people working in the nearby industrial park. By all accounts Walt hated Los Angeles traffic and sprawl – this was his change to develop a “new city” where the car was used only on weekends and where everyone had access to a park.

An “industrial research” park would have built nearby EPCOT. Companies would have been invited to set up R&D offices and workshops to develop new products and new techniques. These products would them have been tested by the inhabitants of EPCOT – a 24-hour focus group. Tours would have been offered through this area as well (‘The Land’ pavilion at Epcot comes closest to the spirit of this section today. The workers in this area would commute by monorail and peoplemover from their homes in EPCOT.

Lastly a “jetport” for “advanced” private and commuter jets was planned at the extreme southern end. Remember that in the mid-1960s Orlando’s airport was essentially a bomber base (McCoy Field) with very little commercial traffic. And while in the early years 90% of the people traveling to WDW would get there by driving, Walt figured that was going to change. The idea was for guest to jet directly to the property and board a monorail right to their hotels.

If it was only like that today…

Walt’s original plan has gotten a lot of flack over the years, but the more you learn about it the more sense it makes. The WDW that would have developed would have been different, but I think it would have been more diverse and more interesting. It would have resembled places like resort destination towns like Vail, Snowbird and Arvida rather than a Vegas-strip like tangle of hotels and theme parks.

 

[2Xited4Disney]

Wow.... I'm impressed

 

[Maistre Gracey]

You can find a detailed map of the both the RCID zone and WDW at http://www.rcid.org/PDF/political jurisdiction map.base05_11.pdf.

Great map. That's a keeper.
Why do you suppose Disney kept that little inlet into Celebration? It almost looks as though they kept the road for some reason.
Also, the Disney "purple shaded" land around Celebration is a very irregular shape. It seems like it may be hard to develop some of that land. What's the pupose of it? Perhaps delegated wetlands in order to free up some of the main chunk of land?

MG

 

[peter11435]

It almost looks as though they kept the road for some reason.

Thats not a road. That is an RCID canal.

 

[DancingBear]

I think it's a good educated guess that the RCID retained area is undevelopable wetlands, retained, as A-V suggested, to help satisfy the requirements for Disney to maintain a certain amount of undeveloped acreage.

Are those house lots in the far west unincorporated area?

 

[Maistre Gracey]

What is RCID unincorporated area mean? How is that different than WDW land?

I'm kind of a novice on this stuff...
Thanx!

MG

 

[DancingBear]

That just means its part of the Reedy Creek Improvement District but outside of the boundaries of the two cities (Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista). It's the darker purple/lavender color on the map. What intrigues me are what look like housing lots southeast of Reedy Lake on the western portion of the property.

 

[peter11435]

What is RCID unincorporated area mean? How is that different than WDW land?

I'm kind of a novice on this stuff...
Thanx!

MG

As DancingBear pointed out the unincorporated RCID land is still WDW it just does not fall under the city of Bay Lake or Lake Buena Vista.