Magic Kingdom is 1/3 the size of Cedar Point?!

[NWOhiogal]

Hi everybody,

So I'm getting ready to come to Disney World for the first time (yay!).

I grew up in Sandusky, Ohio, the home of Cedar Point amusement park, and went there many times. Out of curiosity - since everybody talks about how much walking you do - I checked how big the Magic Kingdom is compared to Cedar Point.

What I found doing a quick Google search was:

Magic Kingdom - 107 acres

Cedar Point - 364 acres

This surprised me. The Magic Kingdom is only 1/3 the size of Cedar Point?! Or am I reading that wrong?

 

[DWillowBay]

You're confusing the terms "Magic Kingdom" with Walt Disney World. Walt Disney World is the size of San Francisco. There are 4 parks (and 2 water parks) located within it. The average I walk each day is 11 miles per day while there. I've been to Cedar Point many times as well. No comparison in terms of size.

 

[NWOhiogal]

You're confusing the terms "Magic Kingdom" with Walt Disney World. Walt Disney World is the size of San Francisco. There are 4 parks (and 2 water parks) located within it. The average I walk each day is 11 miles per day while there. I've been to Cedar Point many times as well. No comparison in terms of size.

Thanks! Sorry, I should have been more clear - I get that Magic Kingdom isn't equal to "Walt Disney World". Epcot is about 300 acres, and I think AK and DIS are about 135 acres.

I was just a little surprised that Magic Kingdom itself isn't very big. That's great news for me because I've walked all over Cedar Point lots of times.

 

[disneygirlsng]

Thanks! Sorry, I should have been more clear - I get that Magic Kingdom isn't equal to "Walt Disney World". Epcot is about 300 acres, and I think AK and DIS are about 135 acres.

I was just a little surprised that Magic Kingdom itself isn't very big. That's great news for me because I've walked all over Cedar Point lots of times.

AK is more like 580 acres. MK is relatively small compared to the other parks.

 

[iujen94]

We just went to Cedar Point for the first time this June (followed by a trip to Disney, because why not?!). MK is MUCH easier to navigate than CP. The hub and spoke setup of MK makes it a lot easier to get between places than it is at CP, where we felt like we were constantly walking back and forth between the far ends of the park!

 

[NWOhiogal]

We just went to Cedar Point for the first time this June (followed by a trip to Disney, because why not?!). MK is MUCH easier to navigate than CP. The hub and spoke setup of MK makes it a lot easier to get between places than it is at CP, where we felt like we were constantly walking back and forth between the far ends of the park!

I agree - but it didn't used to be that way. When I was a kid there were 2 gondola rides, one that went from the front of the park to the back, and a second that went from the back of the park to Frontier Town. Several years ago CP removed the lift to Frontier Town, so now you have to walk to get there.

 

[iujen94]

Have you ridden Steel Vengeance yet? WOW - what a ride!! My new favorite anywhere (shhhh....don’t tell Disney!)

 

[DisneyFan119]

I'm an Ohio girl, been to Cedar Point more times than I can count... and I STILL get turned around in that park!

Also, wondering if rollercoasters take up more space so it sounds bigger on paper than it really is, walking wise? I dunno. I just feel WAY more efficient when I tour MK! No back tracking and feeling like it takes forever to walk to the rides (I'm looking at you, Magnum)!

 

[MomOTwins]

Magic Kingdom is pretty small in terms of geographic footprint. But the different themed lands make it feel quite a lot bigger. But we can (and have) walked across it end to end in less than 10 minutes.

 

[JonathonW]

I'm pretty sure that 364 acre number (that I'm assuming you pulled off of Wikipedia) is the whole peninsula-- if you trim it down to just the park (exclude parking, the beaches, the water park, the hotels, and the campground), it's closer to 155 acres (by my measure, on Google Maps).

That said, Cedar Point's a really long park (which is probably needed for the coasters-- they take up a lot of space). Front gate to the back of the park at Cedar Point's something like 4000 feet (as the crow flies); front gate to the furthest point (Storybook Circus) at the Magic Kingdom's only half that; the furthest two points within the park (the far corners of Frontierland and Tomorrowland) are roughly the same. The Magic Kingdom's only a bit smaller than the "main" part of Cedar Point, but it's footprint is much more compact (the guest-accessible areas of the park are roughly circular, as opposed to Cedar Point's elongated rectangle).

 

[georgina]

I agree - but it didn't used to be that way. When I was a kid there were 2 gondola rides, one that went from the front of the park to the back, and a second that went from the back of the park to Frontier Town. Several years ago CP removed the lift to Frontier Town, so now you have to walk to get there.

I have vague memories of the beginnings of Frontier Town. There was so much empty land between the main park and the frontier area. I haven't been there in many years, is there no more train ride to it?

 

[NWOhiogal]

I have vague memories of the beginnings of Frontier Town. There was so much empty land between the main park and the frontier area. I haven't been there in many years, is there no more train ride to it?

Yes, the train ride is still there. Hopefully they'll never remove the train! A lot of my favorite rides at CP have been removed in recent years to make room for more rollercoasters

 

[NWOhiogal]

I'm pretty sure that 364 acre number (that I'm assuming you pulled off of Wikipedia) is the whole peninsula-- if you trim it down to just the park (exclude parking, the beaches, the water park, the hotels, and the campground), it's closer to 155 acres (by my measure, on Google Maps).

That said, Cedar Point's a really long park (which is probably needed for the coasters-- they take up a lot of space). Front gate to the back of the park at Cedar Point's something like 4000 feet (as the crow flies); front gate to the furthest point (Storybook Circus) at the Magic Kingdom's only half that; the furthest two points within the park (the far corners of Frontierland and Tomorrowland) are roughly the same. The Magic Kingdom's only a bit smaller than the "main" part of Cedar Point, but it's footprint is much more compact (the guest-accessible areas of the park are roughly circular, as opposed to Cedar Point's elongated rectangle).

Wow, thanks for the info! Yes, I got the acreage off of Wiki. I thought that number sounded big, and figured they were including ALL of the land, not just the park.

Cedar Point's always been long and thin, since it started its life as a beach on a narrow peninsula in the early 1900s, and only became a theme park in the 1950s (that is, they had rides and stuff.) They used to have a lot of rides in common with Magic Kingdom: The Pirate Ride and San Francisco Earthquake (both dark rides), a riverboat ride, and swan boats.

My favorite ride there, that WDW does not have one of, is Cedar Downs, which is what's called a "racing carousel". The horses are not attached to static poles that just go up and down; rather, they're attached to poles in a slotted pole and go back and forth, thus 'racing' with each other. That ride goes pretty fast and fortunately, CP has not removed it for another coaster. If they do, I am going to give them SUCH a pinch!

 

[NWOhiogal]

Have you ridden Steel Vengeance yet? WOW - what a ride!! My new favorite anywhere (shhhh....don’t tell Disney!)

Your secret is safe with me! ;-)

I haven't been to CP this year, which is the first year SV is open. The last time I went was in 2016 (having not gone since about 1992), and let me tell you I learned pretty quick that roller coasters are a lot rougher on a 52-year-old body than they were on the much younger body I had the last time I went! I'm not sure I could survive Steel Vengeance. But I'm glad you liked it!

 

[MinnieMSue]

I have gone to Cedar Point all of my 51 years and love it. Sadly my back cannot tolerate most of their coasters anymore but my daughter loves them. We get a lot of steps in there too! My daughter loved Steel Vengeance! She only got to ride once this year - they had the minor accident the day we were there. The next time we went the line was too long. We just got home from 2 weeks at Disney so we haven’t been up there again. I remember the two gondolas and wish they still had them. Since now that and the train are almost all I can ride lol. I basically chaperone my daughter from coaster to coaster lol. Still love CP though. The thing about Disney that I love is I can pretty much ride everything there.

 

[iujen94]

Your secret is safe with me! ;-)

I haven't been to CP this year, which is the first year SV is open. The last time I went was in 2016 (having not gone since about 1992), and let me tell you I learned pretty quick that roller coasters are a lot rougher on a 52-year-old body than they were on the much younger body I had the last time I went! I'm not sure I could survive Steel Vengeance. But I'm glad you liked it!

My 46-year-old body struggled with a lot of the CP roller coasters, but SV was so fun and so smooth that I could have ridden it all day!

 

[fractal]

When you have 18 rollercoasters, including a handful that are among the tallest and biggest in the world, you need a lot a space.