Valentina and I had a blast sharing the best fun facts about Walt Disney WORLD.
In this article, you’ll find the first 13, while the other 11 are available on Valentina’s blog Aperitivo a Main Street U.S.A
Walt Disney WORLD Resort
Before diving into facts about specific parks within WDW, let’s start with the bigger picture—the Resort as a whole.
As I’ve mentioned many times, Walt Disney World Resort spans an area of 119 km²—that’s twice the size of Manhattan. With numbers like that, we could just stop here 😂
No structure in the Resort is taller than 200 feet (60 m)
The reason is simple: due to its proximity to Orlando International Airport, any structure taller than 60 meters must have red nighttime warning lights.
Given the obsessive attention to detail of the Imagineers, it’s clear we’ll never see blinking lights atop any ride or building within the Resort.
Walt’s Airport
Walt Disney World Resort was originally meant to be much more than what we see today.
As part of the Florida Project, Walt envisioned EPCOT as the central hub, with the theme parks merely serving as entertainment for the thousands of residents in the city of the future he had planned.
Like any major city, it was to include a large airport to accommodate the many tourists.
Although plans changed after Walt’s death, the idea of having a landing strip remained.
For many years, this airstrip—located near the Transportation and Ticket Center—was actually used by small private jets transporting VIPs and Disney executives.
In recent years, however, it has been abandoned and is now used as a container storage area.
How many people work there?
WDW Resort employs more people than all other Disney parks in the world combined.
There are around 70,000–80,000 cast members working at the Resort, depending on the season.
Keep in mind that the total number of Disney employees worldwide is about 200,000.
We can safely say that WDW is not only the centerpiece of the global theme park industry, but also where about one-third of Disney’s entire workforce is concentrated.
Staggering numbers!
How many glasses are lost per day?
While we’re on a roll with jaw-dropping stats, this one is incredible!
To date, around 200 pairs of glasses are lost inside the Resort every day.
Some curious soul took it further and found that since the park opened in 1971, over 1.6 million pairs have been lost!
These numbers give you an idea of just how many visitors pass through the Resort each year.
Do people drink more water or Coca-Cola?
Even though the answer seems obvious, Coca-Cola, every year across all of WDW, 75 million bottles of Coca-Cola are sold and only 13 million bottles of water. But there’s a catch.
In Florida, and especially in the United States, water is served free of charge to guests inside restaurants. Not bottled water—we’re talking about tap water.
At WDW, you can even ask for it for free at quick service restaurants, where they often already have dozens of ready-to-go cups filled with ice, waiting for you—especially in the middle of summer.
But another factor that affects this comparison is the minimal price difference between the two. So why choose bottled water when for just a few cents more you can enjoy a soft drink?
Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom is the most visited theme park in the world, with an average of about 20 to 22 million visitors per year—and that alone is mind-blowing!
The Cinderella Castle Suite
Inside Cinderella’s Castle lies the most prestigious suite in all of WDW.
It’s not clear how one can stay there. Disney often gives access to VIPs or offers it as a grand prize in charity contests.
What we do know is that it’s located on the fourth floor of the castle, has 24-hour concierge service, accommodates up to 6 people, features a huge bathtub, and each wall hides little magical touches just waiting to be discovered.
Who wouldn’t want, just once in their life, to stay inside the most photographed castle in the world?
The Fake Flags of Magic Kingdom
It’s well known that Americans are very patriotic—Stars and Stripes are everywhere, not just on public buildings like in Italy.
Every morning, in the park’s entrance square, you can witness the flag-raising ceremony, complete with the national anthem.
Rules on how to handle the national flag are very strict, and Americans follow them to the letter.
There are so many American flags in Magic Kingdom that caring for all of them would be impossible. So what did they come up with?
Except for the one used in the morning ceremony, all the others are fake!
From afar you’d never notice, but some have stars added or removed, or more or fewer stripes.
This way, the charm of the American flag remains intact without breaking any rules.
The Three Castles of Magic Kingdom
At Magic Kingdom, it’s not just Cinderella’s Castle—there are two more, maybe less famous and less noticeable, but they’re there.
The first is Ariel’s Castle, which is obviously located at the entrance to the corresponding attraction, although not everyone really notices it.
The second is the Beauty and the Beast Castle, located in Fantasyland above the entrance to the Be Our Guest restaurant.
As you can see, thanks to forced perspective, the castle is actually very small, but sitting atop a fake mountain, it appears to be normal-sized.
The Underground City
For many years, it was considered an urban legend. Stories circulated about an underground tunnel network connecting every corner of the park.
Then, at some point, the first leaked photos and the first full map of what Disney calls Utilidors appeared.
This tunnel network was designed by Walt after the opening of Disneyland, when he realized that cast members often had to cross entire areas of the park to reach the staff cafeteria or wardrobe.
Walt couldn’t stand the idea of a cast member walking through Frontierland dressed as an astronaut, or vice versa—it didn’t align with his vision of land theming consistency.
So he came up with a tunnel network to connect the major areas of the park—but not only that.
These spaces also serve as shafts for placing many systems necessary for the operation of stores, restaurants, restrooms, and attractions.
Inside, there is also a pneumatic transport system for waste disposal.
A simple yet genius idea!
But there’s more.
Given the swampy nature of the land, the tunnels were NOT excavated, but simply built on the original ground level, and the park was literally constructed on top—like the first floor of a giant building!
The roughly three-meter elevation was offset by the soil excavated for the creation of the Seven Seas Lagoon, the enormous artificial lake in front of the park.
The Color of the Lakes and Streams is Artificial
In the most magical place on Earth, everything has to be perfect—including the color of the water.
This trick is used in Disney parks around the world for two simple reasons:
To make these lakes appear much deeper than they really are, so they don’t need to be heavily excavated and can be drained quickly if needed.
To hide the equipment necessary for shows and attractions at the bottom of these water bodies.
The Hidden Tracks of Liberty Square Riverboat
This colonial-era steam riverboat is one of the iconic symbols of this area—but it hides a secret.
I’d say it’s an open secret, since by now it’s well known that the riverboat is indeed powered by real steam engines, but its steering is guided by a track placed at the bottom of the lake.
Apparently, Valentina didn’t know this 😅
The lake is drained roughly every two years for track maintenance and cleaning of the lake bed.
The Purple Wall in Tomorrowland
A few years ago, a spot appeared in Tomorrowland called “The Purple Wall“, located to the right just after entering the land from the central hub of the park.
If you search for this place on Instagram, you’ll find thousands of photos taken in front of it. It was specifically designed for this purpose—to be photographed and shared on social media.
Its color was not chosen randomly, and its west-facing position makes it reflect the sunset during golden hour with a WOW effect.
The Non-Bathrooms of Liberty Square
This land is exclusive to Magic Kingdom.
It was built to honor Walt’s love for the colonial era, and to stay true to the theme, they decided to go bold.
There are NO bathrooms in the entire land.
If you need to go, you’ll have to hold it until you reach the bathrooms near Rapunzel’s tower in Fantasyland (which are stunning) or head to the ones near Splash Mountain on the opposite side.
But that’s not all!
In the colonial era, not only were there no public restrooms, but there weren’t even private ones. It was common to throw waste out the windows directly onto the streets below.
That explains the darker-colored path that runs through all of Liberty Square, growing wider as you go—it’s symbolic.
But That’s Not All!
Valentina and I selected another 11 fun facts about Walt Disney World parks that we discuss in her special podcast episode at Aperitivo a Main Street U.S.A
Tell Me Yours
Let me know in a comment which of these you already knew and which one left you like 😱 just like when Valentina found out the Liberty Square Riverboat runs on tracks 😅
