Walt Disney World is unlike the majority of theme parks in the USA. The average theme park is 400 acres and it is located in one condensed area. You pay for your ticket, enter the park, spend the day, and you are done. Walt Disney World is different. It is like its own little town. Walt Disney World covers 27,000 acres in Orlando, FL. Within that 27,000 acres, there are hotels, roads, shopping centers (Disney Springs), the four main parks (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom), and two water parks (Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach). The four main parks only make up 950 acres of that land.
Each of the parks is in a separate area of Walt Disney World. Magic Kingdom lies on its own separate 107 acres of land, has its own entrance, its own parking lot (known as the Ticket and Transportation Center, or TTC), and its own transportation schedule to and from the park. Epcot lies on its own separate 300 acres of land, has its own entrance, its own parking lot, and its own transportation to and from the park. This follows for each of the parks. This means you cannot easily walk from Magic Kingdom to Epcot, or from Epcot to Animal Kingdom. They are in completely separate areas of Walt Disney World. Each parks has its own entrance, its own parking lot, and its own transportation.
Magic Kingdom was the first park to open in 1971. It is the smallest park, but it has the most attractions. It has your big ticket rides like Peter Pan’s Flight, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and Seven Dwarves Mine Train. It has Cinderella’s castle where everyone takes their classic Disney pictures. See mine below. It has the big, beautiful parades, the fireworks over the castle, and is the first park people think about when they plan a trip to Disney World.
Epcot was the second park to open in 1982. It is the second largest park. It is the park where you can go around the world at one theme park. You can visit Canada, the United Kingdom, China, and Japan all in just a leisurely stroll. There are two big ticket rides in this park: Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Frozen Ever After. This is also where the big ball is- ie Spaceship Earth.
Disney’s Hollywood studios was the third park to open in 1989. It is the second smallest park, covering 135 acres. This is where you can go to Galaxy’s Edge (ie where all the Star Wars stuff is) and Toy Story land. This park has big ticket rides like Rise of the Resistance, Slinky Dog Dash, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, and Rockin Rollercoaster. This is where Fantasmic is held in the evening.
Animal Kingdom was the last park to open in 1998. It is the largest park, covering 580 acres. It features different animals. It is known for the safari ride and the Expedition Everest ride.
When you are purchasing Walt Disney World tickets, you can choose to visit only one of the parks or to get a Park Hopper ticket. If you choose the “1 Park Per Day” ticket, then you can only visit one park on any given day. If you decide to start your day at Magic Kingdom, you cannot go to Epcot or Animal Kingdom later in the day. The only park you have admission for on that day is Magic Kingdom. If you decide to go to Epcot the next day, you cannot go back to Magic Kingdom later in the day. The only park you have admission for on that day is Epcot.
The Park Hopper ticket allows you go to as many parks as you like on any given day. This means you can start your day at Magic Kingdom, then go (or hop) to Epcot or Animal Kingdom. Many people will tell you not to choose the Park Hopper option at Walt Disney World. This is because there is a ton to see in each park, so each park usually takes a whole day, but also because the parks are separate and it takes a good amount of time to go between them. There is free transportation between parks. This includes the monorail between Epcot and Magic Kingdom and the skyline between Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, but this transportation does take some time and you will need to go through a separate entrance when you go from one park to the other. For the post on the different type of transposition at Walt Disney World, see the blog post .