Walt Disney World is a massive place. Just by the name alone we know it is big because most of the Disney resorts are called Disneyland. Whereas Disney World is called a World. One question we often ponder is just how large is the whole property. While this could be an easy answer in just acreage or square mileage, lets break it down by the numbers. We are going to look at a few areas to show us the true size of Walt Disney World. These areas include things such as electric bill, amount of trash, amount of water used, etc.
First, let's look at what maybe the most important part of Walt Disney World...the electricity. There are four parks, two water parks, 20+ hotels, and many more things that use electricity. We know it is not cheap. According to research conducted by RobPlays on youtube, the dollar price comes out to $97.3 million for 2017. That number comes from the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which is basically the government body of Walt Disney World. This price operates power that is 1.2 MWh of energy. The average home operates on 10.7 MWh in one year. The crazy part of this stat is the idea that Walt Disney World only used half of one percent of the entire states total in 2016. While, the electric bill is astronomical, the stats only get more insane.
We use a lot of water everyday, when you consider drinking water, bathing, using the restroom, washing hands, etc. it eventually adds up. What does this number look like for the Happiest Place on Earth. Well according to the same sources as previously mentioned, Walt Disney World used 5.91 billion gallons of water in 2017. This number includes a lot of sources of water. It encompasses the toilets, drinking fountains, water rides, sprinklers, etc. If you wanted to put all of this water into drinking bottles, it would be 122.6 million bottles. That is a lot considering most bottled water is sold in 24 packs. That would be 5,108,333 cases of water.
The amount of trash at Walt Disney World is also a large number. Considering the amount of food consumed and other things that can be consider as trash. There are at any time around a quarter of a million people at Walt Disney World. The daily number is around 441 tons of trash a day, when looking at the same sources. That number for the year is 161,000 tons. Solid waste or basic trash accounts for 110,000 tons which will be the majority. The most outstanding number here is the amount of times the garbage trucks ran daily. In 2017, there were an average of 191 trash pickups daily. Meaning about every eight minutes a truck is running and hauling trash away.
Now, we have all heard the comparisons of Walt Disney World to San Francisco and Manhattan when talking about the sheer size of the property. Let's look deeper at the size of the property. The city of Bay Lake, Florida is controlled by the Walt Disney Company. The Reedy Creek Improvement District. This district is located in two counties off Florida, Orange and Osceola counties. It was established just several months before Walt Disney World opened. The city of Lake Buena Vista is where the property is located. Each city has less than 30 citizens each, Bay Lake (23) and Lake Buena Vista (16) according to 2000 U.S. Census. They have their own fire department, EMS, Utilities, and Roads. The Orange and Osceola county police are the law enforcement along with the Florida Highway Patrol. This information alone, lets you know how large the property is, but just what are the numbers of this massive place. Walt Disney World is 40 square miles or 25,000 acres meaning it is about the size of the city of San Francisco or two Manhattan Islands.
Walt Disney World is massive and there is so much more to unpack on all of these numbers. I am going to link the videos from RobPlays's youtube channel if you would like to check them out. He posts a lot of great content weekly. Have a magical day and we will SEE YA! real soon.
Links to RobPlays
What is Wal Disney World's Electric Bill? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idrg8Ekp-4I
How Much Water Is Used at Walt Disney World? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uztFAF2-mls
How Much Garbage Does Walt Disney World Produce? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd5mbQPjLvY&t=199s
