How Many Disney Parks Are There Around the World?

While you may hear people most commonly talk about Disney World located in Orlando, Florida, and Walt Disney’s original park, Disneyland Resort over in Anaheim, California, those aren’t the only two Disney parks that exist.

Not by a long shot, in fact, but a ton of Disney fans aren’t as familiar with the international parks, so we figured we could do a quick overview of all the different Disney parks you can visit around the world. And if you find yourself adding “visit every Disney park” to your bucket list, just know that a lot of us are in the same boat!

Disneyland Resort

Let’s start with the original — as stated previously, Disneyland was Walt Disney’s original theme park, and is the only park he lived to see the completion of. It’s been open since July 17th, 1955 and features eight different lands with over 40 different attractions.

Also in Disneyland Resort, you’ll find Disney California Adventure. This park celebrates the uniqueness of California and opened on February 1st, 2001. Right now, you can visit areas like Avengers Campus, Radiator Springs, San Fransokyo Square, Pixar Pier, and more.

Now, Disneyland Resort is currently undergoing a massive expansion called the Disneyland Expansion, which will bring multiple new rides and attractions to the area in the coming years.

Walt Disney World

Disney World was the second theme park creation of Walt’s starting with Magic Kingdom, but he unfortunately wasn’t alive to see it finished. There are five lands in Magic Kingdom (but is currently undergoing an expansion that will add on an all-new Villains Land), and this park was the first to open on October 1st, 1971.

The second park to open in Disney World was EPCOT, which stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. Walt originally had a dream for an town-like area of the future where families could live, work, and play all in one location, and that ended up becoming the idea for EPCOT! This park is home to the World Showcase, featuring 11 different countries in one park, and opened on October 1st, 1982.

The third park to open was Disney’s Hollywood Studios, originally named Disney’s MGM Studios, which opened on May 1st, 1989. This park was dedicated originally to taking guests behind the scenes to see how movies were made, as there was an active studio lot on the property. However, in 2008, Disney changed the name from MGM Studios to Hollywood Studios, and now the park is focused more on popular Disney movie IP and celebrating the films and film franchises that already exist such as Toy Story, Star Wars, Mickey Shorts, Frozen, and more.

The final of the four parks to open was Disney’s Animal Kingdom on April 22nd, 1998. This park celebrates the beautiful wildlife all around the world and serves as a protective home for them. Take a ride on Kilimanjaro Safaris to see incredible lions, beautiful giraffes, stunning zebras, and everything in between as they roam around in a habitat recreated to be as natural as possible for them. This is also where you can visit Pandora: The Land of Avatar, and in the coming years, Pueblo Esperanza in the Tropical Americas.

Don’t forget about the two water parks you can find in Disney World either! Typhoon Lagoon opened on June 1st, 1989, and Blizzard Beach opened on April 1st, 1995.

Tokyo Disneyland

Tokyo Disneyland was the first international park to open and did so on April 15th, 1983. Now, while what you’ll find in Tokyo Disneyland has a similar layout to the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland also wanted to create something new. You won’t find Main Street, U.S.A. here, instead, it’s World Bazaar. Other lands include Adventureland, Westernland, Critter Country, Fantasyland, Toontown, and Tomorrowland.

The second park here is called Tokyo DisneySea which opened on September 4th, 2001. Here you’ll find lands that no other park has — Mediterranean Harbor, American Waterfront, Port Discovery, Mysterious Island, Lost River Delta, Mermaid Lagoon, and Arabian Coast. The most recent expansion to this park is Fantasy Springs, which fans have raved about.

Overall, many agree that Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea are some of, if not the best, Disney parks in the world.

Disneyland Paris

The second international Disney park was originally called Euro Disneyland, now called Disneyland Paris, and opened on April 12th, 1992 and is located about 20 miles east of Paris. There are two parks located here at this time, the first being Disneyland Paris itself. Similar to Disneyland and Magic Kingdom, it’s split into five different themed lands including Fantasyland, Frontierland, Main Street U.S.A., Adventureland, and Discoveryland (instead of Tomorrowland).

The other park here is Walt Disney Studios Park (soon to be renamed Disney Adventure World) and it opened on March 16th, 2002. Similar to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, this park takes you behind the scenes of moviemaking, but in recent years has, just like its Orlando counterpart, started to focus more on Disney IP. The name change also marks a large expansion for the park, introducing new lands themed after Frozen and The Lion King.

But that’s not all — we’ve still got tons of other parks to cover!

Hong Kong Disneyland

Next up was Hong Kong Disneyland which opened on September 12th, 2005.  Currently, this resort is only home to one park, and again, you’ll find it laid out similarly to Disneyland and Magic Kingdom. Here you’ll find Main Street, Fantasyland, Adventureland, and Tomorrowland.

More recently, the World of Frozen addition was completed, which was the first addition of the land for Disney parks.

Many feel that while the park is unique when you’re traveling so far, it’s not the best park to choose due to how small it is.

Shanghai Disneyland

The final Disney park to open was Shanghai Disneyland, which opened less than ten years ago on June 16th, 2016. This layout is different than any other Disney park, which makes it very unique. Lands here include Mickey Avenue, Gardens of Imagination, Disneytown, Tomorrowland, Disney Pixar Toy Story Land, Fantasyland, Treasure Cove, and Adventure Isle.

The most recent addition to this land was the new Zootopia Land which opened in 2023, but we also know a new Spider-Man roller coaster is on its way as well.

And there you have it! As of the time of writing this article, those are all the Disney parks you can find around the world, and a little bit about what to find at each one. Disney is constantly revealing new information about what new experiences and attractions they’re bringing to their parks, so be sure to stay tuned to AllEars!

9 Reasons to Leave the Country to Go to a Disney Park

Which of Disney’s international parks do you want to visit the most? Tell us in the comments!

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