Disney by the Numbers

Facts and Figures About the Walt Disney World Theme Parks and Resorts

by Anthony M. Caselnova | Release Date: September 26, 2015 | Availability: Print, Kindle

Counting Pixie Dust

How much pixie dust is there at Walt Disney World, anyway? Can you count it? Nope. But there are many things at Disney World you can count, and Tony Caselnova has counted and measured and calculated and quantified them all.

You'll learn things about the Disney World theme parks and resorts that you never knew before—and that you never thought to ask.

Think you know Space Mountain? Tony knows the length of the tracks, the speed of the rockets, how many guests can ride per hour, how much of the ride is below ground, the weight of the concrete beams that support the mountain, and much, much more to amaze and edify any Disney fan (and especially the ones who think they know it all).

And that's just Space Mountain. Every Disney World theme park, resort, attraction, and show is "enumerated" in the book, as well as Disney dining, Disney transportation, Disney recreation, and Disney water parks. You'll even find out how much Disney pays in taxes!

Disney by the Numbers: a unique look at your favorite theme park!

Table of Contents

Publisher's Note

Chapter 1: Walt Disney World

Chapter 2: Magic Kingdom

Chapter 3: Epcot

Chapter 4: Disney's Hollywood Studios

Chapter 5: Disney's Animal Kingdom

Chapter 6: Walt Disney World Water Parks

Chapter 7: Walt Disney World Resorts

Chapter 8: Walt Disney World Dining

Chapter 9: Walt Disney World Recreation

Chapter 10: Walt Disney World Transportation

Chapter 11: Mousecellaneous

This is not a book of words. It’s a book of numbers. Lots and lots of numbers. There are words around the numbers, but it’s the numbers that matter.

There isn’t a plot. There’s minimal structure. The content within each section isn’t presented in any particular order. It’s all random, even scattershot. You’re not meant to read this book; you’re meant to wallow in it.

Open the book to any page and you’ll be presented with facts and figures—hard data—about different aspects of Walt Disney World. You’ll be amazed how many numbers support the pixie dust you enjoy whenever you’re at a Disney World park or resort. Without these numbers, there wouldn’t be a Walt Disney World.

We all know it started with a mouse. But before the mouse, there were numbers.

Anthony M. Caselnova

My enthusiasm for all things Disney started when my parents took our family to Walt Disney World. My first trip was at age thirteen, and it’s when my fascination with the park began. I wanted to know how things there worked. I wanted details about such things as the number of cast members and the length of the monorail track. Each visit brought new information.

Later, after my family moved to Orlando and I graduated from college, I got a job at Disney World as a security cast member. My four duties were driving a security vehicle, standing a post, working in a resort, and walking a park or other area. Sometimes I even had special duties like working the Epcot Candlelight Processional. I would also escort celebrity guests from backstage into the park.

As a cast member, I was given a little book of facts that I could reference when answering questions from guests. The facts in that book form the backbone of the facts in this book. I added many, many facts to what I already knew, and organized them all in a spreadsheet. Not long after, I started a website called Disney by the Numb3rs, and now that website—or parts of it, anyway—has become a book.

Cinderella Castle...By the Numbers!

189 feet to the highest point on Cinderella Castle, which can be seen as far as 2 miles away at the Ticket and transportation Center.

3,727 towers are on the castle. They were pre-fabricated near the site, then slated, gilded, and hoisted into place.

29 towers were in the original design, but 2 were deleted during construction.

13 gargoyles are on the exterior.

40 coats of arms are on display inside Cinderella’s Royal Table restaurant. Each refers to someone who played a significant role in the heritage and history of the Disney company.

18 months were need to construct the castle.

500,000 bits of glass in 500 different colors are used inside the castle.

1 mile away is the distance the castle is designed to be seen from.

13 intricately carved, winged gargoyles appear on the exterior.

600 tons of steel went into the construction of the castle, and not a single stone.

1996-97, to celebrate Walt Disney World’s 25th anniversary, the castle was transformed into a huge “cake” with large decorations and more than 400 gallons of pink paint.

25 candles adorned the cake.

1 day is the number of times the castle was vandalized with toilet paper and graffiti to commemorate the opening of Stitch’s Great Escape.

3 elevators are inside the castle.

5 tile mosaics designed by Imagineer Dorothea Redmond tell the story of Cinderella just inside the castle breezeway. Each of the panel tile mosaics is 15 feet high and 10 feet wide.

5 murals contain about 500 colors and 1 million pieces of glass, many of them fused with real silver and 14-karat gold. Smooth-faced Venetian glass and rough-surfaced smalti (enameled or glazed glass) traditionally used by Italian craftsman were incorporated into the design.

6 artists worked more than 2 years to complete the murals in the archway of Cinderella Castle.

300,000 pieces of glass were used to make the interior murals.

30,000 pictures are taken of Cinderella Castle everyday.

18 towers and spires are topped with sparkling gold-painted finials.

Continued in "Disney by the Numbers"!

From laundry to leaves, more numbers!

100 tons of laundry is processed at Walt Disney World each day.

1.4 million pounds of laundry per week is processed.

32,000 costumes are laundered each day.

8 million pounds of food and beverage linen are cleaned annually.

132,000 square feet is the size of the laundry plant in the north service area. It’s one of the largest, completely automated, state-of-the-art laundry plants in the world.

60–62 megawatts on average are consumed at Disney World each day.

28,000 square feet is the size of the Materials Recovery Facility, which processes over 30 tons per day of recyclable materials, including cardboard, paper, steel, aluminum, glass, and plastic.

96 times taller than Cinderella Castle is how high all the buttons used by the Costuming Plant Seam Team in one year would stack.

200 times taller than Cinderella Castles is how high all the standard autograph books sold in 1 year would stack.

88 miles into space is how high all the Princess-style autograph books would reach if stacked end-to-end.

340 acres is the size of Bay Lake.

,000 acres of grass must be cut at Disney World.

50,000 pine trees were planted by cast members across 50 acres to form a “hidden Mickey” in honor of the park’s 20th anniversary on February 27, 1992.

7,500 acres were set-aside as conservation area in 1970, with a system of more than 43 miles of canals and 22 miles of levees to control the water level.

7 million trees, shrubs, and plants are at Disney World.

2 million shrubs are planted there annually.

13,000 roses are planted annually (400 hours are needed to remove the spent rose bulbs).

200+ or so topiary are used throughout the park.

20 different plants, flowers, mosses, and lichens are used to make 1 topiary.

4,200 acres are devoted to maintained landscapes and gardens.

800 hanging baskets of flowers and plants are used throughout Disney World.

Continued in "Disney by the Numbers"!

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