Ranking the best Walt Disney World theme parks can be tricky, as each theme park offers its own unique attractions, experiences, and atmosphere. Many guests prioritize attractions above all other considerations, while some guests care more about iconic landmarks such as Cinderella Castle.
I've taken all four Walt Disney World theme parks and ranked them while also discussing which is the best Walt Disney World water park and shopping districts, so you can think through how to plan your route around the Most Magical Place on Earth. At Mickey Visit, we are in the Disney theme parks every single week working to bring you the most up-to-date photos and information.
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What is the Best Disney World Theme Park?
Walt Disney World contains four very different theme parks. Those theme parks are:
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There are also two water parks and two shopping/dining districts.
- Disney's Blizzard Beach Water Park
- Disney's Typhoon Lagoon Water Park
- Disney Springs
- Disney Boardwalk
Let's start with ranking the best Disney World theme parks considering both the quality of attractions, experiences, nighttime shows, dining, and overall atmosphere.
4. Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Disney’s Animal Kingdom opened in 1998 and is the most recent of all the Walt Disney World theme parks, despite being 25 years old. Animal Kingdom covers about 500 acres of land. This makes it the largest Walt Disney World theme park with over 1,500 animals.
The signature attractions at Animal Kingdom include Avatar Flight of Passage, Kilimanjaro Safaris, and the roller coaster Expedition Everest. Disney’s Animal Kingdom also contains some excellent shows like the “Festival of the Lion King” and “Finding Nemo: The Big Blue…and Beyond.”
In addition to the attractions, many Disney-level animal exhibits around this theme park create a wide variety of options for entertainment. Animal Kingdom often gets compared to a zoo mixed with a theme park because of this, although the experience is quite different than a traditional zoo.
Animal Kingdom often gets accused of being a half-day theme park. This usually comes from people wanting more rides at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and aren't as focused on the entertainment, dining, and animal exhibits.
If you only have a day or two at Walt Disney World, Animal Kingdom might not be the best example of a Disney theme park experience. We love Animal Kingdom, but it does have the smallest number of attractions, so many guests can finish the park in just one morning if they do not focus on the animal exhibits or other offerings in the park.
Animal Kingdom's Biggest Drawback
In contrast to the other three Walt Disney World theme parks, Animal Kingdom does not have a nighttime show. In the past, some nighttime shows have been conducted at Animal Kingdom, but we haven't seen a nighttime show return to Animal Kingdom in over five years. Animal Kingdom opens earlier than the other Walt Disney World theme parks, making it an ideal theme park to start your day if you are an early riser.
But unfortunately, Animal Kingdom closes far earlier than all the other theme parks. It's a shame since you can rarely experience this park at night, which we feel is Animal Kingdom's biggest problem.
Animal Kingdom is one of my favorite Disney World theme parks, and I could spend days enjoying the unique atmosphere, animal exhibits, and unique tours. However, I doubt most people will find the same enjoyment with a limited time to visit and are more focused on crossing rides off their to-do list, which can be done fairly quickly at Animal Kingdom. If you only have a few days at Walt Disney World, Disney’s Animal Kingdom could be an excellent place to start your day if you plan to park-hop to another of the three Disney World theme parks.
3. Disney's Hollywood Studios
Disney's Hollywood Studios is the third-oldest theme park at Walt Disney World. This theme park had faced construction woes and even a significant name change from MGM Studios. This theme park opened in 1989 in a race between Disney and Universal to open a “movie studio” based park in Central Florida first.
Hollywood Studios has gone from being a theme park with a working movie and television studio to a place to celebrate films and television. This park features Toy Story Land, the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge area, and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror Attraction.
This theme park transitioned from being a place to celebrate all aspects of movies and entertainment to a theme park with significant intellectual properties, creating the basis of some of the most popular rides at any theme park. With the groundbreaking Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance attraction, Hollywood Studios draws large crowds and is known for its popular attractions.
Hollywood Studios Has the Most Thrill Rides
Hollywood Studios offers some of the best options if you are looking for well-done theme park attractions. The percentage of thrill rides is higher at Hollywood Studios than at the other three Walt Disney World theme parks. Since many of these well-done, thrilling attractions have become extremely popular, the queues at Hollywood Studios have become long no matter what time of year you visit. Hollywood Studios feels like the busiest Walt Disney World theme park which is why we always recommend utilizing Lightning Lane Multi Pass at this park.
As a result, it requires more planning to enjoy many of the attractions. However, with the Rock ‘n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith and Star Tours – The Adventures Continue, in addition to the other rides previously mentioned, Hollywood Studios provides the most theme park thrills at Walt Disney World.
That does not mean only thrill seekers should visit Disney's Hollywood Studios. This theme park offers some excellent shows like the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, plus the newly opened Villains show and the revamped Little Mermaid show.
In addition to daytime entertainment, Hollywood Studios offers a popular nighttime show. This show, “Fantasmic!”, happens in a large outdoor stadium at this theme park. This show features water effects, light displays, special effects, and, most of all, Mickey Mouse. This is a great show to end your day with and cements Hollywood Studios as a full day park with all the popular rides, shows, and nighttime experiences.
2. EPCOT
EPCOT, a concept devised by Walt Disney himself, was initially intended to be an ever-developing community of tomorrow. In fact, EPCOT originally stood for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. This theme park creates an experience not found anywhere else! Many experienced Walt Disney World visitors claim this theme park is their favorite.
EPCOT is divided into four neighborhoods: World Celebration, World Discovery, World Nature, and World Showcase. The first three areas used to be known as Future World and are all located near each other on one end of the theme park with the World Showcase being on the other half. Since these neighborhoods offer so many different experiences, it's almost like having two theme parks in one.
EPCOT is also home to some of the most popular attractions in Walt Disney World including Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind, Frozen Ever After, and Remy's Ratatouille Adventure. Many guests visit this park just to make sure they experience these three iconic attractions.
EPCOT ends the evening with a nighttime spectacular on the lagoon in the World Showcase. The current nighttime lagoon show, Luminous The Symphony of Us, happens nightly and is considered one of the most popular Disney World nighttime shows.
EPCOT World Showcase Offers Unique Experiences
The World Showcase consists of 11 pavilions based on different countries. Each of these “countries” features merchandise locations, dining experiences, and often cultural representatives from the specific country. The countries featured in the World Showcase area are:
- Mexico
- Norway
- China
- Germany
- Italy
- The American Adventure
- Japan
- Morocco
- France
- United Kingdom
- Canada
A journey around the World Showcase area of EPCOT allows guests to enjoy so many aspects of different cultures. You could easily spend one day just exploring the World Showcase. There is so much to do at EPCOT that it would be hard to see it all in just one day especially when you factor in exploring these different areas. EPCOT is known for having the best food at Disney World and most of that credit goes to the unique dining experiences in the World Showcase.
EPCOT Festivals Give This Park an Edge
Another highlight of EPCOT are the festivals that take place throughout the year. There's only a few weeks out of the year that there is not a festival taking place. You can check the EPCOT festival schedule to see which one may line up with your trip. The current four festivals are:
- EPCOT International Festival of the Arts
- EPCOT International Flower and Garden Festival
- EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival
- EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays
These festivals make an excellent opportunity for adults to drink their way around the “world” of EPCOT. This popular pasttime has given EPCOT a reputation as being a theme park that adults love. And there is some truth to this as EPCOT is also the place of the first ever “adult-only” theme park bar in Disney World.
When it comes to downsides, EPCOT offers far fewer rides than Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. If guests are focused primarily on rides alone, it has some of the most popular, but once you've completed those you could easily move on to another park. However, a day at EPCOT focuses on the overall experience. The unique nature of EPCOT shows how deciding the best Disney World theme park becomes a debatable issue. Do you prioritize solely rides or the experience itself? Regardless, EPCOT offers such unique offerings with a combination of the most popular rides so it cements itself easily into the #2 spot for best Disney World theme park.
1. Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom started the Disney theme park empire in central Florida. When most people think of Walt Disney World, they think of the Magic Kingdom due to the iconic castle and best Magic Kingdom rides. This Disney World opened over 50 years ago offering the quintessential Disney experience which is why we just had to rank this park as number one. You cannot go to Disney World without visiting Magic Kingdom! That couldn't necessarily be said for the other three parks, although I could never skip EPCOT either.
Magic Kingdom contains the most attractions of any Walt Disney World theme park. Magic Kingdom is always going to be a must-choice for the best Walt Disney World theme park for families with young children. For example, the Fantasyland area contains many attractions for guests of all ages and heights.
The layout of Magic Kingdom fits a traditional theme park hub and spoke design. At Magic Kingdom, guests enter through the main entrance from the transportation areas. After entering, they walk down Main Street U.S.A., passing shops and dining options. Once through that area, guests reach the main hub and see the castle. At this point, guests will have options of pathways to choose from. Those choices take guests to:
- Adventureland- Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Caribbean can be found here along with the Enchanted Tiki Room.
- Frontierland- where guests can enjoy the wild west with a ride on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, although this area is undergoing a major transformation as Disney incorporates a new Cars-inspired space into the land.
- Liberty Square- the home of the iconic Haunted Mansion which is considered a fan favorite Disney attraction.
- Fantasyland- this land features nostalgic rides like “it's a small world” along with the popular Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Peter Pan's Flight. The Storybook Circus area also features a great area for small children.
- Tomorrowland- this area contains the two main thrilling roller coasters, Tron Lightcycle/ Run and Space Mountain.
Magic Kingdom offers a great theme park experience for all demographics from families with young children to those wanting a thrill experience. This serves as one of the best reasons that Magic Kingdom consistently draws large crowds of all ages.
Ticketed Holiday Parties Rule at Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom, similar to EPCOT, has an edge when it comes to seasonal entertainment. This is where you will find the popular Halloween and Christmas ticketed events. Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party are often the most sought after seasonal events.
While the other parks also celebrate the seasons especially the holiday season, Hollywood Studios even has its own holiday event, the popularity and success of these two parties tend to always rank as the must do holiday entertainment in Disney World.
Most Iconic Disney World Entertainment
Magic Kingdom also provides guests with incredible nighttime fireworks spectaculars every evening. The nightly displays over Cinderella's Castle are iconic and will change depending on seasonal offerings and holidays. This is the one nighttime spectacular most guests will never skip and always prioritize above the others.
Magic Kingdom also features parades and cavalcades including the Disney Starlight parade and the daytime Festival of Fantasy parade. If you want to see a Disney parade, you will find them at Magic Kingdom. This just demonstrates that Magic Kingdom doesn't just win in the categories of attractions but in the area of entertainment as well.
Magic Kingdom rules as the most popular theme park around. If you only have one day at Walt Disney World, most people will select the Magic Kingdom and it's easy to see why.
What About the Best Disney World Water Park?
Walt Disney World has two water parks with different themes that guests can pick from.
Blizzard Beach presents the idea of a freak snowstorm in the Orlando area. As wild as that sounds, Disney World designed a water park based on the idea of converting a ski resort into a water park making this a very unique theme park theme.
Typhoon Lagoon presents a more traditional water park idea. The Disney Imagineers revolved the theme here around the idea of a tropical resort town. However, the town was decimated by the typhoon leaving the water park today.
Blizzard Beach Wins for Theming, Thrills, and Kids
Both these water parks offer many of the same experiences with some slight differences so most guests will be happy at either. Typhoon Lagoon is known for its unique wave pool which varies from a constant bobbing style wave to a variable wave with a more intense wave about every 90 seconds. This is the most unique aspect of that water park. Aside from that, guests might not find it to be too different than the water parks in their local cities.
You just can't beat the theme of Blizzard Beach which is incredibly unique for a water park. You can even ride ski lifts to the area to access the larger water slides! It's also home to the most thrilling attraction at either water park. The Summit Plummet is the most thrilling water park ride with a 360-foot-long high speed descent down a massive water slide.
When it comes to areas built for kids, Blizzard Beach offers a great area for tweens. Ski Patrol Training Camp contains two sets of slides, a small zip line, space for swimming, and a ropes course element where kids cross the water on moving “ice” pieces. This area makes Blizzard Beach more attractive to the younger demographics.
If you are looking for a water park experience that feels more uniquely “Disney” then Blizzard Beach should be your choice.
Disney Springs or Disney’s BoardWalk?
We will conclude the discussion of the best Disney World parks by looking at the shopping and dining areas. Walt Disney World offers two main shopping, dining, and entertainment complexes, Disney Springs and the Disney Boardwalk.
Disney Springs is an extensive shopping, dining, and entertainment complex. This complex is divided into four areas: The Marketplace, The Landing, Town Center, and West Side.
Disney’s Boardwalk area builds on the theme of a boardwalk in a coastal town in the 1940s. Disney’s Boardwalk is conveniently located between EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Disney Springs or Disney’s BoardWalk?
Disney’s BoardWalk hosts several charming shops, eateries, and nightlife venues. Dining options include quick service style casual boardwalk-style food stands to upscale dining at spots like the Flying Fish.
Hotel accommodations are also available on the BoardWalk itself, with resorts designed to fit the seaside theme. These include Disney’s BoardWalk Inn and Disney’s BoardWalk Villas. Also, guests can stay across the water at Disney's Beach Club and Disney’s Yacht Club. If you are staying in this area, accessing Disney BoardWalk will naturally be a part of your theme park visit.
But for most guests, Disney Springs is a better option due to the massive number of shopping and dining options. Disney Springs contains almost 100 merchandise locations while Disney’s Boardwalk contains under ten. For dining options, Disney Springs wins again with over 20 table service dining options and over 60 dining options total. Disney’s BoardWalk offers a few excellent choices but fails to reach ten in total.
The Disney Springs complex covers almost five times as much land as Disney’s BoardWalk. For example, some guests will make a day of entertainment out of the Disney Springs options. Disney’s BoardWalk does not offer enough for a day’s entertainment.
The decision of Disney Springs vs. Disney’s BoardWalk comes down to location. If you are staying at a hotel near Disney’s BoardWalk or visiting Disney’s Hollywood Studios, then the BoardWalk makes a reasonable choice. However, Disney Springs makes the best Disney World option for all others.
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