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How much of Florida does Disney own?

How much land does Disney own in Florida? The Walt Disney Company owns about 25,000 acres of land in Florida, which is approximately 39 square miles.



In 2026, the Walt Disney Company remains one of the largest private landowners in Florida, owning approximately 25,000 to 27,000 acres (roughly 40 to 43 square miles) in Central Florida. This vast contiguous tract of land primarily encompasses the Walt Disney World Resort and is situated across both Orange and Osceola counties. To put the scale into perspective, this is roughly the size of the city of San Francisco or twice the size of Manhattan. While Disney originally purchased closer to 30,000 acres in the 1960s, parts of the land have been designated as permanent conservation areas (such as the 12,000-acre Disney Wilderness Preserve, which was donated to The Nature Conservancy) or developed into the residential community of Celebration, which Disney no longer directly controls. Despite recent high-profile legislative changes regarding the governing district (now the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District), Disney still holds the underlying title to this massive territory, which contains four theme parks, dozens of hotels, two water parks, and significant undeveloped wetlands held for future expansion.

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Walt Disney World Resort—one of the world's most popular vacation destinations—generated $40 billion in economic impact across the state of Florida and more than a quarter of a million total jobs in fiscal year 2022. That's according to a new study from Oxford Economics, which was announced on Tuesday.

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In 1964, Walt Disney began secretly buying millions of dollars worth of Central Florida farmland. As vast areas of land were purchased in lots of 5,000 acres here, 20,000 there -- at remarkably high prices -- rumors flew as to who needed so much land and had the money to acquire it.

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With space in California limited by the surrounding city, Disney bought a much larger parcel of land in Florida in 1965. Ringing in at a total of 43 square miles — or 27,520 acres — Walt Disney World is substantially larger than its older sibling. The park also has grown and it now covers 47 square miles.

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Very roughly, it would take at the very least $12.3 billion in today's dollars to build out the Walt Disney World property to its current state. And note that this answer is roughly six years old. So even if they did decide to leave Florida, it would take them decades and billions to rebuild.

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There are some similarities between Disneyland tickets and Disney World tickets. At both resorts, theme park ticket prices vary based on park and date, but Disneyland's are almost always slightly cheaper. The average price for a one-day Disneyland ticket for entry between April and August 2023 is $154.

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Vanguard Group, BlackRock, State Street Corporation, and Berkshire Hathaway are the key players in Disney's ownership landscape. State Street Corporation is the largest shareholder of Disney, indicating its significant influence on the company's operations and decision-making.

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The Walt Disney Company Reports Third Quarter and Nine Months Earnings for Fiscal 2023. BURBANK, Calif. —The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) today reported earnings for its third quarter and nine months ended July 1, 2023. Revenues for the quarter and nine months grew 4% and 8%, respectively.

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