🏰 Guide to Disneylands of the world: where they are and what they offer

Last updated Mar 10, 2025

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Who built Disneyland? Walt Disney, founder of the mega corporation, who gave childhood to millions of kids. He created a fairy tale in reality, came up with and brought to life his craziest ideas. It was Walt Disney who made a childhood dream come true with the concept of a theme park. Where not only children, but also adults can touch the magic. Every year, 50 million people visit the world's most popular resort chain, Disneyland. Do you know how many Disneylands there are in the world? Where do you need to go to see at least one of them? We found out where they are and which one is the best Disneyland.

Disneylands in the USA

The first Disneyland opened in 1955 in Anaheim, California. Over the entire history of the amusement park, it has been visited by over 600 million people. This is the only place that Walt Disney himself visited. His apartment is located on the main street. According to legend, from its windows he admired the opening of the park, and then looked at the rejoicing and happy children in it.

The centerpiece of Disneyland is Sleeping Beauty Castle. It can be seen from anywhere in the park, and the streets converge towards it. A train runs on the territory of the entertainment complex.

Disneyland currently has eight themed areas: Adventure World, New Orleans Square, Frontier Country, Mickey Mouse Town, Fantasy World, Tomorrowland, Animal Planet and Main Street USA.

The second Disneyland was built in 1971. It is located 30 km from Orlando, Florida. This is the largest Disneyland in the world by area. Its complex includes two water parks, four theme parks, five golf courses, about 20 hotels, hundreds of restaurants and many shops and clubs.

Disneyland Florida is called the Magic Kingdom because of the theme park where Cinderella Castle is located. Both in this zone and throughout the territory it is easy to meet any Disney characters: Tarzan, Mickey Mouse, Jack Sparrow, Aladdin, Goofy, Mulan, Donald Duck.

There is an area of Epcot dedicated to international culture and innovation in technology. It is divided into two parts: the world of the future and the world exhibition. The latest technologies are shown in the pavilions of the world of the future. The famous science fiction writer Ray Bradbury took part in its development. There are zones across the seas with Nemo and his friends, as well as the energy of the Universe. They will plunge you into the beautiful unknown.

But the world exhibition is a large area with an artificial lake in the center between the pavilions demonstrating the countries of the world. Each corner of Disneyland tells about the attractions of a particular country, for example , Morocco, Great Britain, Canada, Mexico, Norway, Germany, Italy.

The park includes a zoological park with an area of 163 hectares. It is the second largest in the world and is home to more than 2,000 animals. And, of course, everyone’s favorite Disney cartoon characters live there.

Disneyland in Europe

The only Disneyland in Europe. In terms of attendance, it is in second place after the Eiffel Tower among the attractions of France. Have you already guessed what place we are talking about? Yes, yes, it is in the city of Marne-la-Vallée, east of Paris, that Disneyland is located. The territory of the amusement park occupies two thousand hectares, where, according to the classics, traditional thematic areas are located, led by the Sleeping Beauty Castle.

The main event of Disneyland – the daily Parade of Heroes – takes place on the main street. Next comes the Wild West area with the most extreme rides, including the Big Thunder Mountain roller coaster.

What would it be without a land of adventure with pirates of the Caribbean and Indiana Jones in the jungle! And an amazing land of fairies, where cartoon characters familiar to everyone from childhood come to life: Snow White and the dwarfs, Elsa, Alice from Wonderland, Cinderella, characters from Toy Story. There is also a land of discovery dedicated to the heroes of Jules Verne, space and a whole fantasy world.

One day is definitely not enough for you to see everything at Disneyland. It’s better to stay for a few days at a hotel near the park and become a full-fledged resident of a magical land. Guests of the apartments have a special privilege: they can be in the entertainment complex before opening and after closing, when there are no people in it yet. On average, about 12.5 million people visit the French park every year. By the way, you can organize a ready-made tour to Disneyland. To do this, you can use the selection of tours.

Disneyland in Asia

In 1983, the first Asian Disneyland opened in Urayasu, Japan. And by 2001, the DisneySea park, dedicated to a marine theme, was added to it. It is divided not just into lands, but into ports: a mysterious island, a lost river delta, an American waterfront, and the Little Mermaid's Lagoon. Both the land and underwater amusement parks have all the same attractions and themed areas as in the American Disneylands, but only with a hint of the Japanese love for futurism and pedantic purity.

And the next Disneyland began its work in 2005 in Hong Kong on Lantau Island and is famous for the fact that it was built using the principles of Feng Shui. It is considered the most compact amusement park in the world – an area of only 27.5 hectares. Thanks to successful feng shui or due to its density, it still manages to accommodate 34 thousand visitors at the same time. And, of course, it has all the classic Disneyland areas.

And our Disneyland parade closes with the youngest of them, located in Shanghai (Pudong district), China. Its doors opened in 2016 – this is the sixth interpretation of the legendary park. There are all the usual attractions for visitors, including Peter Pan's flight, a roller coaster, and a search for sunken treasure. In Chinese Disneyland there is a theater where you can watch the musical “The Lion King” with acrobatic stunts performed in the traditions of the Asian circus.

Pictures cannot convey the amazing atmosphere of Disneyland, so I definitely recommend visiting at least one of the six parks. Moreover, now you know which countries and cities have Disneylands. I am sure there will be enough memories and impressions from Disneyland Park for years to come. For example, I wanted to discover the magical world of Walt Disney, what about you?