By The Numbers: The Definitive Ride-Count Countdown of Disney & Universal’s Parks’ Lineups

4. Tokyo DisneySea

Ride Count: 24

Tokyo DisneySea is a Mecca for Disney Parks fans… the sort of destination that Imagineering fans feel they absolutely must see. That’s because the park is easily, far and away, the most beautiful theme park on Earth. Costing over $4 billion upon its opening in 2001 (about five times as much as California Adventure which opened the same year), the park has to be seen to be believed. And tellingly, you could spend days there, ride nothing, and still feel your time was well spent.

But when it comes to rides, DisneySea has an interesting collection. Yes, a sizable quantity of the park’s headlining rides are “just” versions of familiar stateside attractions (like a Twilight Zone-free Tower of Terror, a S.E.A.-wrapped version of Soarin’, a beautifully-decorated Toy Story Midway Mania, and a South American reimagining of Indiana Jones Adventure). Even still, those “clones” are notable for being the big budget, no-holds-barred versions of their American counterparts.

But don’t misunderstand – DisneySea also featured a captivating list of one-of-a-kind exclusive attractions. That list is topped by the Modern Marvel: Journey to the Center of the Earth – a bucket list E-Ticket dark ride / thrill ride, but also includes a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea dark ride, the Nemo & Friends SeaRider simulator, the Raging Spirits roller coaster (above), and the legendary Sinbad’s Storybook Voyage.

Just as important, DisneySea’s ride count is bolstered by a fantastic and diverse collection of “supporting rides” that many U.S. parks forget about – cross-park ferries, Venetian gondolas, a Mermaid Lagoon land stuffed with family flat rides, the Aquatopia trackless obstacle course ride, and more.

DisneySea’s must-see nature grew exponentially with the 2024 opening of Fantasy Springs – a vaguely-aquatic “Fantasyland” comprised of mini-lands dedicated to Peter Pan, Frozen, and Tangled. Each is represented by an almost absurdly lavish, extravagant, and ornate, one-of-a-kind dark ride (plus an accessory family ride in the Peter Pan section) making DisneySea even more of a must-visit for Imagineering fans.

In addition to propelling DisneySea into fourth place on our countdown, Fantasy Springs gives the park a staggering leap in our E-Ticket Count, too – probably the first time since Walt Disney’s 1959 expansion of Tomorrowland that three genuine, certifiable E-Tickets have opened together. The results are undeniably that DisneySea is among the most stacked and well-balanced Disney Parks on Earth, strengthening its appeal even further.

What’s next? Nothing known at this time.

3. Magic Kingdom

Ride count: 26

Walt Disney World’s iconic first theme park needs a collection of rides to match, and Magic Kingdom’s headlining lineup features all the favorites fans know and love with enough adventures to fill a day. Imagineers designed Disneyland’s little sister to grow, and it has. As a result, Walt Disney World’s first theme park has nearly the same number of rides as the other three parks there combined.

Still, it may be surprising that the number one most-visited theme park in the world ranks only third in its ride count. There are probably a few reasons, not the least of which being that – as we’ve seen – it’s the Disney World park least in need of bolstering. It’s really no surprise that the arguably-overexpanded Florida resort’s second, third, and fourth gate are prioritized when it comes to new additions, while Magic Kingdom can “coast” for a decade at a time and not see its attendance dip.

For example, in the 2010s, Magic Kingdom finished up a multi-phase New Fantasyland, revitalizing the 1971 original by flattening more than half of the land to create immersive mini-lands based on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Little Mermaid, Dumbo, and Beauty and the Beast. Unfortunately for the park’s ride count, the creatively ambitious expansion – “the largest in Magic Kingdom’s history” – added a net one ride, since one (a Lost Legend: Snow White’s Scary Adventures) closed to make way for it.

The park’s next big addition was 2023’s Modern Marvel: TRON Lightcycle Run – a copy of Shanghai Disneyland’s Space Mountain successor, placed in Magic Kingdom right next to the original Space Mountain. Despite early rumors that the new E-Ticket would replace the aging Tomorrowland Speedway, some clever placement allowed a shortened version of the Speedway to remain, meaning TRON really is a +1 to the park’s ride count.

Disney World’s Splash Mountain officially took its last plunge into the Briar Patch in January 2023. The temporary loss of one of Disney’s fabled “mountains” didn’t last forever. The ride was transformed into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure – a new musical journey through the world of Disney’s 2009 animated film The Princess and the Frog. Its opening in June 2024 raised Magic Kingdom’s ride count to its highest ever level: 26.

What’s next? Magic Kingdom was a surprise focus of the 2024 D23 Expo. There, we learned about no less than two substantial projects in the works for the park, both seemingly centered on the “Beyond Big Thunder” expansion pad Disney has been teasing for years.

First, Pixar’s Cars is somehow being integrated into a new sub-section of the park’s Frontierland through two different attractions. Though Disney was cagey on details, it appears that one will see guests head out into the wilderness on an off-roading rally, while the other will likely be a kid-sized, Autopia-style ride.

Those two rides will come at the cost of the park’s Rivers of America – and thus, will axe two rides (the Liberty Belle Riverboat and the Rafts to Tom Sawyer Island) from the count. So even if the two Cars rides have substantially more draw and capacity than the Rivers of America, they’ll essentially net to a +0 on paper in terms of the park’s ride count.

Second, the long-teased land themed to the Disney Villains franchise appears to be a go. Disney’s announcement suggested that it’ll be home to two “major attractions,” which – based on the Blue Sky concept art – seem likely to be a Villains dark ride and some sort of thrilling roller coaster. We expect this one to be a long lead time, so more details will doubtlessly come online over the better part of the next decade, and we don’t expect this land to actually be open until the mid-2030s.

Still, if we wanted to count our eggs before they hatch, the potential four new rides between the Cars and Villains expansions will net to a +2 for the park, which would theoretically bolster its count enough to take the number two slot from…

2. Tokyo Disneyland

Ride count: 26

Disney’s first international expansion may still be its most successful. That’s in part because the Tokyo Disney Resort is fully owned and operated not by Disney, but by the Japan-based Oriental Land Company Ltd., who pays big licensing fees to Disney to use its names, characters, and brand almost like a franchisee.

It turns out that the arrangement is a win-win for Disney, OLC, and for Disney Parks fans. Though Tokyo Disneyland was designed as a “best of” amalgamation of late-’70s Magic Kingdom and Disneyland fused together, it has since been the recipient of OLC’s big budget spending, which brings Blue Sky versions of stateside rides and innovative new technologies to the park (see, Pooh’s Hunny Hunt and Monsters Inc. Ride & Go Seek).

In exchange, the Japanese culture has warmly embraced the park and the Disney brand, and the country’s culture – one of welcome, “us > me,” and high-trust behavior – makes the Tokyo Disney Resort’s parks among the most pleasant in the world to visit.

In 2017, the park sacrificed a whole section of its largely-untouched 1983 Tomorrowland. After emotional goodbyes to the Star Jets and Grand Circuit Raceway, the area went behind construction walls. It finally emerged in September 2020, split between a New Fantasyland (based on Beauty and the Beast, with a musical, trackless dark ride as its anchor) and a Big Hero 6 family flat ride. Though technically it means the ride count was only restored to its 2017 level, the 2020 additions nonetheless returned Tokyo Disneyland to second place.

What’s next? In 2005, the original Disneyland in Anaheim famously closed its ’70s Space Mountain for a complete re-tracking, literally re-building the roller coaster exactly as it had been, but with fresh steel, on-board audio, and new projection capabilities. Tokyo’s version of the ride (which used the same layout) underwent a thematic refresh of its own the following year. But not to be outdone, OLC has determined that even that wasn’t enough.

In July 2024, Tokyo Disneyland officially closed its Space Mountain forever. Hilariously, Imagineers had already begun work to create an entirely new Space Mountain directly behind it, with two of the iconic, cone-shaped mountains co-existing! (The original Space Mountain will be demolished to create a new, expanded plaza and expansion space.)

Allegedly earmarked for a 2027 opening, the from-scratch new ride (rumored to be called Space Mountain: Earthrise) will reportedly use the ride system behind EPCOT’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, launching guests into a swirling, symphonic E-Ticket through the stars. In the meantime, Tokyo Disneyland’s ride count is reduced by one, still leaving it comfortably in second place.

1. Disneyland Park

Ride count: 37

In the eternal battle between fans of Disneyland and Disney World, those who stand behind California’s resort are often quick to proclaim their superiority by saying that Disneyland is “quality over quantity.” We won’t say who wins in the former, but believe it or not, Disneyland has a LOT more rides than Magic Kingdom does!

That makes sense, though. After all, Disneyland has nearly all of Magic Kingdom’s starring attractions (Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, Peter Pan’s Flight, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, Space Mountain, and Big Thunder Mountain) with several of Hollywood Studios’ (STAR TOURS, Smugglers Run, Star War: Rise of the Resistance, and Runaway Railway).

And that’s just the start. There are also a number of Disneyland rides that Magic Kingdom does not share (Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin, Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, Snow White’s Enchanted Wish, Storybook Land Canal Boats, Casey Jr. Circus Train) and a cavalcade of rides no other “Castle Park” on Earth has (Matterhorn Bobsleds, Submarine Voyage, Sailing Ship Columbia, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Alice in Wonderland, Indiana Jones Adventure…).

With the completion of the West Coast edition of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in 2020 and the opening of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway in 2023, Disneyland’s ride count was boosted by three. It’s astounding to think that those three rides represent one third of the ride capacity in Hollywood Studios, but are less than one-twelfth of the rides at Disneyland! 

For those keeping score, the result is that Disneyland is smaller than Magic Kingdom, but actually has 11 more rides than its younger sister in Florida. It’s not just that Disneyland is older (its 16 year head start over Magic Kingdom is hardly significant in parks that are more than half-a-century old); it’s that Disneyland is hallowed ground… Disneyland is historic, beloved, revered, and protected by the locals and Imagineers who grew up there. It’s one of the few Disney Parks that retains a high bar for entry – even in the IP-obsessed “Disney+ Parks” era.

Disneyland is, frankly, unbeatable. A one-of-a-kind, often-imitated-but-never-duplicated, absolutely perfect park.

What’s next? Unknown at this time. Though Disneyland Park eked out some announcements at the 2024 D23 Expo (including the new “Walt Disney – A Magical Life” animatronic presentation and an updated Mandalorian mission for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run), nothing substantial was announced for the park. To be fair, that’s largely believed to be because Disneyland’s 70th Anniversary celebration will see its own suite of announcements for the park – perhaps including long-gestating plans for Tomorrowland.

Resort Face-Off 

We’d be remiss if we didn’t take a final tally of the ride counts at each resort as they exist today:

• Walt Disney World: 55 rides (average of 13.75 rides per park)
  • Magic Kingdom – 26
  • EPCOT – 12
  • Hollywood Studios – 9
  • Animal Kingdom – 8
• Disneyland Resort: 56 rides (average of 28 rides per park)
  • Disneyland – 37
  • California Adventure – 19
• Disneyland Paris: 32 rides (average of 16 rides per park)
  • Parc Disneyland – 21
  • Walt Disney Studios – 11
• Tokyo Disney Resort: 46 rides (average of 25 rides per park)
  • Tokyo Disneyland – 26
  • Tokyo DisneySea – 24
• Universal Orlando Resort: 42 rides (average of 14 per park)
  • Universal Studios – 13
  • Islands of Adventure – 18
  • Epic Universe – 11

The numbers don’t lie. It’s true that the Disneyland Resort (including its two parks, three hotels, and Downtown Disney) could comfortably fit inside of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, yet the Californian resort’s two parks contain more rides than all four of Disney World’s combined… And sure, like we said, that’s only rides (not counting walkthrough, shows, character experiences, or other “attractions”) but the side-by-side is astounding, and maybe just a little telling.

Other interesting relationships emerge, too. For example, Tokyo Disney Resort’s two parks are nearly perfectly balanced. Meanwhile, the Disneyland Paris and Universal Orlando resorts contain nearly the same number of rides split between each of their paired parks, but we know that Universal’s parks are more evenly balanced versus Paris’ heavy skew. (Which of the two resorts has the greater number of E-Tickets and an overall more weighty ride collection? Find out…).

Perhaps the most surprising figure is the average “rides per park” for each resort – a metric by which Walt Disney World ranks dead last, meaning that its ride count looks significant on paper, but probably needs an asterisk since it’s spread relatively thinly.

And listen… We know that rides alone (and certainly, quantity of rides alone) don’t necessarily make for a great park. We know that all those things we’ve excluded here – shows and entertainment and streetmosphere and walkthrough and restaurants – are essential elements of a theme park visit. But when you think of your favorite thing to do at a theme park, it’s probably a ride. So in terms of measuring the stuff that brings people to parks, the number of rides can show us something about a park’s investment.

In any case, there are still more ways to see these parks differently, and stories that raw ride counts don’t quite tell! Make the jump to other entries in our “By The Numbers” mini-series to compare parks by the number of E-Ticket anchor attractions, remaining “Opening Day” originals, or dark rides!