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 Bucket List locale 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, 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 some of the best. Many of the park’s rides are originals, like Sinbad’s Storybook Voyage and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The park’s shining headliner earned its own in-depth entry here, Modern Marvels: Journey to the Center of the Earth. The ride is often called Disney’s best ride ever and the height of what Imagineering can do, featuring an unforgettable animatronic encounter that tops our must-read countdown of the best animatronics on Earth.

But here’s the best part… When DisneySea does borrow from American rides, it improves them. Indeed, Imagineers assigned to Tokyo must be in bliss, as there they overwhelmingly get to build the “Blue Sky” versions of their concepts with seemingly no budgetary restraints. In Tokyo, you’ll find the fully-funded, no-corners-cut, big-budget, definitive versions of Indiana Jones Adventure, Toy Story Midway Mania, Soarin’ (above), and Tower of Terror (which dropped the Twilight Zone theme all together in favor of being the first ride to involve the mysterious, cross-continental continuity of the secret Society of Explorers and Adventurers).

After the opening of their S.E.A.-influenced Soarin’, the park’s next expansion was its most ambitious ever: Fantasy Springs, a (vaguely-aquatic) storybook land themed to Disney animated films (an odd fit for the otherwise grounded park) that features sub-sections based on Peter Pan, Tangled, and Frozen.

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, they give 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.

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. Also worth noting: 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.

What’s next? 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” won’t last forever. The ride is being transformed into Tiana’s Bayou Bash – a new musical journey through the world of Disney’s 2009 animated film The Princess and the Frog. The new ride is set to debut in “late 2024,” which will raise Magic Kingdom’s ride count to its highest ever level: 26.

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, “community,” and fairness – makes the Tokyo Disney Resort 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? Nothing known at this time.

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, Splash, Space, 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, Disneyland’s ride count was boosted by two. It’s astounding to think that – though both Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios house identical Star Wars lands – the area’s two rides are 2 of 9 at Hollywood Studios, and 2 of 36 at Disneyland! The end result is that Disneyland is much smaller than Magic Kingdom, but actually has 11 more rides.

For fans, executives, and Imagineers, Disneyland is special – a historic, hallowed place that’s a little more revered (and a little more preserved) than any other Disney Park.

What’s next? Unknown at this time.

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.

Disneyland Paris and Universal Orlando 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!