You’re going to Disney! Growing up, I loved hearing that, and so I was generally curious about what is the most popular Disney park in the world in terms of average visitors. So I decided to do some research and what I found is a comprehension ranking of the most popular Disney parks in order. This list was based on two years of data, and it contains the most current data I could find on the average attendance. Of course, covid has changed some things, but overall this list should be accurate and current as of 2022!

So let’s go through the ranking from the least popular Disney park in the world to the most. I’ll let you know there are 12 Disney parks, and I will be starting with the 12th most popular.

Coming in twelfth place is Walt Disney Studios Park or Parc Walt Disney Studios in Paris, France! You’ll find a theme here, and unfortunately, it’s not great for Paris. Since its debut in the 1990s, Disney has struggled in Paris, and it’s only recently that these parks are doing better. If you’re not familiar with Disney parks, Studios Park in Paris is not the central park but rather like our Hollywood Studios in the United States.

I can understand why this park isn’t popular. From the attraction list and map, it’s not a big park; therefore, it lacks a lot of major attractions. However, it does have the new Ratatouille ride and, of course, the ever-popular The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.

Hong Kong Disneyland comes in eleventh place and is also one of Disney’s smallest parks. I have been to this park, and I was surprised by how empty this park was when I visited! The daily capacity is the lowest of all Disney parks, and I read this park was supposed to be a budget Disney park. That was a mistake, and this park has struggled since its opening. Only recently has Disney started to install better rides and bring this park up to par.

Take a look on google maps at Hong Kong Disneyland, and you can see it is a small park. However, it’s located in a beautiful location in crowded Hong Kong and even has its monorail from downtown Hong Kong to the resort! The new Mystic Manor ride is just amazing, in my opinion.

Like I said earlier, Disneyland Paris has always suffered from a lack of visitors. It’s still only the tenth most visited park out of the Disney parks, and you would think that Europeans and the French would visit this park more often. Some say Europeans would instead go to the iconic Disney World, drawing people away from Disneyland Paris. However, Disney recognizes this and has invested in Disneyland Paris, and before 2020, Disneyland Paris was growing.

Disneyland Paris does have some unique rides. Including Phantom Manor, which is like our Haunted Mansion. It also has one of the more fantasy-inspired castles because Europeans already have a ton of real castles. Disneyland Paris is one of those parks that is underrated!

In ninth place, Disney’s California Adventure is the adjacent park next to the original Disneyland in Anaheim, California. It opened in 2001 to pretty mixed reviews based on how cheap and unfinished the park felt. I remember going to California Adventure as a kid and thinking it was alright, and when you look at 2001, it was a half-day park at most. Disney has addressed all of this, and California Adventure has vastly improved.

For starters, it became the only park in the US to offer alcohol in the park, which now all Disney parks do. It then had to revamp the park’s design, adding better rides and new themes like Pixar Pier, Avengers Campus, and the adorable Cars Land. I’m not sure it’s still a full-day park, but it’s undoubtedly a great park and worth visiting if you’re visiting the original Disneyland.

Surprisingly, Disney’s Hollywood Studios is the lowest-ranked out of the Orlando Disney parks in eighth place. In a way, I guess it’s not surprising since Hollywood Studios is Orlando’s smallest park, and up until recently, it didn’t have great attractions but a few rides. Boy has that changed in the last five years. Disney has focused on this park for expansion, and you can safely say that now it’s becoming Disney’s most exciting park.

Now Disney’s Hollywood Studios has some of the most popular themes and rides. First came Toy Story Land with the new Slinky Dog Dash ride. And then came one of the most hyped land of all time, Star Wars land. These two additions changed the game for this park, and I would say we will see this park move up in the rankings. This is now a strong park with attractions like Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, Smugglers Run, Rise of the Resistance, Slinky Dog Dash, Toy Story Mania, and the new Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway.

Tokyo DisneySea has always been one of Disney’s premier parks. I should say that before covid, Tokyo DisneySea was ranked higher as the fourth most visited park, but during covid, it dropped to seventh. Tokyo DisneySea is technically not owned by Disney but instead leases the name out. In this way, Tokyo DisneySea has gone above and beyond the Disney dream because the company that owns it could afford to do that.

DisneySea is in the premier league of parks. The theming alone is in a league of its own. It has this beautiful volcano in the center and several themes like Venetian, American, and Arabian. It also has some of the best rides, including its Terror of Tower, Indiana Jones, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Toy Story Mania. Tokyo DisneySea, I predict, will only get busier as Japan is obsessed with this park.

EPCOT is the second theme park at Walt Disney World and is currently the sixth most visited Disney park. Over the years, it has been a relatively popular park, but it’s never been known for its rides rather theming and food. It has slowly built up rides and got rid of outdated ones. Nowadays, EPCOT has become popular with festivals that introduce food, wine, and beer from around the world.

And now they have added new attractions like Frozen Ever After, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, and kept rides like Soarin’ and Test Track. Overall now it’s easier to get to with the opening of Disney Skyliner that goes directly to the park. I still EPCOT has some ways to go, but it can handle a large volume of people because it’s such a large park.

Shanghai Disneyland is relatively new and has already become one of the most popular Disney parks. Like Tokyo Disneyland, it’s not wholly owned by Disney itself, and there are some changes to cater to a Chinese audience. For example, they have landed like Gardens of Imagination modeled after Chinese Gardens. And other new lands like Treasure Cove.

Shanghai Disneyland has been the place where Disney can push their new rides and systems. For example, Shanghai Disneyland got the new Tron ride way before other parks started installing them. And they also got a reimagined Pirates of the Caribbean that has been named one of the top attractions in the world. Overall, Shanghai Disneyland is massive, but it still lacks attractions that we are used to backing in the states.

The original Disney park and where it all started! The original Disneyland is still very popular at fourth and a must-visit if you love Disney. Located in what used to be orange groves back in the 1950s, Disneyland today is unrecognizable, and that’s a good thing. Disney keeps updating and adding to the park, making sure it’s new and exciting. Out of all the parks, Disneyland makes you feel the original magic and is very nostalgic.

And like I said, they keep adding to this park! Recently they added the new Star Wars land, and they did a great job of hiding the outside world of Anaheim. It still has the best Fantasyland out of any of the parks and the best Space Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean. I mean, have you ever sat in the Blue Bayou watching the boats go by! The original Disneyland is still very popular and continues to grow.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom comes in as the third most popular Disney park, and actually, I was surprised that it was the third most popular. I love this park, but Disney’s Animal Kingdom got a bad rap as only being a half-day park over the years. Starting in the 1990s, Disney wanted a park where people could interact with animals and let animals interact in a more natural environment. And you can tell they put a ton of effort into making this park beautiful and an experience in itself.

Over the years, Disney has tried to expand this park and make it a full-day experience. With the addition of Pandora, the park saw a spike in tourists. The land itself is worth a visit; actually, all the lands at Animal Kingdom are great for walking around and taking pictures. But now Animal Kingdom has excellent attractions, from the new World of Avatar to what I think is the best rollercoaster Disney has, Expedition Everest.

Tokyo Disneyland comes in as the second most popular park and I guess this should be unsurprising. Japan has a ton of people that love Disney and this park has been popular ever since it opened in the 80s. The park is more or less like the original Disneyland with many of the same attractions and rides that the American version has. This park was the first to really give another country an American Disney experience.

It’s a large park to accommodate the large number of people the park gets every year. Like DisneySea, it’s not completely owned by Disney but it does pretty much follow the same design as the originals back in the US. Tokyo Disneyland has also added Star Wars land to get up with the American versions while providing the original Disney experience.

Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World is the number one most visited Disney park and is not surprising. Magic Kingdom gets tourists from around the world and is probably the most iconic of all the Disney parks. Opened in 1971 in a swamp the park was designed with growth in mind and is able to handle way more tourists than Disneyland. It is modeled after the original Disneyland but with slight changes like no Toontown, New Orleans Square, or Critter Country.

For any tourist traveling to Orlando, Magic Kingdom is the anchor park. It has all the classic attractions from the original park and has really kept all those originals intact including the People Mover which was removed from Disneyland.

Some Disney Gear for your next Disney trip!

Take some time to explore other posts like the time I wrote about the Countries with the Highest Average Elevation “Countries with the Highest Average Elevation” or “The Top Tropical Island Paradises in the World.”

Or below find some related posts!