Even those who haven’t been to a Disney theme park will likely recognise their iconic attractions, castles and mainstreets – the parks really are incredible, and even magical, places. But this didn’t happen by accident. A lot of time, money and attention to detail went in to building all of these attractions, and a huge amount of effort has been spent on hiding a lot of it from the guest’s view!

In this post I share 10 surprising and enormous secret Disney buildings that you wouldn’t even know were there when standing inside the theme parks!

1. Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind is more than double the size that it looks

📍Guardians of the Galaxy, Epcot, Orlando

The incredible new Guardians of the Galaxy ride is housed within the old Universe of Energy building – a huge building… However, the ride is so large that it actually also takes up another even larger building, out of view, and out of the park!

When you ride Guardians of the Galaxy in the future, when you launch, you’re actually launching across the road and in to another building outside of the Epcot park boundary!

The impressive ride goes over the road inside an enclosed bridge in to the tall building pictured above!

2. The hidden secret behind that pirates of the Caribbean drop

📍Pirates of the Caribbean, Magic Kingdom, Orlando

You know that drop, part way through Pirates of the Caribbean?
Well apart from being a cool part of the ride, it’s there for another more practical reason.

It’s actually there to take you underneath the railway line that runs around the perimeter of the park, and in to the enormous show building which is hidden from view!

The building on the left is what you see from inside the park, and houses a small part of the ride, the station, the queue and shop. Most of the ride takes place in the large grey building on the right!

3. Pirates of the Caribbean has a HUGE hidden show building

📍Prirates of the Caribbean, Disneyland, California

Similar to Orlando, the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland in Anaheim is also much larger than it appears.

The ride building that you enter at the bottom of this picture is only part of the enormous structure, which spans across the railway line and extends out in to a car park area outside of the park boundary!

This enormous warehouse is completely hidden from view to anyone inside the park, cleverly hidden by theming and trees!

4. Radiator Springs Racers seen from above

📍Radiator Springs Racers, Disneyland, California

Radiator Springs Racers is a stunning looking ride. It appears from the Park that the ‘indoor section’ takes place within the mountains, but in reality when seen from above, much of the ride takes place in a large solar panel covered warehouse hidden behind the rocky facade.

Radiator Springs Racers looks very different when viewed from behind too, with a wall hiding the back of the facade from the outside.

5. Splash Mountain’s hidden show building

📍Splash Mountain, Magic Kingdom, Orlando

Splash Mountain is another ride that appears to take place inside the mountain, but in reality it actually happens in – yes you’ve guessed it – another hidden warehouse!

Splash Mountain is cleverly hidden away in this show building behind the ride facades, hidden from view by trees and theming.

6. The Land at Epcot is unrecognisable from above

📍The Land, Epcot, Orlando

The Land at Epcot is a large indoor area housing the Soarin’ attraction and Living with the Land, along with multiple shops and restaurants.

From the Park point of view, the facade is a large (and dare I say slightly dated) building with a glass roof, and to my mind at least, the Land was all housed in the same big building…

However, when viewed from Above, the Land is actually several oddly shaped buildings, sprawling out past the park boundary.

The blue buildings on the left of this image house Soarin’, and the buildings and dome to the right house the various sections of Living with the Land.

7. The Haunted Mansion is much bigger than you think

📍Haunted Mansion, Magic Kingdom, Orlando

When queueing for the Haunted Mansion, you’re given the illusion that you’re about to enter the creepy house and go on the ride inside.

In reality, the mansion itself is just a facade, jutting out from the main ride building, cleverly hidden by trees and carefully positioned pathways to give the best sight lines to avoid spotting the warehouse!

As you can see, the actual mansion itself is tiny compared to the huge building the ride occupies!

8. Phantom Manor is a monster

📍Phantom Manor, Disneyland Paris

Similar to the Haunted Mansion in Orlando, Paris’ Phantom Manor has its own HUGE secret building, hidden behind a line of trees.

As you can see from above, the Manor House itself looks tiny compared to the enormous ride building hiding just out of sight!

9. Pandora the World of Avatar is mostly hidden in warehouses

📍 Pandora, Animan Kindgom, Orlando

Animal Kingdom’s stunning Pandora area is quite a large space to explore, and is an incredible achievement in terms of theming and just how immersive it is.

However, when viewed from above it’s clear to see just how impressive the theming and facade work actually is, because somehow Disney have managed to hide this enormous building, out of sight completely.

Home to the Na’vi River Journey and Flight of Passage attractions, this building is extremely large. Very impressive really, you wouldn’t even know it was there from within the park!

10. It’s a Small World is anything but small

📍 It’s a Small World, Magic Kingdom, Orlando

It’s a Small World, the iconic cute and colourful boat ride taking you around the world.

When walking up to the ride in the park, the facade isn’t that big. From above however, the scale of this ride really become apparent. The show building is huge and extends a long way back from the back of the park, and is cleverly disguised by trees and other buildings to draw your eye away form it.

So there we have it – 10 Disney park secrets revealed from above!

It certainly gives a new perspective to the parks, and reminds me how some theme park attractions are more than just rides, they’re incredible feats of engineering with a lot of optical illusion and hidden secrets.

Thank you for reading! 🙂 Watch out for another 10 secrets soon.