Orlando Theme Parks Guide

The major Orlando area theme parks are Walt Disney World's four parks, SeaWorld Orlando with Aquatica and Discovery Cove, and Universal Orlando and Universal Epic Universe, and a state-established special district at Lake Buena Vista counts 4 theme parks inside its boundaries.

The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District is a special purpose local government serving 25,000 acres across Orange and Osceola counties, with offices in Lake Buena Vista (Central Florida Tourism Oversight District). Its boundaries include 4 theme parks, 2 water parks, 1 sports complex, 179 lane miles of roadway, 67 miles of waterway, the cities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista and over 40,000 hotel rooms. The Walt Disney World Resort park pages list four theme parks: Magic Kingdom Park, EPCOT, Disney's Hollywood Studios and Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park (Walt Disney World Resort).

The oversight district's responsibilities include fire protection and emergency medical services, potable and reclaimed water, wastewater, drainage and flood control, electric power, solid waste and recycling, and public roads and bridges, and it runs its own permitting and inspections. It was established by the Florida Legislature, is governed by a five-member Board of Supervisors appointed by the Governor, and operates on an October 1 to September 30 fiscal year. Its history page records that the Governor signed House Bill 9-B on February 27, 2023, renaming the Reedy Creek Improvement District, created in 1967 with the municipalities of Bay Lake and Reedy Creek (later Lake Buena Vista), as the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, and that its predecessor opened parking garages at Disney Springs in 2014 and 2016 (CFTOD history).

SeaWorld Orlando's own site gives its address as 7007 Sea World Drive, Orlando, FL 32821, and lists Aquatica and Discovery Cove as its other Orlando parks (SeaWorld Orlando).

On Thursday, October 15, 2026, Magic Kingdom and Disney's Animal Kingdom posted 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, EPCOT and Disney's Hollywood Studios 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM, and SeaWorld Orlando 10:00 am to 6:00 pm.

Each Walt Disney World park page shows a daily calendar with an early entry window, regular hours and any separately ticketed evening event (EPCOT park hours, Disney's Hollywood Studios park hours, Disney's Animal Kingdom park hours). SeaWorld Orlando posts the day's hours on its park hours page (SeaWorld Orlando park hours).

Each operator posts a day by day calendar, and on October 15 Magic Kingdom's regular hours end at 6:00 PM with a special ticketed event from 7:00 PM, so the operator calendar is the one to check before a visit. Ticket prices and parking fees are posted by the operators on their own sites, and this hub does not repeat them. SeaWorld does state that free parking is one of its Annual Pass member benefits (SeaWorld Orlando passes).

LYNX, the Orlando area bus system, lists Links 56 and 300 for Walt Disney World Resort, Links 21, 37, 38, 40 and 303 for Universal Orlando, Link 311 for Universal Epic Universe and Links 8 and 350 for SeaWorld.

The LYNX popular destinations page also lists nine Links for Disney Springs and NeighborLink 841 for SeaWorld, and it warns that many Links require a connection, so riders should check schedules before setting out (LYNX Popular Destinations).

LYNX customer information is at 455 N. Garland Ave., Orlando, FL 32801, phone (407) 841-LYNX (5969). Link 311 is the one route LYNX lists for both Epic Universe and Disney Springs, and Link 303 appears on both the Universal Orlando and Disney Springs lists.

Disney says parts of Monstropolis will open at Disney's Hollywood Studios in 2027, and the Orlando parks are running seasonal events through the holidays, from Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party to SeaWorld's Christmas Celebration.

At Walt Disney World, Magic Kingdom lists Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party on select nights from November 8 to December 22, 2026, and Disney After Hours at Magic Kingdom on select evenings from January 11 to July 19, 2027; Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party runs select nights through October 31 and is sold out (Magic Kingdom Park). EPCOT is hosting the EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival from August 27 to November 21, 2026 (EPCOT), Disney's Hollywood Studios lists Disney Jollywood Nights on select nights from November 7, 2026 to January 5, 2027, and Disney's Animal Kingdom lists Bluey's Wild World at Conservation Station as new (Disney's Animal Kingdom). Disney's Hollywood Studios lists Monstropolis as coming soon, with parts opening in 2027 (Disney's Hollywood Studios).

SeaWorld Orlando lists Howl-O-Scream on select nights from September 11 to October 31, Halloween Spooktacular on select dates from August 29 to November 1, and Christmas Celebration on select dates from November 6 to January 4, and says Expedition Odyssey: Fire and Ice is now open (SeaWorld Orlando events). SeaWorld lists Howl-O-Scream as a separately ticketed event and Christmas Celebration as included with valid park admission.

Visit Orlando reports that Orlando welcomed 76,663,200 visitors in 2025, 70,325,600 domestic and 6,337,600 international.

Visit Orlando's 2025 year end hotel figures show 132,685 hotel rooms in the Orlando market, average occupancy of 71.4 percent and an average daily rate of $202.71, and it reports that Orlando International Airport handled 57,669,226 passengers in 2025 (Visit Orlando Data and Trends). These are Visit Orlando's own published figures, not government statistics.

The same Visit Orlando data puts the average domestic leisure trip to Orlando at 2.9 nights and $1,047 in spending per person, with 29 percent of those parties including children under 18 and an average party size of 2.4. Overseas visitors, excluding Canada, stayed 8.5 nights on average. The oversight district separately counts over 40,000 hotel rooms inside its boundaries (Central Florida Tourism Oversight District).

No separate guides sit under the Orlando theme parks section yet, so the deeper reading is in the Orlando industries, history and landmarks sections, listed below by question.

The Orlando tourism and hospitality guide and the Orlando convention and events economy guide, both in the industries section, cover the hotel and meeting business behind the visitor numbers above. The Orlando history guide on the Walt Disney decision of 1965 covers how the resort district began, and the ICON Park visitor guide in the Orlando landmarks section covers an attraction on the tourist corridor outside the theme park gates.

Facts on this Orlando hub come from the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, LYNX, Visit Orlando's published data and the park operators' own pages for their own hours and events (LYNX).