Tidbits Sizes Up Some of the BIGGIES

How big is the biggest?

Sometimes size does matter, at least in the context of who holds the distinction of being the largest of all. This week Tidbits scouts around the globe to find who has bragging rights as the very biggest in a variety of categories – from megamalls to world airports to major cities and more. So follow along and let’s see how things measure up.

AIRPORTS

• Seven of the world’s 15 largest air terminals are in the United States, but none of them rank No. 1 globally. Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd International Airport has that honor, with a massive six-story terminal that sprawls over 3.52 million square feet.

• Although Denver International Airport is outranked in terminal size, it claims the longest public use runway in the nation at 16,000 feet -- more than three miles in length!

• Dallas/Fort Worth, the world’s third largest airport in surface area, has five passenger terminals. It's followed by the Orlando, Florida international airport at No. 4, and Washington Dulles at No. 5.

• All of these airports might be the largest in certain categories, but none of those can qualify as the busiest. That dubious honor goes to Atlanta International Airport, where more than 50 million travelers pass through their gates every year, a figure that’s 20 million more than Denver.

PARKS

• Arizona is home to America’s two largest city parks. Scottsdale contains the largest, spanning over 30,500 acres, or more than 47 miles square. Next is the South Mountain Preserve in Phoenix, covering 16,283 acres.

• New York City’s Central Park might seem big, but it covers just 843 acres, about 2.5 miles in length and a half mile wide between 59th Street and 110th Street. South America’s Amazon River contains islands that are larger than Central Park.

• Compare Central Park with Vatican City, the tiny monarchy ruled by the Pope. The area of this unique city covers only 0.17 sq. miles, just one-eighth the size of Central Park. The U.S. is about 22,348,900 times larger than the Vatican. As the world’s smallest independent state, Vatican City mints its own currency, prints its own stamps, issues passports and license plates, and has its own flag and anthem

MEGAMALLS

• Many people are familiar with Canada’s West Edmonton Mall, and might mistakenly think of it as the world’s largest shopping complex. The enormous megamall contains more than 800 stores, two major hotels, a 28-lane bowling alley, 100 restaurants, and over 5.3 million square feet of space. It is visited daily by more than 25,000 shoppers with ample parking space for 20,000 vehicles. Although it is still the largest megamall in North America, the West Edmonton Mall only ranks No. 23 in size worldwide today.

• The world’s largest shopping mall is located in Tehran, Iran, with an astounding 21 million square feet. China is home to three out of the top five, and the Philippines has three out of the top ten.

• Minneapolis’ Mall of America was built on the site of Metropolitan Stadium, home of the Minnesota Vikings and the Minnesota Twins until 1982. The Twins’ former home plate is now the under the merry-go-round in mall’s indoor amusement park. With 520 stores and 5.6 million square feet of space on four levels, seven Yankee stadiums would fit inside this enormous structure. Yet big as it is, it’s far down the line in global ranks, sitting at No. 43 in size. In fact, it’s not even the largest in the United States.

• That honor that belongs to East Rutherford, New Jersey’s American Dream Mall, a huge retail, entertainment and office center in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The King of Prussia Mall in suburban Philadelphia is also larger than the Mall of America.

U.S. STADIUMS

• Not only is East Rutherford home to the nation’s largest shopping mall, the nearby MetLife stadium leads the list of largest NFL stadiums. It’s the only NFL stadium shared by two teams – the New York Jets and the New York Giants – with a seating capacity of 82,500. Located eight miles west of New York City, construction costs were $1.6 billion, making it the most expensive stadium ever constructed, at the time of its opening in 2010.

• FedEx Field, home of NFL's Washington football team, has a seating capacity of 82,000; making it the second largest stadium. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum held the largest capacity for many years, but a 2018 renovation reduced the number of seats to 77,500, bringing it down to fifth place below the home of the Dallas Cowboys, AT&T Stadium.

U.S. CITIES

• You can probably guess that New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago are America’s top three most populous cities, but the list of the largest cities by land area is much different. You might be surprised that Sitka, Alaska tops that list, and that's due to the large number of miles it covers. With a population of only about 10,000, its boundaries span a vast 4,811 square miles of area, which does include large areas of water making it sound much larger. Three other Alaskan cities, Juneau, Wrangell, and Anchorage, round out the top four.

• Two small Montana communities are in 6th and 7th place, Anaconda and Butte, respectively. Anaconda (population 9,300) has a land area of 741 sq. miles, and Butte (population 33,600) is close behind at 716 sq. miles. By comparison, Los Angeles with a population of nearly four million, covers just 735 sq. miles.

THEME PARKS

• Orlando’s Disney World Resort’s four theme parks cover 43 sq. miles, about twice the acres, less than one square mile. Orlando’s Magic Kingdom has the highest attendance for the nation’s amusement parks, with Disneyland in second place. Galaxyland, located in the West Edmonton Mall, once held the record for the world’s largest indoor amusement park, but since December, 2019, this claim to fame belongs to the IMG Worlds of Adventure in Dubai.

NATIONAL PARKS

• How about the nation’s largest national parks? Twelve U.S. National Parks are larger than one million acres in area. Seven of these are in Alaska, including the nation’s largest, the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, which is 8,323,146 acres. The second place honor belongs to The Gates of The Arctic, one of the most remote national parks. At 7,523,897 acres, it has no roads!

• The third largest, Alaska's Denali Park, with 4,740,911 acres and home to the tallest peak in North America, Mt. Denali, formerly known as Mt. McKinley.

• At least 14 active volcanoes can be found in Alaska's Katmai National Park, an area encompassing 3,674,529 acres.

• Straddling between eastern California and west Nevada, Death Valley is the largest park in the U.S. mainland, and fifth in size in the nation with 3,373.063 acres. Yellowstone National Park comes in eighth with 2,219,791 acres.

xxx

• We dive deep, and pull up interesting facts about Hollywood's big hit move "Titanic" in this week's issue, as well. Click the link below for full access... all for FREE!