2012 Theme Park Attendance Report

TEA has posted their annual attendance report. Here's the link to the full report: http://www.aecom.com/deployedfiles/Internet/Capabilities/Economics/_documents/2012%20Theme%20Index%20Combined_1-1_online.pdf

Some interesting things to note:

- Islands of Adventure, while still up 4%, the growth of Potter seemed to have plateaued. Will the new expansion at the Studios park help them increase attendance once again?

- Knott's & Disneyland were the only two parks in the North America top 20 that saw a decrease in park attendance. What's happening in So Cal???

- Six Flags Magic Mountain, one of the only year-round "amusement parks" in N. America was still beaten out by 5 "seasonal" parks.

- The difference between the #1 theme park company Walt Disney Attractions and the #2 company, Merlin, is a staggering 72 million people. And the #3 company, Universal, is 91 million people behind!

- Tokyo Disney parks seem to have bounced back after the 2011 Japan earthquake.

- Even with Carsland and a 22% growth, DCA still didn't make the world's top ten parks.

- Disney dominates the top 5 parks in the USA & the world.

- Magic Kingdom, Disney's best performing US park, saw more than double the attendance of Universal's best performing US park, Islands of Adventure.

- Universal's best performing Orlando park is still 2 million behind Disney's worst performing Orlando park.

- Quite simply, Walt Disney Attractions completely dominates Orlando.

Top 25 Worldwide Theme Park Attendance - 2012:

Park Name - Location - % Change - 2012 - 2011

1 MAGIC KINGDOM at Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, Florida 2.3% 17,536,000 17,142,000

2 DISNEYLAND Anaheim, California -1.1% 15,963,000 16,140,000

3 TOKYO DISNEYLAND Tokyo, Japan 8.5% 14,847,000 13,683,000

4 TOKYO DISNEY SEA Tokyo, Japan 8.5% 12,656,000 11,664,000

5 DISNEYLAND PARK AT DISNEYLAND PARIS Marne-La-Vallée, France 1.9% 11,200,000 10,990,000

6 EPCOT at Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, Florida 2.2% 11,063,000 10,825,000

7 DISNEY'S ANIMAL KINGDOM at Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, Florida 2.2% 9,998,000 9,783,000

8 DISNEY'S HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS at Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, Florida 2.2% 9,912,000 9,699,000

9 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS JAPAN Osaka, Japan 14.1% 9,700,000 8,500,000

10 ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE at Universal Orlando, Florida 4.0% 7,981,000 7,674,000

11 DISNEY'S CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE Anaheim, California 22.6% 7,775,000 6,341,000

12 OCEAN PARK Hong Kong SAR 6.9% 7,436,000 6,955,000

13 EVERLAND Gyeonggi-Do, South Korea 4.3% 6,853,000 6,570,000

14 HONG KONG DISNEYLAND Hong Kong SAR 13.6% 6,700,000 5,900,000

15 LOTTE WORLD Seoul, South Korea 10.4% 6,383,000 5,780,000

16 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS at Universal Orlando, Florida 2.5% 6,195,000 6,044,000

17 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD Universal City, California 15.0% 5,912,000 5,141,000

18 NAGASHIMA SPA LAND Kuwana, Japan 0.5% 5,850,000 5,820,000

19 SEAWORLD FLORIDA Orlando, Florida 3.0% 5,358,000 5,202,000

20 WALT DISNEY STUDIOS PARK AT DISNEYLAND PARIS Marne-La-Vallee, France 1.9% 4,800,000 4,710,000

21 EUROPA PARK Rust, Germany 2.2% 4,600,000 4,500,000

22 SEAWORLD CALIFORNIA San Diego, California 3.5% 4,444,000 4,294,000

23 BUSCH GARDENS TAMPA BAY Tampa, Florida 1.5% 4,348,000 4,284,000

24 DE EFTELING Kaatsheuvel, Netherlands 1.8% 4,200,000 4,125,000

25 OCT EAST Shenzhen, China 7.9% 4,196,000 3,890,000

Top 20 N. America Theme Parks

Park Name - Location - % Change - 2012 - 2011

1 MAGIC KINGDOM at Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, FL, U.S.A. 2.3% 17,536,000 17,142,000

2 DISNEYLAND Anaheim, CA, U.S.A. -1.1% 15,963,000 16,140,000

3 EPCOT at Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, FL, U.S.A. 2.2% 11,063,000 10,825,000

4 DISNEY'S ANIMAL KINGDOM at Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, FL, U.S.A. 2.2% 9,998,000 9,783,000

5 DISNEY'S HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS at Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, FL, U.S.A. 2.2% 9,912,000 9,699,000

6 UNIVERSAL’S ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE at Universal Orlando, FL, U.S.A. 4.0% 7,981,000 7,674,000

7 DISNEY'S CALIFORNIAN ADVENTURE Anaheim, CA, U.S.A. 22.6% 7,775,000 6,341,000

8 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS FLORIDA at Universal Orlando, FL, U.S.A. 2.5% 6,195,000 6,044,000

9 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD Universal City, CA, U.S.A. 15.0% 5,912,000 5,141,000

10 SEAWORLD FLORIDA Orlando, FL, U.S.A. 3.0% 5,358,000 5,202,000

11 SEAWORLD CALIFORNIA San Diego, CA, U.S.A. 3.5% 4,444,000 4,294,000

12 BUSCH GARDENS TAMPA BAY Tampa, FL, U.S.A. 1.5% 4,348,000 4,284,000

13 CANADA'S WONDERLAND Maple, ON, Canada 5.0% 3,655,000 3,481,000

14 KNOTT'S BERRY FARM Buena Park, CA, U.S.A. -4.0% 3,508,000 3,654,000

15 CEDAR POINT Sandusky, OH, U.S.A. 2.5% 3,221,000 3,143,000

16 KINGS ISLAND Kings Island, OH, U.S.A. 2.0% 3,206,000 3,143,000

17 HERSHEY PARK Hershey, PA, U.S.A. 6.5% 3,140,000 2,949,000

18 BUSCH GARDENS EUROPE Williamsburg, VA, U.S.A. 4.0% 2,854,000 2,744,000

19 SIX FLAGS MAGIC MOUNTAIN Valencia, CA, U.S.A. 4.0% 2,808,000 2,700,000

20 SEAWORLD SAN ANTONIO, TX San Antonio, TX, U.S.A. 3.0% 2,678,000 2,600,000

Top 10 theme park groups:

Group Name - % Change - 2012 - 2011

1 WALT DISNEY ATTRACTIONS 4.7% 126,479,000 121,821,000

2 MERLIN ENTERTAINMENTS GROUP 16.4% 54,000,000 46,400,000

3 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS RECRE ATION GROUP 7.9% 34,515,000 31,990,000

4 PARQUES REUNIDOS 3.5% 27,130,000 26,220,000

5 SIX FLAGS INC. 6.0% 25,750,000 24,300,000

6 SEAWORLD PARKS & ENTERTAINMENT 3.0% 24,310,000 23,600,000

7 CEDAR FAIR ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY 0.9% 23,600,000 23,400,000

8 OCT PARKS CHINA 7.5% 23,359,000 21,731,000

9 HAICHANG GROUP 24.5% 9,400,000 7,550,000

10 COMPAGNIE DES ALPES 1.0% 9,300,000 9,210,000

2012 Theme Index Combined_1-1_online.pdf

I'm very surprised by Thorpe Park.

They have been going up for a lot of years, and they are down 10% (1,8 million) even with a brad new wing rider (who they predicted would increase attendanceto 2,3 million) . Sure you can blame the Olympics to some degree, but not that much.

Transformers brought a 15% growth for Universal Studios Hollywood! Can you imagine whats going to happen when Harry Potter opens!?

Looking at the numbers a few things stand out for CA:

Yes, DCA's 22% is impressive, but I actually think USH's 15% is more impressive due to the fact that it's just for 1 ride, not a fully re-designed park and an entire new land. Imagine what's going to happen when Potterland opens? And really, DCA's is really 21% if you subtract the 1% Disneyland lost. Also, both were only open 6 months. Next years will reveal staying power.

Waterparks seem to be having the most innovation recently and it's sad that the CA waterparks just don't seem to be catching on. None are in the top 20 Worldwide and the only one in the top 20 in North America is Raging Waters. The market is ripe for something new!!!

Odd that Knott's dropped 4%. I fully expect that number to increase this year though. I'm sure that 4% can be directly attributed to the fact that all SoCal parks had major additions last year except for Knott's.

The 4% increase at SFMM probably means the Xtreme park is here to stay.

I'm really happy to see the inclusion of Museums this year.

- Knott's & Disneyland were the only two parks in the North America top 20 that saw a decrease in park attendance. What's happening in So Cal???

Not sure about Knott's, but I wonder if Disneyland's drop in attendance was caused by the price hike for annual passes.

- Knott's & Disneyland were the only two parks in the North America top 20 that saw a decrease in park attendance. What's happening in So Cal???

 

Not sure about Knott's, but I wonder if Disneyland's drop in attendance was caused by the price hike for annual passes.

The drop in Disneylands attendance probably has more to do with DCA and Disneyland opening at the same time every morning, and DCA getting the first "attendance click" from guests visiting the resort. Prior to CarsLand, DCA use to open at 10am every day and Disneyland had openings of 8am-10am daily.

The drop in Disneylands attendance probably has more to do with DCA and Disneyland opening at the same time every morning, and DCA getting the first "attendance click" from guests visiting the resort.

That actually has nothing to do with it at all. Each park is counted on it's own. If you visit both parks in one day, each park gets a "point", so to speak.

^ I've heard that only the "First click" counts if you have a parkhopper/AP.

^ I've heard that only the "First click" counts if you have a parkhopper/AP.

And that's totally opposite from what I've heard.

Have to wonder if Disneyland's drop was due to DCA's massive success. Groups that would have traditionally done two days at Disneyland and one day at DCA now reversing and doing two days at DCA and one at Disneyland. With nothing new at Disneyland and the massive new additions to DCA, I'm sure they're not complaining about the 1% drop. Always surprise me at how well Hershey does. I mean, if you put Kings Dominion, Busch Gardens, and Hershey in a line-up, I would think the natural train of thought would be that BGE would be the highest attended followed by KD followed by Hershey, but that couldn't be further from how it really is. I wonder how much the winter events at BGE and Hershey add to those numbers...

I'm very surprised by Thorpe Park.

 

They have been going up for a lot of years, and they are down 10% (1,8 million) even with a brad new wing rider (who they predicted would increase attendanceto 2,3 million) . Sure you can blame the Olympics to some degree, but not that much.

Last year was the worst summer i can remember for good weather i mean we had 2 weeks of sun then it rained all the rest of the time.

OCT East Shenzhen - Isn't Knight Valley the only theme park there? Are they counting the whole resort as a whole in the attendance because that seems kind of deceiving?

It's interesting that DCA's attendance skyrocketed while Disneyland's dropped slightly. I don't know how Disney counts attendance at the Disneyland Resort (I've heard first admission, once per park, and every admission reported at different sites), but I have to think it is due to a combination of non-locals deciding to give DCA another chance combined with locals who can only visit one park choosing to go to DCA. I know there have been days where DCA had a higher daily attendance than Disneyland, and I know some people who delayed their trip until everything was open at DCA so that they could experience the "new" park. It doesn't help Disneyland's case that they haven't installed a brand new ride in quite some time (I believe the last completely new one was Buzz Lightyear in 2005).

I'm really surprised that Universal Studios managed to grow as much as it did from the addition of a single new ride. I do think that is the type of park that you visit once and don't need to visit again until there's a major change, so perhaps everyone who was planning to return was waiting for this. It will be really interesting to see what happens when Despicable Me opens, and even more interesting to see how Harry Potter affects attendance (I've kind of got a feeling by the time it opens, it will be too outdated and most fans will have visited the area in Orlando, resulting in a very mild attendance boost).

Finally, I find this somewhat amusing: SFMM has built three major new attractions in the past four years, including a first in the US and a world record holder, and their attendance has grown. Knott's has only built one new attraction in the past four years, one that was closed almost half of last year, and chose to sit out 2012, causing their attendance to take a hit. However, SFMM is still 700,000 visitors behind Knott's. I wonder if this is primarily due to SFMM focusing exclusively on thrill rides or the current state of the park, as I would have expected the park to be roughly even with Knott's by now.

I'm rather surprised the West Edmonton Mall World Waterpark didn't make it into the top 25 North American water parks.

^^ Again with the Potter "not being popular in 4-5 years" talk?

Even people who aren't big fans of Potter realize that it's popularity isn't going anywhere.

The 700,000 difference between KBF and SFMM is simple: daily operation for KBF (well, almost daily...they closed a few times for rain) and Haunt.

I can also tell you that of all my non theme park nerd friends who are into Harry Potter, I only know of 3 who can say they have been to Orlando. The rest are eagerly awaiting its arrival here.

^^ Again with the Potter "not being popular in 4-5 years" talk?

I don't think it's "not being popular", but more not being "as popular" or at least not being big of a a deciding factor as it was two years ago, might be more the reality.

While IOA still did VERY well this year with a 4% increase, they did 29% in 2011 and 30% in 2010. And seeing that they had a -11% drop in 2009, that's pretty significant to put it mildly.

But the one thing that you can take away from those numbers is that Potter is still holding strong, but the increase has dropped WAY off.

Obviously it had to plateau at some point, but I wonder if these are the numbers that Universal are happy with? Yes, the growth has been very impressive, but Universal's top Orlando park is still 2 million people away from touching Disney's worst performing Orlando park.

When I see the Orlando numbers, it makes me understand even more when people from Disney say "We don't really look at Universal as competition." Universal does really well, but I'm not sure they are really taking any dollars away from the mouse.

The numbers certainly don't show it.

I think everyone knows Disney is the draw to Orlando, so the other parks strategy is to try and get those guests to take a few days away from Disney to spend at Universal (and to a lesser extent--Sea World). They're crazy if they think they can ever match Disney, but so long as they can keep gaining more of those visitors already in the area for Disney...it's a successful business model. I doubt Universal is complaining about their results.

My personal opinion is that for Potter in Orlando, it's a one time pilgrimage since an Orlando vacation is probably something that takes the average family awhile to save and plan for (and realistically includes more time at Disney than it does UO). So things have started to wear off in that regard...hence Potter 2.0 coming soon.

I expect the Hollywood version of Potter to be successful because of the large local and regional population base.

I wish they did a list of Top 40 Parks cause Top 20 just seems so little for seasonal parks.

I think that the two French parks, Futuroscope and Puy Du Fou, which placed in the top 20 Euro parks was the biggest surprise for me since I can't recall ever hearing about them before until now.

^ I've heard that only the "First click" counts if you have a parkhopper/AP.

And that's totally opposite from what I've heard.

Yeah, I've got to believe Robb on this one. If the "First Click" thing were true, and you could assume most of the DCA visitors end up at Disneyland at one point, that would mean Disneyland is in reality coming close to 22 million visitors? I doubt it.

I expect the Hollywood version of Potter to be successful because of the large local and regional population base.

I can see this helping a lot. People come from all over to Disney World and of that, people also visit USO. USH get most it's business from locals who will show up in droves for HP because it's close and it doesn't sacrifice time in their vacation away from the real reason they are traveling. People can easily just go on a free day.

So Disney did around 54 million in attendance in Orlando alone, and 126 million at their parks worldwide? What recession?

I expect the Hollywood version of Potter to be successful because of the large local and regional population base.

Totally agreed. Despite all of the additions to the Orlando property over the last few years I still think USH is Universals flagship park in the US, mainly due to the "studios" component.

I feel like Thorpe Park could bring in some more tourists and improve on the -10% if it just offered some sort of decent public transportation to the park. Whether you are tourist or local that would be helpful. A direct link to Thorpe from central London could improve their attendance significantly.

^ I don't know Thorpe park that well, but transportation to the park by other means than car is important in all the other parks I've been to.