Amusement Business has released their estimated theme park attendance figures for 2005 and once again the Walt Disney Company has cleaned house. Disney owns the top five spots with Orlando’s Magic Kingdom claiming top spot with 16.1 million visitors, an increase of 6.5%. Anaheim’s Disneyland placed second with 14.5 million, an increase of 8.5% (bolstered by the 50th anniversary celebrations). The third through fifth parks were Epcot, Disney-MGM Studios, and Animal Kingdom, all posting growth in the 5 percent range.
Disneyland’s neighbor, California Adventure, grew a disappointing 3.6% considering the attendance growth at the gate just 100 yards away. People still aren’t coming to see this park built on the cheap even after the Tower of Terror was added. Monster’s Inc looks promising, but it’s not enough to raise the attendance that much.
For that they’ll have to add two or three more E-ticket thrill rides and completely rebrand the park away from its ties to California. Plans for the latter are underway, plans for the former… who knows.
See the rest of the 2005 top 25 list here. (also see the 2004 list)
[ disney, themepark, universal, busch, theme+park, themeparks, orlando, anaheim, attendance, list, top25 ]
The California Adventure shouldn’t just be re-themed, it should simply be added to Disneyland. After all the swarmy, cheep 1940s carny rides have been moved to Tijuana where they belong.
My family and I were in Anaheim in November 2005, and we loved Disneyland soooo much, however, we loved California Disney as well. it may not be as ritzy and up to date as Disneyland, but we liked the way it was more laid back than Disneyland, however, it could do with a few more exciting rides. My kids are 7,9, 11 and they loved California Screamin. California Soarin was also great and Tower of Terror. We hope to come back in November, 2007 and look forward to visiting California Disney.
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