TEA has released its 2012 Theme Park attendance estimates listing the 25 most attended theme parks in the world. Disney has the top 8 spots and 3 others in the top 20. Not a lot of surprises if you’ve been following developments last year:
1. Magic Kingdom: 17,536,000 (+2.3% change)
2. Disneyland Park: 15,963,000 (-1.1% )
3. Tokyo Disneyland: 14,847,000 (+8.5%)
4. Tokyo Disney Sea: 12,656,000 (+8.5%)
5. Disneyland Park, Disneyland Paris: 11,200,000 (+1.9%)
6. Epcot: 11,063,000 (+2.2%)
7. Disney’s Animal Kingdom: 9,998,000 (+2.2%)
8. Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 9,912,000 (+2.2%)
9. Universal Studios Japan: 9,700,000 (+14.1%)
10. Islands of Adventure: 7,981,000 (+4%)
11. Disney California Adventure: 7,775,000 (+22.6%)
12. Ocean Park (Hong Kong): 7, 436,000 (+6.9%)
13. Everland (South Korea): 6,853,000 (+4.3%)
14. Hong Kong Disneyland: 6,700,000 (+13.6%)
15. Lotte World (South Korea): 6,383,000 (10.4%)
16. Universal Studios Orlando: 6,195,000 (+2.5%)
17. Universal Studios Hollywood: 5,912,000 (+15%)
18. Nagashima Spa Land (Japan): 5,850,000 (+.5%)
19. Sea World Orlando: 5,358,000 (+3.0%)
20. Walt Disney Studios Park, Disneyland Paris: 4,800,000 (1.9%)
21. Europa Park (Germany): 4,600,000 (+2.2%)
22. Sea World California: 4,4000,000 (+3.5%)
23. Busch Gardens Tampa Bay: 4,348,000 (+1.5%)
24. De Efteling (Netherlands): 4,200,000 (+1.8%)
25. Oct East (China): 4,196,000 (+7.9%)
Not on the list are either of the LEGOLAND theme parks in the US. The Merlin Entertainments Group, which owns the LEGOLAND parks, however is the 2nd largest theme park company in the world. So there’s potential there for sure.
Universal Orlando Resort’s Islands of Adventure continued growing, although its pace slowed down to a still above average 4% instead of an amazing 22%. Also doing well for Universal was the Hollywood location with a 15% increase (Transformers providing the boost is a good sign for growth in 2013 in Orlando).
Disney California Adventure has the honor of growing the fastest in 2012 moving it three spots up the list. Disneyland, on the other hand actually saw a slight decrease in guests (the only park in the top 25 to decline), but still maintained its place as number two on the list. The two Tokyo Disney parks recovered nicely from the earthquake that depressed the previous year’s attendance. Why Disneyland Paris grew, the pace continues to be slower than they’d probably like.
The full report can be downloaded here: