Today we welcome guest author AJ Wolfe from the Disney Food Blog to discuss the new additions and events we can expect at the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival this year. The 2011 Epcot International Food and Wine Festival will entice visitors to return… Read More »What to Expect at This Year’s EPCOT Food & Wine Festival
I am very seldom disappointed by Disney walk-around characters at the meet and greets. They do such a good job maintaining character, handling the little challenges that come with interacting with all sorts of guests, and enduring extremes of heat and humidity often while wearing… Read More »Rapunzel and Flynn Meet the iPad, Viral Video
As Disney expects you to make your travel arrangements, including dining reservations a full 6 months before the date, they’re actually a little late releasing this year’s line up celebrity narrators at the 2011 EPCOT Candlelight Processional. Even now, they still have a number of… Read More »Candlelight Celebrity Narrator Lineup Revealed for EPCOT
Walt Disney World will illuminate the night on July 4 with special pyrotechnic shows, including a patriotic display at Magic Kingdom, a rock’n’roll spectacular at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and a laser light show at Epcot plus an Independence Day finale tag for IllumiNations. Here’s the… Read More »Disney World set for Fireworks Displays in Three of its Four Parks
Some interesting news (via @Figgy999 on Twitter) coming from Walt Disney World’s theme park management today. Rilous Carter, the current VP at Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be moving to the same position in EPCOT and Dan Cockerell, the current VP at EPCOT will be moving… Read More »Cockerell and Carter to switch VP roles at EPCOT and DHS
The Themed Entertainment Association(TEA) and Economics at AECOM have released their joint publication, the TEA/AECOM 2010 Theme Index today. The chief statistics are the estimated attendance numbers for the major theme parks world wide. 2010 was generally a good year with many of the destination theme parks experiencing strong growth. Disney theme park attendance was a mixed bag in 2010, however.
There were some notable exceptions to the growth. Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and EPCOT all declined slightly. Only Disney’s Animal Kingdom showed any growth continuing it’s trend from last year when it passed DHS for the first time for third place among Disney’s four Orlando parks.
The two Tokyo Disney parks had great years in 2010, but that will no doubt be offset by the quake caused problems in 2011. We wish them luck!
The Disneyland Paris parks continue to struggle. Struggles with the union, reports of poor maintenance in the parks, and depressed economies in Europe are no doubt to blame. Meanwhile Hong Kong Disneyland showed that if you invest, they will come. Hopefully that’s a good trend for the future.
Speaking of investment in attractions, the Original Disneyland, with no new attractions, saw only minor growth, but California Adventure saw a decent improvement. That’s odd considering the park was undergoing a lot of construction at the time and lost its parades. However, the night time is the right time as ElecTRONica and World of Color draws them in after dark. So that growth probably included a lot of park hoppers.
The two SeaWorld parks both lost big. A lot of SeaWorld Florida’s decrease can be attributed to guests heading to Universal Orlando to catch the boy wonder. However, there was also the bad press received when a killer whale trainer was killed in an accident and the parks were still transitioning away from being a ‘Free as in Beer’ property to a Conservation based property. They seemed to be sleep walking through much of 2009 and 2010. Thankfully, the parks appear to have come out of that slumber recently. And Busch Gardens Tampa did show some strength.
The real winner, of course, was Universal Studios. Islands of Adventure showed 30%+ growth for the year and Harry Potter was only open for about 2/3rds of it. The boy wizard also lifted Universal Studios Florida. In Hollywood King Kong 360 3-D opened, but I’m not sure that explains the huge growth. I have to wonder if they got a little boost from the boy wizard too. That must have made for some disappointed tourists.
Attendance in M, Growth or Loss in Percentage, Name, Location
16.97 M -1.5% Magic Kingdom, Orlando, FL
15.98 M +0.5% Disneyland, Anaheim, CA
14.45 M +5.9% Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo, Japan
12.66 M +5.5% Tokyo DisneySea, Tokyo, Japan
10.83 M -1.5% EPCOT, Orlando, FL
10.50 M -2.6% Disneyland Paris, Marne-la-Vallee, Fran ce
9.87 M +1.0% Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Kissimmee, FL
9.60 M -1.0% Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Orlando, FL
8.16 M +2.0% Universal Studios Japan, Osaka, Japan
6.88 M +11.6% Everland, South Korea
6.29 M +3.0% Disney California Adventure, Anaheim, CA
5.95 M +30.2% Islands of Adventure, Orlando FL
5.93 M +6.1% Universal Studios, Orlando FL
5.55 M +22.4% Lotte World, Seoul, South Korea
5.20 M +13.0% Hong Kong Disneyland, Hong Kong
5.10 M -12.1% SeaWorld Florida, Orlando, FL
5.10 M +6.3% Ocean Park, Hong Kong
5.04 M +26.0% Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal City, CA
4.50 M -2.6% Walt Disney Studios, Marne-la-Vallee, France
4.47 M -5.0% Nagashima Spa Land, Kuwana Japan
4.25 M 0.0 Europa Park, Rust Germany
4.20 M +2.4% Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Tampa FL
4.02 M -6.0% Yokohama Sea Paradise, Japan
4.00 M 0.0% De Efteling, The Netherlands
3.80 M -9.5% SeaWorld California, San Diego, CA
The full press release is below the jump:
It’s taken a few years for word of the retro and outdated status of the cinematic climax of the Norway Pavilion at EPCOT Center to percolate back to the rocky and troll infested shores of Norway itself. But finally, reality is sinking in and people… Read More »EPCOT’s Shabby Norway Film making waves in Norway
EPCOT Center’s World Showcase famously duplicates some of the best known landmarks from around the world, so it makes sense that their big summer concert series would feature duplicates as well. Technically these are tribute bands, who are not necessarily impersonators, but close your eyes… Read More »“Sounds Like Summer” lineup revealed for EPCOT