According to latest National Hurricane Center forecasts Hurricane Irene is tracking east away from Florida. This is likely the last update I’ll make, unless the storm tacks westward, in which case I’ll be back like a bad penny. Already, there are two more potential disturbances… Read More »Hurricane Irene tracking away from Florida
If you remember Clyde and Claud the humorous pair of Toucan’s that used to greet guests as they waited on line for the Enchanted Tiki Room to start, then you’ll be happy with the new pre-show. That’s because it is the exact same show you… Read More »Tiki Room Queue Returns to Original Pre-Show
A fascinating video from 1988 provides a look inside Walt Disney Imagineering as it plans to build Euro-Disney, aka Disneyland Paris. Behind the camera is Eddie Sotto, who was the show producer for Main Street U.S.A. at the time. He takes his camera through his… Read More »A Glimpse at 1988 Walt Disney Imagineering as it plans for Euro-Disney
I was talking with someone this weekend about the sad state of Splash Mountain, I’m sorry I can’t recall who, and the discussion turned to Magic Kingdom’s VP Phil Holmes. Apparently, Phil believes that the park has serious capacity issues to the point where only… Read More »State of the Magic Kingdom
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:
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay is not too far down the road from Walt Disney World, and yet it’s a totally different world when it comes to theme parks. Busch Gardens combines all the best elements of your favorite roller coaster heavy amusement park and a… Read More »Cheetah Hunt combines The Wild Thrills of Animals and Roller Coasters
It’s getting to be a habit. About once or twice a year Disneyland and Walt Disney World raise admission prices for their theme parks. Why? Because they can, of course. The parks are busy with many weeks approaching capacity. This year’s price hikes come a… Read More »Disneyland and Disney World Raise Prices effective June 12th
When I was a child I loved to build sandcastles down at the beach. I even entered in a sandsculpture contest or two. I was never that good, but there were many contestants who were. Some of those projects were quite involved. Giant dragons, huge… Read More »Giant Sandsculpture Recreates Disneyland Paris