Despite the pesky recession, the park industry posted a modest attendance increase in 2010. That welcome news comes courtesy of Theme Index: The Global Attractions Attendance Report published annually by the Themed Entertainment Association. According to the report, 189.1 million visitors strolled through the turnstiles at the world's top 25 parks, an increase of 1.9 percent. In North America, the top 20 parks generated 123.6 million visitors for an increase of 1.8 percent.
The world's most popular park, with nearly 17 million guests, was the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. It was closely followed by California's Disneyland at about 16 million visitors. Some other interesting tidbits from the report:
- The Wizarding World of Harry Potter helped propel a 30.2% increase in visitors to Islands of Adventure.
- With all of the buzz surrounding Potter, the Orlando park's impressive uptick is not surprising. It is surprising, however, that the new King Kong attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood, which garnered great reviews but not nearly as much attention as Harryland, nonetheless helped give the California movie park a 26% boost.
- It's also surprising that the (wonderful) World of Color show at Disney California Adventure only managed to eke out a 3% bump in turnstile clicks according to the index. It certainly feels more crowded at DCA to me. (Keep in mind that most of the park companies, including Disney, do not divulge official attendance numbers. The TEA report is based on research and offers estimated guest counts.)
- Many regional parks, including Six Flags Great America and Canada's Wonderland, posted healthy increases in 2010.
Connect With Arthur: Twitter | Facebook
Photo: Universal Orlando, 2009. Used with permission.