2017 Theme Park Attendance- What does it all mean?
The statistics for global theme park attendance were released this week by AECOM. These figures give a great insight into how the major theme parks around the world are currently performing.
Overall, 2017 was a good year for the worlds top theme parks. The majority of parks attendances increased in 2017 in comparison to 2016. Attendance at the top 25 theme parks in the world grew by 4.7% and attendance at the top 10 theme parks grew by an even more impressive 8.6%. In total, 244 million people visited the top 25 theme parks around the world.
One area of the world which had a particularly successful year was China. Attendance at their top parks grew by a whopping 20%. Attendance in Asia on a whole grew by around 5.5%, with attendance in North America growing by 2.3%. 2017 was also the first year that the combined attendance of the top 20 parks in North America passed 150 million visitors.
The Walt Disney company still remains the largest theme park group in the world. Attendance at Disney Parks around the globe was around 150 million and growth in attendance was 6.8%. Merlin Entertainment remain the second largest theme park group, with Universal Parks and Resorts ranking third. The big loser in 2017 out of the top 10 theme park groups in the world was SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment. Attendance at parks owned and operated by the SeaWorld company decreased, on average, by 5.5%.
Florida still remains the largest theme park destination in the world. 6 of the top 15 theme parks in the world are located in Florida. The Magic Kingdom remains the most popular theme park in the world with it attracting just over 20 million guests in 2017. Animal Kingdom, for the first time, is the second most attended park in Florida. Attendance at Animal Kingdom grew by 15.3% with 12.5 million guests entering into the animal based park in 2017. The huge growth in attendance at Animal Kingdom was driven by the opening of the hugely popular and very good Avatar: World of Pandora. Epcot is the third most visited park in Florida with Hollywood Studios now sitting in fourth place.
Hollywood Studios was the only park in Florida to see a decrease in attendance (0.5%). This is due to the large amount of construction and number of ride closures within the park. However, with Toy Story land opening in 2018 and Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway and Star Wars: A Galaxy’s Edge set to open in 2019 the attendance at Hollywood Studios is sure to sky rocket in the coming years. In fact, I would speculate that Hollywood Studios will be the second most attended park in Florida by the end of 2019.
Universal Studios two parks in Orlando saw a smaller growth in attendance (2%) compared to Walt Disney World. 2017 was the first time in a few years that the overall increase in attendance at Walt Disney World was greater than Universal Studios. This, combined with the huge investment in attractions at Disney World, could be of concern for the Universal company. The last few attractions to open at Universal have not been well received by guests. This could be a major reason why attendance growth decreased in comparison to the last few years. However, this could be a good things for fans of Universal Studios Orlando as it could push the company to start building more innovative and exciting attractions compared to the parks recent additions (I’m looking at you Jimmy Fallon).