Disney World’s Magic Kingdom kept its crown as the world’s most popular theme park in 2024.
A new industry attendance report estimated that about 17.8 million people saw Cinderella Castle in Orlando last year, up 0.7% from 2023.
Meanwhile, attendance at Universal Studios and Universal Islands of Adventure — the No. 13 and 14 busiest parks in the world, respectively — dropped about 3% and 6%, respectively, to wind up at about 9.5 million guests per park.
Company leaders previously acknowledged smaller crowds last year as guests delayed coming to Universal to see Epic Universe, the new theme park that opened this year.
The attendance picture will look different for the 2025 report next year. Universal is getting a big boost from Epic Universe’s crowds, which are already increasing Orange County’s hotel tax revenues by millions.
Every year, the Themed Entertainment Association and the global management firm AECOM report give an estimate on attendance at theme parks, museums and water parks across the world.
“The global attractions landscape saw a return to stable growth in 2024, as travel and tourism patterns leveled out to roughly pre-pandemic numbers. The combined attendance of the top 25 theme parks globally grew 2.4% in 2024 to almost 246 million,” the organizations said in a press release.
“In general, the leading parks in the mature markets of the U.S., Japan, and western Europe saw flat to modest changes in attendance, while the leading internationally branded parks in China saw notable continued growth and registered record years.”
Disney and Universal don’t release exact attendance numbers per park, so the industry report is a rare way to gain insight into how successful the parks are at bringing in more visitors year over year.
Disneyland, the original Disney theme park, was the second-most visited theme park in the world with 17.3 estimated visitors, also up less than 1% from a year before, the report said.
The other theme parks at Disney World showed either small increases or flat numbers, according to the report.
Epcot, known for its year-round festivals, was up about 1% with 12 million visitors. Hollywood Studios’ attendance increased less than 1% to about 10 million visitors. The least crowded park, Animal Kingdom, also jumped by less than 1% to bring in just under 9 million guests for the year.
SeaWorld Orlando — which has steadily been opening new rides every year and adding more events — posted a similar trend. Attendance increased less than 1% to about 4 million visitors, making it the 11th-most visited theme park in the Americas.
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay also dropped less than 1% to bring in just under 4 million visitors as the 13th-biggest park in the Americas.
The post Magic Kingdom is world’s No. 1 theme park as big U.S. parks fail to make big attendance gains in 2024 appeared first on Florida Politics – Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government..
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