The Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) has released the theme park attendance numbers for 2018. All of the Disney Parks saw increases in their attendances as they continue to dominate the worldwide numbers year after year.
- Disney Parks saw a 4.9% bump in attendance in 2018, welcoming more than 157 million guests last year.
- To help explain just how dominant Disney Parks are in this category, the second group of parks, Merlin Entertainment, welcomed 67 million guests in 2018. A full 90 million less than Disney Parks.
- The most attended park in the world was once again Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, which saw a 2% increase to more than 20 million guests in 2018.
- Once again following up in second and third are Disneyland (2%, 18.6 million) and Tokyo Disneyland (7.9%, 17.9 million) respectively.
- This year though, Disney grabbed hold of each of the top four spots as Tokyo DisneySea (8.5%, 14.6 million) jumped ahead of Universal Studios Japan (-4.3%, 14.3 million).
- The biggest increase for a Disney park was Disney’s Animal Kingdom, which saw a 10% increase to 13.7 million guests, once again claiming the sixth spot on the list just a year after adding Pandora – The World of Avatar.
- Epcot, Shanghai Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios took the next three spots before Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in China nabbed the last spot in the top 10, knocking Universal Studios Florida down to 11th.
- Walt Disney Studios Park in Disneyland Paris slipped a spot and is coming dangerously close to falling out of the top 25.
- Other rankings for Disney Parks include:
- Disney California Adventure (3%, 9.8 million) – 12th
- Disneyland Paris (1.9%, 9.8 million) – 13th
- Hong Kong Disneyland (8.1%, 6.7 million) – 16th
- Walt Disney World’s water parks also saw a boost in attendance in 2018.
- Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon saw a 5% increase and welcomed 2.2 million guest, once again claiming the second spot (behind only Chimelong Water Park).
- Disney’s Blizzard Beach moved up to the third spot after a 3% increase to 2 million visitors.
- Meanwhile, Universal Orlando’s Volcano Bay saw a 15% increase to 1.7 million guests and remains in the sixth spot.
- You can see the TEA’s global attractions attendance report for 2018 here.