Report: Attendance sagged at Magic Kingdom but it’s still world’s most-visited theme park

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Almost 7 million people went to Magic Kingdom theme park in 2020, a 67% decrease from 2019, an annual attendance report says

 

 

Millions of visitors came to Magic Kingdom in 2020, despite a 4-month closure and a global pandemic. Disney World's first theme park had more guests than any other attraction in the world last year, outpacing runner-up Shanghai Disneyland. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

 

Almost 7 million people went to Magic Kingdom theme park in 2020. But that represents a 67% decrease from 2019, according to an annual attendance report from the Themed Entertainment Association and AECOM, an infrastructure consulting firm and Fortune 500 company.

The COVID-19 pandemic curbed the visitor count for attractions across the board last year. Although Walt Disney World’s parks were closed to the public from mid-March to mid-July, Magic Kingdom again was the most-visited theme park on Earth. The newest report, however, does not rank the attractions using the 2020 figures. It instead reports the 2020 attendance of 2019′s top 25 parks.

Attendance of those most popular theme parks dropped 67.2%, from 257.7 million visitors in 2019 to 83.3 million in 2020, according to the Global Attractions Attendance Report.

“Park closures as well as the loss of international and domestic tourists varied from country to country, creating a patchwork of performance worldwide in 2020,” John Robinett, AECOM economics senior vice president wrote. “Accordingly, 2020′s attendance is largely a function of regulatory agency restrictions limiting parks’ operating days and capacities and not park popularity and management.”

The parks will be officially re-ranked next year “once global health conditions stabilize,” the report says. But below the top slot, there would be significant rearrangements in a fresh 2020 list. Using the attendance numbers posted in the report, the No. 2 theme park in the world would be Shanghai Disneyland, up from the No. 10 slot for 2019. It had 5.5 million visitors in 2020, the report says, a decrease of 50.9%.

Other big upward movers were Chimelong Ocean Kingdom and OCT Happy Valley, both in China, at No. 4 and No. 10, respectively.

The top 10 worldwide, in order, would be Magic Kingdom, Shanghai Disneyland, Universal Studios Japan, Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland, Universal Studios in Orlando, Epcot, Universal’s Islands of Adventure and OCT Happy Valley.

Just out of the Top 10 would be Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Disneyland’s attendance fell 80.3%, the report says, after the theme park closed for pandemic in March and did not reopen in 2020.

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“The calendar has been a factor in terms of when a region was hardest-hit by infection relative to operating season,” Marina Hoffman, senior analyst, wrote in the report. “In the Americas, water parks suffered more than theme parks for this reason, and parks with limited seasons suffered more than those designed to operate year-round.”

The attendance drops at Walt Disney World theme parks ranged from 66.9% to 70%, the report says.

Islands of Adventure was down 61.4%; Universal Studios’ attendance was down 62.5%. SeaWorld Orlando’s numbers were down 65.6%. Universal Orlando and SeaWorld Orlando were closed for three months during 2020 for the coronavirus pandemic.

The attendance change for North America’s top 25 parks was down 72.2% with 44.3 million visitors in 2020.

Central Florida’s theme park companies do not disclose attendance figures. AECOM’s report is determined through several sources, including statistics given by the parks, financial reports, historical numbers, investment bankers, local tourism groups and professional estimates.

“Where park attendance was not provided by operators, AECOM conducted analysis regarding park operating days, regulatory agency operating guidelines, visitor participation trends, and local market considerations to help inform park estimates,” the report says.

The report also did not re-rank water parks, but topping the attendance in the U.S. for 2020 was Universal’s Volcano Bay and Aquatica, part of SeaWorld Orlando. Volcano Bay’s 551,000 visitors represented a decline of almost 70% from 2019. The attraction was closed from mid-March to mid-June along with the bulk of Universal Orlando, then the water park closed again in November for the remainder of 2020.

Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon, which has been the usual national leader, was not open in 2020 and remains unavailable to guests. Blizzard Beach, its sister park, saw a decline of 84.1%.

The world’s biggest draw among water parks was Thermas dos Laranjais in Brazil, which had 922,500 visitors, a 50% decline.

The report was optimistic about an industry rebound, pointing to previous downturns attributed to economic declines, civil unrest and terrorism. It also examined trends that emerged during the pandemic and innovations, some of which are already seen in new attractions. To see the full attendance report, go to www.teaconnect.org.

 

 

Dewayne Bevil

Orlando Sentinel