The 2024 TEA Global Experience Index has been released, revealing global theme park attendance numbers, including the numbers for Disney and Universal parks.
2024 TEA Global Experience Index
The annual study is a collaboration between the Themed Entertainment Association, Entertainment + Culture Advisors, and The Park Database, presented in partnership with Storyland Studios and InPark Magazine. The study looks at the theme park industry globally and split up into three regions: The Americas; Asia-Pacific (APAC); and Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA).
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. 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.
The world’s top water parks collectively saw less than 1% increase in attendance, though individual results varied widely by region, largely impacted by local market conditions such as weather and tourism.
TEA Press Release
Global & U.S. Theme Park Attendance
The top four park operators retained their positions. Disney Experiences held the number one spot, followed by Fantawild Group, which operates parks in China. In third place was Merlin Entertainments, operators of LEGOLAND, Peppa Pig parks, Alton Towers Resort, and more. Universal Destinations & Experiences was fourth worldwide.
As for individual parks, Magic Kingdom was, predictably, the number one theme park worldwide. Disneyland Park took second place. They were followed by international parks Universal Studios Japan, Tokyo Disneyland, Shanghai Disneyland, Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, and Tokyo DisneySea.
EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World took 8th and 9th place respectively, while Disneyland Park at Disneyland Paris was 10th. This is a slight change from last year when Disneyland Paris was in 9th place and Disney’s Hollywood Studios was 10th.
Another change from last year is the positions of Disney California Adventure and Universal Islands of Adventure. In 2023, the two were tied for 11th/12th place. This year, Disney California Adventure is 11th while Universal Islands of Adventure has dropped to 14th. Universal Studios Beijing is 12th and Universal Studios Florida is 13th. That leaves Disney’s Animal Kingdom in 15th place.
Here is the list of just the top U.S. theme parks and their visitor numbers. Disney and Universal hold the top 9 spots, while Knott’s Berry Farm was 10th.
- Magic Kingdom (17.8 million)
- Disneyland (17.3 million)
- EPCOT (12.1 million)
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios (10.3 million)
- Disney California Adventure (10.05 million)
- Universal Studios Florida (9.5 million)
- Universal Islands of Adventure (9.45 million)
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom (8.8 million)
- Universal Studios Hollywood (8.7 million)
Florida maintained its spot as the number one theme park location in the U.S. It had 76.4 million visitors across eight theme parks. California was second with 47.9 million guests across six parks.
North American theme park attendance declined slightly overall. There was an estimated 144.4 million visitors in 2023, but only 144 million flat in 2024.
Disney Theme Parks
Disney’s domestic theme parks (Florida and California) totaled 76.5 million visitors in 2024, a 0.6% increase from 2023. Magic Kingdom totaled 17.8 million visitors, an increase of 0.7%.
EPCOT had the largest attendance increase for U.S. Disney Parks of 1.3%, totaling 12.1 million visitors. The year 2024 marked the end of its multi-year reimagining, with the opening of CommuniCore Hall and Plaza.
Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon was the 5th water park worldwide, ranking below international water parks with a 4.3% decline in attendance.
Internationally, Shanghai Disneyland had a 5% increase in attendance to 14.7 million. Hong Kong Disneyland attendance increased 3.3%. Tokyo Disneyland increased 2.6% and Tokyo DisneySea increased 2.9%. The Disneyland Paris parks were the only Disney Parks to see decreased attendance, with a 1.8% drop for Disneyland Park and for Walt Disney Studios Park (currently undergoing a reimagining that will result in a new name next year).
Universal Theme Parks
Universal attendance, however, dropped across the board. Remember, these numbers are for 2024, months before the opening of Epic Universe (which is why that park is not included).
The two Universal Orlando Resort theme parks dropped in attendance by more than 2.5%, each totaling about 9.5 million visitors. Universal Studios Hollywood dropped almost 10% from 9.66 million visitors in 2023 to 8.7 million in 2024. Universal parks had a 4% decline in revenue from 2023 overall.
Universal Volcano Bay was tied for the 7th worldwide water park with Aquaventure Waterpark in China. It saw an 8.3% decline in attendance to 1.6 million visitors.
While Universal Studios Japan was third place worldwide, it had 0% growth and remained stable at 16 million visitors.
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