Disney Major Theme Park Attendance?

[noblemickey]

There have been quite a number of references about attendance at the Animal Kingdom as well as the other three major Theme Parks. Does anyone have the numbers and trends from year to year as well as comparisons to Universal, Seaworld and I of A. I know Disney keeps there actual numbers close to the vest so how do these people know that the trends are down or not as positive as non Disney parks close to WDW?

 

[Werner Weiss]

Two charts from the Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau at:
http://www.orlandoinfo.com/cvb/research/ms_attraction.cfm

 

[noblemickey]

Thank you very much Mr. Weiss for the attendance info. I appreciate your responding so promptly.

 

[apm]

AK may not be meeting Disney's expectations, but it hardly looks like a failure, from the numbers. I never would have guessed that it surpasses Universal Studios and IOA in attendance.

 

[boudreaux0]

Almost everyone's attendance was down in '99. I wonder why?

 

[Panthius]

The only problem I can see is the fact that the attendance for 2000 in Animal Kingdom went down from the numbers from 1999. Every other Disney Park listed, the numbers went up, although, this is still up by over 2 million more people than 1998 in AK. Also, now that the Animal Kingdom Lodge is there, the attendance should go up again. It boggles my mind how much money they must be pulling in, yet they are cutting costs everywhere. Something is syphoning up their cash real quick, but from those numbers it doesn't appear to be any of those parks.

Panthius

 

[Bork]

A few comments. Attendace at most of the parks (Disney and Universal) dropped in 98 and 99 due to the opening of AK in 98 and IOA in 99. Instead of drawing more people to WDW and Universal, overall numbers stayed relatively flat. That means that the new parks just stole people from the existing parks.

Also, AK numbers can be misleading. The 6 million number for 98 is only for 6 months. The park opened in April and these numbers are taken Sept. to Sept. So 6 million in 6 months should translate to 12 million for a full year. Instead, the first full year drew 8.6 million. SO there really wan't an increase.

It's interesting to note the Sea World and Busch Gardens set attendance records last year.

As for where the money is going, Eisner went on the record a year ago to shareholders about this. The attraction building boom is over and now they want to rake in the profits. They are expecting the theme parks to take in $1-$2 BILLION in profit every year. This money would go to support other parts of the company (parts that are major money losers) like the internet ventures and the sports teams. etc.

 

[norwood]

Just got back from Disney
Animal Kingdom was PACKED on Friday
Wall to wall people
In fact there were more people than animals.
Maybe I was looking for the wrong animals.
The problem I saw was that everything was connected by the tree
You had to go to it to get anywhere else.
I am so glad to be home...
I didn't find any magic.

 

[noblemickey]

Just talked to quite a number of Kissimmee area real estate agents about buying a condo and general short term rental market in resort area this summer. All indicated that rentals are down considerably this summer which is likely reflective of the current economic trends and will likely be reflective in all theme park attendance for 2001 and perhaps farther into the next year.

 

[wdwguide]

Originally posted by norwood
Just got back from Disney
Animal Kingdom was PACKED on Friday
Wall to wall people
In fact there were more people than animals.
Maybe I was looking for the wrong animals.
The problem I saw was that everything was connected by the tree
You had to go to it to get anywhere else.
I am so glad to be home...
I didn't find any magic.

One reason the Animal Kingdom often seems so busy is because there are not very many attractions that soak up the crowds and remove them from the paths.
Close to 20,000 people are in the park on average during the early afternoon, and there are about a dozen attractions.
At the Magic Kingdom, the numbers are closer to 35,000 people spread over more than 40 attractions.