2002 Amusement Business Numbers Are Out

[pheneix]

AB has released their estimates for theme park attendance in 2002. Does anyone who has given their life savings away to AB have the list?

 

[raidermatt]

Below is a Reuters article....

For specific parks, here's what I could gather:

MK 14 million, down 5%
TDL 13 million, down from 18 million
DL 12.7 million, up 3%
TDS 12 million

I'll see what else I can dig up...




Theme park visits down slightly in 2002-report
12/20/2002 3:28:00 PM

LOS ANGELES, Dec 20 (Reuters) - North American theme park attendance was down less than 1 percent in 2002 as local visitors picked up the slack left by slow international travel to big U.S. parks, a leading industry magazine said on Friday.

Walt Disney Co.'s (DIS) properties continued to lead the pack, with 96.47 million visitors worldwide, about double the 50.49 million of Six Flags Inc (PKS) ., Amusement Business magazine reported in its annual estimates for the sector.

Disney's venerable Disneyland in Anaheim, California showed a rise in attendance in 2002, bucking the trend at other major Disney parks, according the magazine, which independently compiled the forecasts.

Destination parks such as Orlando, Florida based properties owned by Disney, Universal and competitors, managed to make up partially for a drop in international visitors with more local promotions, Amusement Business parks and attractions editor Tim O'Brien said.

"While the international people are away, the local people are coming to play," he said. "They are building up a strong base with locals ... We are probably going to see a real huge jump in attendance at all these destinations parks in the next couple of years as the international comes back."

Total North American theme parks visits fell to 170.8 million, down 3.2 million from 2001 and off 4.3 million from the best year ever, 2000, the trade publication said.

Disney's global total was up from 94.7 million visitors the magazine had estimated for 2001, thanks largely to a strong start at DisneySea, the second Disney Tokyo amusement park, which opened in September 2001.

Six Flags total attendance dropped from 51.2 million the previous year.

Attendance at the largest U.S. Disney parks was down 4 percent to 8 percent, expect for Disneyland, where attendance rose 3 percent to 12.7 million.

Tokyo Disneyland lost its No. 1 global spot, falling to 13 million visitors from nearly 18 million the previous year, as some guests went to the new, second Tokyo park. Tokyo's DisneySea had 12 million visitors, making it the fourth biggest park in the world by attendance.

The Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World took the No. 1 spot with 14 million visitors, down 5 percent from the prior year.

 

[Testtrack321]

Ok, now this ruins my theory that pheneix=AV, but otherwise, I like the results, but it isn't bad enough to ruin Esiner. I'd rather have healty parks than bad ones and Esiner mabey getting the boot.

 

[pheneix]

>>>now this ruins my theory that pheneix=AV<<<

You thought I was Another Voice? I'm flattered...

>>>it isn't bad enough to ruin Esiner<<<

I think the fact that only the Magic Kingdom parks were able to maintain momentum this year speaks very negatively about Eisner, as they are the two parks that have recieved the least amount of torture under the Eisner regime (at least compared to Disney's other parks).

Of course, I am much more interested in seeing what the competition was able to do this year, especially since one company has made it quite clear that they are finished with being #2 in the industry.

 

[pheneix]

The following was put in the Orlando Sentinel:

>>>Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure turned in the best attendance gain for Central Florida theme parks in 2002, with an estimated 10 percent increase to 6.1 million visitors, according to a trade magazine.

For Walt Disney World's four Orlando parks, which registered declines in annual numbers, the report confirmed the slump that Walt Disney Co. Chairman Michael Eisner has been decrying for months.

Magic Kingdom, the nation's busiest theme park, saw attendance drop 5 percent, one percentage point more than in 2001, but it still drew 14.7 million people to rank No. 1. All the Disney World parks continued to be ranked among Amusement Business' top five, as they were last year, according to the report to be released Monday.

That helped Disney World spokesman Bill Warren look on the bright side. "While we didn't provide these numbers, it's always nice to be recognized as having the top five theme parks in the U.S. by an established publication."

He would not comment directly on the reported declines. The theme parks historically don't release attendance figures, citing competitive reasons, and they don't confirm or deny the calculations by Amusement Business.

The other Disney World parks also declined: No. 3 Epcot fell 8 percent to 8.3 million; No. 4 MGM-Studios dropped 4 percent to 8 million and No.5 Animal Kingdom slumped 6 percent to 7.3 million. None of their rankings changed from last year.

At the No. 2 park, Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., attendance rose 3 percent to 12.7 million.

Leslie Goodman, a spokeswoman for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Worldwide, said attendance is looking up.

"We've had a strong holiday performance so far," Goodman said. "What we are seeing is a strengthening of bookings for the Christmas holiday."

Although it's too soon to predict when a full recovery will occur given uncertainties in the economy and the weakness in international travel, Goodman said Disney is expecting continued improvement in attendance at both Disneyland and California Adventure next year.

Universal Studios in Orlando maintained its No. 6 ranking, although attendance was off 6 percent to 6.9 million, Amusement Business found.

Universal's Islands of Adventure held on to the No. 7 slot and posted a 10 percent gain to 6.1 million in a turnaround from 2001, when attendance fell 8 percent. Amusement Business credited the improvement to the relocation of Halloween Horror Nights to Islands from Universal Studios.

But there was another reason for the success of Islands, said Peter Stapp, a theme park consultant and former Universal Studios executive. "A lot of people wait a bit to attend a hot new theme park, and maybe a lot of them came this year thinking the novelty has finally worn off at Islands [which opened in 1999] and the lines wouldn't be so long now."

SeaWorld held on to the No. 9 slot, with attendance flat at 5 million.<<<

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busi...1,0,5178640.story?coll=orl-business-headlines

The United States Top 7:

1. Magic Kingdom; 14 million, down 5%

2. Disneyland; 12.7 million, UP 3%

3. Epcot; 8.3 million, down 8%

4. MGM Studios, 8 million, down 4%

5. Animal Kingdom, 7.3 million, down 6%

6. Universal Studios, 6.9 million, down 6%

7. Islands of Adventure, 6.1 million, UP 10%

 

[Douglas Dubh]

Interesting that almost half of TDS's visitors came at the expense of TDL's.

 

[raidermatt]

Ok, plugged this into my handy dandy spreadsheet, and found that the Universal Orlando Resort saw a 1.6% overall increase in attendance. WDW was down 6.0%.

So does this poke any holes in Disney's "its the economy" or "its tourism" defenses?


It lists SeaWorld Orlando as #9 with 5.0 million. Is #8 DCA? DCA drew 5.0 last year in its abbreviated inaugural year. The only park that could have reasonably gone over 5.0 was USH, which had 4.7 last year. Sea World SD had 4.1 last year. I checked the LA Times and Orlando County Register, but they have nothing on this yet.


Back to WDW and Universal Orlando... I would seriously question the former Universal Executive's reasons for IoA's uptick in attendance. Or at the very least want to know why AK is showing no such signs of a "wait until the novelty wears off" effect. In fact, AK's attendance has decreased every year. Even DR and M'sJJP couldn't help.

Interesting that almost half of TDS's visitors came at the expense of TDL's.

Yeah, I'm not yet sure if that's good or bad. What I can say is that the Tokyo parks totaled 25 million, which is 2/3 of what WDW drew, and a LOT more than DLR, probably about 35% more.


Also of note, WDW's overall attendance is at its lowest point since 1996, when the THREE exisiting parks drew 35.00 million. In 1997, still with THREE parks, WDW drew 39.2 million which is more than 4% over 2002's FOUR park total.

The more I look at this, the worse it gets...

 

[Bob O]

Does the list contain smaller parks as i know that Holiday World had a major incrase in attendance as did other regional parks??

 

[raidermatt]

I'm sure we'll get that within the next day or two, Bob. If I remember correctly, the list of the top 15 or 20 was pretty easily available last year. Its just that AB is a "pay" site, so we either have to fork over some cash, or wait for another news source to post the entire list. So far, we only have the articles posted...

 

[pheneix]

>>>So does this poke any holes in Disney's "its the economy" or "its tourism" defenses?<<<

Yes, I'd say it does.

>>>at the very least want to know why AK is showing no such signs of a "wait until the novelty wears off" effect<<<

AK usually isn't the number one ranked park in the world time after time on guest satisfaction surveys like IOA is, for starters. IOA also has a local following that is only getting stronger with each passing month.

>>>Is #8 DCA?<<<

I highly doubt it. DCA is expected to be in the 4 million to 4.3 million range for the year.

 

[hopemax]

So does this poke any holes in Disney's "its the economy" or "its tourism" defenses?

I think we'll get the, "International tourism is still down so that's why Disney isn't doing as well, but the parks that rely more on US local visitors are seeing bumps as people stay closer to home."

I think it's great that IoA is getting good numbers. I think Universal was on the right track with what they did, but I think they were over-confident in their time table. You can't change your image overnight. I also disagree with the "wait until the novelty wears off," I think it's more "we have a couple of years of positive word of mouth that is now starting to pay off, and since our neighbors at the other end of I-drive haven't had too many home runs lately, we're finally getting a look."

 

[KMovies]

Universal Studios Hollywood 5.2m, up 10%
Disney's California Adventure 4.7m, down 6%

An LA Times story noted that Universal Studios Hollywood was helped by the Buy A Day, Get a Year Free promotion. $45 for an annual pass helps drive the numbers.

 

[pheneix]

DCA's number is way off, to the tune of around 400,000 or so.

 

[Bob O]

Thanks for the info Raidermatt, in the past i have seen the top 50 parks on rec-coasters but nothing about this has been posted yet.
As an aside i wasnt impressed with Universal Hollywood, i expected it to be better than it was.