Attendance at theme parks continues to skyrocket

[crazy4wdw]

Attendance at theme parks continues to skyrocket

Scott Powers | Sentinel Staff Writer
6:00 AM EDT, March 14, 2008

Central Florida's theme parks saw modest-to-strong growth in attendance last year, displaying resilience within an otherwise softening local tourism market, according to a new report.

The report, produced by a research company and theme-park trade association, concludes that 2007 was a particularly good year for Walt Disney World, a decent year for Universal Orlando and a year of modest growth for SeaWorld Orlando.

The study, to be published today, says that Disney's Magic Kingdom topped 17 million visitors, retaining its title as the busiest theme park in the world. The report also includes seven Orlando-area theme parks among its ranking of the 10 busiest parks in the U.S.

The attendance estimates, produced by Economic Research Associates and the Themed Entertainment Association, are completely unauthorized and unofficial. Disney, Universal and Busch Entertainment do not release attendance numbers for their individual parks, nor do many other companies. But in the absence of any standardized, authorized figures, the annual ERA/TEA attendance study provides the industry's most widely cited gate estimates.

The report has its critics, particularly Busch Entertainment Corp., which owns SeaWorld, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and eight other parks. Busch spokesman Fred Jacobs said Thursday the 2006 ERA/TEA estimates were almost all significantly lower than Busch's own attendance counts, and that he had complained strongly to ERA about that. Another knowledgeable Busch source provided the Orlando Sentinel with internal 2007 gate counts for two Busch parks that were both higher than what ERA/TEA is reporting today.

John Robinett, senior vice president of ERA, a Los Angeles-based company, defended the report's accuracy and said Busch Entertainment's complaint is a minority view.

The study's overall assessment of 2007: a year of steady business in the United States, where the theme-park industry is mature and stable, but one with widely varied results elsewhere in the world.

"I think it was business as usual," Robinett said. "Orlando did quite well this year. Southern California was a little slow. The Midwest was modest. You add it up, and it was a year of modest and healthy growth, which is to be expected at this point in our industry."

Disney's Animal Kingdom continued to ride Expedition Everest -- its big roller coaster that opened in early 2006 -- to new heights of popularity, according to the report. In 2006, that coaster was credited for driving an 8.6 percent gain in attendance for Animal Kingdom. Last year, the ride and the new Finding Nemo show pushed the park's gate up another 6.5 percent -- the best growth rate in Florida for a second year in a row.

Robinett said that, based on published visitor counts for the Orlando area, its theme parks appear to have had a better year than the local tourism scene overall and showed few ill effects from the weakening economy or high gas prices.

"I think it shows in some ways the parks can control their own destiny," he said of the report, which is being published today in two trade publications, InPark Magazine and Park World Magazine.

Outside the U.S., Robinett said, Europe's theme parks had strong growth, Asia's were weighed down by bad years at a couple of parks, and Latin America's had mixed results. Tokyo Disneyland was the busiest park outside the U.S., with 13.9 million visitors. Disneyland Paris was Europe's busiest, with attendance totaling 12 million.

ERA's sources include statistics furnished directly by some theme-park companies, historical numbers, financial reports, the investment-banking community and local tourism organizations, among others.

Robinett said some companies cooperate with the ERA/TEA effort and express confidence in the estimates. Busch is not one of them.

A Busch Entertainment source, who spoke only on condition of anonymity for breaking with the company's usual policy, said that SeaWorld Orlando's 2007 internal gate count was in the range of 6.2 million, while Busch Gardens Tampa Bay's attendance was in the range of 4.5 million. The ERA/TEA estimates released today report 5.8 million for SeaWorld and 4.4 million for Busch Gardens.

Speaking for those and other Busch parks, Jacobs did not confirm those numbers, but he said the ERA/TEA combined estimate released last year for all nine Busch parks open in 2006 -- 21.7 million -- was more than 1 million visitors less than the company's internal count.

"As far as other companies are concerned, they might be accurate numbers, but I can tell you they are not accurate numbers for our parks," he said.

Robinett acknowledged Busch's complaints but said the easy way to avoid such discrepancies would be for Busch and other theme-park companies to officially release their attendance figures.

"You know how our numbers can get more accurate? If the operators give us a little help," he said. "And many of them do."


Scott Powers can be reached at spowers@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5441.

 

[mitros]

Attendance at theme parks continues to skyrocket

It's getting to be ridiculous at the parks these days. There never seems to be a "slow" time anymore. Even the normally slow times have become a lot busier. Ergo, looooonger lines both on rides and at restaurants. And they have also cut down on the choices on the restaurant menus because of that darn {and I don't mean darn} "free meal" thing they keep running. WDW is getting to be an assembly line instead of an enjoyable experience. Gets harder and harder to enjoy ones self.......

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

mitros, I totally agree and now the foreign travelers will continue to skyrocket, but in the end if they continue on the path they are currently going they will end up being the equivelant of the "E" tv network ... Lots of people watch but the 'thinking' amongst us will never know why...

 

[Metro West]

It's getting to be ridiculous at the parks these days. There never seems to be a "slow" time anymore. Even the normally slow times have become a lot busier. Ergo, looooonger lines both on rides and at restaurants. And they have also cut down on the choices on the restaurant menus because of that darn {and I don't mean darn} "free meal" thing they keep running. WDW is getting to be an assembly line instead of an enjoyable experience. Gets harder and harder to enjoy ones self.......

 

[Cheshire Figment]

2007 Theme Park Attendance Information

The Themed Entertainment Association has released its annual report (14 pages long) http://www.themeit.com/attendance_report2007.pdf of top attendance of theme parks and water parks worldwide.

They break out the top ten chains (Disney being #1) by worldwide attendance. Then they give the top 25 Theme Parks worldwide (Top 8 are, in order: MK, DL, TDL, TDS, DLP, EC, DHS, DAK), the top 20 Waterparks worldwide (top 2 are TL and BB). Top 20 Park North American, Top 20 parks Europe, Top 10 Parks Latin America, Top 10 Parks Asia and Pacific Rim, and ends up with the top 15 Water Parks in the US.

 

[gk90]

Here's another recent article with more figures:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/tourism/article418021.ece

Some of the article highlights:

Magic Kingdom
17-million,
up 2.5 percent
Year of a Million Dreams giveaways, new Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor and updating old classic rides. Toy Story Mania opens this summer.

Epcot Center
10.9-million, up 4.5 percent
Opened The Seas with Nemo and bigger food and garden festivals.

Hollywood Studios
9.5-million,
up 4.5 percent
New name, updated old rides and Jedi Training Academy.

Animal Kingdom
9.5-million,
up 6.5 percent
Expedition Everest and new Nemo stage show.

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

Here's another recent article with more figures:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/tourism/article418021.ece

Some of the article highlights:

Magic Kingdom
17-million,
up 2.5 percent
Year of a Million Dreams giveaways, new Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor and updating old classic rides. Toy Story Mania opens this summer.

Epcot Center
10.9-million, up 4.5 percent
Opened The Seas with Nemo and bigger food and garden festivals.

Hollywood Studios
9.5-million,
up 4.5 percent
New name, updated old rides and Jedi Training Academy.

Animal Kingdom
9.5-million,
up 6.5 percent
Expedition Everest and new Nemo stage show.

I understand the AK uptick with E:E and all but The Studio's??? My gawd that's an aufull, aufull Park these days.

 

[crusader]

I thought Toy Story Mania was opening at the Studios. That should prolong the life support.