Congrats to Magic Kingdom!!

[itchin2go]

Love that song!

Da da lat da (Da da lat da)
Da da lat da (Da da lat da)

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

2005 Universal had 6.1 million.

Good for them for their jump:
http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/200512/2/

 

[LOL!]

What did they say about the other parks?

Here's an article published just today: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-theme-park-attendance-2014-20150603-story.html

You can also google TEA Attendance and go back pretty far for just about any park.

Between your link and the one above it sounds like the tables are slowly turning:

"Universal’s market share is 22.6 percent, a percentage point higher than the previous year. It stole market share primarily from SeaWorld. Disney’s market share was 70.9 percent compared with 71.2 percent the year before."

“Obviously Universal Studios is hitting it out of the park,” said Brian Sands, vice president in AECOM’s economic practice."

I hope WDW takes that as motivation to step up the game and reverse the decline.

 

[bcrook]

In the last month or so, there was an article reporting attendance figures for 2014. The Magic kingdom was #1 with approximately 13 million visitors, Universal studios was 2nd with about 8 million and if I remember right, Epcot, Animal Kingdom and DHS were 3,4 and 5. Now, I would think, that these figures, assuming they are fairly accurate, would reflect which park is most popular with guests and therefore which is better.

Actual numbers can be found in the Amusement Park Report.

Magic Kingdom is nearing 20 million. The universal parks at about 8.1 million each. Universal grew 17% last year though because of Harry Potter. By far the fastest growing.

I wouldn't necessarily equate attendance with best. It could be used as an argument for MK, but probably not Epcot and the other two. I don't know if they would command much attendance at all if they weren't located next to the magic kingdom.

Plus I have made this argument before. Attendance at MK counts days entering the park. The number of unique visitors entering WDW may not be much different than those entering Universal...

 

[Planogirl]

I don't get these comments that something is not an amusement park but instead is a theme park. A theme park is just a type of amusement park.

Dictionary.com says:
theme park
an amusement park in which landscaping, buildings, and attractions are based on one or more specific themes, as jungle wildlife, fairy tales, or the Old West.


These are all amusement parks.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Here's an article published just today: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-theme-park-attendance-2014-20150603-story.html

You can also google TEA Attendance and go back pretty far for just about any park.

Between your link and the one above it sounds like the tables are slowly turning:

"Universal’s market share is 22.6 percent, a percentage point higher than the previous year. It stole market share primarily from SeaWorld. Disney’s market share was 70.9 percent compared with 71.2 percent the year before."

“Obviously Universal Studios is hitting it out of the park,” said Brian Sands, vice president in AECOM’s economic practice."

I hope WDW takes that as motivation to step up the game and reverse the decline.

They are doing well. But I would expect more than a 1% share grab before calling it "hitting it out of the park". Especially if less than 1/3 if that growth came from Disney.

Disney is in progress. We will have to wait and see how it all shakes out. There aren't any additional attractions for USO that I am aware of.

I think USO could have done a little bit better had a two park ticket not have been required for one of their attractions.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I don't get these comments that something is not an amusement park but instead is a theme park. A theme park is just a type of amusement park.

Dictionary.com says:
theme park
an amusement park in which landscaping, buildings, and attractions are based on one or more specific themes, as jungle wildlife, fairy tales, or the Old West.


These are all amusement parks.

It is a subset by definition that does speak to a portion of the population.

All theme works are amusment parks. But not all amusement parks are theme parks. In this course of this discussion, I think it is brought up to explain why some ranked higher than would have been expected. If a park has less rides but ranks better, it was likely the themeing that influenced the choices that led to positive reviews.

 

[aVASTGrl]

It is a subset by definition that does speak to a portion of the population.

All theme works are amusment parks. But not all amusement parks are theme parks. In this course of this discussion, I think it is brought up to explain why some ranked higher than would have been expected. If a park has less rides but ranks better, it was likely the themeing that influenced the choices that led to positive reviews.

Exactly. You can't tell me that Cedar Point or any Six Flags is at all comparable to Disney or Universal. They're totally different experiences. So regardless of any "definition", for the purposes of discussion, the former are amusement parks and the latter are theme parks. It's not that difficult to understand.

 

[bcrook]

They are doing well. But I would expect more than a 1% share grab before calling it "hitting it out of the park". Especially if less than 1/3 if that growth came from Disney.

Disney is in progress. We will have to wait and see how it all shakes out. There aren't any additional attractions for USO that I am aware of.

I think USO could have done a little bit better had a two park ticket not have been required for one of their attractions.

I still have never visited Universal. I am dying to get to Harry Potter. I teach middle school and my students talk about Universal and not Disney. I can't really afford to buy tickets for both places, and since I purchased DVC, I continue to stay at WDW. I did spend Memorial Day in 2012 at IoA and absolutely loved the Wizarding World of Harrry Potter and rated that as my favorite ride... Until Disneyland. Now I am smitten with that version of the Pirates of the Carribbean. I just can't stop talking about it. Yo Ho Yo Ho....

 

[bcrook]

Exactly. You can't tell me that Cedar Point or any Six Flags is at all comparable to Disney or Universal. They're totally different experiences. So regardless of any "definition", for the purposes of discussion, the former are amusement parks and the latter are theme parks. It's not that difficult to understand.

I think Busch Gardens Tampa is more fun than than all the WDW parks. I just can't make a vacation out of it.

WDW benefits from all the pieces working together. If you split those parks up and put them in different geographical areas I am not sure how I would feel about them. I definitely wouldn't pay a $100.00 cover charge to get into the food and wine festival. Actually, I still can't explain why I do that???

I'm not sure I would even go to Dhs except maybe during Star Wars weekends. I love DAK, I would travel to go there.

But put them all together and bam!

 

[aVASTGrl]

I still have never visited Universal. I am dying to get to Harry Potter. I teach middle school and my students talk about Universal and not Disney. I can't really afford to buy tickets for both places, and since I purchased DVC, I continue to stay at WDW. I did spend Memorial Day in 2012 at IoA and absolutely loved the Wizarding World of Harrry Potter and rated that as my favorite ride... Until Disneyland. Now I am smitten with that version of the Pirates of the Carribbean. I just can't stop talking about it. Yo Ho Yo Ho....

You really should try and get to Harry Potter! Universal really did a great job with it, and I haven't even been since the expansion! Hopefully next year. Honestly, the butterbeer alone is worth the trip

 

[aVASTGrl]

I think Busch Gardens Tampa is more fun than than all the WDW parks. I just can't make a vacation out of it.

WDW benefits from all the pieces working together. If you split those parks up and put them in different geographical areas I am not sure how I would feel about them. I definitely wouldn't pay a $100.00 cover charge to get into the food and wine festival. Actually, I still can't explain why I do that???

I'm not sure I would even go to Dhs except maybe during Star Wars weekends. I love DAK, I would travel to go there.

But put them all together and bam!

I totally agree. All of the parks put together create a very unique experience that an average amusement park, no matter how great their thrill rides are, just can't provide.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I still have never visited Universal. I am dying to get to Harry Potter. I teach middle school and my students talk about Universal and not Disney. I can't really afford to buy tickets for both places, and since I purchased DVC, I continue to stay at WDW. I did spend Memorial Day in 2012 at IoA and absolutely loved the Wizarding World of Harrry Potter and rated that as my favorite ride... Until Disneyland. Now I am smitten with that version of the Pirates of the Carribbean. I just can't stop talking about it. Yo Ho Yo Ho....

Not far of a drive. You can still "hop" on over.

Due to the roller coaster factor, it is not a surprise that is all they talk about. HP just adds to that. I hear a lot of folks talk about it.

Hence my surprise that the share grab seems small. But maybe in finance terms, that is actually significant. IDK.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I think Busch Gardens Tampa is more fun than than all the WDW parks. I just can't make a vacation out of it.

WDW benefits from all the pieces working together. If you split those parks up and put them in different geographical areas I am not sure how I would feel about them. I definitely wouldn't pay a $100.00 cover charge to get into the food and wine festival. Actually, I still can't explain why I do that???

I'm not sure I would even go to Dhs except maybe during Star Wars weekends. I love DAK, I would travel to go there.

But put them all together and bam!

I don't think BG is all that popular to the area. It does okay. But the few times I have fine, not too busy. From a marketing standpoint, I am surprised that folks head over to it at all as part of an "Orlando" vacation. I thought legoland was a haul and we stayed all the way at the end of 192 (western portion) and it wasn't even that far.

 

[DoingDisney]

As I said, the particular label you use doesn't really matter. By definition, the MK is a theme park- but it's unique in a way no other park is. Personally, I consider the MK to 1 part of an entire experience called WDW.

And while I often use the 2 phrases interchangeably, I realize that there is a difference between a theme park and an amusement park. Since those rankings are based on the popularity of amusement parks, I can see why the Disney parks as a whole didn't fare all that well.

Again, I don't care how they ranked on TA. It's not anything that affects me in any way. I'm just curious as to the weird rankings- and I think the poster who brought up the point that TA is ranking amusement park popularity explains a great deal. In my opinion, Universal most definitely beats WDW in the amusement park category. And that's perfectly fine with me.

It appears most people do not agree with you ...

 

[Planogirl]

Some people are complete roller coaster fanatics and they travel the country to ride them. I would imagine that parks like Cedar Point would rate far higher to them then what they might see as kiddie parks. It's all a matter of perspective and taste.

People are rating the parks individually or at least should be. They should not be rating the overall resort because that isn't what is being asked.

The Magic Kingdom is an amusement park and I bet that most travelers see it as that. It's not an insult but simply a fact. It's not that complicated.

 

[agavegirl1]

Have not read every post her but the truth is that Trip Advisor is a voluntary site used by a lot of people. During a year, a percentage of the reviewers will review where they actually went and must attest that they did. I have given a number of reviews myself since I do travel outside the US. TPI ranks Tokyo Disney Sea as the best park. The largely American users of Trip Advisor are answering according to this year's trip. Yes, WDW is not getting the "big new experience". Universal is because of Potter. Just check out the US/IOA attendance for 2014 and the number of members of this forum checking out the Universal forums for the first time ever. These ratings are a measure of "who is going where" more than anything.

 

[danny1649]

I lived in Indiana until recent move.We had a great park called Holiday World at Santa Claus,IN.Gave free drinks and sunscreen to all, soft drinks. Had some great wooden coasters and a few good live shows.If you are ever up that way give them a try.I think $52.00 ticket is worth it,sorry I can't remember childs ticket cost.They are closed in winter,cold weather.Do open front area around Christmas for meet with Santa pictures no rides open.Has great decorations and no charge to see Santa and he gives out free candy to children.

 

[aVASTGrl]

The Magic Kingdom is an amusement park and I bet that most travelers see it as that. It's not an insult but simply a fact. It's not that complicated.

Even taken individually, MK would still fall into a different category than a Cedar Point-type amusement park. Anyone who has experienced both, even if they prefer the latter type of park, I'm pretty sure would be able to tell the difference; you're right, it's not complicated

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

It appears most people do not agree with you ...

That does not seem to be the case.