2009 Theme Park Attendance Report Released

71jason

71jason

Well-Known Member
hokielutz said:
"Meanwhile, Universal Studios Orlando suffered a 12% drop in attendance in 2009 over 2008, putting them at 13th place with 5.4 million visitors. Islands of Adventure fared even worse at 17th most-attended, dropping 13.8% over 2008 down to just 4.5 million visitors"


I know the Uni and IoA stink in comparison to Disney, but these year over year drops in their attendance, particularly the double digit drop in percentage, leave me scratching my head. I am wondering whether or not those parks are sandbagging their 2009 numbers, in order to proclaim a much larger increase at the end of 2010? Since most of the attendance figures are kept internally, it makes one wonder.

It it could be Univ just isn't that attractive to the general public. :shrug:
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None of these numbers are from the parks themselves (as was mentioned in the Sentinel, Sea World has claimed for a few years now that they are undercounted), so I doubt it's sandbagging. A couple theories on Uni tho:

  • People waited a year for Harry Potter.
  • Rip Ride Rockit was delayed for months, and was spotty when it finally opened. It was meant to be a draw from Spring Break on, but developed a bad rep for barely running.
  • Weak 2009 Mardi Gras. Kelly Clarkson was big, but who else? 2010 was definitely a stronger line-up. On a similar note, Macy's Christmas Parade has not been updated, not sure it's the draw it was initially, especially with locals.
  • Deep discounts at WDW hotels = more on-site guests using Magic Express (and DDP and Magic Your Way) = too much effort/expense to go off-site [my pick for #1 reason]
  • Weak Orlando economy--of the big 3, Uni is the most "local-oriented" park. I imagine that $20 a month pass is an easy expense to cut. Locals who are Disney APs tend to be more hard-core Disney fans. Also, Disney's free entry on your birthday probably pulled a lot of Floridians' "birthday weekends" from Uni to WDW.
 
RSoxNo1

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
This reflects several things that are interesting. Universal's Islands of Adventure needs to have a huge year given the significant drop offs in attedance for Islands of Adventur and Universal Studios. Considering that a 10% increase in attendance this year will bring them back to their 2008 #s, I'm not sure the full effects of Harry Potter will be apparent until 2011 when it has a full year of operation.

They could have another scenario where Islands of Adventure eats away at the main Universal Studios park for attendance. It would seem that from a strict attendance standpoint, Disney can offer enough discounts to not have their attendance numbers affected by Harry Potter.

If Universal Studios' 2010 #s for both Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios have a total that's less than their 2008 #s, then they're probably in some trouble.
 
jakeman

jakeman

Well-Known Member
WDWFigment said:
I think your estimates would be correct if you mapped them from the mid-90s until now, as I think right around the time the DDP was adopted, an era of price illusion became the norm (did the company acquire a former Kohls executive?!?). However, if you do a comparison between '07, '08, and '09, I think you'd find a lot less discounting illusion, and a lot more actual discounting. Since the increases at question here are from '08 to '09, I don't think any older years are really all that relevant (at least for the specific comparison of pre and post economic downturn performance).
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I was mulling the long term trending rather than the short term, so I definitely agree that the past 2-3 years would show up as outliers.

Although, I think we would be surprised that the discounts weren't as deep as we were lead to believe the last 3 years, but I don't think we can reasonably deny that Disney didn't discounted its product to some degree.

Of course the above is only my assumption based on really no facts.
 
misterID

misterID

Well-Known Member
hokielutz said:
It it could be Univ just isn't that attractive to the general public. :shrug:
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It does have a lot to do with the economy. When people planning vacations there's just not a lot of room to visit other parks and sights in Orlando. UNI will get a boost from HP, though.

The major thing is no one has been able to top Walt Disney's theme park philosophy: Make a park for the entire family. That's why Disney keeps winning.
 
tecowdw

tecowdw

Well-Known Member
Wow! MK averaged 47,000 a day in 2009.
Good greif - no wonder it always seems so crowded!
:ROFLOL:

But I love it!!!
:king:
 
B

bork

Active Member
devoy1701 said:
I can probably look this up but I'm sure you guys will have the answer for me faster than I can look it up...

Has MK always held the top spot since it opened in 1971?
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I have been keeping a spreadsheet with the attendance numbers since 1992.

No, Disneyland was ahead of MK in 1995 and 1996. Also, until Tokyo DisneySea opened in 2001, Toyko Disneyland was consistently the top park in the world. I believe Tokyo Disneyland's 2001 attendance is the all-time high for any park at 17.7 million.

Some interesting facts:
-If you add up the WDW parks, this is the 4th year in a row that the total attendance has set an all-time high.
-MK and AK set all-time highs while Epcot and DHS highs were back in 1997 before AK opened (11.8 and 10.4 million)
-USF drew 8.9 million in 1998 before IOA opened. Now both parks combined only draw 9.9. They peaked in 2004 at 13 million.
-DL and DCA both set all-time highs
 
Studios Fan

Studios Fan

Active Member
bork said:
I have been keeping a spreadsheet with the attendance numbers since 1992.

No, Disneyland was ahead of MK in 1995 and 1996. Also, until Tokyo DisneySea opened in 2001, Toyko Disneyland was consistently the top park in the world. I believe Tokyo Disneyland's 2001 attendance is the all-time high for any park at 17.7 million.

Some interesting facts:
-If you add up the WDW parks, this is the 4th year in a row that the total attendance has set an all-time high.
-MK and AK set all-time highs while Epcot and DHS highs were back in 1997 before AK opened (11.8 and 10.4 million)
-USF drew 8.9 million in 1998 before IOA opened. Now both parks combined only draw 9.9. They peaked in 2004 at 13 million.
-DL and DCA both set all-time highs
Click to expand...

Thanks for the numbers.
 
SeaCastle

SeaCastle

Well-Known Member
Also interesting to point out is that WDW's 2009 percent increases were larger than their 2008 percent increases. Also, Disneyland attendance was down 4.5% or so last year. Glad to hear attendance is drastically increasing on the West Coast.
 
WDWFigment

WDWFigment

Well-Known Member
bork said:
I have been keeping a spreadsheet with the attendance numbers since 1992.

No, Disneyland was ahead of MK in 1995 and 1996. Also, until Tokyo DisneySea opened in 2001, Toyko Disneyland was consistently the top park in the world. I believe Tokyo Disneyland's 2001 attendance is the all-time high for any park at 17.7 million.

Some interesting facts:
-If you add up the WDW parks, this is the 4th year in a row that the total attendance has set an all-time high.
-MK and AK set all-time highs while Epcot and DHS highs were back in 1997 before AK opened (11.8 and 10.4 million)
-USF drew 8.9 million in 1998 before IOA opened. Now both parks combined only draw 9.9. They peaked in 2004 at 13 million.
-DL and DCA both set all-time highs
Click to expand...

That's very interesting--thanks for compiling and sharing!
 
Festivus

Festivus

Active Member
Looking at those numbers blows my mind. I had no idea Disney drew that many more people in Central Florida than Universal/IOA does. I mean Disney's 2nd busiest park, Epcot, drew more people than both USO and IOA combined! MK and Epcot combined drew 28.1 million visitors, almost triple of USO/IOA's 10.1 million. I have read so many posts on this board about USO and IOA threatening Disney's dominance, I just don't see it, even with Harry Potter. HP in a best case scenario could maybe add an extra 1 - 2 million visitors to IOA, but that still puts them well below even DAK's numbers, Disney's least popular park from an attendance point of view. I understand the numbers are skewed when you break down gate clicks for pure daily attendance numbers and compare that to actual new visitors, Disney comes out ahead because they have thousands of people parkhopping and bringing up the numbers for each gate over the course of a given weeks stay. But then again, visitors are visitors. You therefore could say the same about attendance at USO/IOA in that a certain daily percentage of their gate clicks are simply Disney overflow.
 
Pumbas Nakasak

Pumbas Nakasak

Heading for the great escape.
Animaniac93-98 said:
I was merely trying making a bit of humor. Maybe some drinks would have helped?

Or emoticons, glee style!

:lookaroun:lol::hammer::brick::rolleyes::drevil::D
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WHOOSH2.gif
 
George

George

Liker of Things
Premium Member
Interesting report. I do hope that Disney takes a big enough hit next year that they really get their butts in gear. Look at what's going on at DCA. Directly related to poor attendance. However, I'm not sure how big a drop is possible considering how Disney is currently organized.


Also, interesting that you folk were having discussions about the age(s) parks are aimed at. I have fun at all the O'town area theme parks and I think I'll like TLM ride and HP regardless of what the target demo is. Heck, I even liked EPCOT in the 80's when many of peers derided it by referring to it as the retirees park. I suppose I like attractions that are well done and have some investment behind them regardless of the marketer's evil plan. :lol:
 

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