2016 TEA Themed Entertainment Attendance Report

[donsullivan]

I know this is an annual battle of whose facts we trust, and which ones are right or manipulated, but TEA just released their annual attendance report. I updated some charts I've been maintaining for many years with the latest data that I thought I'd share for discussion.

As is my normal tradition when all this stuff comes out, these are the details as reported by TEA, I'm not getting into the debate of methods or whether the data fits any particular bias or perspective. If you find I've made an error in the transcription from the TEA report, please let me know and I'll be happy to make appropriate corrections.

I consciously choose to keep the Y axis scale the same on all of them to keep a proper relative perspective of the size of each competitor in the marketplace. Adjusting the scale for the data only served to skew that perspective.

The full report can be found at http://www.teaconnect.org/TEA-blog-...attendance-at-the-worlds-top-attractions/6947

Walt Disney World Attendance By Park

Disneyland Attendance By Park

Universal Orlando Attendance By Park

Orlando Market Share of 3 largest competitors

------------EDIT----------------
Added Orlando Water Park Market Share data below in post 101, but same chart added here for easy reference.

 

[King Panda 77]

#fakenews

 

[LuvtheGoof]

I know this is an annual battle of whose facts we trust, and which ones or right, or manipulated, but TEA just released their annual attendance report. I updated some charts I've been maintaining for many years with the latest data that I thought I'd share for discussion.

As is my normal tradition when all this stuff comes out, these are the details as reported by TEA, I'm not getting into the debate of methods or whether the data fits any particular bias or perspective. If you find I've made an error in the transcription from the TEA report, please let me know and I'll be happy to make appropriate corrections.

I consciously choose to keep the Y axis scale the same on all of them to keep a proper relative perspective of the size of each competitor in the marketplace. Adjusting the scale for the data only served to skew that perspective.

The full report can be found at http://www.teaconnect.org/TEA-blog-...attendance-at-the-worlds-top-attractions/6947

Walt Disney World Attendance By Park
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Disneyland Attendance By Park
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Universal Orlando Attendance By Park
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Orlando Market Share of 3 largest competitors
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You need to switch DL and DCA.

 

[Coaster Lover]

If you find I've made an error in the transcription from the TEA report, please let me know and I'll be happy to make appropriate corrections.

I believe the labels for the data for DCA and DL are reversed (Disneyland should be the data in green/yellow and DCA should be the data in red) same may also be true of UNI and IOA...

 

[donsullivan]

I believe the labels for the data for DCA and DL are reversed (Disneyland should be the data in green/yellow and DCA should be the data in red) same may also be true of UNI and IOA...

Fixed, thanks

 

[Katie G]

Thanks for letting us know the report is out there. Interesting that all the domestic Disney parks had a decrease

 

[danlb_2000]

Interesting, they are showing every US Disney park down, and all three Universal parks up.

 

[SpectroMan93]

I believe Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure need to be switched as well. Hmm, with the opening of Pandora and increased operating hours, I wonder if Animal Kingdom will be able to surpass Epcot's attendance in the next couple years.

 

[UpAllNight]

Whilst I don't think the figures are accurate, a 1% drop in market share is still a revenue drop of hundreds of millions of Dollars that Disney are potentially missing out on, so whilst it's minimal, I hope it gives cause for investment.

Interesting to see how Disney deal with Universal preparing their third theme park. Do they go for a fifth? That's where they'll feel the biggest relative shift in market share...when people start feeling they can spend 5days - a week at universal without Disney.

 

[donsullivan]

I believe Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure need to be switched as well. Hmm, with the opening of Pandora and increased operating hours, I wonder if Animal Kingdom will be able to surpass Epcot's attendance in the next couple years.

Fixed, thanks. Looks like I had everything in the tables that feed these right but typos in the chart labeling.

Whilst I don't think the figures are accurate, a 1% drop in market share is still a revenue drop of hundreds of millions of Dollars that Disney are potentially missing out on, so whilst it's minimal, I hope it gives cause for investment.

I think the key here is that this is the only constant source of this data that has been compiling it for a long period of time. Whether anyone agrees with their methodology, it's been a constant data set for a long time and can show trends over time.

 

[danlb_2000]

Raw numbers
Rank, Park, Change 2015-2016, 2016 Attendance, 2015 Attendance

1 MAGIC KINGDOM AT WALT DISNEY WORLD, LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL, U.S. -0.5% 20,395,000 20,492,000

2 DISNEYLAND, ANAHEIM, CA, U.S. -1.8% 17,943,000 18,278,000

3 TOKYO DISNEYLAND, TOKYO, JAPAN -0.4% 16,540,000 16,600,000

4 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS JAPAN, OSAKA, JAPAN 4.3% 14,500,000 13,900,000

5 TOKYO DISNEY SEA, TOKYO, JAPAN -1.0% 13,460,000 13,600,000

6 EPCOT AT WALT DISNEY WORLD, LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL, U.S. -0.7% 11,712,000 11,798,000

7 DISNEY'S ANIMAL KINGDOM AT WALT DISNEY WORLD, LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL, U.S. -0.7% 10,844,000 10,922,000

8 DISNEY'S HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD, LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL, U.S. -0.5% 10,776,000 10,828,000

9 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS AT UNIVERSAL ORLANDO, FL, U.S. 4.3% 9,998,000 9,585,000

10 ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE AT UNIVERSAL ORLANDO, FL, U.S. 6.5% 9,362,000 8,792,000

11 DISNEY'S CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE, ANAHEIM, CA, U.S. -0.9% 9,295,000 9,383,000

12 CHIMELONG OCEAN KINGDOM, HENGQIN, CHINA 13.2% 8,474,000 7,486,000

13 DISNEYLAND PARK AT DISNEYLAND PARIS, MARNE LA VALLÉE, FRANCE -14.2% 8,400,000 9,790,000*

14 LOTTE WORLD, SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA 11.5% 8,150,000 7,310,000

15 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD, UNIVERSAL CITY, CA, U.S. 13.9% 8,086,000 7,097,000

16 EVERLAND, GYEONGGI-DO, SOUTH KOREA -3.0% 7,200,000 7,423,000

17 HONG KONG DISNEYLAND, HONG KONG SAR -10.3% 6,100,000 6,800,000

18 OCEAN PARK, HONG KONG SAR -18.8% 5,996,000 7,387,000

19 NAGASHIMA SPA LAND, KUWANA, JAPAN -0.3% 5,850,000 5,870,000

20 EUROPA PARK, RUST, GERMANY 1.8% 5,600,000 5,500,000

21 SHANGHAI DISNEYLAND, SHANGHAI, CHINA – 5,600,000 NEW ENTRY

22 WALT DISNEY STUDIOS PARK AT DISNEYLAND PARIS, MARNE LA VALLÉE, FRANCE -1.6% 4,970,000 5,050,000*

23 DE EFTELING, KAATSHEUVEL, THE NETHERLANDS 1.8% 4,764,000 4,680,000

24 TIVOLI GARDENS, COPENHAGEN, DENMARK -2.0% 4,640,000 4,733,000

25 SEAWORLD FLORIDA, ORLANDO, FL, U.S. -7.9% 4,402,000 4,777,000

 

[spresso81]

It is amazing that after roughly 5 to 10 years of pure stagnation in updating the parks, WDW has only now fallen back to under 70% of Orlando's market share or even more surprising back to its 2014ish share numbers.

The next few years will be interesting to see how much Disney's new additions (Pandora, StarWars and all of the rumored major additions coming before and for the 50th anniversary) shift DisneyWorld's attendance upward and if this increases Disney's market share in Orlando back over 70% towards the 75% mark last hit almost 20 years ago.

 

[UpAllNight]

Few points;

Attracting 2 million guests more than Disneyland, Disney need to get a grip fast and improve the Magic Kingdom experience. It has significantly less attractions than Disneyland and the gap will increase further when Star Wars opens. They need to get their heads around the idea that people will always visit the castle park, no matter what other options are on the table at the other 3. Magic Kingdom is seriously underbuilt for its visitation numbers.

Seaworld still in the top 25 parks visited world wide, yet talk continues of their 'struggle'. I suppose it's all relative, but it was heaving both times we went in May.

 

[Coaster Lover]

It would be interesting to include the waterparks in these numbers... and, I think justifiably, to really look at each chain's market shares, you should be including the water parks for fair comparisons... just my thought...

 

[seascape]

Including water parks

WDW. 58,095,000
Uni. 20,670,000
Seaworld Discover Cove isnt listed but excluding that orlando waz 5,838,000

 

[Daveeeeed]

I believe Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure need to be switched as well. Hmm, with the opening of Pandora and increased operating hours, I wonder if Animal Kingdom will be able to surpass Epcot's attendance in the next couple years.

EPCOT has the unique ability to attract hordes of locals unlike Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. I expect it will come very close, but won't top EPCOT if they add Ratatouille soon enough. Animal Kingdom though will probably take an evening from Hollywood Studios and the Magic Kingdom as EPCOT has the restaurants for the evening.
So theoretically you go to Disney for 4 days. Now I would at the very least guess a full day would go to Animal Kingdom minimizing hoppers to HWS & MK in the evening. But once Star Wars Land opens I guarantee that EPCOT will be treading on fine water for 4th place.

 

[andysol]

Interesting, they are showing every US Disney park down, and all three Universal parks up.

Didn't we expect that?

Whilst I don't think the figures are accurate, a 1% drop in market share is still a revenue drop of hundreds of millions of Dollars that Disney are potentially missing out on, so whilst it's minimal, I hope it gives cause for investment.

I disagree- I think they are relatively accurate- and it concurs with all the quarterly earnings calls we've heard. They have had decreased attendance while having more revenue and significantly more profit- near double digit profit. They're making more money from less people.
And while that sounds great in theory- because who wouldnt mind paying a little more for fewer crowds? In reality, they are using MM+ and Magic Bands to control operations and staffing, so not only are you having the same wait times you've always had- but you're also having no "slow" times anymore as staffing and ops can be reduced to reflect that. Resulting in? More profits. The revenue increases are a result of price hikes, while the profits- which are double the % increase of revenue- are a result of staffing/ops cuts where they are able (namely, slower periods). The only benefit we get is less crowds on pathways.
That all said- Disney and it's shareholders are getting exactly what they want.

 

[UpAllNight]

Didn't we expect that?


I disagree- I think they are relatively accurate- and it concurs with all the quarterly earnings calls we've heard. They have had decreased attendance while having more revenue and significantly more profit- near double digit profit. They're making more money from less people.
And while that sounds great in theory- because who wouldnt mind paying a little more for fewer crowds? In reality, they are using MM+ and Magic Bands to control operations and staffing, so not only are you having the same wait times you've always had- but you're also having no "slow" times anymore as staffing and ops can be reduced to reflect that. Resulting in? More profits. The only benefit we get is less crowds on pathways.
That all said- Disney and it's shareholders are getting exactly what they want.

Your points are true about them increasing profit... but they could increase profit further if more people are coming through the doors. But I really think the parks can't handle that with their current infrastructure. God help anyone visiting this summer because at times in May they were already getting too busy, especially at the studios.

Depends where cuts are coming. I watched 5 people trim the same bush outside the contemporary at the same time, working at a veeeery leisurely pace indeed. Cuts always get a negative reaction, but it depends if they're sensible ones that don't have a negative impact on the guest experience.

 

[OvertheHorizon]

I want Universal to keep building, growing, and getting better, because that seems to be the only thing that will motivate the WDC into building and adding attractions at WDW.

 

[ChrisFL]

Disney really REALLY needs to spread the crowds to their other parks, so hopefully between Avatar, Star Wars and whatever Epcot has, they can start to get improved attendance around and not just MK, because it is bursting at the seams