2017 Theme Park Attendance Data

[donsullivan]

WDW Attendance data by decade since 1971.

This is based on a combination of multiple sources of data I've accumulated over the last decade. Recent years since 2,000 are either Amusement Business/TEA data. prior to that I left gaps in the data until I had at least 2 sources for the numbers and just recently filled in the gaps a couple of weeks ago. If anyone has alternate sources, especially for the older years I'd love to improve the accuracy of the data with more accurate numbers based on factual data.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Kind of wild how AK is now the 2nd most popular park at WDW. Of course that won't last long.

Why won't it last long?

 

[marni1971]

Epcot '87 = 13,277,381 which was the highest annual total in the history of the park. '97 was down to 11,800,000

It wasn’t that high in 87.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Why won't it last long?

They're probably thinking SW:GE will steal guests away from DAK once it opens. Personally, while I think numbers will dip a little, DAK will still have higher attendance numbers going forward.

 

[twebber55]

They're probably thinking SW:GE will steal guests away from DAK once it opens. Personally, while I think numbers will dip a little, DAK will still have higher attendance numbers going forward.

correct SWGE will bring in more people to DAK

 

[HauntedPirate]

WDW Attendance data by decade since 1971.

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*Looks at Epcot's numbers after 1997*

Getting rid of Horizons killed the park, see?!?!?!!!!! (I'm just kidding around... sort of... )

 

[CaptainAmerica]

@donsullivan lemme get that .XLSX.

So about 55,000,000 Total for the Maingates?

...the good news is that policy of “raising prices to limit attendance for the good of the guests” is working to a T

No, but what is working is "deliberately cannibalize Magic Kingdom by expanding elsewhere." Every time they add to MK, the crowds get worse. Developing DAK and putting Frozen in Epcot has curbed MK congestion, at least in the short term.

 

[lentesta]

I've seen internal attendance numbers for the MK and EP that are close enough to what TEA is reporting. I still have trouble accepting the DHS number.

It'll be interesting to see how this fall's implementation of seasonal multi-day pricing will affect DHS prior to SWGE.

 

[danlb_2000]

It seems like "time in the park" figures might be more meaningful. Is it counting the MK people twice -- those who go back to the room for their midday nap?

The TEA doesn't "count" anything for Disney. Disney does not provide number, and TEA doesn't have someone at every gate counting the attendance, so they are using other means to estimate the attendance.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I've seen internal attendance numbers for the MK and EP that are close enough to what TEA is reporting.

Isn't Disney's internal measurement the one that's "first click"? If so, wouldn't we expect some significant variance?

 

[donsullivan]

Isn't Disney's internal measurement the one that's "first click"? If so, wouldn't we expect some significant variance?

I've always been of the impression that 'first click' was about admissions revenue recognition. The park with the 'first click' of the admission entitlement has the admission revenue allocated to them

 

[danlb_2000]

I've always been of the impression that 'first click' was about admissions revenue recognition. The park with the 'first click' of the admission entitlement has the admission revenue allocated to them

I would assume Disney measures attendance in dozens of different was for different purposes.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

@donsullivan lemme get that .XLSX.

No, but what is working is "deliberately cannibalize Magic Kingdom by expanding elsewhere." Every time they add to MK, the crowds get worse. Developing DAK and putting Frozen in Epcot has curbed MK congestion, at least in the short term.

That is and should be the strategy...it will never make sense to carry the overhead without trying to get equal attendance

 

[donsullivan]

I would assume Disney measures attendance in dozens of different was for different purposes.

I guess what I'm saying is that the 'first click' reference isn't really about individual park attendance but revenue recognition so the two numbers will inherently always be different.

 

[shortstop]

I've seen internal attendance numbers for the MK and EP that are close enough to what TEA is reporting. I still have trouble accepting the DHS number.

It'll be interesting to see how this fall's implementation of seasonal multi-day pricing will affect DHS prior to SWGE.

DAK, too?

 

[MisterPenguin]

WRT counting gate clicks...

Let's say there were two theme parks which had their gates at a city's public park. And let's say you bought annual passes to both parks. So, you drive to the city park's parking-lot, go to park A for a while, then go to park B for a while, then go home.

And let's say lots and lots of people in town do that.

So, how would you count *attendance* at both parks? (Remember, you don't care about money spent on admissions). Wouldn't it be 'clicks' at the gate? Would you not be counting everyone who went to both parks twice because you're attempting to find out how many people were at both parks in a day?

So, same when counting park hoppers for the Disney parks that are 'next' to each other. Yeah, you're counting the same person twice. But you're also counting twice the Orlando resident with APs to Uni and WDW who went to Harry Potter in the morning and HEA in the evening. You're also counting people with Uni hoppers and APs twice who go to USO and IoA in the same day.

 

[Dunston]

Holy moley look at that AK attendance spike

 

[danlb_2000]

WRT counting gate clicks...

Let's say there were two theme parks which had their gates at a city's public park. And let's say you bought annual passes to both parks. So, you drive to the city park's parking-lot, go to park A for a while, then go to park B for a while, then go home.

And let's say lots and lots of people in town do that.

So, how would you count *attendance* at both parks? (Remember, you don't care about money spent on admissions). Wouldn't it be 'clicks' at the gate? Would you not be counting everyone who went to both parks twice because you're attempting to find out how many people were at both parks in a day?

So, same when counting park hoppers for the Disney parks that are 'next' to each other. Yeah, you're counting the same person twice. But you're also counting twice the Orlando resident with APs to Uni and WDW who went to Harry Potter in the morning and HEA in the evening. You're also counting people with Uni hoppers and APs twice who go to USO and IoA in the same day.

It all depends on how you are using the number. I wouldn't use the TEA numbers to make specific business decisions, but they do seem to provide a way to view the relative popularity of parks over time, even though the exact count might not be accurate to any specific measure.

Most of the money for park tickets goes into a single pot at WDW, so how do you divide up the revenue to apply it to each parks revenue/expense reporting? First click probably give you an accurate enough way to distribute this. The other option would be to use the Magic Bands/ticket card to get an estimate of how long people are spending in each park and distribute the venue that way.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I expect higher than 25. If it can handle the crowds in 2020.

I don’t want to see mgm with over 12,000,000...it would be insane. The ride capacity and footprint aren’t really increased...it just wasn’t originally laid out big enough to fit that comfortably. It’s a “feeder” park

 

[JustInTime]

Yay! I loved Pandora. This is great news and hopefully shows that if they build it, they will come.