TEA Global Attendance Index is out

[denyuntilcaught]

The most dramatic takeaway from that entire report is Universal Hollywood. It should not be releasing its entire Super Nintendo gains (and then some) the subsequent year of its release.

Other than it seems to have been successful in Osaka and now Orlando (in much more complete versions), there has got to be some executives questioning that investments performance.

I think we’ll be getting more coasters out of that operation.

This years (2025) biggest stories will be Epic and HKDL. Shanghai meanwhile is proving ready for its second gate.

Just coming back to this - that recently refreshed 5-year (or was it a 10-year?) plan for USH needs to happen sooner rather than later. Fortunately, Universal has a reputation for moving quickly so hopefully we'll see something shortly after F&F opens.

To your latter points, given how long it takes to build a theme park, Shanghai would be wise to also start building their second gate now. It's clear they're at least in the concepting phase and have been for a while, but in order to meet the demands of the population they're gonna need more than just a Spiderman coaster here or a Zootopia land there to keep it growing.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

This seems like a good spot to drop this in to peruse…

Popularity Of The World's Leading Theme Parks Revealed In New Analysis

The popularity of the world’s leading theme parks has been revealed for the first time in new data showing which events and attraction openings cast the most powerful spell on fans.

www.forbes.com

 

[JD80]

See, but that's what I keep pointing out. According to the wait time numbers, you wait LONGER now than in 2019. Who cares if there were more people, the metrics you would really notice (waiting in line for rides/food) are longer now than they were in 2019. And that doesn't include that you had the option to skip lines back then without paying an insane extra price.

I'm curious how this tracks.

Looks like 2019 is very similar to 2025. 2018 was very busy compared to 2019.

That being said, the park systems are very different - more prolific mobile ordering, FP+ vs. LL, DAS changes. In 2019 I went in August and it it was comparable to some previous visits in early December in '22 and '23.

 

[BrianLo]

I dunno. Spider-Man is still IMHO one of the best theme parks rides ever designed and FJ is quite good (though some people cannot tolerate it well). Hogsmeade isn't as enthralling to walk around at Diagon but it still is fun to explore. I'd agree that the park has theming issues but it's not like USF is all that great in that category outside of one land.

To me, the probably is that there are really no "great" rides in USF, the kind of stuff that I would say "you don't want to be in Orlando and miss this". DA is awesome to explore, arguable as great as any theme park land ever developed but Gringotts is meh IMHO. The Mummy and MiB are the best rides and I'd place both of them below the the top four rides in IOA. YMMV.

The rides are indeed better, the park is better. I just mean I burn through that park far too quickly. The shows at USF consume time. IOA offers maybe an hour of total attraction time without re-rides. Very little other than lines to occupy your day. Hogsmead does the heavy lifting with an interactive wand.

 

[Touchdown]

Well LC faces the wrecking ball in 2026, weither it be Oz or Hyrule I expect its replacement to be on level with the Epic worlds or HP areas. Should help a lot.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

See, but that's what I keep pointing out. According to the wait time numbers, you wait LONGER now than in 2019. Who cares if there were more people, the metrics you would really notice (waiting in line for rides/food) are longer now than they were in 2019. And that doesn't include that you had the option to skip lines back then without paying an insane extra price.

I’m
Gonna totally make this up…

People do wait longer now…Because parks have been reduced to your standard “only for the rides” after Disney decided to charge you twice for them

But in 2019…everything was crowded…stores, restaurants,
Pathways, street entertainment…and money was being spent

But now it’s “you charge me for my rides…I’m not playing food and merch games…”

Except for Disney adults…who literally do more dumb things by the day…


But I made that all up…none of it is possible

 

[Chi84]

Am I missing something? Why the love for crowded parks? They’re miserable.

 

[Jrb1979]

Am I missing something? Why the love for crowded parks? They’re miserable.

Guests may not like crowded parks but Disney does. Crowded parks help with revenue from low margin things like merch and food.
Its why they keep raising prices. To make up for the lower attendance.

 

[Chi84]

Guests may not like crowded parks but Disney does. Crowded parks help with revenue from low margin things like merch and food.
It’s why they keep raising prices. To make up for the lower attendance.

Why should I care that Disney likes crowded parks?

Or are you saying that more people in the parks will result in Disney not increasing prices as much?

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

TEA’s attendance numbers are fine for seeing general trends, but anyone treating them as gospel is missing the nuances. Those figures count entries, not unique guests.

So every hard-ticket event, After Hours, and AP heavy day gets lumped in as a separate visit. We all know hard tickets have increased over the past several years. Both in duration and in number.

Total attendance can stay flat or even rise while the parks feel lighter on normal days. If you want to understand the real crowd picture, you need to look at day guest volume, park hours, and event scheduling. Not just the TEA’s models.

 

[Jrb1979]

Why should I care that Disney likes crowded parks?

Or are you saying that more people in the parks will result in Disney not increasing prices as much?

I'm not saying you should care.

They will still increase prices but revenue will increase a lot more with more people in the parks

I also think there is a change in how guests visit the parks now. Back when we went to parks in the 80s and 90s it was more about taking in the theming and atmosphere.

Where as now more guests care more about the rides. With that things like LL is a bigger sell.

 

[MisterPenguin]

So every hard-ticket event, After Hours, and AP heavy day gets lumped in as a separate visit. We all know hard tickets have increased over the past several years. Both in duration and in number.

Source?

 

[Chi84]

I'm not saying you should care.

They will still increase prices but revenue will increase a lot more with more people in the parks

I also think there is a change in how guests visit the parks now. Back when we went to parks in the 80s and 90s it was more about taking in the theming and atmosphere.

Where as now more guests care more about the rides. With that things like LL is a bigger sell.

So the only benefit of crowded parks is that Disney makes more money?

 

[MisterPenguin]

Guests may not like crowded parks but Disney does. Crowded parks help with revenue from low margin things like merch and food.
Its why they keep raising prices. To make up for the lower attendance.

Disney doesn't like guests to feel *over crowded*. GSATs go down . Less merch sales. Less repeat visits.

As per both Bobs.

 

[Jrb1979]

So the only benefit of crowded parks is that Disney makes more money?

Yes. It doesn't benefit guests. Never has but it's the business model parks are built on.

 

[Chi84]

TEA’s attendance numbers are fine for seeing general trends, but anyone treating them as gospel is missing the nuances. Those figures count entries, not unique guests.

So every hard-ticket event, After Hours, and AP heavy day gets lumped in as a separate visit. We all know hard tickets have increased over the past several years. Both in duration and in number.

Total attendance can stay flat or even rise while the parks feel lighter on normal days. If you want to understand the real crowd picture, you need to look at day guest volume, park hours, and event scheduling. Not just the TEA’s models.

As long as they aren’t counting park hopping as separate entries, how does that distort the real crowd picture?

 

[Stripes]

Guests may not like crowded parks but Disney does. Crowded parks help with revenue from low margin things like merch and food.

In a vacuum, sure. But park operators, including Disney, also value guest satisfaction and intent to return, which is harmed if guests have a poor experience due to crowding.

Its why they keep raising prices. To make up for the lower attendance.

Am I missing something? Attendance is increasing…

 

[doctornick]

Am I missing something? Attendance is increasing…

Attendance is lower than it was pre-COVID.

(But that’s a good thing from a guest prospective IMHO)

 

[wdwfan4ver]

If MK manages to stay on top throughout the years of construction, then there no place on earth that will ever beat MK.

The only Magic Kingdom loses is if Disney Management demolishes Haunted Mansion, people mover and Pirates of the Caribbean, but I don't see Disney doing that considering Swiss Family Robinson Tree House, Tiki Room, and Tomorrow Land Speedway are more likely.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

Source?

As long as they aren’t counting park hopping as separate entries, how does that distort the real crowd picture?

From the report:

They're counting visits. If you have a ticket and enter a park. It is a visit. So, yes based on reasonable assumption a person that park hopped could be counted as a visit twice. Maybe three times. Depending on how many parks they visit.

The problem with these types of things is that they are very vague when definining how calculations are made and/or what data they use. Because they are purposely being vague. Disney, Uni, and others can review the numbers and provide them with things but they are under no obligation to do so. And as long as a park thinks the number represents them in manner they feel it should.

To be brutally frank, I could give a flying fox whether Disney parks have more, less, or exactly the same attendance. I'm still going to go several times a year. I'm still going to compain that it's a blatant money grab. I still won't see a working YETI. I'll still curse Disney for making me pre-plan down to the time I take bathroom and water breaks. And I'll still find a way to make it a fun experience.

I'm just saying. Numbers can tell a lot of different stories. It can reinforce narratives and it can destroy them. And in some cases that can be done at the same time.