Every year the TEA (Themed Entertainment Association) publishes a report on attendance at theme parks worldwide. This year the report is published in conjunction with AECOM. The report for 2011 came out recently. Here is a link to the full 2011 report.
Summarizing results from the report, the North American Disney parks all saw very small gains of 0-1% in 2011. Below is a table of attendance for North America in 2011.
Top Theme Parks in North America
| Park | 2011 | 2010 | Change | |
| Millions | Millions | % | ||
| 1. | Magic Kingdom | 17.1 | 17.0 | 1.0 |
| 2. | Disneyland | 16.1 | 16.0 | 1.0 |
| 3. | Epcot | 10.8 | 10.8 | 0.0 |
| 4. | Disney’s Animal Kingdom | 9.8 | 9.7 | 1.0 |
| 5. | Disney’s Hollywood Studios | 9.7 | 9.6 | 1.0 |
| 6. | Islands Of Adventure | 7.7 | 5.9 | 29.0 |
| 7. | Disney’s California Adventure | 6.3 | 6.3 | 1.0 |
| 8. | Universal Studios Orlando | 6.0 | 5.9 | 2.0 |
| 9. | Seaworld Orlando | 5.2 | 5.1 | 2.0 |
| 10. | Universal Studios Hollywood | 5.1 | 5.0 | 2.0 |
| 11. | Seaworld San Diego | 4.3 | 3.8 | 13.0 |
| 12. | Busch Gardens Tampa Bay | 4.3 | 4.2 | 2.0 |
| 13. | Knott’s Berry Farm | 3.7 | 3.6 | 1.5 |
| 14. | Canada’s Wonderland | 3.5 | 3.4 | 3.0 |
| 15. | Kings Island | 3.1 | 3.1 | 1.0 |
| 16. | Cedar Point | 3.1 | 3.1 | 3.0 |
| 17. | Hershey Park | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.0 |
| 18. | Busch Gardens Europe | 2.7 | 2.8 | -2.0 |
| 19. | Six Flags Magic Mountain | 2.7 | 2.6 | 3.8 |
| 20. | Seaworld Texas | 2.6 | 2.6 | 0.0 |
Disney retains the top five spots and six of the top seven in North America. The Magic Kingdom park at Walt Disney World in Florida remains the top theme park not only in North America but in the world with attendance of 17.1 million. Close behind it is Disneyland Park at Disneyland Resort in California with attendance of 16.1 million. The other three Disney parks in Florida round out spots 3-5 with gains of 0-1%.
In 2011 Universal Orlando’s Islands of Adventure leapt ahead of Disney’s California Adventure (DCA) into the sixth spot, with DCA falling to spot seven. The biggest gain of 29% was at Islands of Adventure attributable to the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Sea World San Diego also achieved large gains.
Looking at the global park attendance numbers, in 2011 Magic Kingdom and Disneyland are the top two as shown below. The top eight parks are all Disney parks.
Top Theme Parks Worldwide
| Park | 2011 | 2010 | Change | |
| Millions | Millions | % | ||
| 1. | Magic Kingdom | 17.1 | 17.0 | 1.0 |
| 2. | Disneyland | 16.1 | 16.0 | 1.0 |
| 3. | Tokyo Disneyland | 14.0 | 14.5 | -3.2 |
| 4. | Tokyo Disney Sea | 11.9 | 12.7 | -5.8 |
| 5. | Disneyland Paris | 11.0 | 10.5 | 4.7 |
| 6. | Epcot | 10.8 | 10.8 | 0.0 |
| 7. | Disney’s Animal Kingdom | 9.8 | 9.7 | 1.0 |
| 8. | Disney’s Hollywood Studios | 9.7 | 9.6 | 1.0 |
| 9. | Universal Studios Japan | 8.5 | 8.2 | 4.2 |
| 10. | Islands Of Adventure | 7.7 | 5.9 | 29.0 |
| 11. | Ocean Park, Hong Kong | 7.0 | 5.4 | 28.7 |
| 12. | Everland, South Korea | 6.6 | 6.9 | -4.6 |
| 13. | Disney’s California Adventure | 6.3 | 6.3 | 1.0 |
| 14. | Universal Studios Orlando | 6.0 | 5.9 | 2.0 |
| 15. | Hong Kong Disneyland | 5.9 | 5.2 | 13.5 |
| 16. | Nagashima Spa Land, Japan | 5.8 | 4.5 | 30.3 |
| 17. | Lotte World, South Korea | 5.8 | 5.6 | 4.1 |
| 18. | Seaworld Orlando | 5.2 | 5.1 | 2.0 |
| 19. | Universal Studios Hollywood | 5.1 | 5.0 | 2.0 |
| 20. | Walt Disney Studios, Paris | 4.7 | 4.5 | 4.7 |
| 21. | Europa Park, Germany | 4.5 | 4.3 | 5.9 |
| 22. | Seaworld San Diego | 4.3 | 3.8 | 13.0 |
| 23. | Busch Gardens Tampa Bay | 4.3 | 4.2 | 2.0 |
| 24. | De Efteling, Netherlands | 4.1 | 4.0 | 3.1 |
| 25. | Tivoli Gardens, Denmark | 4.0 | 3.7 | 7.2 |
The two parks at Tokyo Disney Resort are numbers three and four in the world. Both parks had reduced attendance in 2011, presumably because of the major earthquake in Japan. Tokyo Disney Sea is still the highest attendance “second gate” of any of the four multi-park Disney resorts in the world.
Disneyland Paris had attendance gains that allowed it to pull ahead of Epcot into fifth place.
The TEA report also has data on water parks. Typhoon Lagoon at Walt Disney World is the world’s top water park with attendance of 2.1 million. Blizzard Beach is third in the world with 1.9 million. See the report for additional data on water parks.
For historical attendance data at Disney parks prior to year 2010 and back to 1991 click on this link at Scottware.
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