According to numbers released today by the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) and engineering firm AECOM, global theme parks saw more than half a billion visitors for the first time in 2018, with attendance jumping 5.4% from 476 million to 501 million. Growth at water parks was 2.5%.

Disney remained the top theme park company with an estimated growth of 4.9% from 150 million visits to 157 million visits. Merlin Entertainment (Legoland and more) saw a 1.5% increase up to 67 million visitors, while Universal Parks saw a 1.2% increase to 50 million.

Other familiar names in the Top 10 are Six Flags at #7 with 32 million visitors, Cedar Fair at #8 with nearly 26 million visitors, and SeaWorld at #9 with 22 million visitors. SeaWorld was up 8.6% in 2018 after a 5% loss the previous year.

Looking at the individual parks, Disney holds 8 of the Top 10 and 12 of the Top 25 spots, with Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World remaining the most visited theme park.

Top 25 Attendance 2018:

1. Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World – 20.8 million (up 2.0%)
2. Disneyland Park at Disneyland Resort – 18.6 million (up 2.0%)
3. Tokyo Disneyland at Tokyo Disney Resort – 17.9 million (up 7.9%)
4. Tokyo DisneySea at Tokyo Disney Resort – 14.6 million (up 8.5%)
5. Universal Studios Japan – 14.3 million (down 4.3%)
6. Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World – 13.7 million (up 10.0%)
7. Epcot at Walt Disney World – 12.4 million (up 2.0%)
8. Shanghai Disneyland – 11.8 million (up 7.3%)
9. Disney’s Hollywood Studios – 11.2 million (up 5.0%)
10. Chimelong Ocean Kingdom – 10.8 million (up 10.6%)
11. Universal Studios Florida – 10.7 million (up 5.0%)
12. Disney California Adventure at Disneyland Resort – 9.8 million (up 3.0%)
13. Disneyland Park at Disneyland Paris – 9.8 million (up 1.9%)
14. Universal’s Islands of Adventure – 9.7 million (up 2.5%)
15. Universal Studios Hollywood – 9.1 million (up 1.0%)
16. Hong Kong Disneyland – 6.7 million (up 8.1%)
17. Lotte World, Seoul – 5.9 million (down 11.2%)
18. Nagashima Spa Land – 5.9 million (down 0.2%)
19. Everland – 5.8 million (down 7.3%)
20. Ocean Park – 5.8 million (0% growth)
21. Europa Park – 5.7 million (up 0.4%)
22. De Efteling – 5.4 million (up 4.2%)
23. Walt Disney Studios at Disneyland Paris – 5.2 million (up 1.9%)
24. Tivoli Gardens – 4.8 million (up 4.5%)
25. Chimelong Paradise – 4.6 million (up 11.9%)

The Top 25 theme parks represent just 252 million of the 501 million total visitors to global theme parks.

While not making the Top 25 globally, both SeaWorld Orlando and SeaWorld SanDiego were up significantly.

SeaWorld Orlando – 4.5 million (up 16.0%)
SeaWorld San Diego – 3.7 million (up 20.1%)

Water parks Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach remained in second and third place behind China’s Chimelong Water Park. Volcano Bay at Universal Orlando was sixth worldwide.

Source: TEA/AECOM

Tom Bell

Tom is the former host/producer of the Disneyland Edition podcast and is currently the co-host of the Connecting With Walt podcast, plus is also providing Disneyland content from the parks. He enjoys traveling with friends and spending time with family, including his son and grandson. In his spare time he volunteers with Scouts BSA and Cub Scouts, and helped found his son's former Cub Scout Pack. His favorite Disneyland attraction is Space Mountain.

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