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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:
- Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World - 20.8 million (up 2.0%)
- Disneyland Park at Disneyland Resort - 18.6 million (up 2.0%)
- Tokyo Disneyland at Tokyo Disney Resort - 17.9 million (up 7.9%)
- Tokyo DisneySea at Tokyo Disney Resort - 14.6 million (up 8.5%)
- Universal Studios Japan - 14.3 million (down 4.3%)
- Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World - 13.7 million (up 10.0%)
- Epcot at Walt Disney World - 12.4 million (up 2.0%)
- Shanghai Disneyland - 11.8 million (up 7.3%)
- Disney's Hollywood Studios - 11.2 million (up 5.0%)
- Chimelong Ocean Kingdom - 10.8 million (up 10.6%)
- Universal Studios Florida - 10.7 million (up 5.0%)
- Disney California Adventure at Disneyland Resort - 9.8 million (up 3.0%)
- Disneyland Park at Disneyland Paris - 9.8 million (up 1.9%)
- Universal's Islands of Adventure - 9.7 million (up 2.5%)
- Universal Studios Hollywood - 9.1 million (up 1.0%)
- Hong Kong Disneyland - 6.7 million (up 8.1%)
- Lotte World, Seoul - 5.9 million (down 11.2%)
- Nagashima Spa Land - 5.9 million (down 0.2%)
- Everland - 5.8 million (down 7.3%)
- Ocean Park - 5.8 million (0% growth)
- Europa Park - 5.7 million (up 0.4%)
- De Efteling - 5.4 million (up 4.2%)
- Walt Disney Studios at Disneyland Paris - 5.2 million (up 1.9%)
- Tivoli Gardens - 4.8 million (up 4.5%)
- Chimelong Paradise - 4.6 million (up 11.9%)
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
