For almost twenty years following its 1971 grand opening, Walt Disney World remained an unchallenged titan within the Orlando theme park trade. However Common Orlando Resort has slowly chipped away at Disney’s market share over the previous few a long time. Theme park mega-fans intently watch the battle for the highest tourism spot in Central Florida, and Disney stays a drive to be reckoned with.
Look no additional than the Themed Leisure Affiliation’s (TEA) annual experiences for theme park attendance for proof.
Magic Kingdom persistently ranks because the highest-attended theme park on the planet, in line with TEA’s World Sights Attendance Report. TEA’s most up-to-date findings, launched in June, additionally present simply how far Common Orlando has are available attracting guests to Central Florida. Common Studio’s Islands of Journey was the one North American park to not solely meet however exceed pre-pandemic attendance in 2022, with 11,025,000 guests in 2022, in comparison with 10,375,000 in 2019. In the meantime, Disney’s theme parks have but to bounce again to their pre-pandemic attendance ranges.
Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort sometimes present strong attendance estimates yearly, with Common Orlando Resort on Disney’s heels. In recent times, each Disney and Common confirmed appreciable positive factors in attendance. Nonetheless, TEA’s most up-to-date findings inform an fascinating story of the speed at which these theme park locations are recovering and what that might imply transferring ahead.
Themed Leisure Affiliation 2022 Report
TEA releases an annual report revealing estimated attendance at theme parks for that 12 months. In high locations, the trade continues to be in a part of bouncing again after three years of stifled journey.
Home journey garnered a big increase in attendance as pandemic-era restrictions started to subside. The report factors out that Orlando, a significant theme park hub, achieved big positive factors in attendance, primarily due to the power of the home market. Nonetheless, the report additionally discovered worldwide journey to the US was down 30% despite the fact that many journey restrictions have been lifted by 2022. That left most main theme parks with lagging attendance for the 12 months in comparison with what the trade noticed in 2019.
It stays to be seen if worldwide journey can bolster sufficient enterprise to deliver 2023’s attendance figures to pre-pandemic ranges.
Room for Progress
Walt Disney World’s 4 theme parks persistently rank among the many highest-attended theme parks in North America and worldwide. Final 12 months was no exception. Magic Kingdom sat squarely within the high spot with roughly 17,1331,000 guests. Regardless of drawing in additional guests than every other park worldwide, Magic Kingdom nonetheless noticed a 19% dip from its attendance in 2019. In reality, none of Walt Disney World’s parks returned to pre-pandemic attendance ranges in 2022.
A part of this decline was self-inflicted as Disney added a park reservation system to enhance the visitor expertise. Nonetheless, over the identical interval, income is up.
Households have loads of causes to contemplate a visit to Walt Disney World in 2023. Magic Kingdom opened TRON Lightcycle/Run this 12 months, a motorbike-style curler coaster. TRON follows a string of latest openings, together with Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind in EPCOT, an expanded France Pavilion at EPCOT, and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Common Orlando Resort Bouncing Again
As talked about earlier, Islands of Journey welcomed roughly 11,025,000 guests in 2022, in comparison with 10,375,000 in 2019. Neighboring Common Studios Florida additionally fared nicely in 2022, with roughly 10,750,000 guests crossing by means of its gates in 2022 in comparison with 10,922,000 in 2019.
Common Orlando Resort is gearing as much as aggressively develop within the coming years. Its third theme park, Epic Universe, is slated to open in the summertime of 2025. Time will inform if a 3rd park additionally boosts attendance on the different two Common theme parks, additional strengthening its positioning as a high performer within the ongoing Disney vs. Common battle.
California Theme Park Attendance Swings Upward
Disneyland Resort and Common Studios Hollywood needed to compensate for misplaced floor in 2022. Each remained closed for a portion of 2021, making final 12 months the primary full calendar 12 months in operation since 2019. Disney followers have been undoubtedly desirous to revisit Disneyland Park, as attendance grew by a staggering 97% from 8,573,000 in 2021 to 16,881,000 in 2022.
Disneyland Resort reopened on the finish of April 2021, and all through a lot of that 12 months, the park operated at a restricted capability and allowed solely California residents to go to Disneyland to accommodate bodily distancing. Whereas Disneyland exhibits marked indicators of enchancment from 2021, it nonetheless has room to develop earlier than it reaches pre-pandemic attendance quantities: Disneyland Park and Disney California Journey Park’s 2022 attendance dropped 9% from 2019.
Simply north of Disneyland, Common Studios Hollywood’s attendance elevated in 2022, with 8,400,000 guests admitted in 2022 and 5,505,000 guests admitted the 12 months prior. Like Disney, Common Studios Hollywood reopened from its pandemic-era closure within the spring of 2021.
Whereas the park has but to succeed in its pre-pandemic 2019 attendance ranges of 9,147,000 guests, 2023 often is the 12 months the park eclipses these figures. Common opened a brand-new land referred to as Tremendous Nintendo World this previous February to a lot fanfare. The brand new land won’t solely draw extra friends to the park, however including further sq. footage will accommodate bigger crowds sooner or later.
Will This Pattern Proceed?
Followers should anticipate TEA’s 2023 report to grasp how the Walt Disney Firm and NBCUniversal bounce again regarding their theme park attendance. Reigning champs like Magic Kingdom and Disneyland Park will doubtless stay within the high spots. Nonetheless, Common’s sturdy exhibiting for 2022 poses a sequence of questions for theme park fanatics:
Will Epic Universe’s opening draw even larger crowds to Common Orlando Resort? Has Dinsey World’s rising prices pushed even its most loyal followers to a breaking level? Which resort is opening extra thrilling new rides and sights? Which resort is extra financially accessible to the common American household?
Ask any Disney fan, and they’re going to inform you {that a} trip to the Home of Mouse appears and prices totally different than it used to. Maybe that is the opportune second Common has been ready for because it entered the theme park trade in 1990. As an alternative, this can be the second Common’s years of exhausting work come to fruition. It is going to be as much as Disney to resolve the way it responds and if its guests are prepared and keen to reply the decision.
This text was produced by Disney Dose and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.