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2018 AECOM Attendance Theme Park Index

Pokemaniac

Mountain monkey
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Some general observations, in no particular order:
  • For Parques Reunidos, a 1.5 % growth is reported, up to 20.9 million visitors in 2018. However, this year they acquired Belantis and Tropical Islands, which had a combined total attendance of 1.8 million before the takeover. If their visitor numbers are included into Parques Reunidos' overall numbers for 2018, the chain is doing really badly, as those 1.8 million guests (or however many there were in 2018) only translate into a net gain of 300,000 for the chain as a whole. If they aren't counted this year, however, the chain appears to be doing decently well. Such a shame...
  • It looks like OCT China is on track to pass Universal to become the fourth biggest chain by attendance this year. A jump in attendance of 15%, or seven million guests, in one year is a really serious number (especially considering it followed a 2017 where the number was 32%/10 million). On the other hand, I expect Universal to take back the fourth spot when Universal Studios Beijing opens. Also interesting to see that there are three Chinese chains among the top 6 by attendance.
  • Yay, SeaWorld is rebounding! They're up almost 9 %, percentage-wise that's the biggest for any of the top 10 chains outside China. In the individual figures, Sea World Orlando is up 16% and Sea World San Diego is up 20%. Guess those new coasters helped a lot,
  • Disney is going as crazy as ever. Another 5 % growth, another seven million visitors. Also interesting to see a 10 % attendance increase at Animal Kingdom. I guess they're still enjoying good publicity following the opening of Avatar land.
  • Strange to see Universal Studios Japan doing so poorly when the Tokyo Disney parks are up. Maybe it's starting to be a little while since Potter?
  • Lotte World took a hit, 11% down from 2017. I heard elsewhere this is due to a slump in Chinese visitors following the THAAD debacle. Similarly, Everland was down 7.3%. Might be time to get another coaster soon?
  • Not theme park related, but what's with the 26% visitor increase to the Louvre?
  • I'm always surprised when I remember that Cedar Fair's most visited park is not Cedar Point, but Knott's Berry Farm. Cedar Point is not second either, that goes to Canada's Wonderland.
  • Liseberg down despite Valkyria? Oh well, it's only 0.2%, but I suspect the management had expected it to have a greater effect. Perhaps it was because Valkyria opened so late?
  • Parque Warner Madrid goes up 18% this year, so it looks like Parques Reunidos is doing something right. Or maybe it's just because they have a monopoly on parks in Madrid and the Spanish economy is going strong at the moment.
 

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Giga Poster
There were reports last summer that both Swedish parks were down in attendance because of the heat wave that lasted basically all of June/July. Down where I live we went weeks without a drop of rain (which was highly unusual for July) and I heard Gothenburg/Stockholm weren't much better. Plus Valkyria didn't open until the very end of the summer season so it couldn't make much impact.

Edit: Found an article in Swedish where the president blames the heat and the world cup as major factors:
https://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=104&artikel=7004082

Good to see Europa Park staying stable despite the fire.
 
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Nicky Borrill

Strata Poster
There were reports last summer that both Swedish parks were down in attendance because of the heat wave that lasted basically all of June/July. We went weeks without a drop of rain for example.

(Plus Valkyria didn't open until the very end of the summer season)
How strange this affected them negatively... the rise in attendance in UK has been ‘partly’ attributed to the same thing.
 

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Giga Poster
How strange this affected them negatively... the rise in attendance in UK has been ‘partly’ attributed to the same thing.
It got to the point where some days were unbearable though. I myself don't prefer going to parks when it's really hot outside, better when it's a bit cooler.
 
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