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One fine body…
The Americas theme park industry remains concentrated in the U.S. and still accounts for a high share of theme park attendance worldwide. While attendance at the top 25 theme parks worldwide increased 2.4% from 2023, North American parks remained relatively flat, showing a minor decline of 0.3%. This reflects a normalization of post-pandemic recovery patterns, and when combined with earnings reports, indicates a trend of operators focusing on revenue optimization rather than pure volume growth.
Within the U.S., Florida kept its position as the hub of theme park activity with 76.4 million visitors across eight parks. California ranked second, with 47.9 million guests for six parks. Once again, Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom topped the chart with 17.8 million visitors, but the major news story of 2024 was the corporate merger of Six Flags and Cedar Fair, creating the largest regional park operator in the Americas. The merger represented broader industry consolidation trends, as operators sought scale advantages in procurement, technology investment, and operational efficiency.
Here is how Amusement and Theme Parks fared in North America during 2024:
Top 20 Amusement/Theme Parks in North America |
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| 2024 Rank | Park & Location | % Change 2023-2024 |
2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
1 |
Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Lake Buena Vista, FL |
0.7% |
17,836,000 |
17,720,000 |
17,133,000 |
12,691,000 |
2 |
Disneyland Park Anaheim, CA |
0.5% |
17,337,000 |
17,250,000 |
16,881,000 |
8,573,000 |
3 |
Epcot at Walt Disney World Lake Buena Vista, FL |
1.3% |
12,133,000 |
11,980,000 | 10,000,000 |
7,752,000 |
4 |
Disney's Hollywood Studios Lake Buena Vista, FL |
0.3% |
10,333,000 |
10,300,000 |
10,900,000 |
8,589,000 |
5 |
Disney's California Adventure Anaheim, CA |
0.5% | 10,050,000 |
10,000,000 | 9,000,000 | 4,977,000 |
6 |
Univeral Studios Florida Orlando, FL |
-2.6% | 9,500,000 | 9,750,000 | 10,750,000 | 8,987,000 |
| 7 | Universal's Islands of Adventure Orlando, FL |
-5.5% | 9,450,000 |
10,000,000 | 11,025,000 | 9,077,000 |
8 |
Disney's Animal Kingdom Lake Buena Vista |
0.3% | 8,800,000 | 8,770,000 | 9,027,000 | 7,194,000 |
9 |
Universal Studios Hollywood Universal City, CA |
-9.9% |
8,700,000 | 9,660,000 | 8,400,000 | 5,505,000 |
10 |
Knott's Berry Farm Buena Park, CA |
6.5% | 4,503,000 | 4,228,000 | 3,899,000 | 3,681,000 |
11 |
SeaWorld Orlando Orlando, FL |
0.1% | 4,347,000 | 4,342,000 | 4,454,000 | 3,051,000 |
12 |
Seaworld San Diego San Diego, CA |
0.8% |
4,022,000 | 3,990,000 | 3,507,000 | 2,800,000 |
| 13 | Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Tampa, FL |
-0.6% | 3,975,000 | 4,000,000 | 4,051,000 | 3,210,000 |
14 |
Cedar Point Sandusky, OH |
5.0% | 3,780,000 | 3,600,000 | 3,444,000 | 3,327,000 |
15 |
Kings Island Mason, OH |
5.0% | 3,465,000 | 3,300,000 | 3,340,000 | 3,181,000 |
16 |
Six Flags Magic Mountain Valencia, CA |
0.5% | 3,317,000 | 3,300,000 | 2,993,000 | 3,047,000 |
17 |
Canada's Wonderland Vaughan, ON, Canada |
1.0% | 3,264,000 | 3,232,000 | 3,768,000 | 587,000 |
18 |
Dollywood Pigeon Forge, TN |
0.8% | 3,144,000 | 3,121,000 | –– | –– |
| 19 | Six Flags Great America Gurnee, IL |
5.0% | 3,045,000 | 2,900,000 | 2,535,000 | 2,675,000 |
20 |
Hershey Park Hershey, PA |
0.0% | 3,000,000 | 3,000,000 | 3,223,000 | 3,012,000 |
| TOP 20 TOTAL ATTENDANCE | -0.3% | 144,001,000 | 144,443,000 | 140,483,000 | 104,829,000 | |
Source: 2024 TEA Global Experience Index TM
