Monday, April 03, 2006

By the numbers


The 2004 estimate of U.S. theme park attendance from Amuseument Business shows the following attendance figures for Disney theme parks and their overall rank in the top 10:

1) The Magic Kingdom, 15.2 million, up 8% from 2003
2) Disneyland, 13.4 million, up 5%
3) Epcot, 9.4 million, up 9%
4) Disney-MGM Studios, 8.3 million, up 5%
5) Disney's Animal Kingdom, 7.8 million, up 7%

It's interesting to see that Epcot, which has been suffering from a lack of creative attention (with the ultimate slap in the face being the recent closure of the entire Wonders of Life pavilion) actually had a bigger growth rate than any of the Walt Disney World parks, and is the second-most-attended theme park at the Resort.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It has been speculated that Mission Space (2003) was a cause for such an increase... although I doubt it was the sole reason...

Epcot82 said...

Absolutely. Which shows you what can be done when a thrill ride is added. What no one has seen since the late 1980s (when Disney-MGM premiered The Great Movie Ride) is what could happen if Imagineers were really let loose to create an E-ticket, AA-filled, story-based, immersive, 15-minute attraction that doesn't just thrill the central nervous system, but also thrills the imagination and the intellect.

If Epcot added a truly innovative attraction based on its core philosophies, I think it could attract a lot more than just the "geeks."

(Remember, too, that the increase was based on the incredibly tough years of 2002 and 2003, when tourism slumped post-9/11.)