Disney Attendance Dips While Harry Potter Keeps Universal Soaring
Photo Credit: Hogwarts castle is shown at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Island of Adventure in Orlando. Universal parks saw big attendance gains in 2016, while Disney parks dropped. Flickr / Scott Smith
Skift Take
Disney executives have said they don't mind sacrificing some attendance if they're still making good money. Both of these things happened last year — but the company is still working to drive numbers up in 2017 and the future.
It was a slightly less crowded — and more expensive — world at Disney parks last year.
The theme park giant saw attendance drop at each of its 11 global locations that were open the previous year, according to the latest worldwide attractions attendance report from the Themed Entertainment Association and the economics practice at engineering firm AECOM.
The 2016 TEA/AECOM Theme Index, released Thursday, also showed a slight drop of 1.1 percent at the top 25 theme parks in the world.
“Following record-setting numbers in 2015, attendance results in 2016 were more modest but still reflective of a healthy, growing industry,” said John Robinett, senior vice president for economics at AECOM. “The major theme park operators continued their positive performance, and most markets saw slow, steady growth, while weather, tourism and political issues contributed to minor declines in others.”
The report is not produced by the theme parks themselves, which do not a
