Theme Park Visits Drop a Bit in 2002

MouseMan · #1 (**permalink**) 12-22-2002, 01:14 PM

Theme Park Visits Drop a Bit in 2002-Report
Fri Dec 20,11:20 PM ET - Reuters/Variety Industry

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - North American theme park attendance barely fell in 2002 as local visitors picked up some of the slack left by slow international travel to big U.S. parks, a leading industry magazine said on Friday.

Walt Disney Co.'s properties continued to lead the pack, with 96.47 million visitors worldwide, about double the 50.49 million of Six Flags Inc ., Amusement Business magazine reported in its annual estimates for the sector.

Disney's venerable Disneyland in Anaheim, California showed a rise in attendance in 2002, bucking the trend at other major Disney parks, according the magazine, which independently compiled the forecasts.

Destination parks such as Orlando, Florida based properties owned by Disney, Universal and competitors, managed to make up partially for a drop in international visitors with more local promotions, Amusement Business parks and attractions editor Tim O'Brien said.

Disney had said in November that international visitors to U.S. parks had dropped 20 percent in the quarter ending in September, compared with a year earlier, and had dropped about 35 percent in the June quarter.

"While the international people are away, the local people are coming to play," said O'Brien.

"They are building up a strong base with locals," he said. "We are probably going to see a real huge jump in attendance at all these destinations parks in the next couple of years as the international comes back."

Total visits at the 50 biggest North American theme parks fell to 170.8 million, down 3.2 million from 2001 and off 4.3 million from the best year ever, 2000, the trade publication said.

Disney's global total was up from 94.7 million visitors the magazine had estimated for 2001, thanks largely to a strong start at DisneySea, the second Disney Tokyo amusement park, which opened in September 2001.

Six Flags total attendance dropped from 51.2 million the previous year.

Attendance at the largest U.S. Disney parks was down 4 percent to 8 percent, expect for Disneyland, where attendance rose 3 percent to 12.7 million.

Tokyo Disneyland lost its No. 1 global spot, falling to 13 million visitors from nearly 18 million the previous year, as some guests went to the new, second Tokyo park. Tokyo's DisneySea had 12 million visitors, making it the fourth biggest park in the world by attendance.

The Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World took the No. 1 spot with 14 million visitors, down 5 percent from the prior year.

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