From: jcstodd@mca.com (Jeff Stoddard)
Newsgroups: rec.parks.theme
Subject: Re: Theme Park Attendance
Date: Mon, 08 Jan 1996 09:00:34 -0800

> Is it possibly that you could post the whole list, which I beleive is the
> top 50.  The last list I've seen was about 4 years old.  It would be 
> greatly appreciated by the many of us who wish not to shell out
> the big bucks for AB.
> 
> Ted Ansley **Rollercoaster Fan<atic>**
> MD/DC ACE Regional Rep
> ansley@annap.infi.net


Wow, you guys are really testing my typing abilities!

>From  the December 18-31, 1995 issue of Amusement Business

North American Amusement/Theme Parks
Estimated attendance (millions)

1.  Disneyland                    14.1
2.  Magic Kingdom                 12.9
3.  EPCOT                         10.7
4.  Disney-MGM                     9.5
5.  Universal Studios Florida      8.0
6.  Sea World of Florida           4.95
7.  Universal Studios Hollywood    4.7
8.  Six Flags Great Adventure      4.0
9.  Busch Gardens Tampa            3.8
10. Sea World of California        3.75
11. Cedar Point                    3.5
12. Paramount's Kings Island       3.47
13. Six Flags Magic Mountain       3.4
13. Knott's Berry Farm             3.4
15. Santa Cruz Boardwalk           3.1
16. Six Flags Great America        3.0
17. Six Flags over Texas           2.9
18. Paramount Canada's Wonderland  2.875
19. Six Flags over Georgia         2.8
20. Knott's Camp Snoopy            2.625
21. Paramount's Great America      2.5
22. Paramount's Kings Dominion     2.45
23. Six Flags Wild Safari          2.4
23. Six Flags AstroWorld           2.4
25. Busch Gardens The Old Country  2.375
26. Dollywood                      2.1
27. Six Flags over Mid America     2.0
27. Opryland                       2.0
27. Fiesta Texas                   2.0
30. Hersheypark                    1.875
31. Silver Dollar City             1.76
32. Paramount's Carowinds          1.725
33. Marine World/Africa USA        1.6
34. Sea World of Ohio              1.54
35. Casino Pier                    1.5
36. Kentucky Kingdom               1.45
36. Sea World of Texas             1.45
38. Kennywood                      1.4
39. La Ronde                       1.328
40. Morey's Pier                   1.2
40. Dorney Park                    1.2
42. Valleyfair!                    1.1
42. Geauga Lake                    1.1
42. Mariner's Landing              1.1
45. Lagoon (Utah)                  1.074
46. Darien Lake                    1.05
47. Elitch Gardens                 1.0
47. Worlds of Fun                  1.0
49. Playland Park                  0.991
50. Knoebels Amusement Resort      0.99

-- 
Jeff Stoddard            MCA             jcstodd@mca.com


I don't know if you didn't see my earlier post but I checked the
days that the following parks were open and posted a few days ago,
here it goes again:

SFGAd was open 162 days in 1995, Cedar Point was open 122 days, and 
PKI was open 117 days, and for comparison some other parks are listed.

SFGAd: 4 mil/156=  25641 people/day
CP:    3.5 mil/122=  28688 people/day
PKI:   3.47 mil/117= 29658 people/day
SFGAm: 3 mil/123= 24390 people/day
PCWo:  2.875 mil/122= 23566 people/day

DL:    14.1 mil/365=  38630 people/day
MK:    12.9 mil/365= 35342 people/day
EPCOT: 10.7 mil/365= 29315 people/day

Paramount King's Island appears to be the busiest seasonal park in North
America on a per day basis unless a major park has a shorter season with
near as many people.  Also, it is clear that even though Disneyland is open
every day, its per day average is better than the busiest seasonal park.
SFGAd's edge over other seasonal parks is because it has a longer season
then most of the other large seasonal theme parks.  Most of the large
parks in the south such as the other Six Flags parks have much longer seasons
so I did not include them in the list.

Ted Ansley 
**Rollercoaster Fan<atic>**
ansley@annap.infi.net

From: joelz2@aol.com (JoelZ2)
Newsgroups: rec.parks.theme
Subject: Re: NJ IS RIPPED OFF!!!  Was:Theme Park Attendance
Date: 11 Jan 1996 14:44:38 -0500

mmatthew@omni.voicenet.com (Matthew Matthew) writes:

>Six flags Great Adventure is only open for THREE MONTHS and then about 2 
>months of weekends.  I'm just guestimatting, but I think it's per day 
>attendance is only bettered by Disney Land.

Hmmmm.  I started thinking about this & I have to agree--avg. *daily*
attendance would be an excellent measuring stick of park popularity.  So,
I took the top 25 or so on the AB list and defined them as either "A"
parks (open 365 days, DL, USF, etc.), "B" parks (open approx. 240
days--SFMM, etc.), "C" parks (open approx 150 days--PGA, Carrowinds,
etc.), and "D" parks (open approx 120 days--PKI, SFGADv, etc.).

While hardly scientific, it does create some interesting statistics (and a
revised top 10 for daily attendance)

1.  Disneyland  (39,630)
2.  Magic Kingdom  (35,342)
3.  Six Flags Great Adv. (33,333)
4.  EPCOT (29,315)
5.  Cedar Point (29,160)
6.  Paramount's Kings Island (28,917)
7.  Disney-MGM (26,027)
8.  Six Flags Great America (25,000)
9.  Paramounts Canadas Wonderland (23,958)  
10. Universal Studios Florida (21,917)

Like I said...hardly scientific, but kind of interesting.

JZ