Why don't parks release attendance numbers?

Someone just asked me that very question, and I couldn't give them an adequate answer. So, I turn to the experts, the masses, and the trolls.

Any ideas?

Also, any ideas about the annual attendance of Six Flags America?

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~~~ Maddy ~~~

Actually alot of them do.

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(Former Signature replaced due to bad joke with accident) The Beast at night-Two peas in a pod?

Well, then, more specifically, what's the reasoning some parks adopt in not releasing attendance figures?

:p

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~~~ Maddy ~~~

In cases where the park is privately owned, it really isn't anybody elses business. Publically traded corporations are a different matter. By law this information must be available to the stockholders. Now it is possible that they would have a non disclosure agreement with the stockholders. What it all boils down to is accounting practices.

Here are figures for 2001 Park Attendance from Amusement Business:

TOP 50 AMUSEMENT/THEME PARKS WORLDWIDE
Rank Park & Location Attendance

1 TOKYO (Japan) DISNEYLAND 17,708,000

2 MAGIC KINGDOM at Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, Fla. USA 14,784,000 (*)

3 DISNEYLAND, Anaheim, Calif. USA 12,350,000 (*)

4 DISNEYLAND PARIS, Marne-La-Vallee, France 12,200,000

5 EVERLAND, Kyonggi-Do, South Korea 9,028,000

6 EPCOT at Walt Disney World,Lake Buena Vista, Fla., USA 9,010,000 (*)

7 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS JAPAN, Osaka 9,000,000 (*)

8 DISNEY-MGM STUDIOS THEME PARK at WDW,Lake Buena Vista, Fla., USA 8,366,000 (*)

9 DISNEY'S ANIMAL KINGDOM at 7,771,000 (*) Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, Fla., USA

10 LOTTE WORLD, Seoul, South Korea 7,450,000 (*)

11 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS at Universal Orlando, Orlando, USA 7,290,000 (*)

12 BLACKPOOL (England) PLEASURE BEACH 6,500,000 (*)

13 ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE at Universal Orlando, Orlando, USA 5,520,000 (*)

14 SEAWORLD FLORIDA, Orlando, USA 5,100,000 (*)

15 YOKOHAMA (Japan)HAKKEIJIMA SEA PARADISE 5,065,400 (*)

16 DISNEY'S CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE, 5,000,000 (*) Anaheim, Calif., USA

17 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD, 4,732,000 (*) Universal City, Calif., USA

18 BUSCH GARDENS 4,600,000 (*) TAMPA BAY, Fla., USA

19 SEAWORLD CALIFORNIA, 4,100,000 (*) San Diego, USA

20 TOKYO (Japan) DISNEYSEA 4,000,000 (*)

+21 NAGASHIMA SPA LAND, Kuwana, Japan 3,900,000

+21 TIVOLI GARDENS, Copenhagen, Denmark 3,900,000

23 KNOTT'S BERRY FARM, Buena Park, Calif., USA 3,589,000 (*)

24 SIX FLAGS GREAT ADVENTURE, Jackson, N.J., USA 3,560,000 (*)

+25 ADVENTUREDOME at Circus Circus, Las Vegas, USA 3,400,000 (*)

+25 MOREY'S PIERS, Wildwood, 3,400,000 (*) N.J., USA

27 PARAMOUNT'S KINGS ISLAND, Kings Island, Ohio, USA 3,350,000 (*)

28 UNIVERSAL'S PORT AVENTURA, Salou, Spain 3,339,000 (*)

29 SIX FLAGS MAGIC MOUNTAIN, Valencia, Calif., USA 3,200,000 (*)

30 SEOUL LAND, Kyonggi-Do, South Korea 3,106,845 (*)

+31 EFTELING, Kaatsheuvel, The Netherlands 3,100,000 (*)

+31 CEDAR POINT, Sandusky,Ohio, USA 3,100,000 (*)

+31 EUROPA-PARK, Rust, Germany 3,100,000 (*)

+31 LISEBERG, Gothenburg, Sweden 3,100,000 (*)

35 OCEAN PARK, Hong Kong 3,000,000

+35 SIX FLAGS OVER TEXAS,Arlington, USA 3,000,000 (*)

+35 SANTA CRUZ(Calif.) BEACH BOARDWALK, USA 3,000,000 (*)

38 PARAMOUNTS CANADA'S WONDERLAND, Maple, Ont. 2,975,000 (*)

39 GARDALAND, Castelnuovo Del Garda, Italy 2,934,378

40 SIX FLAGS GREAT AMERICA, Gurnee, III., USA 2,900,000 (*)

4l SUZUKA(Japan) CIRCUIT 2,889,900

42 SIX FLAGS WORLDS OF ADVENTURE, Aurora, Ohio, USA 2,750,000

43 BUSCH GARDENS, Williamsburg, Va., USA 2,700,000 (*)

44 SIX FLAGS MEXICO, Mexico City, Mexico 2,670,000 (*)

45 LA FERIA DE CHAPULTAPEC, Mexico City 2,600,000

46 HERSHEYPARK, Hershey, Pa. USA 2,560,000

+47 BAKKEN, Klampenborg, Denmark 2,500,000 (*)

+47 PARQUE ESPANA, Shima-gun,Japan 2,500,000 (*)

49 KNOTT'S CAMP SNOOPY, Bloomington, Minn., USA 2,418,000 (*)

50 SIX FLAGS OVER GEORGIA,Atlanta, USA 2,400,000 (*)

(+)Indicates Tie
(*)Estimated attendance
SOURCE: Amusement Business

Interesting numbers. That means Disney World took in almost $740 million just on admission and just at the Magic Kingdom!

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www.coasterimage.com
Dorney Park visits in 2002: 15

PKI is pretty high up in the chain if it's 27th in the world.

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(Former Signature replaced due to bad joke with accident) The Beast at night-Two peas in a pod?

You can't calculate Disney's take on admission by just multiplying the admission price by the attendance figures. You will be way off. What about annual passholders that visit the park 30 times a year? What about the special 4 days for $99 florida resident promotion? What about the park hopper passes or lengh of stay passes? What about kids that don't pay admission?

Get the picture??

*** This post was edited by the thrill on 7/29/2002. ***

I knew someone would be a smart alec and point that out.

It's a ballpark figure. I visited Disney parks 8 times in 2001 and probably didn't even pay a total of $200 between park hoppers, freebies, and the florida resident discounts.

If you really want to be picky about it, that attendance figure from the Magic Kingdom is estimated so even if every guest paid full price, it still wouldn't be 100% accurate.

I guess I just wanted to point out how much money Disney brings in just from Disney World alone. I found it interesting.

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www.coasterimage.com
Dorney Park visits in 2002: 15

I am very suprised Adventure dome would beat out both Cedar Point and Magic Mountain! Although the fact that CP is seasonal probably adds to that.

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wof fan

Why don't parks release attendance numbers?

Because doing so would make my trip planning way to easy.

Wow, Disney owns 7 the top 10 spots. They are like the Walmart of the amusement park industry.

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Ric Flair was hitting on the female host, he told her - "Space Mountain may be the oldest ride in the park, but it has the longest line." WOOOOO!

Why is Cedar Point's attendance estimated? Cedar Fair releases their numbers plain as day! :)

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-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew

I believe I heard that the attendance at SFA last year was 1.4 or 1.5 million.

Matt said:
I am very suprised Adventure dome would beat out both Cedar Point and Magic Mountain! Although the fact that CP is seasonal probably adds to that.
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wof fan

Why do you find it so hard to believe that the Adventure Dome beat out SFMM and CP?

Considering the fact that Las Vegas gets an estimated 35,000,000 visitors per year, its not hard to believe at all! On average, that is roughly 96,000 people coming into Sin City each day. Also consider the fact that the park is open year round and its located right off the strip in the very busy Circus Circus Hotel and Casino (BTW, A place I do not recommend anyone to stay at).

And people don't stay at the adventure dome for too long so the crowds aren't felt easily.

But some of these paces are more than one park and they count both in one figure. Like Suzuka Circuit in now way gets that many people, but when they count Matopia, Suzuka Circuit, Raceworld, and the indoor water park then it's a whole nother story.

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Lake Compounce-So Fresh and So Clean Clean

Lord Gonchar:

I know what you're saying but considering MK attracts a lot of families with kids, your estimate can't even be a ball park figure. You could easily be off by 200 million or so.

Now, let's just agree that Kraken is an awesome coaster(read your previous post in another topic) and call it a day.

Hey, any kraken fan is a friend of mine :)

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www.coasterimage.com
Dorney Park visits in 2002: 15

Remember with the Adventure dome you can get addmision without buying a ticket. Take my family we went in looked around then left we never bout any tickets for ride or a wristband or anything so all someone has to do is walk in then walk out and up goes the attendance.

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Every new beginning comes from sone other beginning's end.