Southern California theme parks saw mixed results in the latest attendance report for 2024 with Knott’s Berry Farm the biggest winner, Universal Studios Hollywood the biggest loser and Disneyland remaining largely unchanged.
The Themed Entertainment Association released its annual Global Experience Index for 2024 on Thursday, Oct. 23 that serves as the definitive attendance rankings for the theme park industry.
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Attendance at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure was up a modest 0.5% in 2024 at both Anaheim theme parks.
Knott’s Berry Farm attendance was up 6.5% in 2024 — the biggest winner among the Top 20 North American parks on the TEA Index.
Universal Studios Hollywood’s 2024 attendance was down 9.9% — the biggest loser among the top U.S. parks.
Six Flags Magic Mountain (up 0.5%) and SeaWorld San Diego (up 0.8%) both saw slight attendance gains in 2024.
Worldwide, Disney’s Magic Kingdom (17.8 million) and Disneyland (17.3 million) remained the two most attended theme parks in 2024.
Universal Studios Florida and Universal’s Islands of Adventure — Disney’s chief rivals in Orlando — both saw significant attendance declines in 2024.
The North American Top 20 theme parks by attendance in 2024 according to the TEA Index.
- Magic Kingdom — 17.8 million (+0.7%)
- Disneyland – 17.3 million (+0.5%)
- Epcot – 12.1 million (+1.3%)
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios – 10.3 million (+0.3%)
- Disney California Adventure – 10.1 million (+0.5%)
- Universal Studios Florida – 9.5 million (-2.6%)
- Universal’s Islands of Adventure – 9.5 million (-5.5%)
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom – 8.8 million (+0.3%)
- Universal Studios Hollywood – 8.7 million (-9.9%)
- Knott’s Berry Farm – 4.5 million (+6.5%)
- SeaWorld Orlando – 4.4 million (+0.1%)
- SeaWorld San Diego – 4.0 million (+0.8%)
- Busch Gardens Tampa – 4.0 million (-0.6%)
- Cedar Point – 3.8 million (+5%)
- Kings Island – 3.5 million (+5%)
- Six Flags Magic Mountain – 3.3 million (+0.5%)
- Canada’s Wonderland – 3.3 million (+1%)
- Dollywood – 3.1 million (+0.8%)
- Six Flags Great America – 3.1 million (+5.0%)
- Hersheypark – 3 million (0%)
The merger of Six Flags and Cedar Fair created a new amusement park goliath that moved from 7th and 8th place individually on the global theme park company list in 2023 to 5th place combined just behind Universal in 2024.
Universal (59 million) maintained a comfy cushion ahead of the newly combined Six Flags (50.3 million).
Disney (145.2 million), China’s Fantawild (87.2 million) and Legoland parent Merlin (62.8 million) held onto the top three spots globally.
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The Themed Entertainment Association partnered with Entertainment + Culture Advisors, ParkDB and Storyland Studios on the 2024 TEA Index.