1 MAGIC KINGDOM at Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, Fla. USA 14,044,000*
2 TOKYO (Japan) DISNEYLAND 13,188,000*
3 DISNEYLAND, Anaheim, Calif. USA 12,720,000*
4 TOKYO (Japan) DISNEYSEA 12,174,000*
5 DISNEYLAND PARIS, Marne-La-Vallee, France 10,230,000*
6 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS JAPAN, Osaka 8,811,000*
7 EVERLAND, Kyonggi-Do, South Korea 8,800,000
8 EPCOT at Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, Fla., USA 8,620,768*
9 LOTTE WORLD, Seoul, South Korea 8,500,000*
10 DISNEY-MGM STUDIOS THEME PARK at Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, Fla., USA 7,870,733*
11 DISNEY’S ANIMAL KINGDOM at Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, Fla., USA 7,305,600*
12 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS at Universal Orlando, Orlando, USA 6,850,000*
13 BLACKPOOL (England) PLEASURE BEACH 6,200,000*
14 ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE at Universal Orlando, Orlando, USA 6,072,000*
15 DISNEY’S CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE, Anaheim, Calif., USA 5,311,000*
16 YOKOHAMA (Japan) HAKKEIJIMA SEA PARADISE 5,300,000*
17 SEAWORLD FLORIDA, Orlando, USA 5,200,000*
18 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD, Universal City, Calif. USA 4,576,000*
+19 BUSCH GARDENS TAMPA BAY, Fla., USA 4,300,000*
+19 ADVENTUREDOME at Circus Circus, Las Vegas, USA 4,300,000*
21 SEAWORLD CALIFORNIA, San Diego, USA 4,000,000*
22 KNOTT’S BERRY FARM, Buena Park, Calif., USA 3,479,895*
+23 EUROPA-PARK, Rust, Germany 3,300,000*
+23 CEDAR POINT, Sandusky, Ohio, USA 3,300,000*
25 PARAMOUNT’S KINGS ISLAND, Kings Island, Ohio, USA 3,277,975*
26 TIVOLI GARDENS, Copenhagen, Denmark 3,266,000
27 MOREY’S PIERS, Wildwood, N.J., USA 3,230,000*
28 EFTELING, Kaatsheuvel, The Netherlands 3,200,000
29 SIX FLAGS GREAT ADVENTURE, Jackson, N.J., USA 3,150,000*
30 SIX FLAGS MAGIC MOUNTAIN, Valencia, Calif., USA 3,050,000*
31 UNIVERSAL’S Mediterrania (formerly Port Aventura), Salou, Spain 3,040,000*
+32 SANTA CRUZ (Calif.) BEACH BOARDWALK, USA 3,000,000*
+32 OCEAN PARK, Hong Kong 3,000,000*
35 HUIS TEN BOSCH, Sasebo City, Japan 2,840,000*
36 SEOUL LAND, Kyonggi-Do, South Korea 2,802,500*
37 LA FERIA DE CHAPULTAPEC, Mexico City 2,800,000
38 LISEBERG, Gothenburg, Sweden 2,749,000*
39 SUZUKA (Japan) CIRCUIT 2,705,000*
41 PARAMOUNTS CANADA’S WONDERLAND, Maple, Ont. 2,628,413*
42 SIX FLAGS OVER TEXAS, Arlington, USA 2,600,000*
43 SIX FLAGS GREAT AMERICA, Gurnee, Ill., USA 2,575,000*
+45 BUSCH GARDENS, Williamsburg, Va., USA 2,500,000*
+45 ALTON TOWERS, Staffordshire, England 2,500,000
47 CAMP SNOOPY at Mall of America, Bloomington, Minn., USA 2,469,000*
48 SIX FLAGS MEXICO, Mexico City, Mexico 2,450,000*
49 NAGASHIMA SPA LAND, Kuwana, Japan 2,375,000*
50 WALT DISNEY STUDIOS PARK, Marne-La-Valee, France 2,200,000*
44 HERSHEYPARK, Hershey, Pa. USA 2,551,000
34 GARDALAND, Castelnuovo Del Garda, Italy 2,950,000
40 BAKKEN, Klampenborg, Denmark 2,700,000*

* Geschätzte Besucherzahl

_________________________________________________________________________________

Visitation Down Worldwide, But 2003 Still Third Best Ever

Visitation at theme parks and amusement parks worldwide was down 1.5% during 2003, bringing the total attendance at the 50 most visited parks in the world to 247,061,884.

That's a drop of 3,739,602 visits from 2002, but it still places 2003 as the third most attended year ever in theme park history, only behind 2001 and 2002, and ahead of 2000 and every year prior to then.

It's important to note that the record 2002 figure spiked because of the natural first-year popularity of two new parks. The 2002 worldwide attendance of 250,801,486 reflected "new" numbers from two major parks, Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris, and Tokyo (Japan) DisneySea that opened that year.

Those two park's first year attendance added nearly 15 million visits to the 2001 total. During 2003, their second year, the combined attendance of those two parks dropped nearly 700,000, more than offsetting the gains of several other Top 50 parks.

WORLDLY FIGURES
As a whole, the parks in Asia and the Pacific Rim appear to be making a quicker comeback than the rest of the world.

There, attendance at the 10 most visited parks increased 2%.

Meanwhile, the 50 most visited parks in North America saw a 1.5% drop in attendance, while those in South/Central America experienced a 2% drop. Europe was hit the hardest, with an 8% drop.

Worldwide losses during 2003 were blamed on several major reasons. Some countries shared the same problems, while some were unique to a particular market.

The war in Iraq, continued economic woes, rainy weather, cool weather and extremely hot weather, the SARS epidemic, and the threat of terrorist acts played a part.

Among the worldwide gate gainers in 2003 was a 10% increase at Universal Studios Japan, a 4% increase at Epcot at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., and a 13% increase at Disney's California Adventure in Anaheim, Calif.

The big news in 2002 was that Tokyo Disneyland was dethroned as the most visited theme park in the world after spending 15 years at the top, due to the opening of Tokyo DisneySea next door. Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, Fla., took over the top spot in 2002 following Tokyo's drop of nearly five million visits.

In 2003, Tokyo Disneyland grew by nearly 200,000, while Magic Kingdom remained virtually the same but keeping its top spot in the world title.

THE CHART
AB compiles the Top 50 Amusement/Theme Parks Worldwide chart with figures from its annual charts for North America, Latin and South America, Europe and Asia.

There are 14 countries represented on the 2003 worldwide chart. The United States still dominates it with 25 of the 50 parks, while Japan comes in next with seven.

South Korea has three parks on the chart, and with two each are France, England, Denmark, and Mexico. With one park represented are Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Hong Kong, Italy, Sweden and Canada.

(c) Amusement Business, 22. Dezember 2003 von Tim O'Brien

Now I will raise the safety bar and a ghost will follow you home

Deutscher Europa-Park Rust auf Platz 23 der Weltrangliste

Potsdam (rpo). Nur ein deutscher Tehmenpark befindet sich unter den 50 weltweit am meisten besuchten Freizeitparks. Der Europa-Park Rust in Baden-Württemberg zählte im vergangenen Jahr 3,6 Millionen Besucher. Damit konnte er sich in der Liste um zwei Plätz nach vorn schieben.

Damit liegt der Europa-Park jetzt auf dem 23. Platz der Weltrangliste, teilte das Beratungsunternehmen Themata am Freitag in Potsdam mit.

Spitzenreiter der Weltrangliste blieb demnach Disney's Magic Kingdom im US-Bundesstaat Florida mit einer stagnierenden Besucherzahl von 14 Millionen, gefolgt von Tokyo Disneyland in Japan mit 13 Millionen und Disneyland in Kalifornien mit 12,7 Millionen Gästen.

Weltweit ging die Besucherzahl in den Themenparks demnach um 0,9 Prozent auf knapp 251 Millionen zurück. Dies sei aber nach dem Rekordjahr 2001 mit 255 Millionen Gästen immer noch das drittbeste Ergebnis aller Zeiten.

Größter Verlierer nach Besucherzahlen waren nach Angaben von Themata die Universal Studios in Hollywood, die im vergangenen Jahr nur noch 4,6 Millionen Gäste anlockten und damit 624.000 weniger als 2002.

Dafür konnten die berühmten Filmstudios mit ihrem Auftritt auf der anderen Seite des Pazifik kräftig zulegen: Die Universal Studios Japan verbuchten ein Plus von mehr als 800.000 auf 8,8 Millionen Besucher.

Nach Regionen hielt Nordamerika unangefochten die Spitzenposition mit insgesamt 26 Themenparks und einem Marktanteil von 51,4 Prozent. Der asiatisch-pazifische Raum erreichte den Angaben zufolge mit zehn Parks gut 27 Prozent Marktanteil; Europa kam trotz einem Dutzend Freizeit- und Vergnügungsparks nur auf 19,4 Prozent.

Spitzreiter in Europa war Disneyland Paris, das mit einer leicht gesunkenen Zahl von 10,2 Millionen Besuchern auf Platz fünf der Weltrangliste landete.

Was lange währt wird endlich Böse
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