2012 Theme Index (Attendance Report) Now Available

The 2012 Theme Index - Global Attractions Attendance Report has been released by TEA/AECOM, available for download at their website.  The yearly report covers the attendance at amusement and theme parks around the globe, also including water parks and museums.

You can peruse the document yourself, as it is just loaded with great detail, but here some are highlights that I noticed.

• Overall there was a 5.2% increase in theme park attendance across the globe in 2012 with Asia leading the pack.

• Water Parks especially have seen tremendous growth in Asia, with the total attendance rising there to surpass North America for the first time for the parks that the report tracks.

• Disney Parks are still the number one operator globally with regard to attendance, with an astounding 126 million guests passing through their turnstiles in 2012.  The second most visited operator is Merlin Entertainments (54 million), followed by the Universal Studios parks (34.5 million).

• The Magic Kingdom in Florida is again the most visited theme park in the world, with 17.5 million guests.  That's up from 17.1 in 2011.

• The report estimates that Disney California Adventure saw a 22% increase in attendance, up to 7.77 million - thanks Carsland!  Universal Studios Hollywood also saw a 15% increase, up to 5.9 million - thanks Transformers!

• Typhoon Lagoon is still the most visited water park in the world, but Chimelong Paradise (China) is climbing fast and only behind by 80k visitors.

• New rides at North American parks helped moves the gates as well, with Canada's Wonderland up 5% on Leviathan and Hersheypark up 6.5% with Skyrush.

• The continued expansion of Hong Kong Disneyland seems to be paying off - attendance in 2012 was up from 5.9 million in 2011 to 6.7 million this past year.

In all it seems like 2012 was a solid year for theme parks around the globe, here's to another one in 2013!