2006 Park Attendance Figures

[Carnage]

Heck, I love Toronto in general. I always say... if it was in the US, I would so move there!

 

Like most big cities visiting Toronto is much nicer then actually living there. I grew up in Toronto, and much prefer now living in a smaller town, while still being close enough to enjoy all the good things the big city has to offer.

 

And I agree that CW is a very well run park. Didn't mean to take that away from it by saying it has little competition.

[Scaparri]

3. DCA has such crappy attendance compared to Disneyland. That's probably not a secret, but I've just now found it out.

 

~6 million is crappy? When you consider that California Adventure has far less attractions, hasn't been around that long, and hasn't had any major new attractions for years that figure seems pretty reasonable.

 

Well in comparison to the other Disney parks, which was the whole point of my statement, yes it is crappy. Sure, for any other park that would be amazing, but seeing how the next closest American Disney park is ahead of DCA by 3 million (granted it's in FL) and that DL pulls in almost 9 million more people, yeah I would consider it crappy compared to the others. I haven't been there so I don't know how nice the park is. I just figured that the attendance would be at least a few mill higher.

[BrownStreak]

Canada's Wonderland population base is probably closer to 5 million when you take into account the entire GTA and surrounding cities.

 

It's simple really. The park has a 5 million population base and zero competition. The only "competition" is Darien Lake and Marineland. Of which one park was neglected, and the other is so poorly run that it takes 3 years to setup a flat ride.

 

Hey now, don't forget Center Island's park and Ontario Place has like what five rides...

 

I'd like to see the numbers expressed in daily terms- Which is "busier," a park with 1,000 guests per day open 365 days a year or a park with 10,000 guests per day that is open 36.5 days a year?

[savemagicmountain]

The thing about DCA is it may have 6 million visitors, but how many actually bought a ticket to it. I bet that 90 percent of there attendance is from 2fers and park hoppers. DCA can not survive as its own gate at the moment which is not represented in this survey. It would be nice to know how many people actually bought a ticket to DCA.

[arrowfanman]

^ Agreed. And if APs are counted, then those statistics begin to look even more bleak.

 

-Jahan

[stingrock23]

One thing I don't like about this is that Univeral Orlando saw a profit despite lower attendance. I know IOA hasn't really added anything "big" since opening, and now that they can turn a profit without actually investing in a large attraction may mean we won't get an IOA addition for even longer.

[BamBam36]

The absolute best part of that whole report is that Canada's wonderland gets more guests per year than cedar point.

 

Lets see Cedar Point has Wicked Twister, Raptor, Mantis, Magnum, Maverick, Top Thrill Dragster AND Millennium Force.

 

Wonderland has a bunch of CRAP!!!.

 

I know its all about location. Wonderland has nothing to compete with so they don't need to spend lots of money, BUT COME ON!!!! at least give us something good once in a wile. Wonderland has BY FAR the WORST 14 coaster line up in the world. They have a wrse line up than parks that have 7 coasters.

[Absimilliard]

Just look at the Paris resort! In 2000, they pulled 12.5 millions people in with one park. This year, DLP pulled 10.6 millions and the Walt Disney Studios pulled in 2.2 million visitors. That's when most tickets are park hoppers and there's a ton of visitors.

[Real]

What I consider as pure ownage is that HW met their mark of 1 million visitors last year. CO only had 3 million. Sure, its a sizeable gap but compare the sizes and statures of both parks. Its amazing that CP only brought in that many and that HW squeezed that many people in for the rides and water park they have. Crazy.

[ginzo]

Well in comparison to the other Disney parks, which was the whole point of my statement, yes it is crappy. Sure, for any other park that would be amazing, but seeing how the next closest American Disney park is ahead of DCA by 3 million (granted it's in FL) and that DL pulls in almost 9 million more people, yeah I would consider it crappy compared to the others. I haven't been there so I don't know how nice the park is. I just figured that the attendance would be at least a few mill higher.

 

I disagree that the numbers are crappy for what DCA is. I personally liked it when I went in January, and thought California Screamin' is one of the best coasters in SoCal. But the park is pretty small, and they haven't done much with it. For what they've invested into the park and considering that it's basically a local park, I think the numbers are OK.

 

6 million guests would only be crappy had Disney massively built up the park recently, and they haven't. We did most of the big stuff at DCA in half a day. And there are seasonal parks that have way more attractions/rides that don't get anywhere near 6 million guests.

[thecoasterkid]

The numbers for Canada's Wonderland don't surprise me at all. There are over 5 million people in the Greater Toronto Area and even a few million more in the rest of Southern Ontario.

 

The park is run very well. They have something for everyone. As was mentioned before they do an amazing job at attracting the entire family right from young children to teens and adults, everyone wants to go. There is a massive corporate market in the area too with many companies having national headquarters in the GTA.

 

The biggest knock I have against the park is that it's TOO busy. I have heard many people complain that the lines are just too long and that they don't visit often because of it. I think this has to do with the park having really low capacity. There may be alot of rides to put people in line for, but the majority of those rides don't move people through fast. Operations can also pick up big-time here. I'm looking forward to seeing how Cedar Fair management will affect this. If they can get the ride crews working like they do at Cedar Point then there should be some great improvement in that area.

[arrowfanman]

^^ Again, the numbers would only be entirely valuable if we could guarentee that each guest purchased a one-day ticket for DCA. The most popular time of the year is during the TwoFer promotion (when SoCal residents can purchase a day at DL and get a free day at DCA).

 

And then you have one-day park hoppers and Annual Passes, which will register as a guest in the park for the day--but most likely the guest will only spend a few hours in the park, often without pumping any money into the park!

 

 

So you're right--6,000,000 is a fair number for what the park is offering. But as far as Disney is concerned, there isn't necessarily money with each one of those figures.

 

-Jahan

[ginzo]

^^ Again, the numbers would only be entirely valuable if we could guarentee that each guest purchased a one-day ticket for DCA. The most popular time of the year is during the TwoFer promotion (when SoCal residents can purchase a day at DL and get a free day at DCA).

 

I imagine hopping inflates the WDW attendance numbers as well, but to a lesser degree, because hopping in Orlando is a pain compared to Anaheim. As for the annual passholder visits, every park counts them in their attendance figures. This is no different than my ~4 hour trips to King's Island where I spend literally $0. But, I can see where this would be more of a problem with DCA, as it's so tempting to just get a few laps in on CS and go back to Disneyland. Too much of this sort of thing could make DCA a real eye sore to the bean counters.

 

The answer to this problem is obvious- invest more in DCA!