The top four parks worldwide in attendance are unchanged from 2010, which is remarkable considering that Disney's Tokyo parks were closed for a month following the deadly earthquake, tsunami and power crisis in Japan last year. But strong attendance following the disasters (in part driven by Japanese tourists staying close to home rather than traveling abroad) helped the Tokyo Disney Resort to attendance gains in 2011.
Here are the top five, and again, they're all Disney:
Disneyland Paris bumped Epcot from the fifth spot in 2011, thanks to an attendance increase that outpaced European parks' average for the year.
Overall, the top 25 parks in the world drew 198.1 million visitors in 2011, up 4.8 percent from 2010. The top 20 theme parks in the United States counted 127 million visitors, combined, last year, up 2.8% from 2010. Half that US attendance increase, however, came from a single park - Universal's Islands of Adventure, which continued to enjoy the huge appeal of its hit Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
Makes sense that Universal's rolling Harry out to three more of its parks in the years to come, doesn't it?
We'll have more news here on Theme Park Insider from the full TEA/AECOM Global Attendance Report when it is released.
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The addition of Potter to Universal Studios Hollywood will undoubtedly increase attendance considerably on the West Coast, too. Though I'm still in doubt as to whether Universal will be able to dig into Disneyland's attendance quite as much as they have with Walt Disney World.
Potter Land in Universal Studios Japan will be incredibly interesting. Just how much will it vary from the Orlando version? Will the Japanese market expect something different?
And, most importantly for the money men in the Far East, how appealing will Harry Potter merchandise be over at Universal Studios Japan.
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