Disney continues to lead attendance in 2024, as Universal slips

October 23, 2025, 11:27 AM ·

Disney’s castle parks in the United States continued to lead the theme park industry in attendance last year. But Universal’s theme parks in the U.S. struggled in 2024, as fans awaited new experiences coming this year and next.

The Themed Entertainment Association this morning released its annual attendance report, now called the TEA Global Experience Index. TEA’s research partners in developing the report are now Entertainment + Culture Advisors (ECA) and The Park Database (TPDB), replacing long-time partner AECOM. Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom led the list of the world’s most visited theme parks in 2024, followed by the original Disneyland in California.

“The 2024 TEA Global Experience Index marks a new chapter in the long history of this attendance report,” TEA CEO Melissa Oviedo said. “We can now easily grow the report to match the expanding role of themed entertainment in markets around the world. TEA is honored to have distinguished partners like ECA, TPDB, Storyland Studios, and InPark Magazine collaborating on this valuable resource.”

Overall, the combined attendance of the top 25 theme parks globally grew 2.4% in 2024, to almost 246 million. Disney was again the world’s most popular theme park company, attracting a reported 145 million visitors across all its parks in 2024, up 1.2% from the year before, according to the TEA. Universal came in fourth, with nearly 59 million visitors last year, trailing Merlin Entertainments in third (62.8 million) and China’s Fantawild (87.2 million) in second. But Universal did beat the new Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, whose reported 50.3 million visitors in 2024 placed that company in fifth.

Among the theme parks in the United States, Dollywood cracked the TEA’s North American top 20 for the first time. The Herschend theme park welcomed more than 3.1 million visitors in 2024, the TEA said. The Disney and Universal theme parks continued to lock out the top nine nationwide, with Knott’s Berry Farm moving up a nation’s best 6.5% to claim the final spot in the top 10, displacing SeaWorld Orlando.

Around the world, two of the future Disney Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island neighbors appeared on the TEA’s list for the Top 20 parks in Europe and the Middle East, with SeaWorld Abu Dhabi making its debut at 18, with 1.75 million visitors in its first full year of operation last year. Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi just made the list, tied for 20 at 1.575 million visitors, up 12.5% from 2023.

Among the world’s top theme park companies, only Universal saw a decline in visitors in 2024, according to the TEA, with a 0.7% drop from 2023. Attendance at Islands of Adventure fell 5.5% last year, to 9.45 million visitors, dropping the park three spots to number 14 worldwide – one behind Universal Studios Florida, where attendance fell 2.6%, to 9.5 million.

Universal Orlando’s Epic Universe theme park opened officially in May of this year, so the effect of its debut will be seen in the TEA’s 2025 Global Experience Index, to be released next year.

Elsewhere, attendance at Universal Studios Hollywood dropped 9.9% in 2024, to 8.8 million, placing it number 16 worldwide and number 9 in North America. But attendance at Universal Studios Beijing surged, up 8.6% to 9.775 million visitors. Attendance at Universal Studios Japan was unchanged last year, at 16 million visitors, but that was enough to keep USJ as number 3 worldwide and the top spot among theme parks in Asia. Universal Studios Singapore was the only Universal park not listed in the report, failing again to crack the top 20 on the Asia theme park list for the second year in a row.

Here are the report’s Top 20 theme parks worldwide: