Attendance Drops at Disney Parks Worldwide as Prices Rise
LOS ANGELES — In a rare slowdown in one of the hottest areas of the entertainment business, attendance declined at 13 of 14 Disney theme parks around the world in 2016 compared with 2015, according to an independent report released on Thursday. Higher prices, intended in part to ease crowding at certain parks, were a major contributor, analysts said.
Attendance, of course, does not equal profit. The Walt Disney Company’s theme park unit had operating income of $3.3 billion in fiscal 2016, a 9 percent increase from the year before, in part because of a new ticketing strategy that raised prices for peak periods by 20 percent.
But a simultaneous attendance decline at 13 Disney parks — all except Shanghai Disneyland, which has not been open a year — is notable because it rarely happens. More typical has been scorching annual growth, so much so that Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., reaches capacity on certain days.
Over the last decade, attendance has declined only once before at Disney’s flagship park, the Magic Kingdom. At no time in the last decade has attendance fallen across Disney’s global portfolio.
The report compiled by the Themed Entertainment Association and Aecom, an engineering company. Disney does not disclose attendance data for most of its properties, including the Magic Kingdom and five other parks near Orlando, Fla., that make up Walt Disney World.
Disney responded to a request for comment with a statement that emphasized ongoing construction projects at multiple parks: “We are investing behind the wealth of great franchises we have in order to deliver magical experiences that exceed our guests’ expectations.”
The biggest declines occurred overseas. At Disneyland Paris, attendance plunged 14 percent, to 9.8 million, as tourism across Europe continued to be affected by terrorism fears. Bad weather was also a factor. Hong Kong Disneyland had a 10 percent drop, to 6.1 million, amid a continued decline in tourism from mainland China. Disney recently unveiled $1.4 billion in upgrades in Hong Kong.
But Disney’s North American parks had more modest declines. Attendance at the Magic Kingdom totaled roughly 20.4 million, down 0.5 percent; Disneyland’s estimated total was 17.9 million, down 2 percent. Including Shanghai Disneyland, Disney’s theme park portfolio attracted roughly 139 million visitors in 2016 — dwarfing its competitor Universal, which had attendance of about 47.4 million at five parks worldwide.
Even so, Universal had a very good year, the result of popular new Harry Potter attractions. Attendance at Universal Studios Hollywood, for instance, rose nearly 14 percent, to 8.1 million.
“It’s really capital expenditures that move the needle,” said John W. Robinett, senior vice president for economics at Aecom. “It’s also important to remember that 2015 was a tremendous year,” he said.
Disney’s domestic parks are expected to return to growth in 2017. An “Avatar”-themed expansion opened at Disney’s Animal Kingdom near Orlando last month and has drawn enormous crowds, with visitors waiting as long as four hours to board rides.