Attendance at Disneyland, Universal Studios Hollywood and other Southern California theme parks has not quite reached prepandemic levels despite crowds and lines that might make visitors think otherwise.
Southern California theme park attendance in 2022 nearly bounced back to pre-pandemic 2019 crowd levels, according to a new report from the Themed Entertainment Association and AECOM.
Southern California attendance in 2022 (90 percent vs. 2019) was on par with U.S. theme parks (88 percent vs. 2019) and well ahead of parks worldwide (79 percent vs. 2019) compared to prepandemic levels, according to the TEA/AECOM report.
Disneyland’s 16.9 million visitors in 2022 was 90 percent of the 18.7 million that came to the park in 2019, according to the TEA/AECOM report. Disney California Adventure did slightly better at 91 percent — tallying 9 million visitors in 2022 compared to 9.9 million in 2019.
Universal Studios Hollywood and Knott’s Berry Farm did slightly better than the Disney parks — each reaching 92 percent of 2019 attendance levels in 2022. SeaWorld San Diego (89 percent vs. 2019) and Six Flags Magic Mountain (85 percent vs. 2019) did slightly worse than the Disney standard bearer.
Universal saw attendance reach 8.4 million visitors in 2022 compared with 9.2 million in 2019. Attendance in 2022 at Knott’s (3.9 million), SeaWorld (3.5 million) and Magic Mountain (3 million) fell just short of prepandemic levels.
Southern California theme parks were forced to close in March 2020 due to COVID-19 health concerns as the pandemic shuttered businesses and curtailed social life around the globe.
Disneyland and DCA reopened in April 2021 after a yearlong pandemic closure. State-mandated attendance capacity restrictions were lifted in June 2021 at California theme parks, but the Disney parks have continued to require reservations as a way to control attendance and avoid large crowds. Disney officials announced in August 2021 that theme park attendance was being steadily increased in an aggressive but measured way.
COVID’s impact
Global attendance in 2022 was mostly dragged down by theme parks in China, where COVID-19 restrictions lingered longer, according to the TEA/AECOM report.
Southern California theme parks have seen attendance steadily rebound from a pandemic trough in 2020 to robust improvement in 2021 to near normal in 2022.
Disneyland’s attendance numbers nearly doubled (up 97 percent) from 2021 to 2022 while DCA saw a similarly big bounce (up 81 percent) during the same period, according to the TEA/AECOM report. Universal Studios Hollywood crowds increased 53 percent from 2021 to 2022 while SeaWorld San Diego (up 25 percent) and Knott’s (up 6 percent) grew at slower rates. Six Flags Magic Mountain was the only local amusement park that saw a year-over-year attendance decline in 2022 — dropping 2 percent.
Disneyland attracted an average of 51,000 visitors per day in 2019 before the pandemic when Disney California Adventure pulled in an average of 27,000 daily visitors, according to TEA/AECOM. In 2022, average daily attendance checked in at 46,000 visitors per day at Disneyland and 25,000 per day at DCA, according to the latest report.
Disneyland’s theoretical maximum capacity is about 85,000, according to Touring Plans, which uses big data and statistical analysis to calculate daily theme park crowd sizes. Touring Plans estimates DCA capacity at approximately 50,000 visitors.
Disneyland and Disney California Adventure saw 80 percent attendance declines in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions that kept California theme parks shuttered for most of the year, according to a TEA/AECOM data.
