Disney sitting pretty in theme park ranking

(Disney)

A report released by the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) April 26 has suggested that Disney holds top spot in global theme park visitation, with Disney parks accounting for eight of the top ten theme parks around the world.

In 2009 17.2 million people visited the world's most popular theme park, Disney's Magic Kingdom park, up one percent from last year. In second place, the Californian Disneyland in Anaheim recorded 15.9 million visits.

In total, 185.4 people visited the world's top 25 theme parks last year, a slight decrease of 0.3 percent on 2008. Disney resorts around the world accounted for 119.1 million visitors, pushing Merlin Entertainment Group parks, which owns Legoland, Italy's Gardaland and British theme parks Thorpe Park and Alton Towers, into a distant second place.

TEA views China as the land of opportunity for theme parks, pointing to hot spots such as Tianjin, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Shengzeng alongside Beijing and Shanghai as key areas of development. Notably, Shanghai looks set to host the mainland's first Disneyland, which is slated to open in 2014/15.

The world's most popular theme parks

1. Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World - Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA
2. Disneyland - Anaheim, CA, USA
3. Tokyo Disneyland - Tokyo, Japan
4. Disneyland Park at Disneyland Paris - Marne-la-Vallee, France
5. Tokyo Disney Sea - Tokyo, Japan
6. Epcot at Walt Disney World - Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA
7. Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World - Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA
8. Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World - Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA
9. Universal Studios Japan - Osaka, Japan
10. Everland - Gyeonggi-Do, South Korea
11. Disney's California Adventure - Anaheim, CA, USA
12. Seaworld Florida - Orlando, FL, USA
13. Universal Studios at Universal Orlando, Orlando, FL, USA
14. Ocean Park, Hong Kong
15. Nagashima Spa Land - Kuwana, Japan

Data from Themed Entertainment Association - http://www.teaconnect.org