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More visitors head to local Disney, Universal, Knott’s parks
A theme park industry report credits Disney California Adventure's "World of Color" with boosting a "mostly flat year" last year in the Disney parks.
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Susan Valot/KPCC
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More visitors head to local Disney, Universal, Knott’s parks
Attendance figures are up for Southern California’s theme parks. A recent industry report indicates that people are visiting theme parks in the United States almost at pre-recession levels.
Disneyland is still the king of Southern California, at least as far as popularity goes. It remains the second-most visited theme park in the world, behind Disney World in Florida.
The report from the Themed Entertainment Association estimates that nearly 16-million people visited Disneyland last year. That’s up half a percent from the previous year.
But those are unofficial numbers. Disney no longer releases attendance figures for its individual parks.
Disney California Adventure ranks 11th on the worldwide list, with a few more than 6 million visitors last year, up 3 percent from 2009.
The report says the park’s World of Color show “helped offset a mostly flat year” for the Disney parks.
And, far from flat, Universal Studios Hollywood saw a 26 percent jump in visitors last year. About 5 million visitors during that time made it the 18th most popular theme park in the world.
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Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park didn’t make the top 25 worldwide list. But it did rank as the 13th most popular theme parks in the country, with 3.6-million visitors last year, an 8 percent increase.
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