Every year, the theme park industry checks its scoreboard. The Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) releases its Global Experience Index, described in the report as the industry’s primary annual attendance study, and the 2025 edition is here.
The top-line number looks like a shrug. Underneath it, Disney and Universal each have a story. Everything below is tied to the report, interpretation is labeled as interpretation, and where the report’s own numbers don’t match, we’ll say so. Let’s go.
The Top Line
The top 25 parks globally combined for 245.4 million visits in 2025, down just 0.2% from 245.9 million in 2024, according to the report. Our arithmetic checks out: about negative 0.2%.
Disney’s Big Number
Disney Experiences stayed the world’s top theme park operator by a significant margin, with 146.9 million visitors across its global portfolio, up 1.1% from 145.2 million, the report says.
The report calls that nearly 2.5 times the attendance of Universal Destinations & Experiences, its nearest direct competitor. But 146.9 million divided by Universal’s 62.1 million is about 2.4. The report doesn’t say whether “nearly 2.5” reflects rounding or a different basis.
The World Rankings
Magic Kingdom took the global number one spot with 17.8 million visits, essentially flat with 2024’s 17,836,000. Disneyland in Anaheim was second with 17.4 million, up 0.4% from 17,337,000. Here’s how the other Disney parks landed, per the report:
- Tokyo Disneyland: fourth, 15.2 million (+0.6%)
- Shanghai Disneyland: fifth, just under 15 million (+2.0% from 14.7 million)
- Tokyo DisneySea: seventh, 12.6 million (+1.3%)
- EPCOT: eighth, 12.1 million (-0.2%)
- Disneyland Park, Paris: ninth, 10.8 million (+5.7% from 10.2 million)
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios: tenth, 10.3 million (-0.2%)
- Disney California Adventure: eleventh, 10.1 million (+0.4%)
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom: fifteenth, 8.8 million (-0.2%)
- Hong Kong Disneyland: seventeenth, 7.7 million (-3.0% from 7,936,000)
- Walt Disney Studios Park, Paris: nineteenth, 5.9 million (+5.7%)
The report says Oriental Land Company operates the Tokyo parks under license, and it attributes the Paris gains to a rebound from a 2024 disrupted by the Olympics, which it says diverted some leisure travel.
Math Check: Nine or Twelve?
The report says Disney occupies nine of the top 25 spots worldwide. Its own list has twelve Disney-branded parks. It doesn’t explain the difference, so we aren’t picking a number.
Walt Disney World and Disneyland
The report says Disney holds six of the top 10 spots in North America. The Walt Disney World parks: Magic Kingdom, 17,800,000; EPCOT, 12,109,000; Hollywood Studios, 10,312,000; Animal Kingdom, 8,782,000, each at -0.2%.
Math check, round two. The report calls the four-park total approximately 48.9 million, but those figures add up to about 49.0 million. It also says three of the four parks share the 0.2% decline, though its own list shows all four at -0.2%.
The Disneyland Resort adds 27.5 million, with Disneyland Park at 17,406,000 (+0.4%) and Disney California Adventure at 10,090,000 (+0.4%). Disney’s six North American parks total roughly 76.5 million, per the report, which also says Florida’s nine-park market, including the Universal and SeaWorld parks, reached 79.6 million and calls it the largest theme park market on the planet.
Record Income, Flat Crowds
The report notes that Disney reported record operating income from its parks segment despite flat attendance. The coverage we’re drawing on reads that as a strategy of boosting revenue per guest, through premium experiences, food and beverage, resort stays, merchandise, and Disney Cruise Line expansion, and not through bigger gate counts. That’s its interpretation.
Universal’s Moment
The biggest story is Universal’s. On May 22, 2025, Universal Destinations & Experiences opened Universal Epic Universe at Universal Orlando Resort, which the report calls the first major new theme park built in Orlando in more than 25 years. Its five areas: Celestial Park, SUPER NINTENDO WORLD, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic, How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk, and Dark Universe.
In roughly seven months, Epic Universe recorded 4 million visits, thirteenth in North America. The index says it likely sets up “a list going forward where the top 10 North American theme parks are all owned by Universal or Disney.”
What Happened to Universal’s Older Parks
Universal Studios Florida drew 9.3 million, down 2.1% from 9.5 million. Islands of Adventure drew 9.2 million, down 2.6% from 9.45 million. Add Epic Universe’s 4 million, and the report says Universal Orlando Resort grew by approximately 3.5 million. Our math from those figures gives about 3.55 million.
The report calls it a 4.3% increase for Central Florida’s leading parks, compared with a 1.8% rise in overall tourist arrivals reported by Visit Orlando. We couldn’t reproduce the 4.3% from the numbers given, so check it against the original.
Hollywood Takes a Hit
Universal Studios Hollywood dropped 8.0%, from 8.7 million to 8.0 million, ninth in North America. The report attributes the decline directly to the aftermath of the Los Angeles wildfires.
Universal Around the World
Universal Destinations & Experiences drew 62.1 million visitors globally, up 5.4% from 59 million, which the report calls the largest gain in the global top 10 and enough to pass Merlin Entertainments for third place among theme park groups. It adds that Universal Studios Japan, operated by USJ Co. Ltd. and not part of Universal Destinations & Experiences, ranked third globally at 16.04 million, and Universal Studios Beijing twelfth at 9.8 million.
The Water Park Report Card
Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon led North American water parks with about 1.762 million visitors, down 3.0% from 1.817 million, sixth globally. Universal Volcano Bay came in eighth worldwide at 1.6 million, also down 3.0%.
Disney’s Blizzard Beach surged 50.5%, from 897,000 to 1.35 million. The report says Walt Disney World ran both water parks at the same time during summer for the first time since 2019, after pandemic recovery years of alternating schedules.
The Fine Print on Yearly Totals
These are annual figures, and they don’t describe crowds on any particular day. A flat total says nothing about how busy a specific day will feel.
Planning Your Trip
The report’s picture of Florida: two big resorts, Walt Disney World with steady attendance and Universal Orlando Resort with a new park. To divide your time, check each resort’s current hours and offerings for your dates.
Your Turn
Do these numbers match what you’ve seen in the parks? Tell us in the comments whether Epic Universe has you planning more time at Universal, or whether you’re staying loyal to Disney.
