The world’s top 10 theme park operators

Leading the table of top theme park operators by quite some margin is Disney Experiences. Disney parks welcomed a total of 142,083,000 guests in 2023, and 12 of the 25 most visited theme parks in the world are Disney properties, with Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Florida taking first place and Disneyland Park in California in second. In 2022, Josh D’Amaro was appointed chairman of Disney Experiences, having worked for The Walt Disney Company for 22 years.

Disney Experiences, previously known as Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, is a division of The Walt Disney Company. The first Disney park, Disneyland, opened in 1955 in Anaheim, California. Following this, Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, opened to the public in 1971.

The company’s theme park business went international in 1983 with the opening of Tokyo Disneyland. Disneyland Paris, then known as Euro Disney, opened in 1992 and was followed by Hong Kong Disneyland in 2005. Shanghai Disneyland opened in 2016.

Disney’s resort properties in the US and around the world have continued to expand since opening, with new parks and themed lands, as well as various hotel and water park properties. In 2024, several new announcements were made at Disney’s D23 fan event. Disneyland in California is developing new experiences inspired by Marvel, the Avatar franchise, and Coco, while new lands and attractions based on villains,  Monsters, Inc., Encanto and Indiana Jones will be heading to Walt Disney World in Florida.

Elsewhere, Hong Kong Disneyland is expanding its Marvel experiences with a new themed area and Spider-Man attraction and Shanghai Disneyland is also introducing its first Marvel attraction, a Spider-Man coaster.

Disneyland Paris has unveiled plans for a new area inspired by The Lion King, and announced an opening year for its new Frozen-themed land. The resort’s Walt Disney Studios Park is set to become Disney Adventure World when the new World of Frozen land opens in 2026.

“We are in the midst of an unprecedented transformation across Disneyland Paris, truly on a scale we have never seen before,” said Natacha Rafalski, présidente of Disneyland Paris, in conversation with blooloop. “Walt Disney Studios Park will be the crown jewel of that transformation, which is coming to fruition thanks to a €2bn investment.”

Disney plans to spend $30 billion on its theme parks over the next decade.

Next on our list of the top theme park operators is Fantawild Group, which operates a number of theme park brands in China. These brands include Fantawild Adventure, Fantawild Dreamland, Fantawild Oriental Heritage and Fantawild Water Park. Across the Fantawild portfolio, the business saw 85,690,000 visitors in 2023, and two of its theme parks, Zigong Fantawild Dino Kingdom in Zigong and Mianyang Fantawild Oriental Heritage in Mianyang, featured in the list of the world’s 25 most visited.

One of the newest parks is Jining Glorious Orient park in Shandong, which showcases China’s modernisation and history over the last 100 years, using cutting-edge technology and bold creativity. This park is home to nine themed zones and forty-two themed attractions. Visitors can immerse themselves interactively in recent history through a variety of buildings with a nostalgic aesthetic and landscape designs that evoke bygone eras.

Another new park is Boonie Bears Land, in Yichun, in China’s Jiangxi province. Here, attractions include a rotating stage theatre, tracked rides, a 4D Dark Ride, a panoramic AR theatre, and a flight simulation theatre. Fantawild’s IP Boonie Bears is hugely popular and has become one of the most influential animated brands in China.

Fantawild deploys cutting-edge technology across its parks, much of which is developed in house, as Daisy Shang, executive president of Fantawild Holdings, explained to blooloop:

“Fantawild is self-sufficient with regard to innovation and owns many intellectual property rights. The company is more than capable in terms of creativity, scientific research and development. It has successfully developed a complete set of technology related to film production, including core technology such as digital film technology, immersive experience, and special effects in post-production.”

Looking to the future, she added:

“Fantawild Holdings will continue to invest efforts into creative designs and scientific research; building more high-quality theme parks and attractions; and cultivating every aspect of the theme park industry. The company will constantly increase the quality of service at its parks and strive to make visitors even more satisfied.

“Fantawild hopes to bring happiness to visitors all over the world.”

Merlin Entertainments, which was formed in 1999, creates and delivers memorable, immersive brand experiences for over 60 million guests every year. The group operates over 140 attractions in over 20 countries around the world, including shorter dwell-time Gateway Attractions like Sea Life and Madame Tussauds. It operates the Legoland theme park resorts as well as Alton Towers, Chessington, Gardaland, Heide Park and Thorpe Park. Merlin Magic Making is the creative production arm of the business

Merlin Entertainments reported record revenues for the 2023 financial year. Revenues within Legoland parks were up by 1 percent compared to 2022. In Merlin’s resort theme parks, revenues increased by 2 percent to £453m.

In 2023, Merlin Entertainments began a significant transformation, setting a new strategy, assembling a diverse and dynamic leadership team, and investing in capability building to position Merlin for the next phase of growth,” said Scott O’Neil, Merlin’s CEO.

Merlin’s visitors in 2023 reported “the highest levels of guest satisfaction in Merlin history”, he added. O’Neil became chief executive officer in November 2022, following the retirement of Nick Varney, who had been with the company for 23 years. Talking to blooloop in 2023 about his vision for the company, he said:

“Merlin Entertainments has world-class brands, an incredible management team, wonderful people and a great culture. It is a successful business with a supportive board and all the resources that it needs to be great. But what I’ve taken from my career history is that transformational mindset. I’m constantly trying to figure out how we can move the ball forward How can we get better? How can we get smarter and how can we do things differently?”

In 2024, the company announced the acquisition of Icon Park’s observation wheel.

Universal Destinations & Experiences, formerly Universal Parks & Resorts, is the theme park unit of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Universal has five theme parks in the list of the world’s most visited for 2023: Universal Studios Japan, Universal Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida at Universla Orlando, Universal Studios Hollywood at Universal City, California, and Universal Studios Beijing.

Universal Studios Hollywood, the first Universal Studios theme park, opened in 1964, and was followed by Universal Orlando Resort (formerly called Universal Studios Escape) in 1990.  Universal Studios Japan opened in 2001 and was the first Universal Studios theme park to open outside of the US. In 2023, it hosted 16 million visitors, making it the third-most visited theme park in the world behind and the most visited theme park in Asia.

The next location, Universal Studios Singapore had a soft opening in 2010 and officially opened in 2011. Unlike its other theme parks, Universal Studios Singapore is owned by Genting Group with licensing approval from Universal. Universal Studios Beijing opened in 2021.

Additional gates and themed lands have been added to Universal’s properties over the years, notably the popular Wizarding World of Harry Potter lands at Universal Hollywood, Universal Orlando, Universal Beijing and Universal Japan, and Super Nintendo World in Japan and Hollywood. The Orlando resort also boasts a water park, Volcano Bay, which opened in 2017.

There are also many new projects in the pipeline. Epic Universe, the fourth theme park at Universal Orlando, was announced in 2019. This is on track for a 2025 opening. It will house five themed lands with more than 50 attractions, entertainment experiences, and retail and F&B outlets. The new lands are: Super Nintendo World, Dark Universe, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic, How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk, and Celestial Park.

Elsewhere in the US, Universal is working on a new family-friendly theme park resort in Frisco, Texas called Universal Kids Resort. This will feature lands inspired by Universal’s brands, characters and stories, with family-friendly attractions, interactive entertainment, unique merchandise, F&B outlets and character experiences.

Universal is also developing a new year-round horror attraction at Area15 in Las Vegas. In an interview with blooloop, Area15’s CEO Winston Fisher said the experience is going to be “badass”. He also said it will have guests “smiling and screaming”. In addition, the company confirmed plans for a UK theme park in December 2023.

See also: Universal comes to the UK: what could influence the IP we see at the new park?

Chinese corporation Chimelong Group is fifth in the list of the world’s top theme park operators, having welcomed over 36 million guests to its parks in 2023. Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in Zhuhai, China, is the world’s sixth most visited theme park. Meanwhile, Chimelong Paradise in Guangzhou came in at number 21.

Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, which is home to eight different themed areas, is part of Chimelong International Ocean Tourist Resort. The resort also includes Chimelong Spaceship, a record-breaking ocean-themed park which opened in 2023. This is officially the world’s largest indoor theme park at 397,064 square metres (4,271,783 square feet), exceeding Warner Brothers Abu Dhabi, the previous record holder which measures 153,000 square meters (1.65mn square feet).

It is also home to the world’s largest aquarium, breaking the record previously set at Chimelong Ocean Kingdom. The park features a combined 75,350,969 litres of tanks (16,574,889 gallons). 38 aquarium tanks are housed in the venue, housing almost 300 species.

Meanwhile, Chimelong Paradise is part of the Guangzhou Chimelong Tourist Resort, alongside the Chimelong International Circus, Chimelong Water Park, Chimelong Safari Park and Chimelong Birds Park. This theme park offers 49 attractions set across seven themed areas. The company is also constructing a new resort, Chimelong Qingyuan Forest Resort in Qingyuan, Guangdong. This will include the Chimelong Forest Kingdom theme park.

Chimelong Group was founded by Su Zhigang, who was chosen to receive the Buzz Price Award in 2023 as part of the TEA’s Thea Awards.

Happy Valley is a brand of amusement parks located across China, created by Overseas Chinese Town Enterprises Co. (OCT). The first park, Happy Valley Shenzhen opened in 1998 in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. This now includes nine themed areas including Spanish Square, Cartoon City, Mt. Adventure, Gold Mine Town, Shangri-la Woods, Sunshine Beach, Typhoon Bay, Playa Maya Water Park and Happy Times.

This was followed by Happy Valley Beijing in 2006, which was the 15th most visited theme park in Asia in 2023. This park features 40 attractions over six themed areas, including Atlantis, Ant Kingdom, Aegean Sea, Firth Forest, Lost Maya, and Shangri-La.

The third park, Happy Valley Chengdu opened in 2009 and offers several attractions including six roller coasters, while 2009’s Happy Valley Shanghai features seven major areas and over 100 attractions. Happy Valley Wuhan opened in 2012 and is home to five coasters, and four more coasters can be found at Happy Valley Tianjin, which opened in 2013.

Happy Valley Chongqing has been open since 2017, and includes four coasters. The eighth park, Happy Valley Nanjing opened in 2020 with five roller coasters, and the latest theme park to be added to the company’s portfolio is Happy Valley Xi’an, set to open in 2024.

In 2024, the company completed an expansion project on the Playa Maya Water Park at Happy Valley Beijing.

26,700,000 people visited a Cedar Fair park in 2023. The company was founded in 1983 when the Cedar Point theme park in Sandusky, Ohio, established in 1870, acquired the Valleyfair amusement park in Shakopee, Minnesota. Following this, the park names were combined to form the name Cedar Fair.

By 2019, it operated eleven amusement parks, 13 outdoor water parks, and one indoor water park in the US and Canada. It merged with Six Flags in 2024 with the two companies operating under the Six Flags name going forward. The company’s theme parks included California’s Great America, Canada’s Wonderland, Carowinds, Cedar Point, Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom, Kings Dominion, Kings Island, Knott’s Berry Farm, Michigan’s Adventure, Valley Fair and Worlds of Fun.

The outdoor water parks included Caroline Harbor at Carowinds, Oceans of Fun and Worlds of Fun, Soak City venues at Kings Dominion, Kings Island and Valleyfair, South Bay Shores at California’s Great America, Splash Works at Canada’s Wonderland, Wildwater Adventure at Michigan’s Adventure, Wildwater Kingdom at Dorney Park, Cedar Point Shores, Knott’s Soak City, Schlitterbahn Galveston and Schlitterbahn New Braunfels, as well as indoor water park Castaway Bay.

Six Flags was founded in the 1960 and named for its first park, Six Flags Over Texas. At its height, Six Flags owned 42 properties in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, including theme parks, amusement parks, water parks, and a family entertainment centre.

Its portfolio includes Frontier City, La Ronde, Six Flags America, Six Flags Darien Lake, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, Six Flags Great Adventure, Six Flags Great America, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Six Flags Mexico, Six Flags New England, Six Flags Over Georgia, Six Flags Over Texas and Six Flags St. Louis. In addition, Six Flags operates a number of water parks mostly under the Hurricane Harbor brand.

The table of the world’s top theme park operators will likely look a little different next year as Cedar Fair and Six Flags merged in 2024, forming the largest operator of amusement parks in North America. The combined company now operates under the Six Flags name and looks after 42 parks and 9 resort properties in the US, Canada and Mexico.

Richard Zimmerman, president and CEO of Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, said the move “marks a significant milestone for our company, shareholders, guests and associates, unlocking higher value and greater opportunities to deliver engaging entertainment experiences”.

Selim Bassoul, executive chairman of the Six Flags board of directors, said: “We believe that by combining the best ideas and most successful entertainment practices of both Six Flags and Cedar Fair, the new Six Flags can deliver a superior level of joy and excitement that has yet to be experienced by regional park guests.

“We are excited to unite the Cedar Fair and Six Flags teams to capitalize on the tremendous growth opportunities and operational efficiencies of our more extensive entertainment portfolio.”

Parks in the combined company’s portfolio will keep their current branding and names. No changes are currently planned.

See also: What can we expect from the Cedar Fair & Six Flags merger?

United Parks and Resorts, formerly known as SeaWorld Entertainment, welcomed 21,606,000 guests to its parks in 2023.

The company owns and operates eight theme parks and four water parks in the US:Adventure Island, Aquatica Orlando, Aquatica San Antonio, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Discovery Cove, SeaWorld Orlando, SeaWorld San Antonio, Sea World San Diego, Sesame Place Philadelphia, Sesame Place San Diego and Water Country USA. Miral operates SeaWorld Abu Dhabi under license from United Parks and Resorts.

SeaWorld Entertainment changed its corporate name to United Parks & Resorts from 12 February 2024. The name change aims to unite its portfolio of seven brands across 13 theme parks in the US and Abu Dhabi. The SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, Discovery Cove, Sesame Place, Water Country USA, Adventure Island and Aquatica parks will all keep their names.

“Our new company name, United Parks & Resorts Inc., better reflects that we have been, and will continue to be, a diverse collection of park brands and experiences,” said Marc Swanson, the company’s CEO.

United Parks & Resorts is planning to expand SeaWorld San Antonio in Texas with a new $6 million themed area. In Florida, SeaWorld Orlando has opened Penguin Trek, its first family launch coaster. The new ride has an innovative design and is the park’s eighth coaster.

Parques Reunidos, founded in 1967, is an international operator that oversees a diverse range of theme parks, water parks, zoos and aquariums, and family amusement centres worldwide. It prioritises creating unique visitor experiences through strategic alliances and cutting-edge attractions.

The company’s theme park portfolio encompasses Belantis and Movie Park in Germany, Bobbejaanland in Belgium, Bonbon-Land in Denmark,  Mirabilandia in Italy, Parque de Atracciones De Madrid and Parque Warner Madrid in Spain, Slagharen in the Netherlands, and Tusenfryd in Norway.

Parques Reunidos also has a large collection of water parks, including Tropical Islands in Germany, Warner Beach in Spain, Raging Waters Sydney in Australia, Aqua Mexicana in the Netherlands, Mirabeach in Italy and Aquasplash Antibes in France.

Palace Entertainment manages the Parques Reunidos parks in North America, including Adventureland, Dutch Wonderland, Idlewood, Kennywood, and Lake Compounce. However, in August 2024, it was announced that private equity firm EQT has initiated a strategic review of Parques Reunidos that could lead to a sale of its US business.

According to the report, the review is at an early stage, due to start after the summer season. EQT could opt to retain Parques Reunidos’ assets after the review. The potential sale could be valued at around €1 billion