Take a look inside the Dolly Parton Experience, now open at Dollywood
Spanning multiple buildings, Dollywood’s new Dolly Parton Experience spans her legendary career, highlights her signature styles and wigs, and honors her family.
Dollywood has recently won numerous awards for “best park” and “most popular park,” even beating out many Disney parks from around the world. But do visitor numbers reflect this rise in popularity?
According to the annual Global Attractions Attendance Report of the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) and AECOM Economics & Advisory, around 244.6 million people visited the 25 most popular theme parks worldwide in 2023, up from 198.7 million in 2022.
“The year 2023 was truly a major turning point for the industry. The pandemic was largely behind us at the beginning of the year and parks and museums could begin to focus on investment plans for the future,” said John Robinett, senior vice president of AECOM, in a press release.
The number one theme park in North America and worldwide, measured by number of visitors, is Disney’s Magic Kingdom in Orlando with 17.7 million guests. However, Dollywood’s number is slightly lower.
How many people were at Dollywood last year?
Dollywood did not make the Global Attractions Attendance Report 2024. But not necessarily because of low attendance. Dollywood does not typically release exact attendance numbers, Dollywood spokesman Wes Ramey told Knox News.
Still, about 3.5 million people visited Dollywood and Dollywood’s Splash Country water park last year, Ramey said.
Looking at Splash Country’s visitor numbers analyzed in the 2024 Visitor Report, Dollywood would come in just outside the top 25 parks worldwide. Fantawild in Mianyang, China, ranks 25th with 4.6 million visitors.
If officially reported, Dollywood would rank 19th among the top 20 theme parks in North America, beating Six Flags parks in Illinois and New Jersey in the official 2024 report.
How many people were at Splash Country last year?
According to the 2024 Global Attractions Attendance Report, Splash Country is the 16th ranked water park in North America by attendance.
The water park had about 379,000 visitors in 2023, an increase of 3% over the previous season.
What are the most visited theme parks in North America?
The 10 most popular theme parks in North America by visitor numbers are:
- Magic Kingdom | 17.7 million | Orlando
- Disneyland | 17.3 million | Anaheim
- Disney’s Epcot | 12 million | Orlando
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios | 10.3 million | Orlando
- Universal Islands of Adventure | 10 million | Orlando
- Disney’s California Adventure Park | 10 million | Anaheim
- Universal Studios Florida | 9.8 million | Orlando
- Universal Studios Hollywood | 9.7 million | Los Angeles
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom | 8.8 million | Orlando
- SeaWorld | 4.3 million | Orlando
What are the most visited theme parks in the world?
The 10 most visited theme parks worldwide are:
- Magic Kingdom | 17.7 million | Orlando
- Disneyland | 17.3 million | Anaheim
- Universal Studios Japan | 16 million | Osaka
- Tokyo Disneyland | 15.1 million | Japan
- Shanghai Disneyland | 14 million | China
- Ocean Kingdom | 12.5 million | China
- Tokyo DisneySea | 12.4 million | Japan
- Disney’s Epcot | 12 million | Orlando
- Disneyland Park | 10.4 million | Paris
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios | 10.3 million | Orlando
Devarrick Turner is a trending news reporter. Email [email protected]On X, formerly known as Twitter @dturner1208.
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