Disney continues to dominate theme park business

Disney still dominates theme park attendance worldwide but it was The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios that accounted for 45 percent of the attendance increase in North America, according to the 2011 Theme Index Global Attractions Attendance Report.

North American theme park attendance in 2011 grew by 2.9 percent, but 1.3 percentage points of that increase was due to the new Harry Potter land, according to the report, published by the Themed Entertainment Association and the Economics practice at AECOM.

Without Harry Potter, North America attendance grew by 1.6 percent. “That 1.6 percent figure points to continued, slow economic recovery from the recession and modest attendance growth for most parks, in a mature market. This is seen not just in park attendance figures but also in tourism numbers,” the report states.

Even with the success of Harry Potter, Disney is still the gold standard when it comes to theme parks, filling the top eight spots on the list.

Disney World’s Magic Kingdom remains the most visited park in the world with Disneyland behind it, followed by the two Tokyo Disney parks.

Here’s how the parks stack up.