USJ set an attendance record for the third consecutive year, drawing 14.6 million visitors to the Osaka park in fiscal 2016 — a 5 percent increase over the previous year, according to company reports released yesterday. Meanwhile, combined attendance at Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea dropped 0.6 percent to 30 million.
Universal Studios Japan last year opened a Jurassic Park-themed Bolliger & Mabillard flying coaster and continues to offer a series of special events and limited-time attractions, including ones devoted to manga and video games. Meanwhile, the Tokyo Disney parks haven't opened or offered much new in the past year, beside an occasional new character.
Later this year, Universal will open the company's largest Minion-themed land, as Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem takes over the old Back to the Future building. And, of course, there's Super Nintendo World on the horizon for 2020.
Tokyo DisneySea this spring will open a Finding Dory overlay of its old StormRider attraction, and the resort has its own expansion plan in the works, which will include a new Beauty and the Beast themed dark ride, a major live performance theater, and a Soarin' attraction. Those new attractions should begin debuting in 2019.
All three parks rank among the top five theme parks in the world in annual attendance, according to the TEA/AECOM Theme Index report, filling the spots just behind world leader Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World and second-place Disneyland in California.
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Can UC build a park on top of another?
as Walt Disney said..."If we can dream it, we can do it."
Universal can convert its parking lots into the park. It might be a better use of its funds. I also noticed it has at least 2 lagoons. They can fill-in to reduce or eliminate the lagoons to increase park space.
Wow! Almost 3 times the population and only about twice the attendance and that's not even taking into account international tourism which plays a big role in Orlando.
The Japanese seem a whole lot more passionate about their theme parks than we do in the States.
Drawing a conclusion that the Japanese are more passionate about their theme parks by citing only population and attendance figures provides a shallow analysis. Take into account that most of Japan's population lives on Honshu (103 million) which is connected by an efficient, safe and fast high-speed rail network, then compare that to the spatial distribution of the US population and the country's transportation networks. Draw new conclusion.
USJ done closed the gap with TDS in 2015, when it leapfrogged it to #4. It's still about 2M behind TDL. They are "closing the gap" on the AVERAGE attendance of the Tokyo Disneyland Resort and "closing the gap" on TDL as well.
Universal has one park in Japan drawing 14.6 million visitors and Disney has 2 parks pulling in 30 million visitors total. If one considers that the attendance numbers at the Disney resort might be slightly inflated from park hopping, then Universal on an individual park basis may be outdrawing any single Disney park in Japan. Of course there's the other side of the argument that says that Disney may be diluting their attendance at the Tokyo Resort by having two parks. But the headline of the article is not misleading within the context of the facts presented in the following article.
And, like Manny, having been to the Tokyo Disney Resort and having ridden that efficient, safe and fast high-speed rail network several times, I can back up my shallow analysis with first-hand observations of the fervor of the Japanese patrons for their theme parks. I found the atmosphere at TDS in the springtime to be just as intense if not more so than the atmosphere in the Magic Kingdom during the Christmas holidays.
You don't need to lecture me about Japan, I lived in Tokyo for two years. Your empirical observations are just an attempt at obfuscating your faulty analysis comparing the US and Japan without considering the spatial distribution of the populations and transportation networks. Just admit you didn't think through your premises and conclusion clearly before posting. Why is it so hard for people on the net to admit they goofed?
Ja mata ne...
I also don't get your overt hostility towards my casual treatment of the statistics in looking at the situation. It was only a quick look at the numbers combined with my anecdotal experiences. As someone who has three years of college level mathematics as well as graduate level statistics and who spent several years writing highly complex technical reports, I certainly wouldn't stoop to calling it analysis. It is only an observation and nothing more.
Normally, your posts aren't quite this contentious, Tony, so I hope that whatever condition that has you this combative gets better.
Chest-beating your background in statistics and/or work experience has no bearing on your hollow argument. You got called out; that's what can happen when you post to a discussion board. You can own up to your deficiency, or project your shortcoming onto somebody else. Predictably, you chose the latter.
Accusing me of chest-beating for offering up my bona fides when you did it in your previous post is just plain hypocritical. "You don't need to lecture me about Japan, I lived in Tokyo for two years." Remember that? Looks to me like somebody was doing a little chest-beating there.
Oh, and by the way, I remember when you joined the site, and I knew that you had lived in Japan. I'm glad to let you be the Japan expert, but I certainly hope that the rest of us are allowed to share our experiences when they have pertinence to the discussion.
But here's the real issue. You still have a chapped butt about being called out on your Disney fanboy postings in the thread on 'Don't Dismiss Universal's New, Interdisciplinary Take on Theme Park Sites' last month. I'm sorry that you're having trouble getting over it, but you lost then, and you're losing badly now. It may be time to accept your shortcomings and give up before it gets worse.
This is fun, and to quote fellow TPI member TH Creative - "Oink!"
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