After years of declining attendance following the release of the Blackfish documentary, SeaWorld San Diego saw an attendance increase of 20 percent in 2018, according to the Press Enterprise.
The park had seen its attendance fall from 4.4 million visitors in 2012 all the way down to 3.1 million in 2017. But, 2018 saw a huge bounce back. The report attributed SeaWorld’s huge attendance increase to new rides and the use of Sesame Street to “change the conversation about the parks.”
The attendance stats come from a report from Themed Entertainment Association, an organization that provides estimates on crowds for theme parks around the world.
Elsewhere around Southern California, other theme parks also saw attendance up – with Disney California Adventure rising 3 percent to 9.9 million visitors, Universal Studios Hollywood seeing 9.1 million people visit (up 1%), Knott’s Berry Farm up 2% with 4.1 million visitors, and Six Flags Magic Mountain increasing attendance to 3.6 million (up 2.6%).
As for Disneyland, well, they say the park had a whopping 18.7 million visitors in 2018 – which was a 2% increase and that was without Star Wars Land – which opens next week.
