Disneyland Paris Faces Visitor Decline: Is California’s Magic Kingdom at Risk Too?

Disneyland Paris experienced a decline in attendance last year, with 288,000 fewer visitors bringing the total to 15.8 million. This dip marks a regression to attendance figures from 2012. The underlying causes of this downturn may also pose challenges for Disneyland in California.

While Disney’s official reports don’t specify attendance numbers for each of its 12 global parks, insights from the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) highlight that the Paris parks were the only Disney locations worldwide to see a decrease in visitors in the past year. Specifically, attendance at both the Walt Disney Studios Park and Disneyland Park in Paris, which debuted in 1992, dropped by 1.8%.

The previous year was anticipated to be a landmark one for Disneyland Park, particularly with the introduction of the innovative Disney Electrical Sky Parade. This nighttime spectacle, featuring drones to recreate the iconic Main Street Electrical Parade in the sky, was a first for Disney parks and was met with enthusiastic acclaim.

Despite these efforts, Disneyland Park’s visitor numbers fell by 186,000, totaling 10.2 million. Despite being the most frequented theme park in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region, it faced a stark comparison with Germany’s Europa-Park, which saw a 3.3% increase in attendance, reaching 6.2 million. This rise aligns with the overall trend of a 3.3% increase in attendance across the 20 most-visited theme parks in the EMEA region, totaling 68.5 million visitors.

The decline at Walt Disney Studios Park was less pronounced, with a decrease of 102,000 visitors. However, given its already smaller attendance figures compared to its neighboring park, any reduction is concerning. The Studios attracted 5.6 million guests last year, ranking as the fourth most-visited park in the EMEA region, a drop from its previous position.

Nonetheless, there’s optimism for the future as the Studios undergoes a significant $2.3 billion (€2 billion) expansion, which is expected to revitalize its appeal. Over the past 15 years, attendance at the Studios has more than doubled, in contrast to a 19.8% decline at Disneyland Park, which has not introduced any new rides from scratch in that period. Interestingly, the lack of new attractions wasn’t the primary factor for last year’s decline in visitors.

There is light at the end of the tunnel as the Studios is in the midst of a $2.3 billion (€2 billion) expansion and the TEA data shows that it is giving a much-needed sparkle to the popularity of the park. Over the 15 years since 2009, attendance at the Studios has more than doubled whereas there has been a 19.8% decline at the Disneyland Park which hasn’t built any new rides from scratch during that time. Surprisingly, this isn’t why its attendance tanked last year.

The TEA report explains that “both Disneyland Park and second-gate Walt Disney Studios Park saw a 1.8% decline in attendance. The parks were impacted by the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, which raised hotel rates and shifted visitor attention during the peak summer months.”

It reflects guidance in Disney’s 2024 third quarter earnings report which stated that there had been “impacts at Disneyland Paris from a reduction in normal consumer travel due to the Olympics”.

Disneyland Paris declined to comment but the financial statements for its parent company, Euro Disney Associes, confirm that “the 2024 Paris Olympics had a negative impact on theme park attendance during the period of the Games, which ran from July 26 to August 11.” It reflects comments from Disney’s chief executive Bob Iger who said in August last year that “Disneyland Paris has obviously felt some challenge due to the Olympics. Not a surprise, but something that happens.”

It may seem counter-intuitive for one of the world’s biggest sporting events to cause a crash in attendance at a tourist attraction in its host city but it is actually logical. Spiralling accommodation costs and huge crowds put many people off from visiting a city when the Olympic Games are taking place which is why most hosts see a decline in tourism according to Andrew Zimbalist, an economics professor at Smith College in Massachusetts, and one of the leading global experts in Olympic finance.

Corinne Menegaux, director of the Paris tourist office, adds that part of the problem also appears to be that spectators tend to stay close to Olympic sites where they watch the Games rather than heading to local tourist attractions.

Potential visitors were also disenchanted by the political turmoil and security concerns in France which contributed to the Paris region recording 68 million hotel nights in 2024, a 4% decline on 2023. Choose Paris Region, a governmental agency tasked with promoting the appeal of the capital noted that this was “mainly due to the Olympic Games, which altered seasonal flows.”

It doesn’t bode well for Disneyland and the neighboring Disney California Adventure park in Anaheim as the 2028 Olympic Games will be held in venues just minutes away in Los Angeles. Disneyland has even more to lose than its counterpart in Paris as it was the world’s second most-visited theme park last year with 17.3 million visitors while California Adventure attracted a further 10 million.

It wouldn’t be the first time that the Olympics have ushered in dark clouds over Disneyland. When the Games previously took place in LA in 1984, attendance at the local theme parks Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, Six Flags Magic Mountain and Universal Studios was reportedly down between 30% and 50%. “We’ve never had a worse summer,” said Herb Steinberg, vice president of MCA Recreation Services, which owned the Universal Studio Tour. “We’re down 30%. Unfortunately, the Games have destroyed the tourist business.”

Disneyland spokesman Bob Roth added that 1984 could prove to the worst summer in the park’s 29-year history. “Business is remarkably slow. People can walk into our most popular rides – Pirates of the Caribbean and Space Mountain. In past summers they had to wait as long as an hour,” he said. However, that doesn’t mean the stage is definitely set for attendance to drop yet again.

It appears that the Olympics alone wasn’t the only reason for the fall in attendance at Disneyland Paris as visitor numbers increased last year at every other theme park in France on the TEA EMEA top 20 list. That even includes Parc Asterix which is around the same distance from downtown Paris as Disneyland but experienced a 1% increase in visitor numbers to 2.8 million. Farther afield, attendance at the olde worlde Puy Du Fou park in Eastern France surged by a staggering 12%, the fourth-highest increase in the EMEA region.

Disneyland Paris has come under fire for its prices which are far from Mickey Mouse with the cheapest two star on-site hotel over the rest of 2025 costing $522.48 for one night for two people with two days of park tickets. With prices that high, increasing attendance may be far from a walk in the park.