Note: This article presumes the accuracy of the TEA 2024 Report for the purposes of reporting attendance numbers.
Magic Kingdom was recently declared the winner by the Themed Entertainment Association for attendance in 2024. But what if we told you the Walt Disney World gateway theme park only won that race because Disney likely wanted to make sure it did so? And what if we told you that Disneyland theme park was more crowded with more ticket sales on a daily basis than Magic Kingdom? It turns out Disneyland was only beaten by Magic Kingdom, according to the TEA numbers, because Disney chose to make it more available more often.
Animatronic in Walt Disney – A Magical Life at Disneyland – YouTube, Attractions Magazine
First, we’re going to take a look at the availability of Magic Kingdom at Disney World compared to Disneyland. Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World was open a staggering 400+ times during 2024. You might ask how that is possible given that there aren’t 400+ days in the year. And the answer is that Disney World opened Magic Kingdom for more than one ticketed session on a large number of days!
2024
- Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) — 38 nights
- Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party (MVMCP) — 25 nights
- Disney After Hours (Magic Kingdom) — 18 nights
Total 2024 Magic Kingdom after-hours parties: 38 + 25 + 18 = 81 nights.
It turns out that Magic Kingdom increased their total number of sessions in 2024 by 6. Additionally, 2024 was a Leap Year, meaning that Magic Kingdom had one additional session via an extra day on the calendar. So when we include the 366 days that Magic Kingdom was open in 2024 plus its 81 extra evening sessions, we get a total of 447 sessions… whereas 2023 only had 440.
Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) attendance report for 2024 has been released:
• Magic Kingdom remains #1 the most visited theme park in the world with 17.8 million
• Disneyland park was #2 with 17.3 million
• Disney Parks global attendance was 142.5 million! pic.twitter.com/wleE6oqDYe— DSNY Newscast (@DSNYNewscast) October 23, 2025
As we detailed in a prior extensive exposé, that meant that (according to the TEA numbers recently released) Magic Kingdom had an average of 39,821 guests every time it opened the turnstiles for a new day / session. That was less than in 2023, but Disney managed to still grow its attendance by 0.7% even if it was likely 1.8% less crowded. Volume is the name of the game at Walt Disney World these days. How many of these double-ticketed sessions had guests that overlapped and chose to go to both? Good question, they don’t seem interested in answering that.
Paint the Night Parade at Disneyland – YouTube, WDW News Today
But back to Disneyland…
Here’s the 2024 count for separately ticketed, after-hours events at Disneyland Park (the original park, not DCA):
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Disneyland After Dark: Sweethearts’ Nite — 8 nights (Jan 23, 25, 30; Feb 1, 6, 8, 12, 14).
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Disneyland After Dark: Disney Channel Nite — 2 nights (Mar 5 & 7).
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Disneyland After Dark: Star Wars Nite — 8 nights (Apr 16, 18, 23, 25, 30; May 2, 7, 9).
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Disneyland After Dark: Pride Nite — 2 nights (Jun 18 & 20).
Disneyland Park 2024 Total
20 after-hours/ticketed nights.
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The Halloween party at the resort is Oogie Boogie Bash, which in 2024 had 27 nights—but it’s at Disney California Adventure (DCA), not Disneyland Park. (Listing the dates confirms location and count.)
All of this means that Disneyland only had 386 ticketed sessions for guests to attend, as opposed to Magic Kingdom’s whopping 447.
Disneyland Pride Nite via Patrick Dougall YouTube
According to the TEA report, Disneyland had 17,337,000 guests attend the theme park, not counting Disney’s California Adventure. With only 386 ticketed sessions for Disneyland theme park, the average number of guests attending is quite staggering!
Despite being a smaller park than Magic Kingdom, Disneyland theme park averaged 44,915 guests every time it offered the chance for people to buy a ticket. This exceeds Magic Kingdom’s average attendance of 39,821 by an incredible 11.4%!
So the question then becomes… does it matter? The answer is a resounding “yes”.
Magic Kingdom is supposed to be the big kahuna of all theme parks everywhere. It is the gateway theme park to Walt Disney World, the most valuable asset in all of The Walt Disney Company. Yet in an apples-to-apples comparison, Magic Kingdom is getting trounced in attendance by Disneyland. The only reason it looks otherwise is because Disney is keeping Magic Kingdom open far more often than Disneyland; why they are doing that is up for speculation.
So if you were wondering how in the world the reports all said Disneyland was far more crowded last year yet Magic Kingdom still came out on top, wonder now more. It’s not untrue, but it involves some smoke and mirrors. If Disneyland held as many additional ticketed sessions as Magic Kingdom, it’s very likely it would strongly outperform Florida’s most important theme park. And that might just be a shocking revelation to investors!
