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Disneyland Welcomes Its Billionth Guest
Disneyland Resort, encompassing both Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure, is estimated to have welcomed its one billionth guest in February 2025. This historic milestone for the Anaheim theme parks likely surpassed a combined attendance of one billion visitors, a feat that would have been achieved even sooner if not for the more than year-long closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Related – Bob Iger and Josh D’Amaro Reflect on 70 Years of Disneyland
Historically, Disneyland proudly maintained and publicly shared its annual attendance figures, a practice that was once a cherished tradition. Today, however, official annual counts are no longer released by the park itself; instead, these numbers are estimated by various theme park industry publications and organizations. Notably, Amusement Business was among those that published the 2005 theme park attendance figures, prior to the industry magazine ceasing operations after 111 years.
While Disneyland no longer publicly releases its attendance figures, the park once regularly celebrated significant milestones, proudly announcing its 100 millionth visitor in 1971, 200 million in 1981, 300 million in 1989, 400 million in 1997, and 500 million in 2004.
The latter, achieved on January 8, 2004, at 10:16 a.m., saw Bill Trow of Australia become the 500 millionth guest to enter Disneyland’s gates. Trow joined Mickey Mouse to update the park’s population sign above the train station and was celebrated with lifetime passes for his family, a VIP tour of Disneyland, and a luxurious stay in a suite at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel.
The Disneyland population sign, last updated in 2013 to reflect 650 million guests, is now likely understated by more than 150 million. According to the latest attendance estimates from TEA/AECOM, Disneyland alone has seen an increase of 307.3 million visitors between 2004 and 2023. Concurrently, Disney California Adventure has welcomed 161.5 million visitors since its opening in 2001 through 2023, based on estimates from Amusement Business and TEA/AECOM.
Cumulatively, Disneyland Resort, encompassing both Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure, had welcomed an estimated 968.8 million visitors through the end of 2023. Projecting forward, if 2023 attendance figures were sustained, the resort would have reached approximately 996.5 million visitors by the close of 2024. This brought the parks exceptionally close to the one billion mark, particularly with an estimated 2.3 million guests visiting the resort each month. Based on an estimated daily attendance of 75,890 for both parks, the historic one billionth visitor to Disneyland Resort is estimated to have passed through its gates on February 15.
Should Disneyland and Disney California Adventure experience an annual increase of nearly 2.75 million visitors, it is plausible that Disneyland Resort surpassed the one billion visitor mark sometime in 2024.
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