Attendance at North America's 50 most popular theme and amusement parks jumped almost 4 percent in 2004, the first overall increase since the 2001 terrorist attacks slowed the U.S. travel and tourism industry.
An estimated 169.1 million visitors rode thrill rides and romped around with costumed characters at the North American parks, according to an annual survey released Monday by the trade magazine Amusement Business and the research firm Economic Research Associates.
The increase was helped by a jump in international visitors spurred on by a weakening U.S. dollar, improved weather over last year and a rebound in U.S. travel and tourism.
Worldwide attendance at parks increased by 2.2 percent to 252.4 million visitors.
The hurricanes in Florida, which shut down the state's parks for several days, didn't have much affect on attendance since the most attended park in the world in 2004 was the Magic Kingdom at Orlando's Walt Disney World with 15.1 million visitors. The Florida park was followed by Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., with 13.3 million visitors and Tokyo Disneyland with 13.2 million visitors.
