This ranks the United States theme parks that stay open for business essentially every day of the year, including the coldest weeks of January and February, rather than closing for a full off-season. Because ‘open in winter’ has no single built-in number, the parks are ordered by their 2025 annual attendance, published in the TEA Global Experience Index released in October 2026, the industry’s yearly attendance survey produced by the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) with research partners Entertainment + Culture Advisors and The Park Database, presented by Storyland Studios (this report was known in earlier years as the TEA/AECOM Theme Index, but AECOM is no longer the research partner). Attendance is an estimate published by the operators and compiled through that report, not an exact turnstile count, and this list includes only parks with published 2025 figures.
Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World led with 17.8 million visitors in 2025, edging out Disneyland in Anaheim at 17.41 million by a narrowing margin of about 394,000. Those two are in a class of their own; the next tier, Disney’s other Orlando parks and the two Universal Orlando gates, cluster between 8.0 and 12.1 million, and the list then drops sharply to a group of parks between roughly 3.8 and 4.3 million. Every park on this list sits in Florida or Southern California, where mild winters let operators run full daily schedules year-round instead of shutting down.
The Full Ranking
Figures are 2025 calendar-year attendance as published in the TEA Global Experience Index (released October 2026); all 13 parks below operate on an essentially daily schedule through winter rather than closing for an off-season.
| # | Park | Location | 2025 Attendance (published estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Magic Kingdom | Lake Buena Vista, FL | 17,800,000 |
| 2 | Disneyland | Anaheim, CA | 17,406,000 |
| 3 | EPCOT | Lake Buena Vista, FL | 12,109,000 |
| 4 | Disney’s Hollywood Studios | Lake Buena Vista, FL | 10,312,000 |
| 5 | Disney California Adventure | Anaheim, CA | 10,090,000 |
| 6 | Universal Studios Florida | Orlando, FL | 9,300,000 |
| 7 | Universal’s Islands of Adventure | Orlando, FL | 9,200,000 |
| 8 | Disney’s Animal Kingdom | Lake Buena Vista, FL | 8,782,000 |
| 9 | Universal Studios Hollywood | Universal City, CA | 8,000,000 |
| 10 | SeaWorld Orlando | Orlando, FL | 4,335,000 |
| 11 | Knott’s Berry Farm | Buena Park, CA | 4,315,000 |
| 12 | SeaWorld San Diego | San Diego, CA | 4,015,000 |
| 13 | Busch Gardens Tampa Bay | Tampa, FL | 3,800,000 |
Why Florida and Southern California Take Every Spot
Every park on this list sits in one of two metro clusters: Orlando/Tampa and Anaheim/Los Angeles/San Diego. Both regions rarely see freezing temperatures, so operators can run a full daily operating calendar in January the same way they do in July, just with shorter hours and lighter crowds. Walt Disney World alone accounts for four of the top eight spots, and Universal’s two legacy Orlando gates fill two more of them, at sixth and seventh; Universal Studios Hollywood, the chain’s third daily-winter park, lands just outside the top eight at ninth. Universal’s newer Epic Universe isn’t on this list because it opened on May 22, 2025, so its reported attendance for the year is a partial-year total, not a full calendar year of attendance comparable to the other parks.
Magic Kingdom’s lead over Disneyland narrowed to about 394,000 visitors in 2025, but the gap below them is wide: EPCOT in third draws roughly 5.7 million fewer guests than Magic Kingdom. From there, the Disney and Universal gates in Florida and California sit fairly close together in the 8.0 to 10.3 million range before the list drops again to a second tier between roughly 3.8 and 4.3 million, made up of SeaWorld’s two coasts, Knott’s Berry Farm, and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.
How This List Draws the Line on ‘Open in Winter’
A number of well-known US parks run high-profile winter light events, Hersheypark’s Christmas Candylane, Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s Christmas Town, and Dollywood’s Smoky Mountain Christmas, typically on select evenings and weekends from mid-November through the first few days of January. Those are real operating days, but the parks then close completely for weeks or months: Hersheypark and Dollywood both go dark after early January and don’t reopen until early April, and Cedar Point reopens in May. Because of that gap, those parks aren’t counted here as ‘open in winter’ in the same sense as the 13 above, which run close to a full daily schedule straight through January and February.
Six Flags Entertainment, which merged with Cedar Fair in July 2024, illustrates why this measure has to be checked park by park rather than by chain: most of its legacy Six Flags-branded parks, including Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey, close for an extended winter off-season and don’t resume daily operation until spring, apart from select holiday-light dates in December. Knott’s Berry Farm, however, became part of the same company through that merger and is one of the few US theme parks that has long operated on a true 365-day daily schedule, which is why it appears in this ranking even though most of its sibling parks do not.
The ranking also leans on a widely cited but imperfect measure. The TEA Global Experience Index’s attendance figures are rounded, published estimates supplied in part by the operators themselves, not independently audited ticket counts, so treat the numbers as directional rather than exact, especially for the closely bunched middle of the list. This report is produced by the Themed Entertainment Association with research partners Entertainment + Culture Advisors and The Park Database, presented by Storyland Studios; it carried the TEA/AECOM Theme Index name in earlier editions, but AECOM has not been the research partner for the 2025 edition.
Planning a Winter Visit
Orlando offers the deepest winter bench: Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure, SeaWorld Orlando, and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay are all within about 90 minutes of each other and all run daily through the winter outside of the Christmas-to-New Year’s crowd spike. Southern California has a smaller but still substantial cluster: Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, Universal Studios Hollywood, Knott’s Berry Farm, and SeaWorld San Diego. None of these are guaranteed to run their full published hours every single day; Knott’s Berry Farm, for instance, occasionally closes for rain or very light midweek demand in January and February, and park hours shrink across the board in winter, so it’s worth checking a park’s official calendar a day or two ahead of a visit.
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A fan and a mist in one, rechargeable. Very popular in queue lines once the afternoon sun hits.
Build a working coaster on the kitchen table and learn why the first drop has to be the tallest. A good gift for young coaster fans.
Over 3,700 pieces, a real vertical loop and a working chain lift. Display it on a shelf in the coaster room.
Theme Parks Open in Winter in the United States FAQs
Which theme parks stay open all winter in the US?
The four Walt Disney World parks in Florida, Disneyland and Disney California Adventure in California, Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Universal Studios Hollywood, SeaWorld Orlando and San Diego, Knott’s Berry Farm, and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay all run on a full daily schedule through winter rather than closing for an off-season.
Does Walt Disney World close for the winter?
No. Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom operate daily year-round, including through January and February, aside from occasional severe-weather closures.
What US theme parks close for the winter?
Most regional parks outside Florida and Southern California shut down for an extended off-season, including Cedar Point, Kings Island, Hersheypark, Dollywood, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, and most legacy Six Flags-branded parks such as Six Flags Great Adventure. Many run holiday light events on select nights in December but close fully for weeks or months afterward, typically reopening between late February and May. One notable exception is Knott’s Berry Farm, which became part of the same company as Six Flags through its 2024 merger with Cedar Fair but, unlike most of its sibling parks, operates on a daily year-round schedule.
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Photo: Tom Arthur / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.