Inside Wonderla's playbook: Making amusement parks work in India that's yet to crack the Disneyland code

In a country of over 1.4 billion people, the business of fun should be booming. Yet, India's amusement park sector remains curiously underdeveloped. Global giants like Disneyland and

Universal Studios have kept their distance, despite India's growing middle class and rising appetite for experiences. The reason? An industry that’s long struggled with scale, affordability,

and repeat viability. Except, perhaps, for one notable exception: Wonderla, under Wonderla Holidays Ltd, founded by Kochi-based entrepreneur Kochouseph Chittilappilly and currently helmed

by his son Arun Chittilappilly.

Given Wonderla’s success, why haven’t international amusement park brands entered the Indian market? The reasons, it turns out, are both economic and cultural. Not only are they destination

parks, but they’re multi-billion-dollar projects. Universal’s newest Orlando Park is roughly a seven-and-a-half billion-dollar project. For context: the most expensive airport in India is

the Noida International Airport (NIA), coming up at an estimated $4.2 billion.

“There’s this fantasy that Disneyland or Universal Studios can work in India, but the reality is different,” says Arun Chittilappilly, executive chairman and managing director of Wonderla

Holidays. “Their scale requires 300 to 400 acres, massive investments of ₹5,000–10,000 crore, and ticket prices upwards of ₹10,000. That just doesn’t fly in India.”

Compare that to Wonderla’s average revenue per user (ARPU) of ₹2,000. At Universal, you’re looking at $350 per person, that’s ₹35,000–40,000 just to enter. Add stay and food, and that’s

another $400. Indians aren’t ready to spend that.

Even as several reports indicate that Universal Studios, one of the world’s biggest theme park operators, is in discussions with Bharti Real Estate to enter the Indian market, the plan

appears limited in scale, with the company likely to lease just 300,000 sq ft (around 7 acres) for an indoor theme park.

The economics don’t add up. Land acquisition at that scale is next to impossible in or around major Indian cities, and even if a project were to get off the ground, the pricing would

alienate most Indian consumers. Wonderla’s own tickets are priced between ₹1,200 and ₹2,000—a sweet spot for urban Indian families, but one that barely covers operating costs for a

Disney-style park.

Chittilappilly adds, “We’ve seen several players try and fail. There was Adlabs Imagica, which went through corporate debt restructuring. Others like Essel World haven’t scaled. The big

difference is that most of these were chasing the idea of theme parks without ensuring sustainable economics.”

On the other hand, more importantly, Indian audiences don’t resonate with Disney’s central draw — its characters. “It’s all about brand perception, and animation in India hasn’t worked

because it is meant only for kids here,” shared a former Disney executive on anonymity. “Frozen was a blockbuster globally (nearly $1.3 billion), but it had barely 100 screens in India.

People don’t relate to iconic characters like Mickey Mouse here.” In America, they pay extra for the meet and greet with the characters and the stay in Disneyland hotels. “That kind of

madness and resonance doesn’t exist here.”

Even Disneyland’s smallest park is an entire island in Hong Kong that took a decade to build. Moreover, a special train line was commissioned to connect Lantau Island to the city. Both

Shanghai and Hong Kong Disneylands are on government land in a joint-project with the company. “That’s the kind of government support and infrastructure planning needed for these parks,”

adds the executive.

“The reason why we don't have those kinds of investments coming to India is because it usually requires the Central or the state government to put in a lot of money. It's sort of like a

metro project–you're not sure whether it will make money by itself,” says Chittilappilly.

With operational parks in Kochi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Bhubaneswar, and a fifth one under development in Chennai–which will open in December 2025–the company is doubling down on a sector

that’s still seen as niche.

“We’ve always been focused on building profitable, cash-generating parks,” says Chittilappilly. “We’re not in the business of fantasy. We don’t want to lose money for 10 years and then make

it back later—that’s not sustainable in India.”

For starters, it focuses on tight capital discipline. Its new Chennai park, set to launch by the year-end, is coming up on 50 acres and will require a capital outlay of ₹600-650 crore—a far

cry from global counterparts.

The other key is repeat visitation. In the UAE or Hong Kong, amusement parks often depend on inbound international tourism. “We see ourselves as regional parks. We expect people from within

a 300-400 km radius. That’s our market,” says Chittilappilly. “More than 90% of our customers are locals or from nearby cities. They’re coming back because the experience is safe, clean, and

value-for-money.”

Each Wonderla park draws around a million visitors a year. In FY24, total footfall across Bengaluru, Kochi and Hyderabad stood at 3.2 million. “We expect around 3 lakh visitors in

Bhubaneswar this financial year,” he says.

Wonderla’s pre-Covid top line stood at around ₹270–280 crore. “After Covid, that’s almost doubled,” says Chittilappilly. “We clocked ₹400 crore in FY22, then ₹500 crore, and now we’re at

₹480–490 crore.”

All of this was achieved without adding a new park until late 2023. The company’s EBITDA stands at 30-35%, with a top line nearing ₹500 crore. While the margins were slightly higher last

year, recent investments in expansion and marketing have pulled them down slightly.

A major chunk of the revenue—nearly 65-70%—comes from ticket sales. The rest is from food and beverage, merchandise, and the resort businesses. Wonderla also operates a premium resort at its

Bengaluru park and is adding 40 more rooms to accommodate growing demand. “Our resort business is still small—it contributes about ₹25–30 crore—but we see potential in integrated

destinations,” he says. The plan is to replicate similar integrated models to other cities like Hyderabad & Kochi soon.

Looking ahead, Wonderla is eyeing more cities for expansion. “India can support maybe 10-12 good parks. We’ll take it one step at a time. We don’t want to be over-leveraged or

over-extended,” says Chittilappilly.

He also sees live entertainment as an interesting adjacent opportunity, not concerts or music festivals, but immersive experiences. “There’s scope to add shows, digital interactives, and

maybe even IP-driven zones,” he says, “but it has to be incremental, not transformational.”

In the meantime, the company is investing in technology to reduce wait times, digitise bookings, and improve operational efficiency. This strategy has already shown positive results helping

the company better manage visitor variability. Online bookings, which used to be only 10% pre-Covid, nearly make up 50-60% of their footfall. However, scale remains a challenge.

“It’s a tough business—land, permissions, high capex, seasonal demand. But we’ve built a model that works in India,” shares Chittilappilly.

The amusement park space in India is littered with cautionary tales. Most operators underestimate the complexity and capital intensity, while overestimating the market's willingness to pay.

Imagica, perhaps the most ambitious attempt to replicate an international-style park in India, ended up in debt and saw multiple management changes. Others, like the Appu Ghar in Gurgaon or

the MGM Dizzee World in Chennai, have seen sporadic success but limited scalability.