The economy going to hurt the amusement industry?
i feel this might hurt and help well people wont have as much money this could be good for the amusment industry because people in there own home town might consider just going to the amusment park instead of like say disney. so this might actualy help but i doubt it. i have been asking myself this question for the past 4 months
The present state of the economy will have minimal impact on the amusement industry. Most working families plan vacations on a yearly basis and will be using vacation days at work regardless. There are also a great number of families, couples and individuals who make day or weekend trips to parks. It is the longer trips that will suffer first. As previously stated the current economy could help the industry.
I think less money will be spent traveling to distant amusement parks, while local parks remain steady. Traveling to the park down the street doesn't cost much, but hopping on a plane, staying at hotels, eating out every night can get downright expensive.
The thing that could hurt the industry again is GAS PRICES. $2.00 a gallon I,' hearing again for the summer. Ugh. If Gas is in expensive again, airfare will increase too.
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Joe (who finds it funny that gas prices dropped in the Midwest after an investigation began on why they were do high)
The thing that could hurt the industry again is GAS PRICES. $2.00 a gallon I,' hearing again for the summer. Ugh. If Gas is in expensive again, airfare will increase too.
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Joe (who finds it funny that gas prices dropped in the Midwest after an investigation began on why they were do high)
Existing parks will mostly be fine. However, the current economic down-trend could put a damper on proposed parks. This is a concern in the coaster-deprived NW, where a fairly major new park (The Great Northwest) is on the drawing board. That Six Flags purchased an existing smaller park in Seattle is hopeful news, but in an iffy economy, they may not put much into it for a while. Especially if their competition never opens.
Still, those of us up here in this region of the country remain hopeful that the opposite will occur; that Six Flags will develop a park to rival the new one!
And from there, maybe Silverwood would try to expand also.
Oh, the possibilities...............................
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The Northwest will Join the Best-in 2003!!!
Still, those of us up here in this region of the country remain hopeful that the opposite will occur; that Six Flags will develop a park to rival the new one!
And from there, maybe Silverwood would try to expand also.
Oh, the possibilities...............................
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The Northwest will Join the Best-in 2003!!!
It might stop people from going to far to the little parks but then more locals would visit them. I don't think the big guys (Paramaount SixFlags, Cedar Fair) would even notice it. Esp. With CP & SFMM in the coaster war.
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Roller coasters are the secret of life!
http://www.woodencoaster.com
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Roller coasters are the secret of life!
http://www.woodencoaster.com
I think in a bad economy people wouldn't venture much farther than 2-4 hrs to go to a park. But I think parks could take away from major league pro sports due to the fact that you can spend the whole summer at a park for about 100 bucks as compared to spending that much on a single ticket to a game.
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"One good thing about all this, with all this fresh air were gonna sleep like babies"
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"One good thing about all this, with all this fresh air were gonna sleep like babies"
There will be an impact if consumer confident doesn't go up, and that will probably stay down if we don't get a sizeable tax cut. (Will we actually see a ton of cash? Probably not but perceptions are huge.)
So, I'd say if there's a tax cut and consumer confidence rebounds the parks are good to go. If not all the parks should take a bit of a hit. Maybe not a big enough hit that would close down the parks, but big enough to make them conservative about any future capitol expansion.
Six Flags was almost pretty dang smart to put all there rides in this season when they had the dough to do it.
Sure, it might take a while longer to get their ROI, but if the economy does decline and they don't have the cash next year to put up more rides they're going to be looking pretty smart in my opinion.
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Randy Hutchinson
You build it, I'll ride it...eventually
So, I'd say if there's a tax cut and consumer confidence rebounds the parks are good to go. If not all the parks should take a bit of a hit. Maybe not a big enough hit that would close down the parks, but big enough to make them conservative about any future capitol expansion.
Six Flags was almost pretty dang smart to put all there rides in this season when they had the dough to do it.
Sure, it might take a while longer to get their ROI, but if the economy does decline and they don't have the cash next year to put up more rides they're going to be looking pretty smart in my opinion.
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Randy Hutchinson
You build it, I'll ride it...eventually
What is ROI? I'm an Aussie, should I know what that means? :)
However, the news down under is pretty bad. Our dollar is only worth about US$0.495, therefore new rides will cost even more. Perhaps the new ride for my home park has been psuhed back for this reason. :(
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Home Park - Wonderland Sydney, Australia, featuring;
1) The Demon - 1988 Vekoma Boomerang
2) The Bush Beast - 1985 KEC Woodie (Clone of PKD's Grizzly)
3) Beastie - 1985 KEC Junior Woodie
4) More steel coasters please!!! Preferably a B&M Masterpiece!
However, the news down under is pretty bad. Our dollar is only worth about US$0.495, therefore new rides will cost even more. Perhaps the new ride for my home park has been psuhed back for this reason. :(
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Home Park - Wonderland Sydney, Australia, featuring;
1) The Demon - 1988 Vekoma Boomerang
2) The Bush Beast - 1985 KEC Woodie (Clone of PKD's Grizzly)
3) Beastie - 1985 KEC Junior Woodie
4) More steel coasters please!!! Preferably a B&M Masterpiece!
Many Wall Street analysts are bullish on Premier, Viacom and Disney, pronouncing them recession-resistant...
http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/010307/n07454615_2.html
Why? Because folks who are forced to scale back on their vacation plans wind up at their regional theme park instead.
Disney will wind up hosting the folks who can't afford to travel abroad.
As for CF...a bear market actually favors them, as they're a fiscally conservative company that stock pundits run to for shelter. Units are selling close to their 52-week high right now.
-CPlaya
http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/010307/n07454615_2.html
Why? Because folks who are forced to scale back on their vacation plans wind up at their regional theme park instead.
Disney will wind up hosting the folks who can't afford to travel abroad.
As for CF...a bear market actually favors them, as they're a fiscally conservative company that stock pundits run to for shelter. Units are selling close to their 52-week high right now.
-CPlaya
ROI is return on investment, or the money you make for the money you spend.
I think that Six Flags would stand the most to gain by a slowing economy, because people might not go to a "destination" park (namely Orlando) and might instead stick to their local market (where Six Flags probably has a park).
Time will tell... I personally think there's a lot of paranoia out there, and that's the only real thing we need to fear. Dot-coms will tank, sure, but the Internet isn't going away, and there is still growth in all things Internet, even if it's more steady.
All I know is that it's damn fine time to buy a house. :)
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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
I think that Six Flags would stand the most to gain by a slowing economy, because people might not go to a "destination" park (namely Orlando) and might instead stick to their local market (where Six Flags probably has a park).
Time will tell... I personally think there's a lot of paranoia out there, and that's the only real thing we need to fear. Dot-coms will tank, sure, but the Internet isn't going away, and there is still growth in all things Internet, even if it's more steady.
All I know is that it's damn fine time to buy a house. :)
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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
Well the reasons dot-coms tanked is because they lacked profitability. And if one read the business plan of most of the dot coms you can tell why they tanked. The last year or so the market was fueled by emotion, the American dream of everyone gets rich quick. However, common sense kicked in to most of the traders when they realized, "Hey these guys are losing money big time. I better get out." So the NASDAQ came down a bit more (It had been on a slower decline after the Microsoft ruling, but that's a different story all together.)
The NASDAQ goes down so John Q. Journalist thinks the new economy is being fueled by the NASDAQ so this is huge better report it. This alarms the Dow because the media is going crazy over the falling NASDAQ so some of the buyers there get antsy and decide to sell.
However, I think cooler heads will prevail and the market will right itself again, and the public will realize that in all actuality all is sane and we can all return to life as usual.
In a nutshell I figure parks might see a smaller dip in the beginning of the season, but by the end numbers should start to return to normal.
I hope I spelled everything right up above because the handy dandy spell check button doesn't seem to like my computer tonight.
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Randy Hutchinson
You build it, I'll ride it...eventually
The NASDAQ goes down so John Q. Journalist thinks the new economy is being fueled by the NASDAQ so this is huge better report it. This alarms the Dow because the media is going crazy over the falling NASDAQ so some of the buyers there get antsy and decide to sell.
However, I think cooler heads will prevail and the market will right itself again, and the public will realize that in all actuality all is sane and we can all return to life as usual.
In a nutshell I figure parks might see a smaller dip in the beginning of the season, but by the end numbers should start to return to normal.
I hope I spelled everything right up above because the handy dandy spell check button doesn't seem to like my computer tonight.
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Randy Hutchinson
You build it, I'll ride it...eventually
Jeff said:
All I know is that it's damn fine time to buy a house. :)
Indeed it is. I'm in a position where this downswing may be more BENEFICIAL to me than harmful (401Ks will recover long-term)
RandyHutchinson said:
However, I think cooler heads will prevail and the market will right itself again, and the public will realize that in all actuality all is sane and we can all return to life as usual.
The whole dotcom frenzy drove me nuts. When all those stocks were skyrocketing in market value *with no product*, I was REALLY questioning the intelligence of the average investor. One dotcom I know of, had the unofficial business plan of "pretend to have a product, IPO, cash in, get out" (and I'm sure that quite a few had that mindset). It was insane. Even though I'm in technology, I'm somewhat GLAD to see the bubble burst. It was bound to happen, I just wish it'd been sooner so as to have less of an impact.
As for parks, I agree with the general comments that parks will continue to see local patrons. With the exception of some of the destination parks like Disney, MOST parks rely more on local traffic anyway. How many NON-enthusiasts travel to Pittsburgh to go to Kennywood, for instance? Not many.
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--Greg
http://www.pobox.com/~gregleg/ *** This post was edited by GregLeg on 3/19/2001. ***
I just got on the net a year and a half ago and looking a year earlier, the dotcom doom seemed very likly to happen. And now inet advert rates are down and it can be hard to break even (right Jeff, we all know and appreciate your hard work) but is hasn't discouraged me from getting 8 domains :) If I were in it just for $$ I would have given up long ago ;)
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bigkirby
Formerly KirbyLovesCoasters but the name got too long. http://www.woodencoaster.com
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bigkirby
Formerly KirbyLovesCoasters but the name got too long. http://www.woodencoaster.com
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