Regional parks having good year at expense of destination parks

I beg to differ on this, Magic Springs is having a very bad year, they would not give me numbers, but instead they said, "it's less than anticipated". And, from my experience(I drive 2 hours up that way every 2 weeks), there are plenty of rerides on the Arkansas Twister, the longest I have had to wait for any ride there, was on the log ride. Go figure. It also looks bad enough that rides are breaking down, and not being fixed. I think the destination parks are haveing it good, and the regional parks are not.

You found an exception to the rule. Given the quotes in the article, I'd say Magic Springs is hardly representative of what the rest of the industry is doing.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"From the global village... in the age of communication!"

When I was at knoebels two weeks ago they were the buisiest I've ever seen them. It's good to see the indies doing well.

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Good luck in philly j.r.

PKD was busier this year than ever. The lines for the Backwards Rebel Yell were the longest I've ever had to wait. Also, PKD has the Fastpass (Expresslane, as they call it) working for Volcano, and when I got to Volcano at 10:45AM
on Sunday Morning, they were already handing out the tickets for 3:00-3:30 PM. Also, Volcano does still have a couple of problems, b/c when they added another train around 7:30ish, it took a while to get it running right.

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Which Cedar Fair parks are "destination" parks, and which are "regional" parks?

I'd say that Cedar Point is a destination park, considering it's size, the presence of Soak City and Challenge Park, and the number of resorts. Michigan's Adventures, on the other hand, I'd consider a regional park since it is much smaller, the water park is included with admission, and there are no associated resorts.

In a way, I'm glad that smaller parks are seeing a better year, because this will keep them open for further families and visitors to enjoy. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to visit any parks this season, but we are trying to plan visits in the next three weeks to very small parks (Miracle Strip and Wild Adventures) if all works out. Let's keep everyone in business -- the larger parks can afford a smaller year or two, but that could really hurt small parks.

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World of Fun and Valleyfair were preforming 7% lower then expected and those should probably be considered regional parks.

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"And then you say oh what a lovely tea party."
-Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back

I know that Disney has been suffering. First, they have all box-office bombs in the movies this year (see - Pearl Harbor, Atlantis) and then their parks attendance drop like flies after the Millennium Celebration ends. Cedar Point's atendance has been up the past 2 weeks, but otherwise, they have had a decrease. Six Flags, now THEY have been having a great year! SFGAdv is the only "resort" park of the chain (see - SFGAdv, SF Hurricane Harbor, SF Wild Safari all separate admission prices, except for safari) but SFGAdv has been more crowded than I have ever seen it! Any day you go, you will find enormous crowds! I have never seen a lot of people go in the middle of the week, but the parking lot is always full every day! SF is definitely making money!

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I'd have to say the PKI is having a good year. When I went on Wednesday two weeks ago, I've never seen so many people for a Wednesday. Still the park was empty compared to weekends, but I'm just glad PKI is having a great year. Now if they could just get them a new steel coaster.

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In my opinion, Cedar Point has had a slow year. Reasons for this are the amount of advertising they have been heavily dooing (I.E. Billboards, Radio,TV). And they have have many special deals now for season pass for $50 that lasts for the second half of the year. Coupled by the resort promotions and "Joe Cool" club events, and the general lack of upkeep in the arcades, it's evident to me that they are having a slower year. But that is expected with the present economy and that they don't have a "major" new attraction this year. BUt I still go abotu every other week, as you can't beat the rides and quality of the park. What comes around, goes around.

I also wanted to mention the fact that all the Disney Parks have Webcams. This spring/summer, the cams have all been down due to technical difficulties. I find this suspicious that Disney would not fix a "problem" quickly. Maybe it is because of lower attendance figures. As an annual passholder, we get mailings from WDW. They have send a couple of special resort offers for the summer which I find odd if they were having a decent year. Summer is their busy season, except for Christmas.

Teh increased attendance at Hershery and PKI is particularly impressive since neither park has added a new major attraction this year.

This answers many questions!

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Jes
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Six Flags Worlds of Adventure seems to be consistently busy, but Cedar Point's lines were shorter than last year when I went this year.

When it's cool, rainy, and humid, Orlando suffers, but when it's always 80 and nice and not smoggy near you or at Disneyland, then that's where the crowds go. It's only because all the resorts are in undesiarable locals, execpt for Disney, SFMM, SFNE, universal Hollywood, and Knott's (whitch can now be consitered a resort because it's almost apart of Disney, has a luxury Hotel, and a water park) Cedar Point, maybe, but it's closed when I'm ever able to go (off peak airfair time)

It's funny but I don't see the Busch parks as being regional parks,or the other 2 of Ohio's big 3 for that matter.
I think the economy excuse is pretty lame,it isn't even as bad as the early 90's. *** This post was edited by DirtyVern on 8/14/2001. ***