Amusement Park Attendance numbers question.

I'd be interested to see if Dollywood is in the top 50 and if Thunderhead helped boost attendance over 2003.

I survived a Japanese typhoon and the Togo flat ride of death!!!!!!

Dollywood has been in the Top 30 for the past two years...

nerds.....

I love how some people (not directed towards anyone in this thread) think Dollywood just suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The park has been on my map since I was 3 and in my top parks since I've been an (park) enthusiast. It's an incredible, classy, high quality park now that they have Thunderhead. Guess what it used to be before 2004? An incredible, classy, high quality park. Sorry you missed it before now. I'm even more sorry if you're missing out on the rest of the park by moving from Thunderhead to Tennessee Tornado to Blazing Fury and back around again.

Six Flags hasn't realized numbers for their individual parks and MM's season isn't over yet, so those numbers could have just as conveniently been pulled out of my own ass.

Yay for the attendance increase at Paramount Parks. I've actually seen some numbers and no, you're not getting them.

+Danny

http://www.themilkcarton.com/

All I know is some of the numbers they "Give/suggest" are WAyyy off. I use to think this is a great little bit of info. But after last year's numbers being WAyyy off I don't even take it with a grain of salt. The biggest debacle IMO was SFWoA's numbers last year. Anyone who went there, or worked there last year, can tell you that. There were also a few non-SF parks that can also tell you the same thing. Who would have thought the Media gets things wrong? ;)

"The Future of Roller Coasters" -RollerCoasterGod [url="http://ohiothemeparks.com"] Ohio Theme Parks[/url]

+Danny said:
Six Flags hasn't realized numbers for their individual parks and MM's season isn't over yet, so those numbers could have just as conveniently been pulled out of my own ass.

Yeah, SFOT's season isn't over yet either and they seem to be having a great December this year. I find it very odd that SFOT isn't listed in the top 25 with the last park being SFGAm at 2.3 million. AB's 2003 list had SFOT with 2.6 million, and that would mean 2004 was a disaster at SFOT, if those numbers are true, that is.

*** Edited 12/15/2004 6:06:46 PM UTC by Houston Thrills***

You would think that the Florida parks might have been somewhat affected by the weather this year, but all of them post at least a 7% increase. Then again, most people probably think, who cares if half the state doesn't have roofs, I'm goin' to Disney.

It does sound like a cushy job though. Come up with numbers, no need to provide any sources to verify them, get offended if someone does ask for verification, no consequences if you're dead wrong, and apparently no real way for anyone to prove you're dead wrong. And people are willing to pay for this info.

One question I do have though... how do they track attendance at a park like Knoebel's with no admission gate or entrance fee?

RamblinWreck said:
Dollywood has been in the Top 30 for the past two years...

And over 2 million since every season since 1992.

Thanks Dukeis#1, its a great park and popular in the south... and I also have to say good job to Danny.

RatherGoodBear, according to an article I read online (I wish I could remember exactly where, but unfortunately I don't) they use formulas developed by the respective parks based on revenue from food, merchandise, etc.

"Life's What You Make It, So Let's Make It Rock!"

Dollywood is a great park...much MUCH better than when I first went when it was Goldrush Junction haha. So nobody knows what number it is?

I survived a Japanese typhoon and the Togo flat ride of death!!!!!!

I didn't see anything from AB, but the 12/14/04 Knoxville News Sentinel has Pete Owens, PR director for Dollywood, saying that 2004 attendance was in the "2.2 million range" and up 2-3% from last year. Nothing about the rank.

However Amusement Business generates its estimates, the company has "readjusted" more than a few of last year's numbers by more than 10%.

Houston Thrills said:
Yeah, SFOT's season isn't over yet either and they seem to be having a great December this year. I find it very odd that SFOT isn't listed in the top 25 with the last park being SFGAm at 2.3 million. AB's 2003 list had SFOT with 2.6 million, and that would mean 2004 was a disaster at SFOT, if those numbers are true, that is.

They're not true. SFOT typically does 2.7 to 2.9 million each year, yet AB doesn't even have them in the top 25, and everyone I've talked to at the park says they are having a great year.

I can't help but wonder if AB's annual attendance is like AT's Golden Tickets... just a means to generate publicity and advertising.

Jeff - Editor - CoasterBuzz.com - My Blog

Ding, ding, ding, ding. We have a winner! Tell him what he has won Ed!

Seriously though, that is really what this is about. Maybe somewhere deep down AB really wants to get the parks to start being more forthright with their numbers but I suspect this is AB's way of making sure people know there is an AB.

It got CF coughing them up, right? More power to 'em.

Actually, it's probably not a cushy job. You have to get numbers that are difficult to obtain, not very reliable, and often estimated. Then you get flack from inside and outside the business about the accuracy of the numbers.

Remember too that attendance at gated and ungated parks can be 2 very different things. People visiting an Orlando park are probably dropping $50+ and spending the day. People visiting and ungated beach front park are likely to catch a ride or two, eat a cotton candy and leave spending an hour at the park and less than $10. Heck, a lot of people just walk through the Adventure dome and look without riding at all. And most ungated parks are really estimating since they have no way to actually count.

I did a little investigating myself. I made some calls, sent some e-mail.

You know what I found out? AB wasn't even close on many of these numbers. I'm talking about missing the numbers by hundreds of thousands. Some of them aren't in the neighborhood of being correct.

As a trained journalist, I would never publish these numbers. In a couple of hours I was able to invalidate 6 of the top 25, and I'm not exactly the most connected person in the industry. So if it's not about journalism, yeah, it's about trying to make the magazine relevant.

Jeff - Editor - CoasterBuzz.com - My Blog

No offense, but wouldn't the parks be inclined to tell you that the Amusement Business numbers were wrong, and that they experienced better attendance figures, especially if its a publicly traded company. If it could get out onto the internet that the park was doing better than Amusement Business reported, wouldn't that help the company on the market? Or am I just a conspiracist...?