Attendence changes and complete figures

First, an apology to the mods.

Although this was part of a news item, it seemed that many folks missed this, as I didn't see any discussion. Here's the full report:

http://www.connectingindustry.com/pdfs/TEA-ERAAttendance06.pdf

Wow...

SFMM down 10%

SFGAd down 8%

SDFAm down 8%

Animal Kingdom up 8.6%

There's a lot of interesting figures in there! I'd love to hear some comments.

I also don't buy Shapiro blaming SFMM's drop on the potential closure. If anything that should cause a bump as people (like me for one) visited because of that! *** Edited 4/7/2007 5:41:27 PM UTC by Peabody***

Dollywood was up, which is nice to see. With the addition of Mystery Mine, the figures next year should be good.

I wonder if all the price increases turned people away from the SF parks. Going from a $47.99 to $59.99 gate price and from $10 to $15 for parking was a huge increase at Great Adventure last year.

Even more interesting for SFMM and Great Adventure is the decrease in attendance when both got major coasters last year. I thought attendance is supposed to spike when a major new coaster is added?

(credit for the following math goes to Mike A. - I'm just the messenger :) )

Even more interesting to me is if you do the average daily attendance of the top 20 North American parks. Paints an entirely different picture in some ways:

• 45,589 - Magic Kingdom
• 40,356 - Disneyland
• 28,658 - Epcot
• 26,475 - Canada's Wonderland
• 24,932 - Disney MGM
• 24,411 - Animal Kingdom
• 24,016 - Kings Island
• 22,086 - Cedar Point
• 21,520 - Hersheypark
• 20,469 - SFGAm
• 17,613 - SFGAdv
• 16,438 - Universal Orlando
• 16,301 - California Adventure
• 15,726 - Sea World Orlando
• 14,521 - IOA
• 12,877 - Universal Hollywood
• 11,945 - BGA
• 11,671 - Sea World California
• 10,082 - Knott's Berry Farm
• 9,770 - SFMM

I just always amazed that the Magic Kingdom averages more than 45,000 guest per day - year round! That's sick!

^ I was doing the mental math as well and find it amazing. What do they charge for parking?

---

YoshiFan said:
I wonder if all the price increases turned people away from the SF parks. Going from a $47.99 to $59.99 gate price and from $10 to $15 for parking was a huge increase at Great Adventure last year.

---

I'm still of the mindset that it's years of crap service that keeps SF's number down. On the plus side, when you're down there's nowhere to go but up. :)

Then again that was part of the "Great Price Debate of 2006" and the other half was CP lowering the gate and offering that 25 cent cotton candy deal.

Their attendance dropped too and you'll notice this year the gate price inched back up a few bucks and the cotton candy offer is off the table from what I understand.

---

FLYINGSCOOTER said:
^ I was doing the mental math as well and find it amazing. What do they charge for parking?

---

$10

---

Lord Gonchar said:I just always amazed that the Magic Kingdom averages more than 45,000 guest per day - year round! That's sick!

---

That is amazing (thanks for the figures)...but I'm shocked that SFMM only gets 9700. That's even WAY less than I would have thought.

The DL numbers impresses me more than magic kingdom because DL is so freakin' small inside the gates by comparison. The day I went last year reportedly had over 62k in the gates. (Pirates opening day) It was insanity.

Yeah, SFMM's numbers are just sad.

That's operating days, right? Not the total divided by 365? 9700 seems like it would be worth closing the joint and selling off the land.

Aren't there usually about 9,700 just in X's line alone?

---

kpjb said:
....seems like it would be worth closing the joint and selling off the land.

---

Yes, operating days. And your comment is spot on...hence last years drama. Low attendence + very long season = one of the biggest money losers in the chain.

I assume you like meant a " ;) " with your X comment. But, remember...it usually only hits 300-400 PPH. So a 3-4 hour queue might only have 1000 people in it. :)

*** Edited 4/7/2007 6:58:24 PM UTC by Peabody***

Sfmm is not loosing money for the chain. It has been repeatetly stated that SFMM is profitable.

A lot of people, including some of my friends were under the impression that SFMM is already closed, so there is a reason for the 10% drop. Of course six flags not advertising in the big l.a.market, especially tv ads last year, hurt aswell

---

AlexInLA said:
Sfmm is not loosing money for the chain. It has been repeatetly stated that SFMM is profitable.

---

Then please show me where SF has actually stated this. I've certainly never seen it and heard MANY times to the contrary.

Over to the international parks, Disneyland Paris and the Walt Disney Studios (WDS) are in a bad, bad position. DLP did 10.6 millions and WDS did 2.2 millions. For a year round park, 2.2 millions is abyssimal! Its only 6000 guests per day on average... Even worst, back in 2000, DLP did 12.5 millions in attendance. So last year, they did the same numbers... but with 2 gates!

WDS was built as a concrete slab with 10 attractions in it. There was no theming, scenery, etc. The only "Disney" area is the Studio 1, a hollywood studio in a warehouse. Easy to figure why the place barely get more guests than the seasonal Parc Asterix.

WDS...the only place that makes DCA look killer :)

---

Then please show me where SF has actually stated this/

---

Every article in the L.A.Times during the might be sale of SFMM always stated that the park is profitable

---

---

Yes, but if I remember correctly in those articles it was never SF Inc. of SFMM stating that, always some third party that sounded like speculation. Besides, if it was a money-making property then why offer it up for sale? (I'd dig up the LA times articles, but I'm not going to pay money to do so)

*** Edited 4/9/2007 1:14:23 AM UTC by Peabody***

Wow, SFMM has to have more than 10,000 in average daily attendance, SDC has about that, and they are at least 4 times smaller. How many did they get total for last year?

Do the math, dude...it's correct. Pretty shocking, no? The place was DEAD when I was there last June. The only long lines were because of capacity, not crowds. It sucks....I really do wish the best for the place. (To be what it once was!)

*Geauga Lake - Dozens and dozens served!
;)