Cedar Fair revenue and attendance down slightly through July 8

I wish they would release individual park attendance trends; I am super curious where my home park CGA stands. It seems to be doing much better than last year in terms of attendance, just from my observations. I would guess that is because of Railblazer, and new shows and events already this year. But of course CGA probably has the least impact of all the CF parks, so it would only nominally affect overall numbers.

Jeff, if more people are staying in the hotels, and fewer people are day visitors, wouldn't that be consistent with the idea that people are traveling to destinations more - i.e., more people are making a "destination" trip to Cedar Point this year? (I'm not really buying that as the reason, but it doesn't seem inconsistent to me.)

I would think the issues with SVen* can't help. Enough to move the bar? I don't know. But if early season visitors are reporting long lines and downtime for the flagship addition at the flagship park, that can't be *good* for business.

Anyway, I am making my destination visit - first in almost 20 years! - at the end of the month, so I'll report back. (On that note, what does Breakers West mean? I can't find anything on the website that explains.)

*as I will insist on calling him; the ride is clearly CP's answer to Frozen.

I think Breakers West is probably the new wing that opened this year. Breakers East is at the other end closer to Corkscrew. Breakers Tower is the 10 story tower. And then there's the Rotunda section. Not sure what else it would be. I think the basic rooms are all pretty similar nomatter the section.

I don't think having one train ops for Steel Vengeance in May and a few days of near total downtime are going to have the impact you think. When I have gone this season, many people simply comment that "Mean Streak got redone".

I agree with your comment on SV. Just came back yesterday, usually the weekend after the 7/4 is always a ghost town since families have just spent money and vacation time for the Hoilday. MF was a 10 minute wait and Maverick about 20 minutes. Conversed with many people in line saying they've been discouraged to come to CP for SV because of the reported accident and long wait times.

Jeff said:

Remember during the recession that they did say they felt they were getting something of a bump from people who might otherwise spend on big destination trips. It's feasible the reverse could be true, but it wouldn't align with this release that indicates more out-of-park (hotel) spending.

I could be wrong, but I seem to remember the parks struggling and innovation slowing down during the recession and in the lagging years following. I think that parks have been booming over the last 5-6 years too. I can see your point that most "normal" people don't see going to parks as something that they'd do on vacation, but I think its still considered to be discretionary spending. Consumers and families will spend more when they have more in their pockets.

Jeff said:

Remember during the recession that they did say they felt they were getting something of a bump from people who might otherwise spend on big destination trips. It's feasible the reverse could be true, but it wouldn't align with this release that indicates more out-of-park (hotel) spending.

My not even close to expert opinion about the hotels is that cedar fair is adding more rooms every year. People may being going to the park just one day now and then spending the next day at the beach. Ouimet did a very nice job getting Breakers back up to a nice hotel, he also cleaned up the beach and made it a lot more appealing then in years past.

Honestly though we seem to be thinking Cedar Point attendance may be down when I don't think that"s the case. They got a hell of a new ride, thats what I hear anyways, but i think Kings Island would have more of a drop off in attendance. They got a smoke house, I am no expert but that doesn't seem like a ticket seller this year.

i think it is because..

1) The weather (to hot this year)

2} Great economy vs a good econmy

3) Its just happens sometimes in any industry

Here's the thing guys: revenues don't matter. What matter is net income... or "profit." If revenue dips by 2%, but expenses are cut by 5%, there's a good chance that you've increased your profit. And really, if you're talking about a publicly traded company, what matters is the impact on stock value, which is a whole other animal.

The article didn't mention the effect on net income. Its possible (thinking optimistically) that CF has made decisions to cut out less profitable patrons, and focused more on profitable patrons. But who knows, I'd have to really get under the hood to make a decision. I think that 2-3% just isn't really significantly enough to draw conclusions from.

Uh, no one wants declining revenue. It's a possible indicator of reduced demand, poor pricing strategy or the zombie apocalypse.

I went to Cedar Point on Friday, June 29 and Kings Island on Saturday June 30. The only ride that had longer than a 10 minute wait was Steel Vengeance, even that was only 40 minutes in the afternoon. We bought Fastlane for Kings Island anticipating large Saturday crowds and had buyers remorse the whole day.

To be fair Cedar Point Shores and Soak City were incredibly crowded both days because it was 95 degrees.