Mt. Olympus buys up and improves hotels on Dells strip

I live 3 1/2 hours from it, and stayed overnight a few miles from the park. It would have been nice to stay closer (or even on site), and I was kind of surprised at how nonexistent hotels were in the immediate vicinity of the park. That said, I wouldn't pay an extra 100-150 bucks just to save me a 15 minute drive. If rooms were priced in the $100-150 range, that's a no-brainer.

billb7581 said:
I dont think so... 10 percent of the US population already lives within 3 hours of Great Adventure, making the need for additional hotel rooms moot.

And 20 Million or so people live within 3 hours of Cedar Point. For a park the size of GADV it's a no brainer, I can't see how it couldn't make money!

I live an hour and a half from Sandusky and stay overnight quite often, and so do tons of my co-workers. $200 bucks may sound like a lot for a couple or a single person, but when you have a family of 5 that is already spending 40 bucks a person for admission, 15 bucks for parking, an obscene amount for food etc. it really makes it worthwhile. Especially if it includes free parking and additional time in the park.

No one is going to travel from Philly to Great Adventure, spend 200 bucks on a hotel room just to get an extra hour of ridetime, when you can get 4 season passes for 200 bucks.

I dont think your other claim is true either. The entire population of Ohio is 11 million. And my 30 million figure is probably too low. The number of people living within a few hours of Great Adventure is probably higher than that.

It wouldnt make money because other than Six Flags there is nothing there. There is no other compelling reason to overnight in Jackson New Jersey.

No offense, but there's probably a lot less to do in Sandusky.

There's the Thirsty Pony!!!

But to be honest I found "Sandusky" quite dead after the park closed. There are a few bars, but most folks head on out of town - or those that do "vacation" in the area are often visiting the other North Ohio coast attractions, Put in bay, Cleveland and the like.

On a slightly topic related note - I hope they get rid of all the bugs!!!

http://bedbugregistry.com/location/WI/wisconsin%20dells/

Sorry creepy crawly fearing folks!

billb7581 said:
No one is going to travel from Philly to Great Adventure, spend 200 bucks on a hotel room just to get an extra hour of ridetime, when you can get 4 season passes for 200 bucks.

I suspect you're underestimating the draw of a hotel by a good margin.

Some personsal observations (that are nothing more than personal observations):

1. The 3 hour number that's being tossed around is much higher than my tolerance for a 'day trip' to a park.

2. When we lived in Allentown, we stayed overnight every time we visited SFGAdv.

Jerry said:
http://bedbugregistry.com/location/WI/wisconsin%20dells/

Sorry creepy crawly fearing folks!

I can tell you from first-hand experience that - at least in my neck of the woods - that site is about as inaccurate as can be. Most of the hotels listed are clean and nothing more than the victims of either other hotels or disgruntled employees trying to sabotage and many hotels that do have a problem aren't even listed. Other hotels have had bad reports there and on tripadvisor that were actually guests who were so paranoid (presumably from those very sites meant to help) that they were convinced there were bedbugs when none could be found.

Oddly enough, it's almost exactly backwards. And among the management types it's almost a funny game - who got incorrectly listed now...and by whom?

Eh - I like to read all the stories and comments! Having worked in the hotel trade for a very short time - it does make the memories come back.

:-)

billb7581 said:
No one is going to travel from Philly to Great Adventure, spend 200 bucks on a hotel room just to get an extra hour of ridetime, when you can get 4 season passes for 200 bucks.

At another Six Flags, sure. Those four passes at Great Adventure will run that family of four $360 at this point...and that's discounted from the single person price. And doesn't include tax and parking.

When you think of it that way, that 3 installment plan discussed on another thread doesn't seem as silly.

Mike Gallagher said:
When you think of it that way, that 3 installment plan discussed on another thread doesn't seem as silly.

Yes it does.

You have essentially the entire population of Ohio, half the population of Michigan, 3 million or so in PA, and million or so in Indiana all within 3 hours of Sandusky. Even the Windor, Ontario area is 3 hours or so away if you can get across the Border quickly.

20 million is not much of a stretch, it's pretty darn close.

Off the top of my head just counting Metro Areas, the Detroit Metro Area is around 5 million, Toledo -a Million, Cleveland - Two Million, Columbus - Two Million, Dayton - Million, Pittsburgh - 2 Million, Lansing - Half a Million, Fort Wayne - Half a Million, Youngstown - Half a Million, Akron - 750k... I know I am missing some and that is already over 16 Million without counting everyone in rural areas!

The more I think about it the more 20 million sounds like a low ball number.

Lord Gonchar said:

The 3 hour number that's being tossed around is much higher than my tolerance for a 'day trip' to a park.

That was the first thing I thought as well... who with a family is willing to do a 6-hour round trip for an amusement park. Maybe when I was a teenager doing a road trip with my friends, but sure as hell not with a kid.

Really, 2 1/2 hours one way would be my absolute maximum for a day trip to a park, with or without child.

10 percent of the US population already lives within 3 hours of Great Adventure, making the need for additional hotel rooms moot.

This is only true if you are a college student, or maybe a young adult in your 20s or (pushing it) 30s, who thinks nothing of the 24 hour road trip.

For most families with actual kids, 2-3 hours is right at the edge of what you'd be willing to do for a half-day trip. I live 2 1/4 hours from Cedar Point, and half of our visits are over-nighters, easy. Day trips are really "half day trips", because once I spend more than about six or eight hours at the park, driving home requires more coffee than one can drink.

There are literally no parks that I'd travel to from Pittsburgh without getting a hotel. Geauga Lake was the only non-hometown park I would still travel to as a day trip because it was just 2 hours.

What about Waldameer? That should only be about two hours from Pittsburgh.

I was only saying 3 hours because I didnt realize it was so close to NYC.

There are 30 million people within an hour and a half of Great Adventure.

There are probably 40 million within 3 hours

Brian Noble said:

This is only true if you are a college student, or maybe a young adult in your 20s or (pushing it) 30s, who thinks nothing of the 24 hour road trip.

For most families with actual kids, 2-3 hours is right at the edge of what you'd be willing to do for a half-day trip. I live 2 1/4 hours from Cedar Point, and half of our visits are over-nighters, easy. Day trips are really "half day trips", because once I spend more than about six or eight hours at the park, driving home requires more coffee than one can drink.

I have 2 kids and have traveled 3 hours to Knoebels for the day. And like I said, my figures were off... it's only 1 1/2 hours from NYC to Great Adventure, it's less than an hour from Philadelphia. It's less than 3 hours to Baltimore. My figures are way low, there are probably 40 million people within 3 hours of GA.

But you don't need 40 million of them to want to spend the night to build a 1,000 room hotel. Indeed, the extra people should make the hotel *easier* to build, not harder, because some of those 40 million think more like I do than like you do. And, as long as you can get a few thousand of those 40M families who want to spend the night for, say, $150-$200 (or more), then you win.

Sandusky is 361st on this list

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_United_States_Metropolitan_St...ical_Areas

NYC/North Jersey is #1

Philly/Camden/Wilmington is #5.

Great Adventure markets to the people who already live here because there are plenty of them. They don't need to try and lure people in by building hotels, because on the margins it wouldn't be worth it with the sky high real estate taxes, union labor and land cost and what not.

Sandusky has to offer an incentive to get people to come there because the population of the Sandusky Metro area is only 4 times greater than the average attendance of the park.

Brian Noble said:
But you don't need 40 million of them to want to spend the night to build a 1,000 room hotel. Indeed, the extra people should make the hotel *easier* to build, not harder, because some of those 40 million think more like I do than like you do. And, as long as you can get a few thousand of those 40M families who want to spend the night for, say, $150-$200 (or more), then you win.

If it were that easy, and such a sure fire money maker, they'd already be doing it.