Mt. Olympus buys up and improves hotels on Dells strip

I know it's a faux pas to mention personal anecdotes (even though everyone has, including the one who decided they are irrelevant), but I've been to GAdv twice and both times stayed at a hotel (once about 15-20 minutes from the park, the other time in the craphole that is Trenton, in a craphole motel since the entire state of NJ had no vacant rooms). I really would have benefited from a hotel that was close to the park. I live a little over 3 hours away, but I would have stayed if I was around 2 hours away. I'm also not a typical enthusiast and only visit one or two parks a year.

I've driven home from BGE before, which is about 2 hours away. I could only do it now if I don't spend a full day there; it sucks.

I've also stayed at the Best Western next to KD's parking lot before, and I live an hour away. Not everyone wants to drive home after being at a theme park all day.

I notice no one challenged kpjb's mention of a hotel near Dorney, which sees a fraction of SFGAdv's attendance numbers.

Dorney is convenient to a fairly large metro area (Bethlehem, Allentown Easton.) There is a possibility someone would want to stay there for reasons other than a theme park.

So motels don't make sense unless they're close to a metro area? A hotel at GADv wouldn't only service the park's patrons, but I'm sure it'd service people coming to the area, and having spent nearly 30 years in very small towns with absolutely nothing to do in them, where the nearest Walmart and Movie Theater were an hour + away, I can tell you that Hotels can even make it in areas that aren't close to large metro areas.

Again, it doesn't need to cater to the population at large or even the majority of park guests, it just needs to get enough business from the small amount of people that would like to stay there overnite, and that really isn't a huge amount of people.

It would also allow those who have to go to Trenton (for whatever reason, poor souls) to stay near the city without fear of getting mugged or something.

just needs to get enough business from the small amount of people that would like to stay there overnite, and that really isn't a huge amount of people.

What about between Labor Day and Memorial day?

Well, first the park is open on weekends between labor day and memorial day, so you have weekends, and then there's the fact that like both myself and Vater said, you have some people that aren't going to the park that will stay there.

But you don't HAVE to sell out every roomevery day in order to have a successful business. There is always a slow season. My parents ran their own business successfully for 30 years, and my family held the business for a total of 50 years. During the winter months, yeah, things business was dead. But it was made up for in the summer months when it was busy.

That's how businesses work. As long as you average it out, and make bank from memorial day to labor day, you cut staff/costs during the slow times, and make up for it during the busy season.

Still not sure why that's so hard to understand.

P.S. or you just close during the off season. Or, you know, build a hotel with an indoor water park and spa and draw people in all year round. Heck, that would make Great Adventure at least a 3 day park.

Wow, you guys are still arguing with Bill?

He's wrong, and won't see it. /thread.

To me, this is more of a discussion. I mean, no one has resorted to name calling or calling anyone out as an idiot or anything. He feels the way he does, others feel differently. I'm actually interested in hearing more than just "It hasn't been done so it won't", though, so it's winding down for me.

Nah, I bowed out on the last page.

Still pro-hotel though.

Brian Noble said:
Wow, you guys are still arguing with Bill?

He's wrong, and won't see it. /thread.

Heh...yeah, I just felt left out of this amazing exchange since I didn't get on CBuzz at all yesterday. ;) I admit that my post was entirely redundant.

I didn't realize you and I were so similar, though. If we cross paths in the near future, I'm buying you a bran muffin.

Brian Noble said:
Wow, you guys are still arguing with Bill?

He's wrong, and won't see it. /thread.

Why is it that the only two mentions of Great Adventure and Hotel both include a ton of other stuff to do, in order to necessitate having a hotel there?

Warner LeRoy's original vision and the 1996 article I linked

bill said:

I wouldn't use a hotel if I lived within a few hours - so neither would anyone else!

Sorry, I made that up that summary of his deductive reasoning.

Tekwardo said:
That's how businesses work.

Businesses also work by approaching investors with sure fire money making ideas to finance the idea, then use part of the profit to pay back the investors. In 40 year's time that's never happened leading me to believe it's not the goldmine everyone here thinks.

I find it absolutely mind-bottling that you really think that "because it hasn't happened before, it won't ever happen" is in any way a logical argument.

No more mind boggling than believing it would be a gold mine and the management of Great Adventure is just too dopey to impliment it.

Like I said, any plans ever made to build a hotel there, also included a crapload of other stuff to do, necessitating a hotel there.

^We never would have landed on the moon with that attitude... :)

Look at it another way. Maybe Dorney Park and Kings Dominion operate hotels in the red because the marginal boost in their attendence makes up for it. GA's location makes it unnecessary to do that and not worry about the occasional guest who needs hotel accomidations.

billb7581 said:
No more mind boggling than believing it would be a gold mine...

Exactly. And how many people are claiming a hotel there would be a "gold mine"? Not many, so far as I can tell. Pretty much everyone is simply saying that your logic (or complete lack thereof, more accurately) is completely illogical, and that there's no reason to believe a hotel there wouldn't be profitable. That's a far cry from claiming it would be a "gold mine".

If it were profitable, why hasn't Six Flags, or another hotel chain built one?

Why has every plan on record to build a hotel there, include other ammenities that would necessitate a hotel stay?

The reverse logic everyone else is using is that since other parks have hotels Great Adventure should too. Other parks may need hotels nearby to function, GA obviously doesnt.