Park attendance down nationwide for 2001, Disney still on top

Most interesting is the fact that PKI was up while CP was down. I guess their family friendly focus was right on target for 2001.

Mike

I think the "once-a-year" park goers all went to CP the year before and decided to do something different! At least it made July and August a little more reasonable crowd-wise. I'm glad they learned they could sustain a crowd late into October as well.

I think this is going to be PKI's year. The only major pressure is that they've gotta have Tomb Raider running at all times. The SOB fiasco left a bad taste in a lot of mouths. They don't need that again.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"

I'm sure PKI benefited a massive amount by staying open weekends until November this year. I went on the last Saturday of the year, the first weekend in November, and the park was packed to the gills. In fact, it was the most crowded I have ever seen it. The line for Adventure Express was way out into the midway.
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You can't spell "dishonorable" without "honorable."

PKI was open last year the first weekend of November and our attendance was 3.2 million. This year we were open in November and our attendance was 3.36 million. I don't think the last weekend was really the "biggest" thing that helped our attendance. This year, I do think it helped us when the park was extremely crowded the last weekend.

I really think the "family focus" helped us most this year with Reptar and Wild Thornberries. They were major hits with our guest.

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YEA, I WORK AT PARAMOUNT'S KINGS ISLAND

FLIGHT OF FEAR CREW - 01' & 02'

I didn't ban anyone for saying they wouldn't go to a park. Don't make stuff up.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"

It was a joke, and not quite what I said. Anyway I'll delete it, It's more of an inside joke between myself and another person.

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"Time flies...Whether you're having fun or not". -Mary Engelbreit.

*** This post was edited by DWeaver on 1/2/2002. *** *** This post was edited by DWeaver on 1/2/2002. ***

Valleyfairs attandance was also down in 2001. I'm sure will make it up in 2002. Parks do have ups and downs every year.

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8Years working with Cedar Fair and Valleyfair!

I've said this before, but early season in Michigan and Northern Ohio was also pretty wretched, which hurt early season crowds.

The one that strikes me the most is Epcot. Down 15 percent?? That is amazing. I went there in the early June this year and it was more crowded than I've ever seen it, maybe they need more attractions to thin out the crowd. Oh yeah, and bring back Figment, he was the best part of that park!!
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Six Flags Darien Lake was also up. I find it funny cause the last time they added a major ride was in 1999.
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"you give me the most gorgeous sleep that i've ever had and when it's really bad i guess it's not that bad" Underneath it all- no doubt

Warning! Sarcasm is about to follow!

Well I guess we all know who's better between SFMM and CP. More people want to goto SFMM.

I am just kidding. In actuality in population comparison, CP would be higher if it was in California. But then it just wouldnt be the same Cedar Point.

I would have expected a larger growth rate for SFGadv after the opening of Nitro. If they just continue the improvements in cleanliness, guest service, and Employee attitudes that were evident this year I think the word of mouth will help to bolster the crowds even more.

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SFGadv Please I'm begging for a Gyro Drop tower, an ArrowBatic and some much needed TLC for Rolling Thunder.

Well, for what it is worth, according to the radio this morning (Paul Harvey specifically), it was stated that Disney's Magic Kingdom in Florida had to close its gates 3 times over the holidays because crowds reached their maximum capacity. Attendance may be "down", but many parks do not have to close their gates at any time over an entire season because of over flow crowds, let alone three times in a short period of time.

Epcot attendance was down, I think, due to the fact that the focus of the Millennium shifted off the park in 2001. 2000 was a huge year for them.

I was on Disney property on New Year's Eve. Spent the night at Jellyrolls at the Boardwalk. When I was leaving at 2:00 am the cops were still directing bumper to bumper traffic all the way off property. It was incredible!

I'd like to see the statistics for the next 40 or so parks. It would be interesting to see how the smaller parks fared.

Great Adventure was the highest seasonal park.

GO SFGADV... the next Six Flags Mega-Mega PARK!

I'd like to see Knotts get into the top 10 this year.

ANd I think that it could happen now with Xcelerator. For such a big park, its attendance numbers could use some improvement.

But you do have to figure in the severe competition in Southern California...

Hopefully 2002 will be a big year for the farm!

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Xcelerator-
0-82 in 2.3 seconds! =Wow!