There may also be safety issues, as some people might feel unsafe in a garage, although I don't see how it would be any different than a mall in that regard, but it would be harder to monitor than a flat parking area.
Who knows ? I think a parking garage is a good idea. It's definitely better than tearing down rides to make more room, when they could just add a garage and use the lot for the rides. But it would be expensive...and that is probably the -real- reason.
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*** This post was edited by Joe Carroll on 1/26/2002. ***
Candidates who are in the seasonal category would be Kennywood, and / or Hersheypark next to the new Giant Arena at the west end of the lot. Sea World San Diego and Knott's Berry Farm who can generate revenue on a year round basis.
I can understand what you mean Joe Carroll by it blocking rides and stuff, but if it is just a two story parking garage you should still be able to see the rides. And take your homepark for instance whatever it may be, and think about the parking lot completly cut in half and having that much room left to expand with. And a two story parking garage wouldn't be as complex as most garages.
And about the money issue, a park is gonna raise it's parking prices anyways, why not use that profit to build a garage?
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*** This post was edited by Ozzyhead on 1/26/2002. ***
As Agent Johnson pointed out parking garages are very expensive.
$12,000 dollars plus per slot means that you probably need to generate at least $2000 in revenue each year to make a reasonable profit from the garage. (Remember that the park has to pay interest on the money for building the garage, repay the loans, insure and maintain the garage.) (Insurance isn't cheap on a sturcture that has tens thousands of gallons of gasoline in it in thousands of uninspected containers.)
At $10 per day that means that you need to have each parking space full on an average of 200 days per year. Most parks just don't have a season that long. And still fewer would fill all of the spaces every day. A few year round parks have long enough seasons that they can do that. A few more parks need parking so badly that they will build a garage even though they lose money on it in order to get people to come to the park and spend their money on other things.
Now you can build an flat asphalt parking lot for small fraction of the cost of a garage. You put good pavement by the gate and on the main isles where things are busiest. You put lighter pavement in the back that only sees use on weekends. And, you stick the last few on the grass or gravel on the busiest days. This way parking becomes a real profit maker. especially if runoff control doesn't cost you too much at your location.
Finally, if you ever want to expand the park where the garage is, you have a super expensive demo job. An asphalt lot can be ripped up for a relatively low cost.
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