Record Attendance for Michigan's Adventure

http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_story.aspx?storyid=99573&catid=14

Good for them! Now that they have solved most of their problems with the city water, and attendance is on the upswing, I think we will continue to see more aggressive additions and improvements

And some people on this board thought that thunderhawk would have little to no impact on park attendance.

^I don't recall too many "knowledgeable" people saying that. Maybe the people who thought MiA should have gotten a custom B&M invert? LOL! Seriously, though, an inverted coaster in that park was going to be a big draw. Waldameer got something with more "staying power", but for MiA, the 'Hawk was a lot of coaster...and it came at the right price for CF. The floorless, the Impulse, and the Hang-n-Bang were the *prizes* from GL's dismatling. For the receiving parks, not a bit surprising that the invert would have the biggest impact percentage-wise.

I am surprised that Thunderhawk is drawing people in! It has such a stupid name and no theming to speak of... ;)

And all summer I never got up there.

I am glad to see they did good though. Hopefully next summer I can get out there a bit more.

john peck said:
I think we will continue to see more aggressive additions and improvements

Hopefully not too aggressive. They've done a good job at taking measured expansion steps and not going crazy with additions. The waterpark is still the big draw, but slowly expanding into that Northeast corner will help.

It is also nice that since the addition of Grand Rapids that the train actually goes somewhere.

Juggalotus said:
And all summer I never got up there.

I am glad to see they did good though. Hopefully next summer I can get out there a bit more.

Same here... I'm about 5 hours south/southeast from Michigan Adventure.

a_hoffman50 said:
I am surprised that Thunderhawk is drawing people in! It has such a stupid name and no theming to speak of... ;)

I'm shock as you are too.. But the name is alright but if they add fire or any special effect like they did at SFMM for X2, then there will be a little applause from me. But still I'm glad they are getting more people in. There gotta be some thrill in Michigan... other state around it is doing pretty good job...

I got there in early July this year, after not having been there for maybe 3 seasons. The park has noticeably improved in many ways---the train to somewhere, the Grand Rapids installation, improved landscaping, etc. Food service still has a way to go, but seeing as this is Cedar Fair, I won't be holding my breath.

We took two other families with us, for a total of 14 people, and really enjoyed the day at the park. With a gate price of $25ish, I thought the park was a very good value for what it offers.

Wait...Thunderhawk isn't made from feathers and the after-affect of lightning? What's next...a wood coaster named after Terminator? ;)

At least Terminator will have a movie poster as theming Moosh. ;)

But still I'm glad they are getting more people in. There gotta be some thrill in Michigan... other state around it is doing pretty good job...

Take a look in CP's parking lot sometime or take a look at sweatshirts, I gurantee you see more Michigan license plates and MSU and UofM logoes then anything from Ohio.

Detroit is 2 hours away from CP and the Metro area is more then twice that of Cleveland. MIA is 4 hours away from Detroit.

Yay for them :)!

I'm sure quite a few other parks wish they could say the same...

But still I'm glad they are getting more people in. There gotta be some thrill in Michigan... other state around it is doing pretty good job...

I didn't think about it like that. It is very true.

It's going to be interesting to see if CF regrets not getting into the campground business at Michigan's Adventure. The family of Camille Jourden-Mark, the GM, is now building a luxury campground across the street. Looks like the construction will be split into at least two phases.

Thunderhawk is not the only reason for the jump in Michigan's Adventures attendance. High gas prices have a lot to do with it. As a majority of people stayed closer to home, rather than traveling to the bigger parks. You also have to include the larger number of people with season passes, that are coming from the kings Island and Geauga lake markets. And the mass amount of people who vacation in Michigan, who travel here from Chicago which is just a 4 hour drive from the park.

Another huge item that they may be over looking, is the massive draw of this years Rothbury music fest, which drew over 50,000 people. Plus the Muskegon summer celebration which probably draws more than that. I will gaurantee you, that a lot of the people who ended up at Rothbury hit the park as well. As it is probably less than an hours drive between the two locations.

I made a vow NOT to go to MA during Rothbury. I'll bet it was packed to the walls every day. I know the summerfest usually makes a big difference in attendance, the bigger the bands...the more thousands of fans. 19,000 at the poison concert I went to a few years ago. Journey another 19,000. So, there's part of it right there.

As for the presidential thing.

Mc Cane and Pale-in-comparison....just NO!!!

I don't know if it's me or not, but I never was a person who wanted to ride a coaster because of the theming. It was all about the coaster for me. As for Thunderhawk not a big thing. I always thought that it is the best inverted Vercoma out there.

I think many out of state people don't realize the vacation draw that the Muskegon area has. Although some people thought Thunderhawk was going to be overkill for the park, I think it did help draw more people in, especially after the intense advertising MiA did in the Detroit area.

This was the first year I recall commercials for the park on local stations (not to mention the mailings and discounts).

Someone above mentioned the park being 4 hours away, but I think it's more like 3 hours. CP is still closer and has a lot more to offer the general day tripper, but people who travel to that side of the state for vacation/camping had a bit more incentive to visit MiA this year.