Top 50 attendance parks.

Rob....my math teacher says that those figures work out to about 60K people EACH DAY that Puyallup is open....based solely on what we saw in Vancouver (horrendously crowded park), I think it may be in the interests of the Puyallup folks to consider adding a week to thin out the crowds a bit and make for a more enjoyable time with less waiting...the shortest wait for *any* coaster at PNE was about 40 mins for us.

Since we were unable to visit "The Fair", I'm guessing the same situation arises....sure, you get a TON of peeps in a very short period of time (and the GO NOW factor certainly helps), but at what cost?

Of course, I'm spoiled...the only time we see 60K peeps in Gainesvile are those 6 Saturdays each fall during home football games...

Yes, Bill, you are spoiled. I can't imagine going to all those parks with them pretty much entirely to yourself. I was lucky in May to attend CP with very little massing. I got all the rides in one day, less TTD, and went back the next day to get that (as you all know.) The Fair does get the masses, and yes, it's pretty rough. The same thing happens in Vancouver for the PNE, but it's always worth the wait, as both fairs have some wonderful, and unique rides. How often do you get to ride coasters with THOSE trains? How often do you get to ride a Zipper? A really weird "water/toboggan" coaster at Puyallup? Eat all those scones? ;)

Anyways, yeah, it gets rough, but I guess it helps me handle the big crowds when I do my travels in Japan, eh?

IT amazes me that Lagoon was there. Lagoon has a market of 4 million people roughly and to get 1,150,000 is totally amazing. What surprised is SDC lost 9% and Dorney 10%. SFEG gets what it deserves. SDC and Dorney need new coasters. 2005 DP will have a high attendance! Just Watch!

Playa,

That's a good point, too. I bet with corporations cutting back spending and all, that might be a pretty large sum of guests right there. But the rest -- is there more competition from somewhere? The Dells perhaps? It all doesn't add up, especially with a new coaster this year.

Chitown,

There's no way SFGAm was near 3M guests this summer. I know that Amusement Today estimates the attendance but they do not mis-guess by almost 500,000. :)

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CedarPointRocks said:
SDC and Dorney need new coasters.

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Dorney just got Talon in 2001. Most parks don't build coasters every other year. The late 90's coaster boom was the exception, not the rule.

In Dorney (and most of the east coast park's defense) I really do thing the rain hurt. The coasters at Dorney were walk-on until late June (it really kicked up around/after July 4th) when the weather broke. When you factor in that most of Dorney's crowds are locals using the waterpark (at least from my two years experience in Allentown) - then it really makes sense. I think if the weather does cooperate in 2004 they'll finally see the jump from the new slides and then in 2005 the floorless. Could be two back to back great years for Dorney.

*** Edited 12/22/2003 9:31:43 PM UTC by Lord Gonchar***

What I don't quite understand is the comments for BG:Tampa. How has the soft economy and turmoil in Iraq affected them more than any other park in the country?

Is it either a blanket statement explaining the 4% drop as something that affected everyone or is it something more than that in relation to BG specifically?

I believe the problems for BG:Tampa is due to the fact that Orlando is a tourist destination spot in general, and all parks in the area have suffered since 2001. Travel to destination spots have been down (people want to travel nearby and for shorter trips than a week in Florida, for example). Orlando gets hit harder because they rely on much travel from outside the US which has been a problem. Fears of terrorist attacks and the overly paranoid airport security measures are such a hassle that peopel think twice about spending the money to go.

Add in the fact that Tampa is a bit of a drive away from Orlando and people might not be willing to take the drive/get on a bus trip even further away from their vacation location, and it makes sense that they get hit harder than the other Orlando parks.

My 2 cents on SFGAdv's drop would probably be that this year's crews seemed unprepared this year. The few times I went, early in the season, almost every coaster was run poorly. Especially noticable on the B&Ms which used to be consistent. Medusa and Nitro were slower and the trains were stacking up a lot while Superman was just really slow in loading and dispatching, even after the point where the crews usually get comfortable with the load system by mid-July.

Nearly 3 hours in line and seeing trains just sitting in the station for long periods of time between runs soured my enjoyment. That kind of experience made me less interested in going back for the rest of the season.

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rollergator said:
The shortest wait for *any* coaster at PNE was about 40 mins for us.

Since we were unable to visit "The Fair"...

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Bill, don't go on a Sunday next year then, you dork! Wait a day for Tomoko and I. ;)

Regarding the fair, you really should get in touch with the peeps who plan CAC, and get them to move the event forward a few weeks, like last year, and get the "hard to get" Coaster: Thrill ride under your belt like Chris did! It makes for a significantly more fun weekend, whatwith Timberhawk sucking so much air. ;) *** Edited 12/26/2003 4:02:52 AM UTC by nasai***

So that's what that noise is. And here I thought it was the collective sigh of the riders...

It's that as well, Robo. Sadly. :(