BGW Attendance

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RE: BGW Attendance Drops 3.4%

"now that the stuff is thinning out, every little attraction counts. There's not a single musical revue in the park (I hate them, but people...especially old people...seemed to like them)."

I think the above statement is exactly the problem....lack of attractions (especially shows) for older people and families. They have been removing them left and right for a couple of years, and they are losing that significant segment of their clientelle. It's also what fuels multi-day visits by out of town tourists.


"The last few weeks have been weird at BG. I have friends that go often and it seems they are saying that weekdays the last 2 weeks have been more crowded than in years past this time of year. I've been a few Saturdays where it has been super packed, like most saturdays in years past, but early in the season, the weekdays seemed by most accounts, to be less crowded."

I was there Sunday through Thursday last week, and the crowds were definitely way down vs. that same period over the past several years.
 
RE: BGW Attendance Drops 3.4%

I'm not saying the weather is responsible for any kind of overall impact on the season attendance, but it does play some role. Two things keep people away from the park: extreme heat and rain. We have had a ton of both this summer (especially the forecasting of rain, even when it didn't actually happen). I can tell you those 110 ish heat index days, the park was dead, even on a Saturday. On the reverse, if the weather was nicer, it was packed. Two weeks ago on a Thursday the weather was like 85 and the park was near capacity. The overflow, of the overflow parking lot was in use. On a Thursday. So anyway, read into that what you will...
 
RE: BGW Attendance Drops 3.4%

Shafor said:
Two things keep people away from the park: extreme heat and rain. We have had a ton of both this summer
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Has Williamsburg really had a lot of rain this summer? During my recent visit, vegetation looked very dry and stressed, both landscaped and natural areas. I asked an older employee about this and the weather in the area lately, and she said they hadn't had much rain this summer. I don't know how reliable she was however.

Can any other locals comment on the supply of rain in Williamsburg this summer? I was blaming the poor state of BGW's landscaping on what I assumed was a local drought. I hope it's not because they haven't been maintaining it well.
 
RE: BGW Attendance Drops 3.4%

We've had a ton of quick, super intense thunderstorms. Like house-rattling. Sometimes 3-4 nights in a row. The bigger picture though is that they had been forecasting rain a lot. We always take note because we make it a point to go to the park when they call for rain. :)

The vast majority of time though, it doesn't rain at all. Even when we have had rain, it's been very quick. Not much "all day" raining. But you hear people talking about it: "We almost didn't come because they were calling for rain." or posting "Is it raining there? We were going to come, but not if it's raining." questions on their FB wall. The weather forecast definitely gets in people's heads and influences their decisions about coming to the park.
 
RE: BGW Attendance Drops 3.4%

Shafor, I think you've put your finger on it. I think I must have been there that Thursday, because I had the same experience -- a very full park. I can't seem to hit a low attendance day any more even though I know overall attendance is down -- sigh. Anyway, definitely it's the weather (heat) that keeps me away. August has been quite bearable but the spring and early summer (through July) had so many extremely hot, well-above-average days and I don't tolerate that kind of heat well. So extrapolating from my own and others' observations, the weather really REALLY affects park attendance, especially I'd guess for local/season-pass-holder types who can try to choose when to go moreso than those who have planned vacations in advance.

The park can have some really bad luck weather-wise, too == remember them having to close early on Opening Day due to the rain and resulting low attendance? Though they had reasonable weather for spring break and the day we tried to go then was one of the most crowded I've seen.
 
RE: BGW Attendance Drops 3.4%

Word has it Busch has been down (as we know) but Water Country has been up and UP.
 
RE: BGW Attendance Drops 3.4%

new ride and hot days at a water park vs. hot days and no new rides or shows at the theme park... I can understand it.
 
RE: BGW Attendance Drops 3.4%

For a long time, when I lived in the area, I worked outside, and paid pretty close attention to weather forecasts...and it's pretty common to have rain forecast like 4 days a week in the summer. A lot of the time, you're going to see a 30% of Isolated/Scattered T-storms. That's par for the course. Was the forecast much worse than that this summer? If not, it's nothing out of the ordinary, and can't account for all of the attendance issues.

Now, I'm not going to say that weather has no effect because it definitely does, but, there's a danger in complacency. Low attendance is almost certainly attributable to a combination of factors, and weather may have been one of them, but I think it would be a mistake to just say "well, it's hot" and not take a serious look at some quality-related factors that could be playing into it.
 
RE: BGW Attendance Drops 3.4%

DoctorMoneyMD said:
For a long time, when I lived in the area, I worked outside, and paid pretty close attention to weather forecasts...and it's pretty common to have rain forecast like 4 days a week in the summer. A lot of the time, you're going to see a 30% of Isolated/Scattered T-storms. That's par for the course. Was the forecast much worse than that this summer? If not, it's nothing out of the ordinary, and can't account for all of the attendance issues.
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Last month set records for new high temperatures in most of Southeastern VA. Some of the heat indices even reached to dangerous levels in the high 100-teens to low 100-twenties We've had quite a bit of rain too.

http://www.dailypress.com/news/science/dead-rise-blog/dp-july-set-heat-records-in-hampton-roads-20110802,0,1951666.story
 
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RE: BGW Attendance Drops 3.4%

From the linked article, re: July...

"Nearly 11 inches of rain fell on the region, more than double the historical average of 5.2 inches."
 
RE: BGW Attendance Drops 3.4%

Wow. That's a lot of rain. Now, it would be interesting to see how that compares to rainfall in 2010/2009.

Also, the heat might be ruled out here as a serious culprit, because from what I'm hearing, the park was quite a bit emptier this year than last, but the article says it was hotter last summer. I was around for two weeks in July to experience the heat this year, by the way. I went to BG on one of the hottest days and there weren't too many people there.

Personally, yes, a rainy forecast will keep me away...but a hot forecast won't. Then again, if I were taking 7 year olds with me, I might think twice.

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UPDATE:

Just did the numbers myself thanks to Williamsburg's official rainfall totals website, and I doubt it's the rain.

The stats in question say BG's attendance declined 3.4% from 09 to 10, right? However, running the total rainfall from the summer months of June, July and August in '09 and '10, 2009 was by far the wetter summer.

Look:

June 2009: 3.54 in
June 2010: 1.84 in

July 2009: 7.4 in
July 2010: 3.5 in

August 2009: 3.94 in
August 2010: 2.34 in

2009 Total: 14.88 in
2010 Total: 7.68 in

It appears, at least in the years 2009 and 2010, that rain wasn't responsible for keeping people away. Maybe it did this year, but as far as the 3.4% drop last season vs. 2009, I doesn't appear to have been the wet weather.
 
RE: BGW Attendance Drops 3.4%

The first sentence of my first post on the subject: "I'm not saying the weather is responsible for any kind of overall impact on the season attendance, but it does play some role."

2009 also saw the addition of a new section/country (FOF) and the swan song of BBW. Attendance was UP in 2009 vs 2008.

Is there any doubt that attendance will be up significantly in 2012 due to the new coaster? Does that mean that the park suddenly "figured everything out" and is back to it's glory days or whatever. No. It means they have a new coaster, thus a reason for people to want to visit again.

Really, you're reading too much into this. The park was complacent in 2010 and 2011 and attendance suffered. It will be back up in 2012 with the new ride.


pandorazboxx said:
past few years:
Year: Attendance +/- yearly change

2006: 2,806,222
2007: 3,157,000 +12.5%
2008: 2,796,528 -11.4%
2009: 2,900,000 +3.4% (FYI almost everyone else this year lost attendance)
2010: 2,800,000 -3.4%
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To reuse pandora's post once again, 2007 saw the most significant attendance spike in the past 5-6 years. Anybody remember anything big happening at the park in 2007?
 
RE: BGW Attendance Drops 3.4%

Shafor said:
Really, you're reading too much into this. The park was complacent in 2010 and 2011 and attendance suffered. It will be back up in 2012 with the new ride.
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Wait a minute. You say "I'm reading too much into it" and then you go on to make the point I am making.

???

The park in 2010 and 2011 was less awesome than it had been in previous years...and attendance went down. It's not because it rained, or because it was hot. It's because the park was less good in 2010 and 2011, and people noticed that and didn't come. When you add something new in 2012, you'll get a bump. But, I'm predicting it will go down again after that. That's not a good thing. You want to go up and stay up, right? If they want that, they need to make some significant improvements.

Now granted, you said rain doesn't account for all of it...but I'm saying that numbers indicate it may not account for any of it, at all. A year with 100% more rain produced a 3.4% higher attendance. So, it is a content related problem. You have to provide quality content, and plenty of it. There used to be more. Now there's less. Why would anyone ever discount this as a primary cause of an attendance drop?

Now come on. I'm not stupid. I don't think 3.4% is all that significant. But it IS a drop (it's actually a loss of all gains made in 2009). Something causes it, and while we're discussing what it might be, it's worth looking at what the park offers, rather than saying "oh, it's the weather" or "oh, it's the economy."
 
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