Park Attendance

[warfelg]

I didn’t find a great thread to move this conversation so I created a new one for general talk.

Just because it’s opening weekend for the season does not guarantee the park will be busy. Additionally, Carowinds, while nearby to a major population center, isn’t insanely close to their main area to pull from. Via the interstate it’s 20 minutes, but if you’re coming from anywhere else in the area, such as suburbs, it’s about a 30 minute drive.

I would like to take a moment to point out that you completely skipped over, or chose not to acknowledge this bit of information. This is one of the key factors the companies look at:

Exactly.

I would always add we don’t know the breakdown of who’s in the park. That lot may look half full, but if that’s all 5 person families that don’t have passes, it’s a very profitable day. On the flip side I’ve been to Hershey on days where I’ve had to park on the grass lot opposite Hersheypark Dr and people in the park management told me it was a horrible day because it was a company pick-nick (discounted tickets, cheap meal, free snack) and pass holders (no gate money) the dominated the gates so there was very little daily tickets.

In the end attendance day by day means very little. There’s a reason parks report this quarterly and as trends. That’s far more telling of how you do because there’s too many daily variables from weather, to other events going on, to day of week, to even just traffic.

 

[Jonesta6]

I know I've referenced this book in a few places, but John Hildebrant's book Always Cedar Point has some insight to the change in focus on attendance:

Decades ago, season passes of any kind were not common and daily admission pricing wasn't particularly complicated - regular pricing by age and the corporate discount sales program. Though there was always in-park spending, it seems the entrance ticket was the most guaranteed high revenue item every guest would spend on. Therefore, the gate numbers reflected the largest portion of daily revenue - management awaited hourly reports.

Flash forward a bit but still in the book, marketing started creating multiple admission discounts and price points to where almost nobody paid the full admission amount. On top of that, season passes became a mainstream offering. And finally, operations was able to migrate phoned reports to cell-phone friendly reporting (assuming some kind of automated dial-in system instead of app as at the time smartphones weren't prevalent).

In today's industry, looking at the earnings call summaries posted here, in-park spending plus the monthly retainer for passholders/members seem to be the primary revenue generators - their staffing and stocking decisions are generally aiming to ensure profitability. Attendance at the gate does play into those figures but isn't the main focus - even with low in-park spending on a low attendance day, they can still be profitable.

 

[Thriller]

Another mediocre crowd on a beautiful 70° day. March 17.
These weak crowds don’t justify further large investments

 

[guy305]

Looks perfectly normal. It’s less than you’d find on a typical Saturday in the summer, but the season just started.

 

[Gavin]

These weak crowds don’t justify further large investments

And yet, the entire company is moving to Charlotte.

 

[Coasternerd]

Also worth noting a majority of guests that are traveling from out of town stay in the hotel shown in the picture, which features a dedicated walking path to the park, so there are also a lot of cars at that hotel we can’t see.

 

[warfelg]

Breaking: Disney going under, parking lot looks empty.

 

[Thrills & Chills WQAQ]

Breaking: Disney going under, parking lot looks empty.

Countdown to extinction is looming over these parks with how many people are here… XD

 

[Thriller]

Another Sunday, temp in high 50s another day of low attendance.

 

[Zachary]

Pictured: A line of people waiting to get through security, a steady stream of guests walking towards the entrance, a bunch of cars heading to park, lines of cars waiting at the parking booths to enter the parking lot, and a full on-site hotel parking lot

@Blauer: DYING PARK! SAD!

 

[horsesboy]

Pictured: A line of people waiting to get through security, a steady stream of guests walking towards the entrance, a bunch of cars heading to park, lines of cars waiting at the parking booths to enter the parking lot, and a full on-site hotel parking lot

@Blauer: DYING PARK! SAD!

I would add palm Sunday as well I have to imagine especially given the larger conservative Christian population in the area that there is a decent percentage doing something other then visiting a theme park today.

 

[Mushroom]

These photos were taken of the Busch Gardens parking lot today (top) and exactly 5 years ago (bottom). Unbelievably sad state for this once beloved park.

 

[CarolinaDog]

Another Sunday, temp in high 50s another day of low attendance.

They should close Carowinds, in my opinion. Thankfully, Cedar Fair will no longer be investing in any major expansion at this park!

On a serious note, when you're not choosing a photo on a freezing Sunday morning (ride openings were delayed due to cold weather) the parking lot was quite full for a cold Sunday afternoon! Keep in mind prior to the parking lot expansion done a few years ago, with this crowd level cars would be parked far past Thunder Striker's first turn.

Photo from Carowinds Fans Only.