Unagi said:
Just because BGW is getting a new coaster doesn't mean that it'll draw more people to the park. The only two attractions in the last twenty years that brought a significant rise in attendance were Alpengeist and Griffon.
Anything new that is marketed properly can bring in more people. The problem does not lie within the rides, but within the crappy marketing. If they actually did any real work with getting the word out there through TV, Radio, Billboards, etc. they would get more attendance. The problem comes down to no one wants to spend money on marketing so they end up doing nothing and they drop the ball.
Verbolten and Mach Tower are perfect examples of the extremes. Mach Tower got amazing advertising and marketing everywhere! Verbolten saw nothing. Maybe a few ads on the construction fence but that was it. There was no real marketing done with that at all. This is where the park fails. I am being dead serious, they could have hit over 3M a year if they really focused on advertising more in the right places and really shove it in everyones face about the free fall drop. I mean, they don't have to market the ride until after the first month or so after it opens that way the ride has gone through most of it's settling in and downtime is not much an issue no more. By then, everyone already knows the special surprise and you can really advertise it to the people who haven't visited.
Unagi said:
And how much money is a guest gonna spend inside the park when they are gonna be waiting 5+ hours to ride this thing? If anything, they'll spend half a day waiting in line for this coaster and the other half waiting in line at guest relations to complain about how long they had to wait for such a crappy ride.
Think of the families that come together as a group. Not everyone in a family will ride this. While part of the family is in line waiting to ride, the other part might go off to play some games, get some snacks or check out Apollo's Gifts. I am guessing that would be the main reason for keeping the Arcade and Coke Stand, for the non-riders who have friends or family riding. That is where the money is, in the non-riders.
That said, I doubt waits will exceed 2 hours on any normal operating day. Maybe the first month or so the line will get a little heavier but I seriously doubt 5 hour waits frequently.
