Alpenghöst said:
Or pretty much any roller coaster built in the eastern seaboard. Even though it was the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, the ads for Griffon were much farther reaching than Jamestown's Anniversary was.
TEA / AECOM 2012 Attendance Estimates Released
- Thread starter Zachary
- Start date
Or pretty much any roller coaster built in the eastern seaboard. Even though it was the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, the ads for Griffon were much farther reaching than Jamestown's Anniversary was.
So the Queen of England came to Williamsburg to ride Griffon. Didn't know she was a fan of coasters.
pandorazboxx said:
The Jamestown celebration did help attendance but the large spike was mostly due to the fact that it had been 8 years since the last major roller coaster was installed at the park. The locals were itching for a big new coaster and the park also had marketed the coaster quite well. I met people from all over the NJ-PA-NY area that saw Griffon commercials in their hometowns. There was also heavy advertising in the DC/Baltimore corridor.
Unagi said:
Anything within a 300 mile radius of the park was advertised to about Griffon. The marketing campaign Busch used was only a few pegs short of what Disney does on a regular basis, it really shows just how far reaching Busch could've been if they kept the aggressive marketing instead of balking like they did with Verbolten.
That is a really good point, pandorazboxx.
If I remember correctly, there was a large state budget that went towards advertising local tourism for that year so Busch Gardens may have received additional funds.
If not, I know all of the local tourist sites saved HUGE budgets to promote during 2007 because the 400th anniversary was such a big deal. Busch may have had better advertisements that year, but I'm 98% positive the opening of Griffon was probably planned to occur around Jamestown in order to capture the same crowds.
If I remember correctly, there was a large state budget that went towards advertising local tourism for that year so Busch Gardens may have received additional funds.
If not, I know all of the local tourist sites saved HUGE budgets to promote during 2007 because the 400th anniversary was such a big deal. Busch may have had better advertisements that year, but I'm 98% positive the opening of Griffon was probably planned to occur around Jamestown in order to capture the same crowds.
Party Rocker said:
The Queen of England is quite the thrill seeker. I'm guessing you didn't see the opening of the London Olympics.
The outcome to the area wasn't what they wanted it to be for the 400th anniversary. It was an improvement, but not much, and definitely not what they expected.
The anniversary wasn't as expected but it was a rather large increase to some area attractions. Paid visitation at Jamestown Settlement was up 53% over 2006 http://historyisfun.org/JYF-ATTENDANCE-SURPASSES-ONE-MILLION.htm. Also included in said article is the quote, “Inclusion of our message in collective local and state promotional efforts that reached a national audience was key,” Bak said. “The Foundation worked closely with area partners, including Colonial Williamsburg, Busch Gardens Europe and Historic Jamestowne, to encourage a longer length of stay by providing a number of cooperative ticket options to visit multiple attractions. Cooperative ticket sales accounted for about 20 percent of individual paid admissions.”
This article bemoans the attendance on Jamestown's 2007 culminating event, the May Anniversary Weekend while averring that overall attendance at Jamestown National Park was up 153% over the prior year as of the end of July http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2007/092007/09072007/314802. No actual attendance numbers are provided and I can not find any.
Colonial Williamsburg only showed an uptick of 5% in their paid attendance http://www.history.org/Foundation/Annualrpt07/index.cfm. As an apologia, the article says that true attendance at CW is difficult to tabulate due to being able to access the area/restaurants/shops without a ticket. They also state that night programs haven't been counted in admissions but will be henceforth. Additionally, with a multiple day ticket or annual pass CW can't seem to accurately account for attendance due to lack of a 'gate.'
I think, that while the anniversary wasn't as greatly attended as expected it seems clear that a large increase in tourism in the Williamsburg area happened that year. Griffon's advent and advertising surely helped the large surge in Busch's attendance but was probably also due to a concerted advertising effort by the local attractions.
This article bemoans the attendance on Jamestown's 2007 culminating event, the May Anniversary Weekend while averring that overall attendance at Jamestown National Park was up 153% over the prior year as of the end of July http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2007/092007/09072007/314802. No actual attendance numbers are provided and I can not find any.
Colonial Williamsburg only showed an uptick of 5% in their paid attendance http://www.history.org/Foundation/Annualrpt07/index.cfm. As an apologia, the article says that true attendance at CW is difficult to tabulate due to being able to access the area/restaurants/shops without a ticket. They also state that night programs haven't been counted in admissions but will be henceforth. Additionally, with a multiple day ticket or annual pass CW can't seem to accurately account for attendance due to lack of a 'gate.'
I think, that while the anniversary wasn't as greatly attended as expected it seems clear that a large increase in tourism in the Williamsburg area happened that year. Griffon's advent and advertising surely helped the large surge in Busch's attendance but was probably also due to a concerted advertising effort by the local attractions.
I don't know exactly how big they thought the 400th anniversary would be, because for most of the Summer I could barely leave my house. I've never seen so many tourists in town in my life.
Their marketing was so hardcore that they expected people to actually move down there permanently.