Strategies : Thrill Parks Use Special Events to Spin Turnstiles in Off-Season

They haven’t put Mickey Mouse in black leather yet, but bikers and rockers are coming to Disneyland.

In fact, a lot of things you don’t normally see at amusement parks are popping up these days--from Elvis impersonators in the Magic Kingdom to high school cheerleaders at Magic Mountain--as a way of attracting customers without costly new rides.

“What we’ve all discovered is if you can’t come up with a major new ride, special events are the next best thing,” said Stuart Zanville, spokesman for Knott’s Berry Farm.

For Disney, that means Blast to the Past, which starts this month with five Elvis impersonators, a 30-foot jukebox and dancers on motorcycles in black leather. That will be followed in the fall by a new Halloween promotion geared toward young children.

At Knott’s Berry Farm, it means a Country Fair, with survivors from the early days of rock, plus the park’s traditional, highly successful Knott’s Scary Farm.

At Universal Studios, it’s the fifth annual Soap Opera Festival in May. And for Magic Mountain, it’s the seventh annual Physics Day on Sunday, when 7,000 students figure out how long it takes a roller coaster to fall.

While amusement industry experts agree that flashy rides--often costing tens of millions of dollars--attract the largest crowds to parks, special events can add 10% to 20% to a park’s attendance during those off seasons and off years when there are no new attractions.

The events are particularly helpful to pull in local visitors, who can represent more than 50% of a park’s annual attendance but don’t usually visit theme parks unless there is a new draw.

The idea behind special events “is to keep getting business,” noted Jack Lindquist, executive vice president at Disneyland. “Nobody’s fussy about whether it’s new or repeat.”

Knott’s started Knott’s Scary Farm’s Halloween haunt 15 years ago. Every year, sellout crowds of more than 100,000 chill-seekers creep through man-made fog as various vampires and monsters creep up and scream, rattling loud noisemakers. The annual ambushes scare up about $2 million in gate receipts--or at least 10% of the park’s annual profit.

Mickey Mouse Is Gaining

But while Knott’s may have started the special-events competition, Mickey Mouse is catching up in a major way: The Anaheim theme park this year has special promotions of one sort or another planned almost year-round until the January introduction of its Splash Mountain ride.

Disneyland’s promotions, unlike those of its less well-heeled competitors, last six to 12 weeks.

The newest Disney event soon to be heavily promoted rides the crest of the nostalgia wave to take the park back to the 1950s and ‘60s--in a modern sort of way.

With a two-month promotion starting March 19, “we’re transforming Disneyland into a high-tech, ‘80s-style, glitzy ‘50s theme,” Lindquist said. “It’s another reason for people to come.”

The Blast, not surprisingly, will feature doo-woppers who were first popular when people ate raw fish out of aquariums instead of sushi bars. The stars of yesterday include former teen idol and beach blanket film star Frankie Avalon, Chuck Berry, Little Anthony, the Four Tops, Gary U. S. Bonds, the Spinners and Paul Revere and the Raiders.

Blast to the Past will open at the park’s front gate, where patrons can cruise by a display of shiny, mint-condition 1950s classic cars. Main Street will be deserted until gigantic turntables and jukeboxes are rolled out by 150 dancers--girls in poodle sweaters and guys in letter jerseys. What follows is a musical free-for-all that sounds like Busby Berkeley making a ‘60s surf movie: hordes of dancers Hula-Hooping up and down the street and 30 dancers zooming in on white motorcycles, all orchestrated by five Elvis impersonators.

Mickey’s 60th Birthday

When the Blast ends in late May, Disneyland will start its summer-long celebration of Mickey’s 60th birthday--bringing in a Mickey float in the electrical parade, a Mickey show at the Videopolis dance club and Mickey fireworks above Cinderella’s castle.

The birthday party doesn’t end until Disney’s version of the State Fair starts in late August.

Then later this year, also for the first time, Disneyland will be transformed into a mildly haunting experience. But unlike Knott’s--which appeals to teen-agers who may be, er, dying to be scared--Disneyland will create a Halloween event for families with children ages 5 to 14, Lindquist said. “We won’t be doing the chain-saw massacre,” he said. “It will be more family oriented--which nobody else is doing.”

The avalanche of promotion is a significant change in Disney strategy. Until three years ago, the Magic Kingdom did no special off-season promotions at all.

The switch came after chairman Michael Eisner and president Frank Wells joined Burbank-based Walt Disney Co. in 1984. At the time, Disneyland’s annual attendance had bottomed out at 9.5 million that year, down from 11.3 million in 1981.

Celebrating Ever Since

But in 1985, the Disney magic--a different, up-to-date magic--began to come back. Disneyland held a yearlong 30th birthday bash that did so well that the park has been celebrating ever since. Attendance began to climb, coming close to a record 12 million guests that year.

The following year, Disneyland added Circus Fantasy, a two-month promotion with motorcycle daredevil acts, clowns and performing beasts--an event that Disneyland has since brought back twice.

“It’s keeping the momentum going that started with Disneyland’s 30th birthday,” Lindquist said.

That momentum doesn’t even stop within the boundaries of the park. Disneyland has a series of special Blast promotions planned with McDonald’s drive-ins and Lucky supermarkets.

The nonstop hype hasn’t been missed by rivals.

“There’s no question that Disneyland is waking up,” said an admiring competitor who asked not to be named. “They’ve recognized the importance of doing things to promote the off-season. And they’re doing an awful lot of things right.”

So much so that those months considered “off-season” may soon be in-season.

Schedule of Disneyland oldies concerts. Calendar, Page 26.