Tourism Holds Up Despite 1992’s Troubles : Attractions Suffer No Major Loss in Attendance; Some Show Gains

In a year of riots, earthquakes and heavy rains, Southern California tourist attractions managed to muddle through 1992 without any major loss in attendance, reports a respected tourism trade journal.

Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm were down slightly. Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia held steady. Universal Studios Hollywood and Sea World of California even managed modest increases, according to Amusement Business Magazine in its annual attendance tally.

Disneyland recorded 11.6 million guests, the magazine estimates, on the strength of its new “Fantasmic!” water show and an increase in local visitors that countered a drop in tourism. That makes it still the nation’s second most popular amusement park after Walt Disney World in Florida.

Disneyland President Jack Lindquist said earlier this year that the park’s tourism component dropped after the Los Angeles-Long Beach riots in April. The park, however, is betting that its new Toontown children’s area will help solidify crowds next year. The area is the first new “land” since “Critter Country” made its debut in 1972 and the first outside the park’s original boundaries. Toontown officially opens next month as an interactive play area where kids can tour the make-believe houses of Disney cartoon characters.

Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park suffered the greatest loss of any of the local tourist attractions in the rankings, moving from fifth place to seventh. The park opened a new Indian crafts village, but was undercut by bad weather in the early part of the year. Spokesman Stuart Zanville said the park estimates it lost 70,000 potential visits because of rain. It opened a Native American crafts attraction in time for summer, but was never able to recover. The magazine listed Knott’s as having a gate of 3.9 million, down 100,000 from last year.

Sea World of California, the popular San Diego marine wildlife park, gained 5% in attendance to become the nation’s sixth most popular attraction. It had attendance of 4 million, Amusement Business said. The park was able to log increased attendance, perhaps because of tourists re-booking their Los Angeles vacations for riot-free San Diego. The park also opened a new walk-through shark exhibit.

Universal Studios Hollywood was listed fourth with 4.8 million attendance, a 4% increase over last year, despite being the Southland attraction closest to the civil unrest. The magazine credited the increase to more international tourists, who accounted for 40% of the gate at the movie-themed park.

Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, was in ninth place with 3.2 million attendance, unchanged from last year. Spokeswoman Eileen Harrell said the rioting “certainly” had an impact, but that a new roller coaster--”Flashback”--and a Batman stunt show during the summer helped bring in the crowds.

Top U.S. Theme Parks

As in 1991, Walt Disney Co.’s theme parks in Florida and California led the nation in attendance. Walt Disney World near Orlando was the clear winner, drawing more than 30 million visitors this year. In second place, with 11.6 million, was Disneyland in Anaheim, followed by Universal Studios attractions in Orlando and Universal City.

‘92 Attendance ’92 ’91 Park and location in millions 1 1 Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, Epcot Center, Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park, Lake Buena Vista, Fla. 30.2 2 2 Disneyland, Anaheim 11.6 3 3 Universal Studios Florida, Orlando 6.7 4 4 Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal City 4.8 5 6 Sea World of Florida, Orlando 4.1 6 7 Sea World of California, San Diego 4.0 7 5 Knott’s Berry Farm, Buena Park 3.9 8 13 Paramount’s Kings Island, Kings Island, Ohio 3.3 9 8 Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia 3.2 10 15 Six Flags Great America, Gurnee, Ill. 3.2 11 9 Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio 3.1 12 11 Six Flags Great Adventure, Jackson, N.J. 3.1 13 12 Busch Gardens The Dark Continent, Tampa, Fla. 3.1 14 14 Six Flags Over Texas, Arlington 3.0 15 10 Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk 3.0 16 20 Six Flags Over Georgia, Atlanta 2.6 17 17 Paramount’s Great America, Santa Clara 2.4 18 16 Canada’s Wonderland, Maple, Ont. 2.3 19 18 Paramount’s Kings Dominion, Doswell, Va. 2.3 20 21 Busch Gardens The Old Country, Williamsburg, Va. 2.1 21 22 Opryland, Nashville, Tenn. 2.0 22 -- Fiesta Texas, San Antonio 2.0 23 23 AstroWorld, Houston 2.0 24 29 Marine World-Africa USA, Vallejo, Calif. 1.9 25 27 Dollywood, Pigeon Forge, Tenn. 1.8

‘92 % Change 1 +8% 2 Down slightly 3 +12% 4 +4% 5 +5% 6 +5% 7 Down slightly 8 +12% 9 No change 10 +17% 11 +4% 12 +6.5% 13 +5% 14 +10% 15 No change 16 +14% 17 Down slightly 18 -4% 19 -3% 20 -5% 21 +5% 22 New park 23 +7% 24 +32% 25 +11%

Source: Amusement Business magazine