Knott’s Layoff Hits at Least 20 Jobs, Including Its Spokesman : Cutbacks: Theme park cites poor economy and bad weather for jettisoning employees from hourly workers to top managers.
Knott’s Berry Farm has laid off its chief spokesman and at least 20 other employees because of the continuing economic slump and bad weather, officials said Wednesday.
The dismissal of publicity director Stuart Zanville and the others--from hourly employees to upper-level managers--is the latest cost-cutting move at America’s oldest theme park. Last year, the Buena Park landmark laid off 30 people and froze the wages of its 3,000 peak-season work force.
“We laid off a number of employees as a result of the negative economic conditions that were apparent last year but have been exacerbated by the bad weather and the continuing slump in the economy,” Knott’s Vice President Bill Dayton said Wednesday.
Some analysts and observers, however, question whether Knott’s may have some problems that go beyond its short-term economic woes. The theme park may have lost its direction, they say, and consequently may be losing patronage.
“I’m not so sure how well Knott’s has done,” said Steve Clark, a partner in the theme-park consulting business Management Resources in Tustin. “I would question how much they have reinvested in the last few years.”
While Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood are spending millions of dollars to open rides for the summer, Knott’s is adding only three relatively inexpensive carnival-type attractions in its Camp Snoopy children’s area. The last major new ride in Knott’s, a $5-million roller coaster called Boomerang, is now 3 years old. A $2.5-million American Indian arts and crafts village, Indian Trails, opened last summer but reportedly drew disappointingly small crowds.
Dayton said the latest round of layoffs at Knott’s should not be interpreted as a sign that the restaurant, shopping and amusement complex is in financial trouble.
Knott’s and other Southern California tourist attractions have been hurt by a drop in tourism after last year’s Los Angeles riots, earthquakes and, more recently, a string of rainy weekends.
Dayton maintains that Knott’s is on sound financial footing, despite the fact that “bad luck is about the only luck we’ve been having lately.”
Other theme parks have coped with the downturn by appealing to local residents to make up for the decline in tourism. And they are going ahead with lavish summer plans.
At Six Flags Magic Mountain near Santa Clarita, part of a chain owned by Time Warner Inc., officials say that business has been good despite the poor weather and that they plan to open a family-oriented water ride for summer.
At Disneyland, the new Toontown cartoon play land has been so popular that the park will not offer discounts to Southern California residents this year as it has in the past when attendance has been off.
Knott’s officials say they are considering whether to build a new $8-million attraction--just what, they won’t say--but no decision has been made. In the meantime, they have been trying to broaden the park’s appeal with special events. Some of those, though, have had troubles. A heavily promoted gospel music day last month was literally washed out by heavy rains. And a New Year’s Eve party drew complaints from nearby residents about noise and traffic.
At the same time, the other theme parks have begun staging events that go head-to-head with Knott’s biggest moneymakers. Universal Studios Hollywood started a nightly Halloween spook show that competes directly with Knott’s annual Halloween Haunt. And Disneyland’s Toontown could take a share of the Camp Snoopy business.
“Times are difficult, and competition is keen,” said Russell Knott, son of founders Walter and Cordelia Knott and one of the general partners in the family enterprise.
Those hard times appear not to have affected a neighboring attraction in Buena Park. The Movieland Wax Museum saw attendance increases of 74% in December and 50% in January compared to the same months a year earlier, General Manager Mark Edwards said.
Part of the reason may have been the weather: Movieland is an indoor attraction.
But Edwards said he wonders whether the problems at Knott’s run deeper.
“I think generally Knott’s lost their direction a couple of years ago. I don’t think they change with the trends,” he said.
When interest in Western lore waned, Edwards said, Knott’s opened a dinosaur ride and other attractions. Now that the nation is again focusing on its Western heritage, he said, Knott’s is far afield of the theme that made it a success.
Zanville, the laid-off publicity director, disputes that. Family-owned Knott’s, he said, is vulnerable to the whims of the economy because it is not backed by a huge corporation, as competitors Disneyland and Universal Studios are.
Times correspondent Debra Cano contributed to this report.
