Disneyland’s Added Attraction: Price Cut
Disneyland on Thursday rolled out a rare discount ticket promotion at the height of the peak summer season, further evidence that attendance at most of Southern California’s major theme parks is not keeping up with last year’s record performance.
Launching its equivalent of a summer fare sale, the Anaheim park said it is allowing holders of annual passes to bring along as many as four friends for $26 each through Sept. 30.
That’s a hefty 27.8% reduction off the regular adult tab of $36, an aggressive price cut not seen at Disneyland in its high season since the recession of the early 1990s.
“They’re panicking a little,” said a Disney insider, who estimates attendance is off in the “double digits” percentage-wise from last year.
And Disneyland isn’t alone. Though its competitors offer discounts more frequently, this summer’s cuts are deeper than usual. Universal Studios Hollywood is plugging a 2-for-1 deal, and Knott’s Berry Farm has slashed the price of a child’s ticket by more than half for local residents.
All in all, the cuts are a sign that the industry lacks a big-ticket attraction this year to excite the public, which may be a little hung over from all the revelry last year.
“Without a major blockbuster attraction, people just aren’t coming out to the parks in force,” said James Zoltak, West Coast reporter for Amusement Business magazine. “We’re not exactly sure where they’re going, but they’re clearly finding something else to do.”
Nationwide, the tourism industry is projecting that a record number of Americans will hit the road this summer, while the economy at large is on a roll. So why aren’t visitors packing area theme parks as they did in 1996?
The answer may lie with finicky locals.
Although they don’t tend to spend as much as out-of-towners, they make up the core audience of the Southland theme park industry, accounting for at least half the attendance base at a park such as Disneyland.
Day trippers can be a mercurial lot, the experts say. Their numbers can swing wildly from season to season depending on the weather, competing attractions, the “been there, done that” factor and a host of other reasons.
At Disneyland, industry watchers expected some decline in attendance after an estimated 15 million visitors jammed the park last year to see the farewell run of the venerable Main Street Electrical Parade.
But the public’s lukewarm reception for its replacement, the high-tech, nighttime street show Light Magic, has park executives scurrying to keep the turnstiles humming.
Disneyland is clearly trying to woo locals back by targeting its discount promotion to the estimated 200,000 holders of annual passes, the most savvy, sophisticated and loyal patrons of the Magic Kingdom.
“This is an opportunity for us to do something special for our core audience,” said Disneyland spokesman John McClintock. “We’re hoping they’ll view this as a chance to bring friends who otherwise might not come.”
McClintock declined to discuss attendance figures at the park, but industry observers said Disneyland’s Main Street Electrical Parade promotion may have worked a little too well.
“They created such a demand to see that thing that they effectively borrowed some of this year’s attendance last year,” said Steve Balgrosky, a theme park consultant with Los Angeles-based Economics Research Associates. “They kind of set themselves up for a fall.”
Universal Studios Hollywood is having similar problems. Its big-budget Jurassic Park ride created an attendance surge in 1996 when it opened, but it hasn’t shown much staying power. Industry sources estimate that attendance at Universal has dropped more than 15% since last year. With the exception of the Superman the Escape ride at Six Flags Magic Mountain, the Southland lacks a true blockbuster this year.
“The market responds to new products and it responds to promotions,” said Dick Lyon, a theme park consultant in Pacific Palisades. “If you don’t have a big new attraction, you pull them in by discounting. It’s all part of the cycle.”
