Summertime, and Disney’s Uneasy: Park Slices Rates

Need any more proof that the Main Street Electrical Parade has left the building?

In a move calculated to shore up sagging attendance in the wake of last year’s record-setting performance, Disneyland has rolled out a rare discount ticket promotion at the height of the summer season.

The Anaheim theme park on Thursday launched its equivalent of a summer fare sale, offering annual-pass holders the opportunity to bring along up to four friends for $26 each now through Sept. 30.

That’s a hefty 27.8% slice off the regular adult tab of $36, an aggressive price cut not seen at Disneyland in high season since the recession of the early ‘90s.

“They’re panicking a little,” said a Disney insider, who estimates that attendance is off “double digits” in percentage compared to last year.

And Disneyland isn’t alone. While its competitors stoop to offer discounts more frequently, this summer’s cuts are deeper than usual. Universal Studios Hollywood is currently plugging a two-for-one deal, while Knott’s Berry Farm has slashed the price of a kid’s ticket by more than half for local residents.

All in all, it’s a sure sign that the industry this year lacks a big-ticket attraction to excite the crowds, who may still 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 a record number of Americans hitting the road this summer, while the economy at large is on a roll. So why aren’t visitors packing area theme parks as in 1996?

The answer may lie with finicky locals.

In Orange County, for example, the overall tourist head count through April is running neck-and-neck with last year, with 11.3 million tourists estimated to have visited in the first four months of the year.

Area hotels are packed with out-of-town visitors. But the number of day visitors in that count has dropped to just over 6 million, down from 6.2 million in 1996, according to the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor and Convention Bureau.

Day-trippers can be a mercurial lot, 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. And they don’t tend to spend as much as out-of-towners.

Still, they are a backbone of the Southland theme park industry, accounting for at least half the attendance base at a park like Disneyland.

Disneyland officials know it and are deliberately aiming their new discount promotion at their estimated 200,000 annual-pass holders, the most sophisticated and loyal patrons of the Magic Kingdom.

“This is an opportunity for us to do something special for our core audience,” Disneyland spokesman John McClintock said. “We’re hoping they’ll view this as a chance to bring friends who otherwise might not come.”

A falloff in attendance was anticipated this year after an estimated 15 million visitors jammed Disneyland in 1996 to see the farewell run of the venerable Main Street Electrical Parade.

McClintock declined to discuss attendance figures at the park, but industry observers said last year’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.”

Disneyland was hoping to cushion the landing with the debut of Light Magic, but the new nighttime show opened to harsh early reviews and has failed to generate much word-of-mouth excitement.

Ditto for Jurassic Park--The Ride at Universal Studios Hollywood. The big-budget attraction 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 the dinosaur frenzy last year.

With the exception of Superman The Escape at Six Flags Magic Mountain, the Southland lacks a true blockbuster this year. Thus the parks are turning to another time-honored strategy--price cuts.

“The market responds to new products and it responds to promotions,” said Pacific Palisades theme park consultant Dick Lyon. “If you don’t have a big new attraction, you pull them in by discounting. It’s all part of the cycle.”

Still, cutting prices in the summer is a practice that Disneyland--the premier West Coast theme park--has largely been able to avoid.

The fact that Disneyland is breaking out the long knives with rest of them denotes what a cutthroat summer this is turning out to be.

“The Southern California market is so competitive that any erosion of market share is cause for alarm,” Zoltak said. “Over the last couple of years Disneyland has set the bar high. Once you get the numbers up there, you hate to go back.”

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Peak-Season Push

Special discounts offered by Southern California amusement parks:

* Disneyland: Annual-pass holders may bring along up to four friends for $26 each ($10 off the regular $36 admission price) through Sept. 30.

* Sea World: Coupons for $5 off $32.95 adult and $24.95 child admission available at McDonald’s; no purchase required

* Knott’s Berry Farm: Southern California children (ages 3-11) admitted for $9.95 through Sept. 1; must show proof of residency (child admission regularly $23.95)

* Universal Studios Hollywood: Child (15 and younger) admitted free with purchase of $36 adult admission through July 31; Southern California residents only, must show proof of residency (child admission regularly $26)

* Six Flags Magic Mountain: Bring a Coca-Cola can and receive $10 off the $35 general admission price Sunday through Friday, $5 off on Saturday through Oct. 31; applies to general admission only--not child or senior admission.

Source: Individual amusement parks

Researched by JANICE L. JONES / Los Angeles Times