Knott’s Bucks Slow Trend at Theme Parks
In a sign that the nation’s theme parks are experiencing a tepid year, the partnership that owns Knott’s Berry Farm and four other parks said Wednesday that attendance fell 3% during the April-June quarter.
Profits declined only slightly, however, because of higher spending by customers.
Cedar Fair LP of Sandusky, Ohio, did not break out results for Knott’s, but officials said attendance and customer spending at the Buena Park tourist attraction were higher.
Knott’s has two major rides, Supreme Scream and GhostRider, that were not operating in the first half of 1998. In addition, this year’s winter was far milder than last year’s El Nino-battered season.
Second-quarter attendance rose more than 10% at Knott’s, spokesman Bob Ochsner said, “and it’s the best year to date for us since 1990.”
That makes Knott’s unusual during a year of stresses on amusement parks ranging from super-hot weather in the East to torn-up streets and freeways in Anaheim.
Walt Disney Co. reported last month that lower Disneyland attendance in the spring quarter partially offset gains at its Florida operations, where total theme-park attendance hit record levels and results improved at the company’s new cruise line.
Disney added numerous attractions in Florida, including a new “land” at its Animal Kingdom park and a looping roller coaster at Disney-MGM Studios, to help it compete with Seagram Co.’s major new Islands of Adventure theme park in Orlando.
Seagram’s Universal Studios has spent more than $60 million promoting the new park and the adjacent Universal Studios Florida, and attendance has been good, officials said. But Universal Studios Hollywood is having a slow summer, and the question in Florida is whether all the new Disney and Universal attractions will have staying power.
“The big test in Florida clearly will be next year,” a Universal official said.
At Disneyland, attendance “has turned from disastrous to mildly disappointing” this summer, said an employee with access to the park’s internal figures. “The Fourth of July weekend was just disastrous.”
Unlike other Southern California parks, which have discounted admissions heavily this summer, Disneyland for the most part has held the line on its ticket prices of $39 for adults and $29 for children.
Disneyland is operating this summer without a major new attraction and is dealing with construction-related disruptions from Anaheim’s massive redevelopment of the area around the theme park. Disneyland spokesmen Tom Brocato said attendance is within the company’s expectations, but declined to be more specific.
Premier Parks Inc., whose amusement parks include Magic Mountain and other Six Flags attractions, has yet to report second-quarter results.
Cedar Fair earned $19.2 million, or 37 cents per share, compared with $19.7 million, also 37 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 3%, to $124.3 million, from $120.5 million. This year’s acquisition of the Buena Park Hotel helped boost spending at the company’s hotels and water-slide park segment by 17%, said Cedar Fair President Richard L. Kinzel. Spending inside its regular parks rose 4%.
Of Cedar Fair’s five parks, only Knott’s operates year-round. The others generate most of their revenue during a 130-day period beginning in early May, with most of it in July and August. Knott’s also peaks during the summer months.
Kinzel said that despite poor weather in much of the country, Cedar Fair’s attendance to date remains on pace with last year’s record level because of new attractions and hotels. Through the first six months of 1999, revenues rose 6% on a 1% increase in combined attendance and 5% higher customer spending in the parks, he said.
Overall attendance fell last year at U.S. theme parks by 1%, according to a survey by the trade publications Amusement Business. It said all Southern California parks experienced declining attendance except for Knott’s, which managed to remain flat at 3.4 million visitors by adding the two big new rides in the second half of the year.
