From Deseret News archives:

Report: Amusement park attendance rises 4.2 percent in 2005

Published: Monday, Dec. 26, 2005 8:08 p.m. MST
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
ORLANDO, Fla. — Attendance at North America's 50 most popular amusement parks rose 4.2 percent in 2005, powered by strong investment in new rides, the 50th anniversary of Disneyland and a hurricane season that bypassed the theme park capital of Orlando.

An estimated 176 million visitors went to North America's most popular parks, according to an annual survey released Monday by the trade publication Amusement Business and the research firm Economics Research Associates.

Attendance was off at two Ohio facilities in the publication's list of the top 25 best-attended North American amusement parks. Paramount's Kings Island in southwest Ohio had 3.3 million visitors in 2005 to place 16th, but was down 5.1 percent overall.

Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, had 3.1 million, good enough for 18th but off 2 percent from last year.

Worldwide, amusement park attendance increased 2.2 percent to 253 million visitors in 2005.

Most major parks don't release their attendance figures, but the Amusement Business numbers are considered the most reliable estimates in the industry.

The Cedar Fair parks saw attendance rise 1.6 percent. But its California-based Knott's Berry Farm park declined 3 percent, mainly because of a rainy first quarter, and its flagship Cedar Point park in Ohio declined despite the introduction of the maXair ride.

Story continues below
Cedar Point planned to lower admission prices by $5 a ticket, a counterintuitive move in an industry that annually raises its prices. The goal is to have more people go through the turnstiles in a market that has struggled economically with layoffs in the automotive industry, said Brian Witherow, a Cedar Fair vice president. The Sandusky-based park's three biggest markets are Detroit, Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio.

"Clearly, we can't control things like gas prices and unemployment rates in our core market . . . but one thing we can control is the admission price," Witherow said.

Neither a rainy spring in California nor a parade of destructive hurricanes in the southeast slowed down growth in the $10 billion industry, which had strong momentum from last year, the first year attendance had increased since the 2001 attacks hobbled the U.S. tourism and travel industry.

Those parks that acquired new rides in 2005 saw their investments pay off while those parks that had an off-year in their capital investment cycle, for the most part, experienced attendance dips, said James Zoltak, editor of Amusement Business.

Comments

You can be the first to comment on this story.

previousnext

Latest comments

Chad Lewis gives great message

He is NOT a good example. He broke the Sabbath for a simple game and money....

Abortion coverage riles Catholics

Yes - the Catholic Church can take any stand they want for the Catholic...

Florida No. 1, TCU 4 in AP Top 25

Let it be heard and RISE AND SHOUT, the UTES are out. We claim ownership of...

Secularists and religious arguments

IN 50 years of membership I have yet to hear a person of whatever position in...

Secularists and religious arguments

It is non-sense to say one has to have religion to do good or to be good....

Please don't spend any taxpayer money on this.

Cougar passing shreds Air Force

be a Dietmer because he can never win big games. He will never be a Steve...

I find it interesting that so many who are so vocal about a perceived threat...

Utes roll past Jaguars

Fireboylen, you make want to drug test you with that comment, are you out of...

Letters: Food tax is a sin tax

Oh really. "How many places other than DN..." is a stupid thing to say....

Advertisements