2018 Attendance Results

[skiguy777]

Download the file from this page here.
http://www.aecom.com/content/theme-index/

My web page with attendance stats going back to 2007 and updated comments.
http://www.nogodforme.com/USA_Park_Coaster_Attendance_Results.htm

Be sure to refresh the page for the latest version.

The Sea World parks had huge gains. It seems like the 2017 numbers were incorrect. Can the fans really be coming back that much? Did they hit the bottom and bounce back? The huge gains were not enough to bring BGW back into the top 20. But those are some huge numbers. For example, SWO had an increase of 632k people while adding Infinity Falls. Did all those people come for that ride? I doubt it. Was it the free beer samples? Maybe. That's what I'm going with, free beer rules. Gives people a buzz so they forget about the high parking prices.

The same parks are in the top 20, just that the positions changed because SWO jumped ahead of CP, and SFMM moved up. I wish the North American list would be the top 25, but no, it's only 20. So the big 9 parks of Disney and Universal take up the top 9 spots, leaving only 11 for the rest.

All of the parks moved up this year, none had a negative report. Last year only the Sea World parks had negative numbers as the doom and gloom was on them. Now it's all reversed with everyone looking good.

[s***@aol.com]

People have returned to SeaWorld because lots of people have surprisingly become un-brainwashed from the negative press. Infinity Falls of course helped. They also added several new events which has helped.

[skiguy777]

Post by s***@aol.com
People have returned to SeaWorld because lots of people have surprisingly become un-brainwashed from the negative press. Infinity Falls of course helped. They also added several new events which has helped.

Interesting YouTube video talking about the 2018 attendance.

What is making the SF parks move up? What is SFMM, SFNJ, and SFGAm doing to move up in the ranks? They haven't caught the Cedar Fair parks, but they are moving up without installing block buster rides. Are the parks clean? Are they giving away the gate? Are they a summer camp during the summer?

It's funny because Hershey park has a steady rise, but the SF parks are over taking them.

Everyone please write an e-mail to Brian Sands at
***@aecom.com
and ask them to make the North American list a top 25 or top 30.

The problem with a top 20 is Disney and Universal are the "Big 9" taking up those spots. We can't see everyone below the top 20.

[s***@aol.com]

Six Flags has made tremendous strides in keeping the park experience much better than they have in the past. I enjoy my visit throughly each time I go. Operations have been good, I’ve enjoyed visits there much more than I have with Hershey.

[skiguy777]

Post by s***@aol.com
Six Flags has made tremendous strides in keeping the park experience much better than they have in the past. I enjoy my visit throughly each time I go. Operations have been good, I’ve enjoyed visits there much more than I have with Hershey.

Something I've mentioned on my attendance page is advertising. Besides Disney and Universal, the other chains do not advertise on a national level.

Let's take Disney. I was watching a TV show called The Masked Singer on Fox which is on Wednesday nights. It's a popular show. Do you know how many commercials I saw from Disney? 4.

2 commercials for their new streaming service.
1 full length trailer for their movie Frozen 2.
1 commercial for season passes at the parks.

And we're heading into winter. As I write this, it's the middle of November and Disney is running a season pass commercial on a national network.

If we look at the attendance, Disney and Universal make up what I call the Big 9 in the USA, the next chain is Sea World Entertainment. Are they advertising on a national level for their new rides? No. How about Cedar Fair and Six Flags? Nope. Hershey advertising for Candymonium? Nope.

So this would be one reason why Disney is so huge. They advertise on a national level, while the other chains do not. Yes, it costs big money to advertise on a national level, but you'd think Cedar Fair could run a spot here and there promoting Orion at KI. Or they could put up billboards in Orlando International Airport (MCO) where all the Disney people are walking through.

[c***@gmail.com]

Post by skiguy777

Post by s***@aol.com
Six Flags has made tremendous strides in keeping the park experience much better than they have in the past. I enjoy my visit throughly each time I go. Operations have been good, I’ve enjoyed visits there much more than I have with Hershey.

Something I've mentioned on my attendance page is advertising. Besides Disney and Universal, the other chains do not advertise on a national level.
Let's take Disney. I was watching a TV show called The Masked Singer on Fox which is on Wednesday nights. It's a popular show. Do you know how many commercials I saw from Disney? 4.
2 commercials for their new streaming service.
1 full length trailer for their movie Frozen 2.
1 commercial for season passes at the parks.
And we're heading into winter. As I write this, it's the middle of November and Disney is running a season pass commercial on a national network.
If we look at the attendance, Disney and Universal make up what I call the Big 9 in the USA, the next chain is Sea World Entertainment. Are they advertising on a national level for their new rides? No. How about Cedar Fair and Six Flags? Nope. Hershey advertising for Candymonium? Nope.
So this would be one reason why Disney is so huge. They advertise on a national level, while the other chains do not. Yes, it costs big money to advertise on a national level, but you'd think Cedar Fair could run a spot here and there promoting Orion at KI. Or they could put up billboards in Orlando International Airport (MCO) where all the Disney people are walking through.

You want to know what's also sad, is there haven't been any coaster shows in a while. This is really sad.

In the past, there were shows but they were cheezy. The fans were told to wear plain shirts and told how to act. Pathetic. Don't put your hands up. Don't wear any coaster shirts. Give interviews with Bloob from TPFR or Reuben who always said it was the greatest ride on the planet before going on the ride and cut the line to get up front.

I guess coaster shows don't have any viewers on TV, oh well, we have You Tube. But it would be nice if there were shows on a cable network. You'd think SF or CF would produce shows and do this, but no. They can't even do a blog, no content. Pathetic. Yet there's 3-4 million people who visit the parks, yet they can't come up with TV shows or blogs. Yes, I realize that's not their job, but my gosh, it's a marketing opportunity waiting to happen.

[s***@aol.com]

I miss the coaster and park shows, too. I wonder if there’s not enough interest since there’s so many video bloggers now? Or is tv just not a worthwhile advertisement (which is what those shows were, basically) for the parks? I mean there’s only so much you can do to make the rides seem different from another (on tv anyway), but it was still cool.

[skiguy777]

Post by s***@aol.com
I miss the coaster and park shows, too. I wonder if there’s not enough interest since there’s so many video bloggers now? Or is tv just not a worthwhile advertisement (which is what those shows were, basically) for the parks? I mean there’s only so much you can do to make the rides seem different from another (on tv anyway), but it was still cool.

The only one who comes close to making TV show type videos is Coaster Studios when he does a cinematic version. Otherwise it's the YouTube videos from a bunch of different people.

The parks are making their own POVs which is good. But none of this is on TV. I don't visit the park web sites because there's nothing to see, unless I'm buying tickets or looking at the calendar.

[skiguy777]

Check out this video of a huge Disney screen in MCO, and it's in front of a Disney Store.

This is what I'm talking about when I say Cedar Point and Six Flags need to put screens in the airport walkways. Otherwise, people don't know the other parks exist. They could put ride POVs on there.

[David H.--REMOVE "STOPSPAM" to reply]

On Thu, 14 Nov 2019 03:47:31 -0800 (PST), skiguy777

Post by skiguy777

Six Flags has made tremendous strides in keeping the park experience much better than they have in the past. I enjoy my visit throughly each time I go. Operations have been good, I’ve enjoyed visits there much more than I have with Hershey.

Something I've mentioned on my attendance page is advertising. Besides Disney and Universal, the other chains do not advertise on a national level.
Let's take Disney. I was watching a TV show called The Masked Singer on Fox which is on Wednesday nights. It's a popular show. Do you know how many commercials I saw from Disney? 4.
2 commercials for their new streaming service.
1 full length trailer for their movie Frozen 2.
1 commercial for season passes at the parks.
And we're heading into winter. As I write this, it's the middle of November and Disney is running a season pass commercial on a national network.
If we look at the attendance, Disney and Universal make up what I call the Big 9 in the USA, the next chain is Sea World Entertainment. Are they advertising on a national level for their new rides? No. How about Cedar Fair and Six Flags? Nope. Hershey advertising for Candymonium? Nope.
So this would be one reason why Disney is so huge. They advertise on a national level, while the other chains do not. Yes, it costs big money to advertise on a national level, but you'd think Cedar Fair could run a spot here and there promoting Orion at KI. Or they could put up billboards in Orlando International Airport (MCO) where all the Disney people are walking through.

You've actually got this completely backwards. The reason that Disney and
Universal spend so much on national and international advertising is
because they already know that their customer base is likely to be willing
to travel to their parks. Amusement park chains spend tons of money trying
to understand their customer base. Believe it or not, they actually
understand their business better than you.

Look, I get that you think that you understand the amusement park industry
better than the marketing executives who spend their entire lives in the
industry trying to understand their customers, but you simply don't. That's
because you don't understand that YOU don't represent most people. No one
actually does.

There are actually very few people who travel around the country or the
world to visit amusement parks. And most of those who do are the types
that love Disney and Universal parks. That's why they do so much
nationwide and international advertising.

The kind of people who tend to visit Six Flags and Cedar Fair parks tend to
be happy with their local park, or art least are only willing to drive a
maximum of about 5 hours to visit them.

The average person flying into an airport isn't looking for advertising to
discover what amusement park is nearby. That would be hugely expensive
advertising for VERY little return. The kind of person who wants to know
what amusement parks are near a city they're visiting has already looked
that information up on the internet - if he didn't already know it.

As to your complaints about so few coaster shows on television. who cares?
Who even watches TV networks these days? Some of the bigger amusement park
and coaster related YouTube channels have more viewers than many television
networks. It makes more sense to put those videos up on those channels
where the desired audience can easily find them, rather than putting them
on a television network where 99+% of the audience doesn't care in the
slightest about them.



"With the first link, a chain is forged. The first speech censured,
the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us
all irrevocably." -Capt. Jean-Luc Picard
"The Drumhead", _Star Trek: The Next Generation_