Originally Posted By deadmentellnotales O'm going on the record here also: In 50 years DCA will be called something else, as they'll have given up on the theme and changed the name decades before.
Originally Posted By socalkdg <<<And I'm going to argue that IOA not only gets higher attendance than DCA, up until this last year, but its guests also spend more. My defense is that they don't have the advantage of a "2fer" offer with the 2nd most visited theme park in the country, and that 2nd most visited park is also: not 100 yards away, run by the same company, and its annual passholders don't get free admission automatically.>>> Bad argument. Currently people are getting PH for 323 dollars for 5 day park hoppers for 6 people. So that works out to $55 per person for 5 days, or $11 a day. They offer great deals all the time. It is closer to the airport, is right near Sea World, and combine that with the fact that WDW gets 50 million visitors a year you would think USF/IOA would be able to get at least 1/2 of the business WDW does, but nope. Not even close.
Originally Posted By SuperDry ^^^ And I'm sure that Disney's Magical Express isn't helping IOA any. I would imagine that in addition to taking the shuttle business that used to go to Mears, that a certain number of people that otherwise would have had rental cars now take the bus from the airport, making it all the more likely that they don't leave WDW until they're on the way back to the airport.
Originally Posted By 9oldmen >><<So a statement like: >>DL/DCA is doing better than USO/IOA. End of story.<< Doesn't really have any validity either. The above will only be proven true if USO/IOA closes down.>><< This hopefully will be my last post on the topic. If I ever said "Universal is Doing BETTER than Disney" than I apologize and retract that statement. My main argument was with regards to the two Universal parks in Florida and DCA. That's it. Just DCA. >>DLR: 20 million USF/IOA: 12 million That's a significant difference, enough to say that Disney is doing it better. << Indeed they are, as they should be. But 12 million at Universal Orlando? That's slightly higher than twice the attendance of DCA, and in a year when Disney was up, and Universal was down. Am I saying that Universal isn't in trouble? If I said so before, I didn't mean it. They may be in deeper trouble than any of us realize. But their two parks in Orlando are each doing better than DCA. This according to the same AB numbers that your using on me. My argument is that DCA is a weak park, and that for the first time in history, you have two non-Disney parks beating a Disney park in attendance. (And yes, I know that DCA pulled slightly ahead of IOA for 2005). It doesn't mean that Universal isn't in trouble, and yes, overall, Disney is doing waaay better, but I still think DCA is the weak link. Again, this is according to the AB numbers that you are using yourself(ves). And I love how when DCA gets a 13% increase in 2003, certain people never let us hear the end of it, but when IOA gets a 13% increase in 2004, no one says anything. And yes, I know they were down in 2005. There's nothing to argue. I'm not making any declarations, except what we know from the AB numbers about DCA.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss My point is, DCA was never intended to be a stand-alone park, so trying to compare it as such is pointless.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt "Indeed they are, as they should be. But 12 million at Universal Orlando? That's slightly higher than twice the attendance of DCA, and in a year when Disney was up, and Universal was down." You do know that as far as we know, DCA was never intended to attract more than 7 million visitors annually, right? Even if the park hit capacity 365 days a year (30,000 visitors) it would still only accomodate roughly 11 million people - a million less than USF hosted last year.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt Did anyone else notice that Al made no mention of DCA's 2005 attendance figures from AB in his latest update?
Originally Posted By Darkbeer FYI, Knott's and some of the other Cedar Fair Numbers were underreported, and was mentioned at Amusement Business. CEDAR FAIR, L.P. ENTERTAINS 12.7 MILLION GUESTS IN 2005 SANDUSKY, OHIO, January 4, 2006 -- Cedar Fair, L.P. (NYSE: FUN), a publicly traded partnership which owns and operates seven amusement parks and five water parks, today announced that combined attendance in 2005 at its twelve parks totaled 12.7 million guests, up 1% from the Partnership’s total attendance of 12.6 million in 2004. “We are pleased with our fourth quarter attendance, particularly at Knott’s Berry Farm and Cedar Point, where strong fall and winter promotions increased attendance 13%, or 200,000 visits, from the same quarter a year ago,†said Kinzel. “For the entire year, attendance at our seven amusement parks was unchanged at 11.3 million guests, and attendance at our five water parks totaled 1.5 million, up 7% between years. Meanwhile, average in-park guest per capita spending improved 3% between years.†Commenting on results at the individual parks, Kinzel said, “Knott’s Berry Farm, our only year-round park, had a slow start in 2005, however, with strong fall and winter promotions the park was able to finish the year with attendance up 1% to 3.6 million guests. We were also pleased with the performances of Dorney Park and Michigan’s Adventure this year. At Dorney Park, attendance finished the year at 1.5 million guests, up 9% from last year and attendance at Michigan’s Adventure totaled 550,000 guests, an 18% increase over 2004. Attendance at our largest park, Cedar Point, was down 3% to 3.1 million guests, while attendance at our newest park, Geauga Lake, was unchanged at 700,000 guests. At our other two seasonal parks, Valleyfair and Worlds of Fun, attendance was down 5% to 986,000 guests and 10% to 800,000 guests, respectively.†Kinzel concluded by noting that the Partnership’s 2005 year-end tax information will be processed and mailed to unitholders at the beginning of March. The same tax information will also be available to unitholders through the Investor Relations section of the Partnership’s corporate web site (www.cedarfair.com). Cedar Fair’s seven amusement parks are Cedar Point, located on Lake Erie between Cleveland and Toledo; Knott’s Berry Farm near Los Angeles in Buena Park, California; Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom near Allentown, Pennsylvania; Geauga Lake & Wildwater Kingdom near Cleveland, Ohio; Valleyfair near Minneapolis/St. Paul; Worlds of Fun, located in Kansas City, Missouri; and Michigan’s Adventure near Muskegon, Michigan. The Partnership’s water parks are located near San Diego and in Palm Springs, California, and adjacent to Cedar Point, Knott’s Berry Farm and Worlds of Fun.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt "FYI, Knott's and some of the other Cedar Fair Numbers were underreported, and was mentioned at Amusement Business." I've heard the same thing said of Disney's numbers. It would seem reasonable that AB would report more conservative figures since they are considered estimates.
