Rollercoaster...

Valravn - Cedar Point

Dear Mr. Theme Park,

I continue to notice that some of the major regional operators keep installing coaster after roller coaster.  Is this the best way to grow attendance?

Charles R.

Dear Charles,

I have said for many years that in our industry, “coaster is king.”  Visitors, particularly teens and young adults, are drawn to coasters.

For many years – actually 44 years now – coasters have been back in vogue.  It was “The Racer” at Kings Island in Cincinnati that sparked the resurgence of roller coaster introduction and development.

Let me share a little backstory to this fact.

Six Flags over Texas 1961

It is interesting to note that, when Disneyland opened in 1955, and subsequently Six Flags Over Texas in 1961, neither opened with roller coasters.  At that time, the fledgling industry felt that roller coasters were passé and beneath the renaissance of new theme parks.  Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, a team of us working at Coney Island in Cincinnati were responsible for the planning and development of a new park – Kings Island.  We decided that, based on the wonderful history of our Coney Island park and the great success we had with the world-famous “Shooting Star”, “Wildcat”, and children’s “Teddy Bear” coasters, we would fight the tide and the industry “know it alls”, and launch the resurgence of the modern day coaster.

The Racer at Kings Island

I will bet that many people, including a few CEOs, do not know that the Racer we built at Kings Island was the first wooden roller coaster to be built since 1947.  We brought back John Allen of the Philadelphia Toboggan Company to design the Racer with a slide rule.  Remember, there were no computers at that time.

Interestingly enough, Six Flags – which was the new major theme park developer having opened in Texas (1961), Georgia (1967), St. Louis (1971) – had no roller coasters.  They did not believe in them.  But when they came to visit us at Kings Island to see the Racer, and saw the enormous success and popularity of our coasters, that is when Six Flags decided to add them to their park line up of rides.

Charles, coasters are great.  But, capital expenditures need to be spread throughout the visitor demographics.  Children, teens, young adults, and families all require proper product planning if a park wants to maintain and grow the annual attendance.

For years, the Cedar Fair company knew only one way to spend capital – and that was on coasters.  Six Flags fell into the same trap for a while.  Looking back at the Kingda Ka introduction in 2005, this coaster set Six Flags back by about $24 million.  That season, after putting in the tallest coaster in the industry, they saw no growth in attendance.  At that time, people were tired of the longest, highest, and fastest.  They voted with their feet at the front gate.

That example notwithstanding, coasters still remain a staple of our business.  But, when is enough enough?

To build attendance and revenues today, parks have to spread capital through the various demographic segments, as I mentioned earlier.  This must be spread through the age groups, and through the economic strata.

We know the season pass sales in parks have risen to all-time highs, now making up about 45% to 50% of a large regional operator’s annual attendance.  While noteworthy and extremely significant, capital expenditures (or CAP-X) have to be spent in a manner towards creating and improving the guests’ overall experience.  This is done through better foods, character experiences, off site improvements, family attractions, water attractions, parades and light shows that extend the length of stay, and other programs.  All of these programs make for a better overall, well-rounded experience.

Charles, the coaster will most likely always “be king” and play a continuing and important part of a park’s attraction package.  However, smart, long-term growth at the gate and improved revenue streams will come from parks continuing to offer a broad array of products, whether flat rides or coasters, or major foods such as Skyline Chili or Mrs. Knott’s famous fried chicken (both park offerings and two of my favorites! ;)

We need to deliver on product, service, and fun!

Happy riding!

Virtual Reality

Mack Media

Dear Mr. Theme Park,

Do you believe that virtual reality will ever completely take the place of roller coasters?  With the new VR coasters just announced, it seems like they are starting to cross over.  I was thinking virtual reality was maybe a fad, but now I am not so sure.  What do you think?   

From Peter

  

Dear Peter,

As our industry continues to flourish in the greatest growth period we have ever seen, we too are experiencing the greatest impact of technology that we have ever seen.

From RFID bracelets to apps for how to avoid long lines, we continue to see something new introduced almost monthly, if not weekly.

 

Yes, there has been a lot of virtual reality intertwined with our rides and attractions.  This is a natural outgrowth of the technologies we are experiencing.  Companies like TrioTech, Sally Corporation, Mack Media, Holovis, Simex, and others are all blending virtual experiences with everything from dark rides to roller coasters.

One of my favorite virtual reality rides is Toy Story at Disney.  The ride, the theme, and the technology woven together present one of our industry’s best attractions.  It engages the whole family to play and enjoy together, while playing against each other through scorekeeping.

A lot of manufacturers, such as Dynamic Attractions, CAVU DesignWerks, and Mack Rides as I mentioned earlier, are all “toying” with increasing the interface of technology with the ride experience.  When you stop to think about it, Disney’s Space Mountain ride is an early adopter of virtual reality featuring a roller coaster experience in a night simulation / outer space atmosphere.

Peter, no I do not think that the roller coaster will ever be replaced by a full virtual reality experience.  I do believe that we will con  And I believe we will see adaptations and modifications with more light, sound, and participatory involvement for our guests.  This would include hybrids with goggles that allow for interaction of different stories blended with the true coaster experience, or simulations that will allow for multiple story telling based on the same structure but with the ability to change up the experiences.

tinue to see greater coaster experiences – faster and higher for sure.

We know that technology and its advancement has always provided for innovations in our rides and attractions experiences, and will play a larger role in the future.  One only has to look at Harry Potter, the new Reign of Kong attraction, and Transformers the Ride.  The new Star Wars and Avatar attractions coming to Disney, Frozen Ever After, Soarin’ Around the World – these are all tremendous advancements in ride and attraction technology.

So one thing that will never change about our industry is that “it will always continue to change.”  And, Peter, that is why people keep coming back for years and years and years.  Above all, remember in our business, “Coaster is Still King.”  Happy riding!

Classic Ride and Water park

What role do you see the classic ride and water park combo parks playing in the amusement industry over the next 10 years?

From Michael

Dear Michael,

As our industry matured and we saw the build out of greenfield theme parks in the USA, we began experiencing the development of stand-alone water parks.  Why?  Water parks were and remain much more economical to build than a large theme park, and serve a closer-in market – typically within a range of 25 miles.  Water parks also consume far less land than theme parks, ranging from as few as 20 acres to 50 for a large free-standing water park.

Water parks, when first introduced and which were associated with existing theme parks, were developed as second gates contiguous to parks.  After 30 years of building stand-alone water parks, theme parks that did not initially develop second-gated water parks later decided to intrinsically develop parks, adding them to their product lineup.  Operators learned that they could create a valuable attraction inside their parks, adding significant value to their guests’ visits, while at the same time increasing their admissions fees.  This allowed parks to present a new major attraction that gave great pleasure to their annual visitors and kept them inside the theme park boundaries, thus creating a larger per capita spend.

Parks understood that people like water, they want to be around it, and they want to be in it.  Adding a water park internally has become the norm for theme parks who develop water attractions.

In many markets / parks, the addition of the water park has become the “local country club” for many surrounding communities.  Here at Kings Island in Cincinnati, Ohio, there are many days in the summer when “Soak City” is at capacity.  During those times, there can more than 20,000 people in the water park on a sweltering summer day.  Some guests actually may not visit the dry park.  They will spend their entire day in the water park.

Through the years, many municipalities have developed water parks for their local populations.  We have seen hotels add them as an amenity for their guests.  We have also seen the Great Wolf Lodge, which was introduced in the Wisconsin Dells in 1997, grow to major proportions.  Now operating 13 locations in North America, they have been enormously successful in combining themed hotel stays with large indoor water parks.  Great Wolf spawned others, such as Kalahari, CocoKey, and other independent operations.  Some remain; some have closed.

Swimming in one form or another has been enjoyed since the beginning of time, and since George Millay created the first water park (Wet ‘n Wild in 1977).  It was the first stand-alone water park, located in Orlando, and brought about the surge of the water park industry.  Today, over 1,200 water parks operate in the United States, including all municipality-owned, corporate-owned, independently-owned, and water parks within hotel operations.

Michael, whether separate or together, the water park concept is here to stay, and is still proliferating around the world.  In many operations the two – wet and dry – cohabitate together, producing millions of guests each year and creating a well rounded and fun experience of single and multiple-day enjoyment.  We owe a big debt of gratitude to George Millay for conceiving the water park concept and to today’s theme park operators for blending them together.  I believe the combination concept will continue to trend well into the future.  So to answer your question, they work well together now and will continue to work well far into the future.

Thanks for reading.

Mr. Theme Park