Cedar Point Attendance Drops 2.5% in 2006

The attendance statistics for theme parks have now been released by the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) and Economic Research Associates (ERA) for 2006.

In 2006 Cedar Point entertained 3,070,000 guests; a drop of 2.5% in attendance from 2005. The Sandusky-based amusement park did, however, move to 15th place for parks overall; up from 18th place in 2005. Soak City waterpark's attendance also dropped 3.1% to a staggering 390,000 guests on the year.

Cedar Fair Entertainment Company placed fourth overall for the number of guests they entertained in 2006. An estimated 24.7 million guests visited Cedar Fair properties in 2006; a mere 1.1 million behind 3rd-placing Universal Studios Recreation Group.

Other big contenders for Cedar Fair include Knott's Berry Farm who saw 3,670,000 guests (up 2.0%), Canada's Wonderland who entertained 3,230,000 guests (down 2.0%), and King's Island who saw 3,050,000 visitors (down 1.5%).

A PDF file of the report can be seen here.

I wonder how they got those numbers, since Cedar Fair's 10-K (http://www.cedarfair.com/_upload/form%2010-k.pdf) says that chain wide attendance was 19,317,000 in 2006 (with the PP).

Was it Six Flags that had a 12% drop last year? If so, Cedar Point seems to be doing ok. I'd imagine its hard getting people to come back year after year. I go back once a year faithfully, so I didn't contribute to that number. :)

Rider said:
I wonder how they got those numbers, since Cedar Fair's 10-K (http://www.cedarfair.com/_upload/form%2010-k.pdf) says that chain wide attendance was 19,317,000 in 2006 (with the PP).

Just a guess, but could this report be including the entire summer for the Paramount Parks and Cedar Fair's figure only be including from their time of acquisition?

Like the defunct Amusement Business stats before this, they don't really know for sure. It's a best guess that's probably not accurate anyway. I mean, it's being published in Park World.

Isn't Park World Paul Rubans magazine?

Is Maverick his favorite ride yet? :)

*** Edited 4/4/2007 4:25:30 AM UTC by Gomez***

Come on Craig. Do you really think Paul Rubens would do that?

Maverick was his favorite ride last year. He's moved on to bigger and better things.

;)

Considering that so many factors have to be considered (weather, economy, etc), I don't think this is anything to worry about. Attendance at any park flucuates from year to year. Numbers will probably be up in 2007 because of Maverick. As long as they don't drop through the floor, it's no big deal to me!

Anything above 3 million a year is fine.

Cedar Point's attendance doesn't seem too bad. Hopefully Maverick will put it on the rise again. Soak City's attendance is surprisingly low. I think that the water park just doesn't look very attractive to guests anymore. It needs a major refresh in my opinion.

Jeff Young said:
Anything above 3 million a year is fine.

You're right. I think CP is at its limit where it can't really pull to many more people into the park at its current operating schedule.

Agreed. Their season is much shorter than parks like GADV which are already open (and have more than a month added to their calendar over CP's).

Top Thrill 182 said:
Cedar Point's attendance doesn't seem too bad. Hopefully Maverick will put it on the rise again. Soak City's attendance is surprisingly low. I think that the water park just doesn't look very attractive to guests anymore. It needs a major refresh in my opinion.

They could just take it down and do better stuff with that space. Also to replace Soak City (and WWL) they could build another water ride.

Wait, what?

You want to take out Soak City and WWL?

I thought someone in another thread had the good crack, hand it over mister.

Are you suggesting that they tear SC down and use the area for expansion for CP? If so, that's an insanely dumb idea. The new stuff there could no way generate 380,000 extra visits per year.

However, I do agree that SC needs an extensive overhaul. There's so much cool stuff out there in the water park market now, and SC has exactly none of it. Soak City might be the only major water park that doesn't have a ProSlide Tornado these days. At the very least, there needs to be a major repainting of the entire area. A new coat of paint with bright, tropical colors could make a huge difference.

Building a world-class water park would be a major step in the right direction toward making CP a multiple day resort.

That, along with a nightlife. :)

Yeah, even KD found a spot in a very odd place for a Tornado slide.

Like you said, every other water park has a Tornado. So, why does CP need one? They need a new attraction that no one else has.

Good point. At least we can agree that Soak City needs a major overhaul!

Jeff Young said:
However, I do agree that SC needs an extensive overhaul. There's so much cool stuff out there in the water park market now, and SC has exactly none of it. Soak City might be the only major water park that doesn't have a ProSlide Tornado these days. At the very least, there needs to be a major repainting of the entire area. A new coat of paint with bright, tropical colors could make a huge difference.

Building a world-class water park would be a major step in the right direction toward making CP a multiple day resort.

That, along with a nightlife. :)

I completely agree. A concrete field with white slides just doesn't cut it these days. Water parks have such a long way from slides to amazing atmospheres. Its almost like CP doesn't want SC to have the business. With so many local water parks popping up, CP needs to make SC attractive enough so that families will pay the money to stay there the extra day. Painting with new vibrant colors and some new landscaping would be amazing for the place.

My wishlist for Soak City:

Water Coaster: This ones a no brainer, at the coaster capital of of the world the water park should have one too. They could even call it something like Hyrolator XL 200 or some other pun off of the near by Magnum. However make sure its the one made by Schlitterbahn's people who use the water jets, I dont like Pro Slide's conveyer model as much.

Dark Family Raft Ride: Because these things are just too fun

Some Toilet Bowl Ride: Weither its the body slide version, the dark body slide version, the tube version or the dark tube version I love these types of rides.

A real wave pool: Not necissarly Typhoon Lagoon big, but one that has higher waves and is deeper. Also ban all tubes in that pool and instead have racks of free life preservers (in adult sizes too) as a substitute. Water Country USA in Williamsburg, VA does this and its so much better, you dont fear for your life when not in a tube, bobing up and down with the waves is fun, and you have more of your body underwater and thus not getting hot.

Raceing Mat Speed Slides: Another one of my favorites