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Screamscape Speaks -
(1/11/12) Great news for Screamscape this week, as the results from the Behind The Thrills, The Thrill Weekly Awards: Best of 2011 have been announced and for the second year in a row Screamscape is proud to have won the award for Best Theme Park News Site.
Thanks to everyone who voted for Screamscape!!
(10/7/11) I’ve been sitting on this very funny home video for several years where we were trying to show my oldest son (then just 2) how to carve up a pumpkin for Halloween for the first time. The results were quite unexpected… give it a watch all the way to the end. Feel free to Like it and pass it on to your friends. It is the Halloween season after all!
(9/21/11) UPDATED - If anyone is looking to either relocate to Florida or wanting to buy a home in the Pasco County area, my in-laws are looking to sell their house. It’s a older home, but very well taken care of and upgraded, in fantastic condition with an enclosed pool. You can read all the details here or here.
(8/10/11) Industry watchers should be keeping a close eye on Cedar Fair right now, as the company is in the midst of change and transition right now. We will see the end of the Dick Kinzel era and vision for the chain of parks, soon to be replaced by whatever masterplan Matt Ouimet may be cooking up, which could be quite interesting given Matt’s Disney Pedigree. While I have big hopes for what we may see from Matt, I’m not to keen on what Kinzel has been cooking up this season in the form of a couple of test projects for upcharge cut-to-the-front-of-the-line pass programs.
Back in December 2010, Knott’s quietly rolled out their prototype upcharge program under the name, “Hate to Wait”. Guests were offered the chance to buy a Hate to Wait Pass for $40, which offered a one-time each front-of-line access to the parks top eight rides. Prior to this rollout, Knott’s had only the program briefly at the Haunt in October, but has continued to offer the Hate to Wait passes through this summer.
The follow up program is currently testing this summer at Kings Island under the name “Fast Lane”, with an upcharge price of $50 per person. Unlike Hate To Wait, the Fast Lane program offers unlimited front-of-line access to the park’s top 10 attractions, but only between Noon and 7pm. (UPDATE: Fast Lane was changed in late summer to now offer front of line access all day long.)
As Cedar Fair seemed to have been the one chain to resist the temptation of offering these upcharge style line-cutting passes, I’m more than a little disappointed by the thought that they could be planning on rolling them out chain wide as early as 2012. Each version of the program is very low-tech, requiring no major hardware installation to be done throughout the park (unlike Lo-Q or a Disney FastPass style program), making them easy to roll out without a huge set-up cost or making a multi-year term deal with an outside vendor.
So I’ve got to wonder, will these line-cutter upcharge programs go down as Kinzel’s departing shot to the Cedar Fair chain, or will Matt Ouimet’s Disney background put the kibosh on the idea of charging for such a program? I’m kind of hoping for the later, as I’ve never been fond of the concept of theme parks having a “tiered” guest experience program. Every guest pays for admission in some form (day ticket or annual pass) and deserves to have the same experience, and not being able to whip out their wallet to bribe their way to the front of a line. For every line cutter who drops $50 on a pass, you’ve got several hundred (or thousand) regular guests who are steaming angry on the inside watching these people cut in front of them.
In addition to line-cutting passes, Cedar Fair also seems to have been experimenting with a few other odd things in 2011 (and previously) that could affect the future of the parks. We’ve seen parking prices start to climb at certain parks, following the irrational rise of parking fees started by Six Flags. If high priced parking fees were not enough, you can now choose between normal parking (for $15) or a premium parking spot up front for $20 to $25. Want to ride a few waterslides? Not so simple anymore… you can’t visit a waterpark hardly anywhere anymore without a park trying to upsell you on the concept of renting a private cabana for your group for the day.
Then there is a possible rise of the seasonal “upcharge” attraction concept, like Dinosaur’s Alive at Kings Island. I’ve already heard rumbling rumors suggesting that we may see Dinosaur’s Alive spun out into as many as three other Cedar Fair parks for the 2012 season, where guests are asked to pay an extra fee to see this animatronic dinosaur display, and in the case of Kings Island, then asked to pay an extra fee if they want to see a Dino 4D film at the end, running inside the park’s previously free Action FX Theater attraction.
Then there are the little upcharge items being sold to ‘plus’ your experience. It may only be a buck or so, but I don’t really care for the upcharge concept of tricking some guests into buying 3D glasses to use on the Boo Hill dark rides, or trying to sell you 3D glasses for select Halloween Haunts or special glasses to plus the experience of the Starlight Spectacular light shows. To me, they add little to the experience, and as a parent, the sales tactics used here are akin to the grocery stores putting the candy at the checkout counter in order to instigate a riot from your kids if you don’t buy them one.
In short, I think we’ve got to the point where the true POP era (Pay One Price) of theme parks has come to an end, and has been replaced by the Upcharge Era where guests can add-on a variety of experience options and thus creating an unfortunately extremely tiered guest experience.
A tiered experience based entirely on the cash in your wallet, which cuts to the heart of the matter, because parks are now admitting that virtually anything you want is for sale… for the right price. And that just kind of takes a big chunk of the “fun” out of visiting the fun park, doesn’t it?
(7/27/11) Screamscape was honored earlier today as being named as the best theme park news and rumors site by Orlando Local Guide. Thanks guys, I’m honored. Check it out.
(6/23/11) I have an exciting bit of news as Screamscape is going on the road for the first part of July and heading out West to the Lone Star State. Yep… Screamscape is invading Texas, where the plan is to visit with some family members and visit some great parks over the week long journey. The first half of the week will be spent outside the Dallas / Ft. Worth area where a stop into Six Flags over Texas to challenge to new Texas Giant is planned. While in the area, we may try to see a few other sites… maybe take in a Texas Rangers game or something… and see what there is to do for the 4th of July. (If anyone has any suggestions on things to do, places to see or restaurants to try, let me know…)
After that we’ll head south down a very slippery road towards New Braunfels to visit the Mecca of waterparks… the original Schlitterbahn. I’ve been looking forward to bringing my family here for a long time so I’m looking forward to it. My Brother now lives in Austin (not too far away) so we’ll also try to spend some time with him as well while in the area.
 After that we’ll head a little further south again towards San Antonio, where a stop into Six Flags Fiesta Texas is a must, and we may try to drop into SeaWorld Texas as well, time permitting, before we begin the long trek back home to North Carolina. It’s going to be a long drive for sure, but I’m hoping for some great fun and adventure along the way as well. And barring any major technical problems, you should be able to catch all your regular Screamscape news updates, as well as keep up with little notes and observations from the trip. Should be fun!
(1/4/11) Behind the Thrills has posted the results of their Best Of 2010 polls, and I’m happy to report that Screamscape ran away with the award for the Theme Park News Site of the Year. Thanks to everyone who voted! Check out the rest of the winners for things like Best Park, Friendliest Crowds, King of Halloween and much more over at Behind the Thrills.
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(8/5/10) It’s that time of year again… the time of year when the industry groans as a whole as Disney and the other Orlando area parks push the ticket price envelop to see just how much further they can go. It’s a sick trend really, as Disney and the other Orlando area parks have raised priced each and every year for about the past 15 to 20 years, and the overall impact is staggering at just how much more they are taking from your wallet than they were just 10 years ago. The new adult ticket price starting today at Walt Disney World is an astounding $82, however it really wasn’t that long ago when tickets were still at $50 or much less!
All Ears Net has a great chart which documents all the Walt Disney World ticket prices since it opened in 1971 at a low price of $3.50 for an adult ticket. The last time Disney went more than a year without a price increase was back in December 1987 when they raised the ticket price to $28 and kept it until May 1989 (18 months) when it went up $1 to $29. When Disney did raise prices over the years, it was typically by just $1-2 up through 2003. More recently however annual price increase have typically been between $3-5, with a huge leap in 2006 when they raised priced twice in one year ($3.25 in January and another $4 in August!). Yep, that was a $7.25 increase… in just one year.
Now I did mention $50 previously, which was the price of WDW admission back from September 2002 to June 2003. Watching ticket prices really start to creep upwards throughout the biz in the 90’s, I had settled on $50 to be magic threshold number for the industry at that time. It has always been my opinion that there is a “glass threshold” point for ticket prices. If the ticket is raised past a certain point, the perceived value will shatter and the attraction will see their attendance figures plunge dramatically. Today I’d place at somewhere between $50-60, depending on the region.
Disney has unfortunately proved that with their perceived quality, marketing, image and product line, they were able to pass through this glass threshold and move far beyond it. For the most part, the rest of big players in Florida have been allowed to also pass through this barrier in Disney’s wake by being part of the same local market. The rest of the nations theme parks however, have not.
Lets take a look at Six Flags for a moment, as they have parks all over the country and have adjusted their ticket prices quite a bit for to account for this threshold point in each local market. For example the price of a ticket to Six Flags Great Adventure (New York/New Jersey market) is currently $54.99 at the gate, and $59.99 at Six Flags Magic Mountain (SoCal market). However you can buy tickets to both parks from the official website for just $34.99. By comparison, tickets are as low as $42.99 for SF New England and St. Louis, $44.99 for SF over Georgia, $49.99 for SF Discovery Kingdom and $51.99 at the Texas parks.
The Cedar Fair parks also show a similar spectrum: as low as $39.99 for Carowinds and Valleyfair, $41.99 for Worlds of Fun, $45.99 for Cedar Point, $49.99 for Kings Island, $54.99 for Knott’s Berry Farm, Kings Dominion and CA Great America. Much like Six Flags online discounts are plentiful and easy to find.
PARC Managements bigger parks (Elitch Gardens, Darien Lake) are close to $40 and Herschend’s biggest parks (Dollywood & Silver Dollar City) price themselves in the low to mid 50’s. The price to the SeaWorld / Busch Gardens parks also range quite a bit depending on the market: $75 for the Tampa, FL park while only $61 for the Williamsburg, VA park. SeaWorld Orlando is asking for $78 to visit while it’s only $59 to visit the California and Texas parks.
Keeping all that in mind, it looks like $60 is the current price threshold that no one outside of Florida (with the exception of Busch Gardens Williamsburg) has been willing to push through just yet, while clearly some areas of the country are still behind the $50 barrier as well. Disney though… they just keep pushing along, year after year, without the break. About the only thing that caused their attendance to fall in a major way was the time period following September 11th, 2001 which to be fair, shook up the entire travel industry as a whole. With Disney making big increase after increase every year however, I think it’s only a matter of “when” the world market says enough is enough and the barrier shatters in Orlando. Will it be $90? Will it be $100?
Hell, for $100 a person to visit the Magic Kingdom… I’m going to be expecting a lot more than just a fun day at the park. For $100+ per person I want Pooh to change my baby’s diaper, Lightning McQueen to shuttle us from park to park, Aladdin and his Genie to rub my wife’s feet when she’s tired and a nice back massage from Jessica Rabbit for me. Now shove that in your Project Next Gen folder.
(12/31/09) I’ve been thinking back over the past year at the various news items that shook the amusement and theme park industry. We’ve seen some big corporate shake-ups for sure from pretty much every company. Cedar Fair is in the brink of selling themselves to Apollo, Busch Entertainment was sold to the mighty Blackstone, NBC Universal is being fed to Comcast, and Six Flags finally filed for the bankruptcy that most felt was inevitable resulting from the actions of Premier Park’s ownership of the company. Disney has managed to survive the worst of the recession fairly unscathed, and even came out with a large attendance increase in California and is poised to expand into Shanghai. Disney has also finally fulfilled Screamscape longest standing rumor… over a decade in the making…that Star Tours II is FINALLY on the way!
Of course one interesting industry development that has peaked my curiosity the most has been the acceptance of the industry to finally get involved with Social Media projects like Facebook and Twitter. It wasn’t that long ago that most parks shied away from having any regular direct contact with their most devout fans, but this has finally started to change and for the better. The really interesting facet of this is perhaps the ability for parks and guests to directly interact anywhere on the go since so many mobile photos now feature some kind of access to Facebook as well as complete Twitter support. Personally I know I’ve found Twitter to be a new fun tool to communicate with friends and Screamscape fans alike and a great way to quickly “spread the word” when something really exciting happens before I’m ready to post a big news update. I think the first major news story that I first broke through Twitter this past year was that Hard Rock Park was being renamed Freestyle Music Park.
Along with this new “mobile” connection to fans has been an assortment of new theme park related “Apps” for the iPhone. For the most part many of us were on the outside looking in at this new movement due to either the cost of the iPhone, the plan or for many of us, a plain old refusal to have anything to due with AT&T. However with the new flood of cheaper Android powered “with Google” handsets now starting to flood the mobile market (Droid, Hero, My Touch, Nexus One, etc) I can only anticipate that a whole new wave of Apps for powerful and open source Android system will become the next big thing in 2010. Fortunately, I’ve just acquired my own Android handset this past week and I’ll be able to cover this movement with a more hands on approach.
Thanks to everyone for sending in news, e-mail and support for a great 2009, and here’s a toast to look forward to an even better 2010! Cheers and Happy New Year!
(7/30/09) While discussing the impending removal of the Big Bad Wolf from Busch Gardens Williamsburg, an interesting point was brought up. After 25 years the park had stated that the Wolf had simply reached the end of it’s lifespan and it was just time for it to go. While the nearby Loch Ness Monster coaster turned 31 this same year, it’s been said that the unique forces and stresses related to the Wolf’s design style are part of the problem. However, Busch also felt the time was right in 2006 to remove the 30 year old Python coaster from their Tampa park. That said, there really isn’t too much difference in the technology behind Python and Loch Ness, as they are the same style of coaster, only running on a different layout.
With that in mind, the point was brought up that potentially we could end up seeing a large number of steel coasters being taken down over the next decade as they too begin to reach the end of their lifespans. The list of rides that could become affected by this is rather large as the time-period from the mid-70’s to mid-80’s was pretty much the Golden Era of steel coaster design after the introduction of inversions.
Going back to the grandfather of all tubular steel coaster track coasters leads us to Disneyland’s Matterhorn which actually opened in 1959. However it’s no secret to anyone that the Matterhorn has been going down for extensive off-season rehabs for the last 15 years or more where they do refurbish and replace sections of the track. Disney’s next steel coaster effort, Space Mountain in Walt Disney World, opened in 1975 and closed earlier this year (2009) for a nearly year-long rehab to fix, repair and replace it’s own coaster track after 34 years of use. Space Mountain at Disneyland opened in 1977 closed in 2003 (26 yrs) and didn’t open again until 2005 as after they had taken the time to completely rebuild the coaster from scratch.
I’ve come to realize that while we have slowly watched Disney come across this very problem and have quietly gone about their business to rebuild and preserve these classic attractions, most other parks out there are not going to react the same. After all, it’s far easier to scrap and existing ride and just build something new than to preserve a classic coaster. Wooden coasters are obviously the exception, as they are pretty much under a constant state of having their wood replaced, track sections rebuilt and so on. Carowinds is a good example here as they have removed and rebuilt entire sections of Thunder Road over the winter for the past two years as part of a 5 year plan to rebuild and refurbish the coaster. Unfortunately it’s just not that easy to do the same thing to an old steel coaster.
Just take a moment to think about all the great old classic steel coasters that could be getting too old to maintain or suffering from some form of fatigue or decay. We’re looking at several classic loopers like: Montezooma’s Revenge (1978), Revolution (1976), Sooperdooperlooper (1977), Corkscrew @ CP (1976) The Demon (1976), Shockwave (1978) or Mindbender (1978).
If you really want to venture into those at risk of being taken down due to age, what about the all those Arrow Mine Trains like: Gold Rusher (1971), Dahlonega Mine Train (1967), Mine Train @ SFOT (1967), Cedar Creek Mine Ride (1969), River King Mine Train (1971), Carolina Goldrusher (1973) or Runaway Mine Train (1974)?
Those are just the tip of the iceberg! I’m going to channel my inner-geek for a moment and paraphrase a quote from Blade Runner. “All those coasters will be lost in time… like tears in rain…”
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