December 15, 2011
I took my daughter to her second amusement park last weekend, not too shabby considering she is only five months old. We went with friends of various ages to Hersheypark’s “Christmas Candylane”. While no coasters were open, it is a very fun time. The great thing about visiting a park with kids, no matter how old, is that they help by adding a new dimension to what I take in. As someone whose livelihood is directly tied to the success of the amusement park, it was good to see people of all ages out at Hershey, enjoying themselves and spending time together.
There are obviously many challenges for amusement parks, but the two most basic are money and time. In today’s economy people have less entertainment money to go around, and folks also have less time available, especially time when the entire family does something as a unit outside of the house. Technology has certainly changed the way people allocate these two resources. For instance, with the way HD now permeates sports, many people prefer to spend Sunday on the couch where they can watch an NFL game, never miss a play, and walk straight into a bathroom during a TV time out. Once considered to be the best way to see the game, now the NFL and others sports need to work to bring people to the field. I am not saying that the NFL is hurting for business, they are the most popular sport in the country, but the dynamic has certainly shifted. It will be interesting to watch how sports work to make their guest experience that much better. While we will probably not have people being satisfied watching roller coaster 3D videos (anyone remember “America’s Greatest Roller Coaster Thrills: In 3d”), the advances in technology demonstrate that it will be a part of the guest experience, we just need to ensure that people are not satisfied staying home to see it.
This dovetails with the fact that amusement parks need to remember what sets them apart from the competition- service. Guests expect a high level of service wherever they go today, even at an amusement park. If they are not happy they will take their entertainment dollar somewhere else. In the past people used to reserve this ready cash for an annual amusement park visit, but this is no longer the case. Movie theaters have state-of-the-art sound and moving seats, zoos have 4D theaters, and some municipal pools look like waterparks. What once was earmarked “amusement park money” is now “money to entertain”. Recently Merlin’s Nick Varney had an interesting analysis in Park World and demonstrated how he feels that the cost per-hour for a family at an amusement park is one of the best values people can encounter and that we may be pricing the entrance gate fee too low. I believe Nick is onto something, and as an industry we need to remember that giving away the gate is a short-term solution that just creates a long-term problem. Parks have to get guests through the front gate, but giving away the gate annually does not necessarily provide the cash needed to provide repeating guest visits. Things like staffing, staff morale and park cleanliness are sure to suffer when the cash flow gets tight. Of course when looking at expenses, why not also follow the lead of parks like Holiday World where they roll parking fees, soda, and sunscreen all into the front gate, guests don’t mind paying more if they also take out their wallets less (http://www.holidayworld.com/visit/ticket-prices-discounts)? Will Koch certainly had some great ideas making his property different from the corporate competition a few hours away.
Some things to think about as our industry heads into the New Year. Tis the season for a brief industry analysis- happy holidays to you and yours.