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Park News
www.parkworld-online.com
BigQuestion
Figures
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What, if any, inducements/promotions are you offering to guests
this season to beat the economic downturn?
50of Fun
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Barbara Joines, Dollywood, USA: 2009 may be a challenging year,
but Dollywood is helping consumers with a series of promotions. Of
1.4
course, our season pass is the best value for families if they plan to spend
million – kilograms of gold produced in the 19th
several days at Dollywood throughout the year, and costs less than two
Century mine that now forms part of Gold Reef
one-day admissions. We have a programme called “After Three, Next Day
City in Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest
Free” that provides families a chance to checkout the park, ride a few rides
theme park
or see a show and then plan their next day without having to pay for two
days. We also have a ticket that is sold only via our hotel partners. It’s called “Play Another
Day” and is two days for the price of one. We realise this year may be tough, but Dollywood
has always been great value for families. In times like these, there is no more important thing
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than doing things together as a family. number of Sea Life centres operated by Merlin
Entertainments in 10 different countries (11 UK, 8
Wouter Dekkers, Movie Park, Germany: If the attendance really
Germany, 9 rest of world). The newest opened
sinks, then we are prepared to use price as a strategy, but after the
last month at Alton Towers, England
improvements we have made to our product in recent years we also feel a
bit “cocky” and hope we can move away from this sort of discounting.
What we may do is look at specific markets. One of our target audiences
120
this season will be the country of Belgium and if you go after a new market
you need to offer some sort of inducement to encourage them to discover
metres – height of the world’s newest observation
the great park we have.
wheel, the Southern Star in Melbourne, Australia.
The ride has to close at the end of January after
just one month due to damage from the heat
Carin van Berkel, Efteling, Holland: Of course it is difficult to
predict the future, but in the past our park hardly suffered during
economic downturns. Efteling offers distraction and that it what people
seek in these difficult times. The park opens again at the beginning of April 300,000
and this year Cinderella is a new inhabitant of the Fairy Tale Forest. Just
square metres – size of Chime Long Waterpark in
before the summer period we will introduce an extraordinary marketing
Guangzhou, China, the largest waterpark in Asia
campaign, the main purpose of which will be to improve the brand
and one of the world’s busiest
awareness and likeability of Efteling. The visitor numbers during the 2008 season and the
Winter Efteling were fine. Therefore we do not expect any negative effects in 2009, and we
do not offer visitors any special inducements.
5,000,000
Jason Dobbins, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, USA: We are
dollars – annual amount paid by General Motors
running a promotion called “What Will You Celebrate?” where our to sponsor Test Track at Walt Disney World’s
guests can enter the park free on their birthday, to celebrate with friends Epcot. The 10-year contract between Disney and
and family. It's the first time we’ve ever done this at Disney, and it's our GM is up for renewal this year
way of providing a little magic to help celebrate these momentous
occasions.
Figures by Economics Research Associates (ERA)
www.econres.com
Image courtesy
Ups &
Flags Sags - Faced with a $287.5m Medieval History - The
Maurer Söhne
preferred share pay-out by August, and no English medieval theme park
Downs
agreement on restructuring, Six Flags is Camelot will not open for
considering a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. the 2009 season after its
The group recorded a $201m loss in the owner, Prime Resorts, went
fourth quarter of 2008, despite an increase in into receivership in February.
revenue The park was due to reopen
on April 4
Happy New Year - Around Cedar Sell-Off - Cedar Fair wants
400,000 guests poured into Happy to sell some of its amusement parks to
Valley Chengdu during its first month of pay down the debt it acquired when
Galveston Returns - After months of
operation. The new park debuted over buying Paramount Parks. Worlds of
hurricane cleanup and repair,
Chinese New Year and is already on Fun in Kansas City and Valleyfair near
Schlitterbahn Galveston Island Waterpark,
course to eclipse Happy Valley Minneapolis are believed to be for sale
Galveston Island, Texas, is re-opening its
Shenzhen and Beijing in popularity
indoor waterpark
APRIL 2009
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