IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
There’s every reason to believe the season will be a good one, but some local park officials are being cautious for now. One wild card is the rising price of gas.
For the local theme park industry, the recession might not quite be over.
Yes, the economy is in far better shape than it was even two years ago, and employment is up, which means people have more money to spend.
Even the rising price of gasoline might help, believe it or not.
Yes, gasoline is creeping up to $5 a gallon, but if you’re in charge of a small- to medium-sized park like the ones in the Inland Empire that can be a good thing, said Alex Villalobos, marketing director of Scandia Family Fun Center in Ontario.
While high gas prices do eat into disposable income, people always need some form of entertainment, particularly in a tough economy. If gas prices are high, people who live in the Inland Empire are more likely to go to Scandia or Castle Park in Riverside than make the long drive to Disneyland, Universal Studios or Knott’s Berry Farm.
“Some parks can get a boost from high gas prices,” said John Robinson, president and chief executive officer of the California Attractions and Parks Association, a trade organization in Sacramento. “It doesn’t always work that way, but it can.”
So the elements would appear to be lined up for a solid summer, or at least a good one, but Villalobos isn’t so sure.
“We had a good spring, but not the big spring that we’re used to seeing, and spring is usually a good indicator of how the summer is going to go,” Villalobos said. “We had about 800 kids from various schools recently, and that really helped. It’s a good thing we had them.”
Like most theme parks, Scandia does not release attendance figures. Villalobos also declined to predict how this summer might play out for the small, family-oriented theme park at 1155 S. Wannamaker Ave. immediately south of Interstate 10
“I think we’re as ready for it as we can be, but I can’t say it’s going to be good summer,” Villalobos said. “But I can’t look at it the other way, either. It’s not easy to predict, because not all of the kids are out of school yet.”
There’s reason for optimism based on the theme park industry’s recent performance. More than 8.7 million people visited Disney’s California Adventure last year, while Disneyland attracted 16.7 million people during that time, according to the Themed Entertainment Association, an international non-profit based in Burbank.
That was a three percent and 3.5 percent year-over-year increase respectively.
Also during 2014, Universal Studios added 700,000 visitors compared with 2013, an 11 percent increase, the association stated.
Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. remains the heavyweight champion of the U.S. theme park industry. It attracted 19.3 million visitors last year, a 3.5 percent jump compared with 2013, according to the entertainment association.
The estimated 400 amusement parks in the United States attract about 360 million people every year, generating approximately $18 billion a year in revenue, according to the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions in Alexandria, Va.
The association expect the summer of 2015 to be a good one, but it’s still too close to Memorial Day – which most parks consider the start of their summer season – to predict how good it might be, said Colleen K. Mangone, spokeswoman for the association, in an e-mail.
Business at Scandia’s High Desert facility was strong during the first several months of this year, and that’s often a good sign for the rest of the year and the summer in particular, said Hal Bradley, the park’s general manager.
Still, Bradley declined to make a bold prediction regarding this summer.
“I think we’ll fall back to what we did last year, maybe do a little bit better,” he said. “We were in the black last year for the first time in three years, which was good, although we barely made it. We were profitable by a few dollars.”
Scandia Victorville, which attracts about half of its annual gate during the summer, doesn’t figure to be affected one way or the other by the recent attendance increases at Disneyland, Universal Studios and Knott’s Berry Farm.
“Their audience is not in the High Desert, and we draw almost exclusively from the High Desert, so I don’t think too much about them,” Bradley said. “We charge $17.95 per person for admission, and some people think that’s too expensive. If you think that, you probably aren’t going to drive to Disneyland and pay their prices.”
Disneyland charges $99 for a one-day admission for anyone 10 years old or older. That does not include California Adventure, a separate attraction next door to Disneyland with its own admission price.
Other than a Star Wars game in its arcade, Scandia Victorville isn’t adding anything new this year. It will continue to rely heavily on Sky Screamer, a rotating gondola mounted on a central tower with swinging, two-person chairs attached to the end of each gondola, to attract patrons.
The ride, which moves in a 150-foot arc and reaches speeds of 55 mph, is visible from Interstate 15 and might be the park’s best marketing tool, Bradley said.
With the economy on the mend, the state’s theme park industry probably will have a profitable summer, although it might fall short of a spectacular one.
“I’m optimistic about where we’re headed,” Robinson said. “A lot depends on the individual parks and how they market themselves, because each one has a different audience, but overall I feel good about the position we’re in.”
Maybe the real test will come one year from now, when “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” will be up and running – it’s expected to open next spring – at Universal Studios in Los Angeles.
The attraction, which was first announced in 2011, will feature almost everything from the popular books and movies, including “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey,” a 3D-HD ride, and Hogwarts Castle.
“That has the potential to draw a lot of people from all over, and for much of the year,” Robinson said.
