But... for the right experience at the right price, theme park fans will continue to find ways to afford visits to their favorite parks. What would it take for your favorite theme or amusement park to convince you to make a visit (or to visit more often) in 2012?
That's our vote of the week. I'm giving you three options. They boil down to quantity, quality and price. Which of the three is the single most important factor that drives you to make a theme park visit, even when a family vacation's a stretch for you?
Theme Park Insider readers collectively spend about $3 billion a year on theme park visits, according to a survey I did a year or so ago. So you've got buying power, and you've got the ear of major park executives. Tell them what you want to see in 2012 and the future to win your business, even in a tough economy.
Do you want to see more attractions in their parks? Or are you okay with the number of options in the park, but want to see the parks eliminate some of the weaken alternatives in favor of new or improved attractions of higher quality? Or are you okay with the number and quality of attractions in the parks, you just need a better break on the price?
Pick one:
Then let's get specific in the comments. Address your comment to your favorite park, and tell us what you'd like the management do to win more of your business.
And, on behalf of the management around here (okay, that's me), thanks again for reading Theme Park Insider!
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If I heard that Disney had fixed the Yeti at AK or updated Country Bears with new tech, then I'd hop on a plane to check them out, never mind the Fantasyland expansion!
Wizarding World has got us travelling to Orlando from the UK this year and Cars Land will get us to LA in 2012, but if I see the rest of a park in disrepair then I'll be in no hurry to return.
Sorry to say Disney & Universal, this will be my last trip down from Pennsylvania, you have priced yourself out of MY range. Zachary has been down 8 of the last 10 years. Before that, I brought my daughter down. And before her, I brought my wife down. But you guys have nickeled and dimed my family right out of your theme parks. I have spent 28 vacations down there since 1978 and it was great while it lasted. But you guys chose making more money over making memories and that hurt my wallet to much. So goodbye old friends. Sorry for the double post, I realized I made a mistake on the number of vacations I've spent down there and ended up posting it accidently.
Universal is the same boat and worse. If I were to attend all the rides, shows and tram tour, I'd be finished in around 3 hours. For $75 a pop, you are not getting your money's worth. Citywalk and their $40 one minute iFly air tunnel is a joke. No one wants to shell out that kind of money for a one minute service. The prices for movie tickets and the products there reflect the theme park. So if I remortgage the house, take out another loan, max out my credit cards, and steal from a bank, then maybe I can afford all that. But I'm not going to take the route because it's not worth going there in the first place.
Not every one here have salaries like the CEO's of Disney and Universal. Some of us have salaries like the workers who make the park what it is today. So, treat us and them with respect and dignity and we'll do the same. Increasing prices so you can live comfortably in your mansions is not the way to make people appreciative of the product you are trying to sell.
Disneyland just became the Bel Air of theme parks where only the rich can attend and Universal became the Beverly Hills version. You can have it! I don't need to dole out a weeks work of my job pay in order to spend it all on one day and if I'm lucky, maybe get a chance to eat lunch there with what I have left. Give people half off tickets and maybe we would consider it.
The best value I've seen in 2011 have been Knott's Berry Farm and Six Flags Magic Mountain. Coasters I can ride on and discounted price I can afford. These parks are well worth the price of admission and at more than half of Disney's prices if you know the discounts to look for.
Because of the outrageous mark up that most theme parks have placed on their entrance fees I haven't been able to set foot in one since January of this year!!
If Disneyland wants MY money anytime soon I better see a resonable price reduction instead of the jack up I saw towards the end of June this year. Untill then, I'm heading to Knotts Berry Farm or Six Flags Magic Mountain during the off season...at least there I'm getting exciting rides for a resonable price (As long as I got a discount voucher of some sort with me!).
So long Disney...you were a nice luxury while you were still affordable for the regular working class people....
Yes, quality is subjective, but attractions that are in the same realm as Pirates, HM, Little Mermaid, Soarin, or Aladdin are great reference points. We want Disney to set the bar high (but not necessarily all E tickets)
This is opposed to something like Rocket Rods, Finding Nemo, Innoventions, Superstar Limo, or Pooh Bear where they went and cut corners.
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