Attendance, revenue drop at Cedar Fair theme parks

It's crazy that Super Mario land is such a draw, there is literally nothing to do there beside one lame dark ride and some magic band action.

I wonder, does "macro headwinds" mean "everybody's too busy looking at their phones to get off the couch"?

So Cedar Fair drops twice as much as Sea World and uses the same weather excuse? Also, didn't Canadian wildfires impact air quality in the Midwest as much (if not more) as they did in Canada and the East Coast? Cedar Fair indicated their Midwest parks (presumably WoF, Michigan Adventure, Valley Fair, Cedar Point, and Kings Island) were up 7%, so using Canadian wildfires seems like a hollow argument.

Macro-headwinds??? Could this be the first indication from a theme park manager that their products no longer represent a growth business in the US and that the boom financial results from 2022 were solely due to pent up demand from the pandemic and not indicative of year to year trends?

I can guarantee you that the smoke in Toronto was much worst then in the midwest. Also there were public health advisories not to go outside for long period of times and many Canadians follow health guidelines here so the malls were packed and parks / Wonderland was empty!

It would seem USH ate a mushroom and its nearby competitors got hit by a turtle shell, amirite?

Sorry it was the best I could do on short notice

Russell- as someone who lives 2 hours from Cedar Point I can attest to the fact that the air quality in the area has been horrendous this summer and has driven my allergies absolutely crazy. For the first time ever AQ has been a factor in my choosing which days I go down to CP.

Yet overall attendance in the Midwest parks was up so I agree with your assessment that blaming the wildfires is a pretty hollow argument when the parks that were hardest hit seem to be doing fine.

While USH and Nintendo obviously had some impact on Knott's, I think it's more that last year's numbers were inflated by Disney not selling passes. Many Disneyland regulars opted for a Knott's pass when they couldn't get one to Disneyland, but with Magic Keys now available a lot switched back to that rather than renewing their Knott's pass for 2023.

The other big contributor is that Cedar Fair just isn't providing a great guest experience right now, especially after they significantly raised pass prices for 2023. Several parks have a top ride down right now (Carowinds, Cedar Point, KBF), with a couple of those closures now into their second year. I've also heard reports of an increased number of closures for maintenance or otherwise across the chain this year, as well as slower operations and poor staffing at many of the parks. Lastly, it's been a few years since any of Cedar Fair's parks have really added a noteworthy new attraction, and of those that added new stuff for 2023, much of it was delayed significantly. I personally have only spent two days at Cedar Fair parks this year (one each at Knott's Berry Farm and Worlds of Fun), and neither left me wanted to return to the park despite enjoying both of those parks in the past.

Hopefully Cedar Fair can turn things around for next season, as it appears they're starting to invest in larger attractions again as well as redoing their pass offerings to make them more consumer friendly. However, I do feel they were the worst affected by the pandemic closures out of all the chains, so they may have a longer road before they're back to a quality operation.

I'm in firm agreement with AJ — Knott's had a golden opportunity when many former Disneyland pass holders moved north to Buena Park and, in my opinion, squandered it. The guest experience at Knott's has been so-so to poor since the end of the pandemic due to a combination of poor staffing and ride downtime.

I also hope the chain will look to more investment in the coming year, but frankly that only matters if they get their guest experience off life support.

haven't 2 of KBF's signature attractions been out of operation for way too long now?

yes, xcelerator has been down since march of 2022 and montezooma has been down since February of 2022. and I think, though I could be misremembering, hang time was down for some period last year as well. not a great look!

Colonel, what would you do specifically to improve the Super Mario Land at Universal?

I blame all of this on whoever approved Xcelerator's new paint scheme. Anyone who would approve that deserves to have bad business results.

My family was one of those who were priced out by the increases in annual pass prices at Disneyland (when passes were even available) that bought season passes at KBF. From the beginning, we noticed the staffing at food service locations (the perpetually closed Johnny Rocket’s became a running joke) and the reduced operating hours for attractions. I have to agree that Cedar Fair squandered an opportunity to build up their attendance.

Same thing as with SeaWorld. Keep lowering the guest experience until people feel they are getting squeezed by the bean counters ... then they decide not to return as frequently. A bad guest experience with reduced hours for food and merch means a much lower per cap for the park. By far, my family's highest per cap is at Disney - because of the availability of things you want.

If the dip in theme park attendance at Disney, Universal, Sea World, Cedar Fair, etc. is liked to prices, I'd say there is reason to be nervous about Epic Universe over the long term. If it were to cost $150-$175 to get through the gate, after the initial rush to be the "big new thing", weather and International Drive traffic could have a real impact on park attendance.

@TH - It may not be as big of an issue in 2-3 years. Or it could be worse. Who knows? In recent years, it seems that Comcast/Universal has been quick to react to market conditions so I don't see it being a major problem for them.

There's also that undefined 5th Land as well as the expansion areas on a couple of the currently-in-development lands that could be used to offer new attractions to drive attendance.