From: aq009@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (David A. Johnson)
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
Subject: KI Attendance/GA Cyclone (was Re: Top 40...)
Date: 27 Jan 1993 01:22:37 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: aq009@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (David A. Johnson)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


In a previous article, geoff@pmafire.inel.gov (Geoff Allen) says:

Buck>> 16  20  16   Si[x] Flags over Georgia; Atlanta, GA 2,600,000*	Up 14%
>
Geoff>Noting like souping up your Cyclone coaster to boost attendance!


What'd they do to the Cyclone?  Some day I think I'm going to try to get
over to SFoG; I'd like to know more about what's going on with the Cyclone.
I hadn't heard anything about any changes.

....................................

Now then, take a look at this from Buck's posting of the top 40 parks:



'90 '91 '92   PARK & LOCATION			 ATTENDANCE	% OF CHANGE
=== === ===   ===============			 ==========	===========	
  1   1   1   WDW, EPCOT, MGM Studios;		 30,240,000*	Up 8%
	       Lake Buena Vista, FL	

  2   2   2   Disneyland; Anaheim, CA		 11,600,000*	Down slightly

 12   3   3   Universal Studios Florida;	  6,700,000*	Up 12%
	       Orlando, FL  

  4   4   4   Universal Studios Hollywood;        4,800,000*     Up 4%
               Universal City, CA

  5   6   5   Sea World of Florida; Orlando, FL   4,100,000* 	Up 5%

  6   7   6   Sea World of California; San Diego  4,006,000*	Up 5%

  3   5   7   Knott's Berry Farm; Buena Park, CA  3,900,000*  	Down slightly

  7  13   8   Paramount's King's Island;	  3,260,000*	Up 12%
               King's Falls, OH
.................................

If I'm not mistaken, this makes Kings Island once again the top seasonal
park in North America.  (I wonder what spurred the 12% increase...  Must
have been the Scooby Zoom.)

Anyway, this led me to a question.  Why is it that, whenever I go to Kings
Island, the lines in general seem much more reasonable than they do at a
lot of other parks (such as Cedar Point, SF Great America, and [so I hear]
Great Adventure)?  Attendance figures alone would seem to indicate longer
lines at KI; however, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Possible explanations I came up with:

* Kings Island has a larger collection of "desirable" coasters.  Parks like
Cedar Point (with the Magnum and Mean Streak) and Great America (with the
Shockwave and Batman--The Ride) may have large collections of coasters, but
only two or three "star" coasters which the public wants to ride.  Thus,
lines at these coasters get really long.  The popularity of KI's coasters
seems to be more evenly spread out.

* Kings Island has its coasters located more closely together.  There's not
as much walking time between coasters, so the time is spent more
efficiently at KI than it is at other parks (if you're concentrating on
coasters).  Perhaps this isn't specifically related to "line length," but
it still concerns actual waiting time between rides.

* Kings Island's coasters are more rewarding, overall, than those at many
other parks.  None of KI's "adult"-sized coasters (except for King Cobra
with a longish line) makes me think "that wasn't worth the wait at all." 
Cedar Point (Disaster Transport, Iron Dragon, possibly some others) and
SF Great America (American Eagle, Rolling Thunder [now gone]) do.  So at
KI, the "waiting-in-line" time seems more "worth it;" one remembers the
rides more than the lines.

Or (the boring explanation):

* Kings Island has a slightly longer operating season than some other
seasonal parks.


Does anybody else have any ideas or comments on the line situation at KI as
opposed to other parks?  I'm looking forward to hearing them...
-- 
       	            Hello!  My Name Is: David Johnson
aq009@cleveland.freenet.edu		      johns176@studentj.msu.edu

 	                     "Chew on this."
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster