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Park Attendance Figures 2011

Doesn't surprise me. Towers is the only major park that is going down the pan so rapidly that even the GP can see it.
 
These figures have been out some weeks, and they vary from what Alton Towers quote in the SW7 traffic plans.
 
Dylan said:
Here's a link to a post on Coasterforce for Theme Park Attendance Figures 2011.

http://www.coasterforce.com/news/park-n ... gures-2011

Interestingly, of the top ten European Parks, Alton Towers is the only one with a lower attendance in 2011 compared to 2010 (by 5.5%). PortAventura has had a huge 15.5% increase.

Link to the full report below (again from Coasterforce)

http://www.teaconnect.org/pdf/2011Report.pdf
Click to expand...

Has to be expected given the PR disaster that was Thirteen. I expect there to be a significant increase in 2013 compared to 2012, as with 2012 to 2011.
 
The Psychoaster said:
Dylan said:
Here's a link to a post on Coasterforce for Theme Park Attendance Figures 2011.

http://www.coasterforce.com/news/park-n ... gures-2011

Interestingly, of the top ten European Parks, Alton Towers is the only one with a lower attendance in 2011 compared to 2010 (by 5.5%). PortAventura has had a huge 15.5% increase.

Link to the full report below (again from Coasterforce)

http://www.teaconnect.org/pdf/2011Report.pdf
Click to expand...

Has to be expected given the PR disaster that was Thirteen. I expect there to be a significant increase in 2013 compared to 2012, as with 2012 to 2011.
Click to expand...

Judging by reports of how noticeably quiet the UK parks have been so far this season, I would have thought 2012 will show another significant drop in gate figures. Thorpe particularly, even though they increased last year.
I don't think it's related to Th13teen really, I think the lack of investment for 2011 may have made an impact as they really had nothing new to promote.
 
With no new attractions at Towers last year guest numbers were always going to be down on 2010. As Tom pointed out though, the accuracy of the figures quoted in the report is questionable; Towers claim to have had 3,010,533 guests in 2010 and 2,732,179 in 2011.

:)
 
PortAventura used to get around 4million - and had a huge drop about 3-4 years ago. So they're just working their way back up.

Found it funny that KRAKE at Heide Park resulted in... less guests.
 
This is what happens when "The Ultimate Rollercoaster" doesn't quite fit the thrill seeker billing, coupled with no investment in new attractions.
 
It worries me that this season is already much quieter than last year too.
 
If anything, it highlights how SW7 has to be a solid good ride that people enjoy from day 1. If SW7 fails, things are going to get even worse. The good thing is that I'm pretty certain that Towers realise this.

:)
 
AstroDan said:
This is what happens when "The Ultimate Rollercoaster" doesn't quite fit the thrill seeker billing, coupled with no investment in new attractions.
Click to expand...
The drop from 94-95 was way bigger. That was with nemesis, and whatever the new attractions were that year.
 
Thirteen was far from a PR disaster :-\ Just because some fanboys didn't like it, doesn't mean it was popular with general joe public. Last years figures were going to be affected by the fact nothing new was added, and there was little television advertising. That said, Merlin don't publish individual park figures, so the figures included in the report are actually guestimates, so I would take them with a pinch of salt.
 
thefatone said:
AstroDan said:
This is what happens when "The Ultimate Rollercoaster" doesn't quite fit the thrill seeker billing, coupled with no investment in new attractions.
Click to expand...
The drop from 94-95 was way bigger. That was with nemesis, and whatever the new attractions were that year.
Click to expand...

Well they obviously don't learn from mistakes, then. They should be building on attendances following new attractions, not allowing such large drops by following them up with nothing.

Efteling, Disney Paris' and Europa's attendances, for example, just seem to rise year on year, even in years of less investment, because guests are completely driven to revisit.

And haydn - yes - Th13teen did brilliantly to get guests into the park for 2010. But it's feedback wasn't exactly red hot. It does a lot better now, because the pressure and marketing is off.
 
Yup those reports are often wrong as very few parks actually submit their real figures.

I would say Disney, EP and Efteling always go up because A) they have larger catchment areas so lean years are buffered by more potential guests or B) their a government charity.
 
I don't believe it's simply due to a large catchment area and the fact that they are charities.

People feel compelled to visit Efteling for example, it is a Dutch institution.

Europa-Park I read once had some insanely high re-visit rate - even within the same season!

Alton Towers really should be in a similar position to these parks - until the mid 1990's, it had a greater attendance than nearly every other park in Europe!
 
haydn! said:
Thirteen was far from a PR disaster :-\ Just because some fanboys didn't like it, doesn't mean it was popular with general joe public. Last years figures were going to be affected by the fact nothing new was added, and there was little television advertising. That said, Merlin don't publish individual park figures, so the figures included in the report are actually guestimates, so I would take them with a pinch of salt.
Click to expand...
Sorry if this is a bit off-topic, but from the reactions from most people on here, I assumed that it was the "fanboys" that liked Th13teen as we understood that Th13teen was never meant to be anything other than a thrilling family coaster. It was the GP that expected an "ultimate roller coaster" due to them not having any information to go off other than Alton's ott marketing. The gate figures were high for 2011 because of that marketing, but it appears that people didn't want to return for 2011. This was mostly down to the lack of a new attraction (other than crabs :p ) and possibly because Th13teen wasn't what people were expecting (and a few other reasons that I won't go into because I'm off to bed now :p )?

It will be interesting to see the numbers at the end of this year.
 
haydn! said:
Thirteen was far from a PR disaster :-\ Just because some fanboys didn't like it, doesn't mean it was popular with general joe public. Last years figures were going to be affected by the fact nothing new was added, and there was little television advertising. That said, Merlin don't publish individual park figures, so the figures included in the report are actually guestimates, so I would take them with a pinch of salt.
Click to expand...

It was a PR disaster. I know many people that have ridden Thirteen and not one of them has described it to me positively - none of these people are enthusiasts or visit theme parks more than a couple of times a year. It's always described as not being scary enough, not thrilling enough, not fast enough. All of these are issues controllable by the park and so in that respect it was a PR disaster.
 
You can't really say anything about it other than that it's an extremely succesful ride from a business point-of-view, it took attendance to above 3 million for the first time ever. The adverts generated interest and anticipation that had not been seen since at least Air.

Some people were disppointed with it, you can't deny that, but it's reaction was more mixed as opposed to overwhelmingly negative like Sub-Terra was.
 
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