Volume 1, No. 6. April 20, 2001
A harbinger of good times
The first returns are in on attendance figures for Northern Hemisphere parks heading into the 2001 season, and they bode well.
Bode well, nothing; they should make you ecstatic.
They are the Easter weekend gates (from Good Friday through Easter Monday) in Great Britain, where attendance among all parks was generally up over that of Easter weekend 2000. Pleasureland Southport had a 4 percent increase in visitors over last year’s Easter weekend and reported the best Easter Monday in the park’s 89-year-history. Drayton Manor Family Theme Park near Birmingham saw a 6 percent increase, and Crealy Adventure Park in Devon reported a 26 percent jump. These figures come from Helen O’Neill of O’Neill PR, who also said Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Alton Towers reported good gates.
There were no mitigating factors accounting for the jump. The weather was slightly better this year than last, but it was still cloudy, windy and chilly with a rainy Saturday in some parts of the country. This year’s Easter also came one week earlier than 2000’s.
Furthermore, last year the season didn’t start under the cloud of foot-and-mouth disease. This year's Easter weekend figures indicate that the British public has put aside their travel trepidation. In fact, the livestock disaster may have provided a bit of a boost to attendance at Crealy, where national television coverage of Devon’s troubles inevitably showed the park’s family coaster in operation.
Considering what that country’s economy has been up against lately, England’s good amusement season start should serve as a bellwether for parks everywhere. So, everybody, let’s get on the bandwagon and have a good year.
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