What Squeeze?
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1 Comment [ View ]LAYTON -- Tourist hot spots in Davis and Weber counties have weathered high gas prices, home foreclosures and a tight economy, officials say.
However, the business operators blame rough weather in early spring for getting them off to a slow start, in turn hampering their overall attendance when compared with last year.
Ogden's George S. Eccles Dinosaur Park, Lagoon, Cherry Hill Resort and Antelope Island State Park officials are hoping warm fall weather will help them catch up.
Cherry Hill, Lagoon and Dinosaur Park all open this weekend with Halloween-themed activities, and Antelope Island is gearing up for the crowds that take in its annual bison roundups.
What impact the cost of gas this summer had on Lagoon's attendance figures is still unknown, said Dick Andrew, Lagoon vice president of marketing.
Some people may have stayed closer to home because of gas prices, he said. Normally, 15 percent to 18 percent of the Farmington amusement park's visitors come from out of state.
"I don't know if that fell off this year," Andrew said. "We continue to have a lot of visitors from the Mountain West -- big, big numbers from Idaho.
"I think people were still in the mindset that, 'It is costing us more for gas, but we have got to dosomething.' "
Based on reports, he said, big amusement park chains across the country are reporting increases in park attendance this summer.
"I can't say that the economy hasn't had a bearing on some things, but by no means (has it been) a death knell," Andrew said.
The past two years, the park has set "huge" attendance marks, including a record 1.4 million visitors last year sparked by the debut of the "Wicked" roller coaster, he said.
"We had this fabulous new coaster, giving the park a gangbuster year," Andrew said.
This year, the park didn't introduce that type of attraction, he said, "so we're not surprised we would be down a little bit."
The cold spring start and a rainy Memorial Day weekend hampered park attendance early on, Andrew said.
Having nice weather during Frightmares, which runs through Nov. 2, "will go a long way in making that up," he said.
At Cherry Hill, the number of season passes sold this year was down some, said owner Bruce Lloyd.
He said the reduction stems from the summer not arriving until June 10 and the threat of a repeat outbreak of cryptosporidium, a parasite that took public pools by storm last summer.
The park's overnight camping was also down 10 percent because gas prices reduced the number of cross-country trips people took, Lloyd said.
"What we lost to out-of-staters, we gained from the locals," he said of the resort's water park.
Of those who stayed in the Fruit Heights campground, about 40 percent were from outside the state, Lloyd said.
The resort is banking on Halloween to give it a boost. For the first time, it is offering Scary Hills, a Halloween-themed miniature golf course, to extend its season.
"(Halloween) has become a pretty popular holiday," Lloyd said.
The water park and batting cages will not be open this fall, but some of the park's food stands will be.
So far, Antelope Island State Park has had an average year, said Ron Taylor, park manager, and based on monthly park attendance counts, it was not the gas prices that dwindled its visitation numbers.
Visitation was up in July and August compared with last year. Many of the visitors were from out of state, and some from out of the country, and they were just interested in floating on Great Salt Lake, he said.
"We have had more beach use than in the past."
But even with the solid end to the summer, Taylor said, overall park attendance for the year is off 10 percent to 15 percent when compared with the 2007 total attendance figure of 281,265.
Dinosaur Park Manager Kevin C. Ireland said a hard winter followed by a cold spring was especially hard on the park, affecting classes and the annual Easter egg hunt.
Still, he said, the park about on par with last year when it comes to attendance. Having warm weather in October is a big deal because the park has Halloween festivities planned all month.
"If I have a good fall, it certainly helps my numbers," he said.
Because people typically don't travel far when fuel costs are high, the park may have lost some out-of-state visitors, Ireland said, but the park gained in-state visitors who have generally gone other places in the past.
However, he said, those who did visit the park this year have spent less on food and gifts.
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Someone said they were selling off the rides from Lagoon and closing the Park. True?