NEWS: Interesting Article About Cypress Gardens

[robbalvey]

You can read the entire article here:

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051209/NEWS/512090324/1178

 

The good news:

After a 42-year run on Panama City Beach, the Starliner roller coaster sits stacked in numbered pieces on a back lot here.

 

Cypress Gardens Adventure Park owner Kent Buescher forked over $100,000 for the wooden coaster, spent $200,000 more to have it taken apart and is prepared to fork out $1.5 million more to have it rebuilt as his park's new lure in 2007.

 

"We're Florida's oldest theme park, so having Florida's oldest wooden coaster is a natural," said the folksy Georgia entrepreneur who has become the toast of Polk County for bringing historic Cypress Gardens back from the dead. "This park was static for years. We can't afford to let that happen."

 

Buescher surprised the skeptics when Cypress Gardens reported its attendance will hit 1.4 million when its reinauguration year ends next month. That's almost twice his original plan for 750,000 and enough to produce a "seven-figure" operating profit, if you don't count any return on the $50 million Buescher and investors put up to get this far.

 

And then the "interesting"

 

Indeed, now comes the hard part. Most of Cypress Gardens' attendance came from 300,000 season pass holders who needed only to show up three times for one of the park's 50 weekly concert events to account for more than half the park's annual visitors. About 80 percent of the first year crowd was residents who live within an hour's drive. That means the park attracted only half as many bigger-spending tourists as Buescher hopes to draw.

 

Overall an intesting article, but I did feel it was kind of "hard to believe" when all those overwhelming numbers kept being reported.

 

I think it will be VERY interesting to see what the future holds for this park....

 

--Robb

[freestylenut]

I gotta tell ya, those concerts have people coming back for more! They bring some pretty popular acts, and the age groups vary for those concert (from 60's oldies to >gasp< Ashlee Simpson).

 

And attendance is attendance regardless if they're pass holders. They gotta eat, and drink and other such things.

 

We'll see if CG is in it for the long haul!

[Shockwave]

Haha, and I'm gonna be buying a Cypress Gardens/Wild Adventures pass next year!

 

The park's sustainance is gonna be tested hard in the next few years, but with Starliner making a comeback that may help a little.

 

The figures are a little confusing, but if the park is getting a loyal base of customers, that can't be too much of a bad thing.

[SharkTums]

I'm not trying to 'typecast' or be rude or anything, but I do wonder about the spending habits of their season pass holders. If they really are all coming from that area (as said in the article), I see these people as more "pack a lunch and eat it in the car". Not really big spenders.

 

Just hypothesizing from experience!

[Gregory DG]

About 80 percent of the first year crowd was residents who live within an hour's drive.

That includes Orlando and Tampa and the surrounding areas. Do you really expect people from farther away to make a special trip just for CG?

 

The concerts are certainly a huge draw for some, but not me. I remember hearing about the concert organizer being stressed because she felt the concerts would be a critical component of the park. I laughed at that thinking "You think the concerts are going to be all that important? Bwahahah!"

 

Boy, was I wrong about that!

 

As for the "packing a lunch," my wife and I don't do that. But we're usually not at CG long enough (2-3 hours at a time) to warrant being hungry. People aren't allowed to bring food inside the park, but there are about 10 picnic benches in the parking lot. Maybe they should take them out?

[CoasterJunkie]

I live 20 min from CG..

 

I will be getting a AP this upcoming year...

 

Our typical visit will probably be on a Sunday afternoon, lunch will be outside the park, probably at home before we go. We will get drinks, maybe a snack within the park. We will stay about 3-4 hrs, then go home.

 

We will do this maybe 2x a month, more if something catches our eye, like a concert, or the holidays. The only time I buy "park food" is Disney or Universal and sometimes SeaWorld. Most times I get an offsite lunch or eat at home.

 

I do know the "senior" crowd does draw a huge crowd though

[DerekRx]

I'm not surprised by the numbers at all, especially the minimal number of tourists visiting the park. Think back 6 years to IOA, and just how long it took Universal to get people into that park. Most people plan their trips to Orlando a year or two in advance, wanting to maximize their Disney experience. It took national a campaigns and lots of word of mouth to get the numbers where they are at IOA. Other than the internet and I guess some travel guides, who else knows about Cypress Gardens?

 

I'd like to think they'll eventually get the out of towners like they want, but they've got to keep adding rides, shows, and improving the gardens. It wouldn't hurt to make the coasters a little less run of the mill and a little more geared towards thrillseekers. If they tried something like "tallest, fastest coaster in Florida" or something, that may draw in more people visiting the central Florida are, more so than a "bunch of old gardens that we can see at Disney" and "5 kiddie coasters that are an hour from Disney."

[CoasterFanatic]

The numbers sound "right-on" what I thought. The park will eventually get some more "destination" travelers but now they will have to depend on free shows and the like to get people through the gate.

 

Most of the people who live in the area have very good things to say about the park and are happy that it was saved.

 

That includes Orlando and Tampa and the surrounding areas. Do you really expect people from farther away to make a special trip just for CG?

 

Funny thing is .... a lot of people used to! Of course, this is also when Disney had one park and Gatorland was considered a destination. I vaguely remember visiting the park in 1980 with my mother, cousin and grandma and being bored out of my mind. If the park was like it is now, I probably would have loved it.

[Gregory DG]

I'd like to think they'll eventually get the out of towners like they want, but they've got to keep adding rides, shows, and improving the gardens.

Right. I think bringing in the Starliner will help with that. I understand (from what Beucher has said) that more coasters are on the way.

 

That includes Orlando and Tampa and the surrounding areas. Do you really expect people from farther away to make a special trip just for CG?

Funny thing is .... a lot of people used to! Of course, this is also when Disney had one park and Gatorland was considered a destination.

Yeah, you answered your own statement. 70 years ago, CG was the only game in state, so people from all over would visit. Now, it's been supplanted by the larger mass-marketed-get-'em-in-get-'em-out thrill parks.

 

If the park was like it is now, I probably would have loved it.

CG didn't adapt as it should have and became stagnant. It will take a few years for them to catch up, but there's no question that the direction they are going is the right one (and frankly the only one.)