TEA has released this years attendance estimates, notably they estimated Cedar Fair only grew .7% & Kings Island grew .5% SeaWorld entertainment keeps recovering from the Blackfish backlash and saw an attendance increase of 8.6%.

http://www.teaconnect.org/images/files/328_572762_190522.pdf

4 new coasters chain-wide (with one of which being touted as arguably the best in the world) translating to .7% growth doesn't seem great.

These numbers are not actual numbers, just estimates.  Also, attendance growth isn`t the only way to measure success.  There are lots of other metrics (such as in park spending, out of park revenues, etc.) which can be used to track growth, not just attendance figures.  If you got an additional guest to come into the park, but that guest paid nothing to get in, and spent no money in the park, was that additional guest really worth it in terms of revenue generation?

It will be interesting to see how the new giga affects things. I think we should see a bigger increase than Cedar Point did with Steel Vengeance.

On 5/25/2019 at 3:46 AM, Logan said:

It will be interesting to see how the new giga affects things. I think we should see a bigger increase than Cedar Point did with Steel Vengeance.

I am not so sure Kings Island will see a big jump from the new giga coaster. The last 2 coasters Kings Island opened did add much attendance. Banshee only increased attendance 1% and Mystic Timbers added 2%.  What puzzles me is why coasters at Kings Island don't really push attendance like other parks?

4 minutes ago, Jrb1979 said:

I am not so sure Kings Island will see a big jump from the new giga coaster. The last 2 coasters Kings Island opened did add much attendance. Banshee only increased attendance 1% and Mystic Timbers added 2%.  What puzzles me is why coasters at Kings Island don't really push attendance like other parks?

Mystic Timbers resulted in the park’s largest attendance since 1998.

I don’t know exact attendance figures, but I can assure you that TEA’s numbers are off—sometimes by a little, sometimes by a lot.

2 minutes ago, KIghostguy said:

Mystic Timbers resulted in the park’s largest attendance since 1998.

I don’t know exact attendance figures, but I can assure you that TEA’s numbers are off—sometimes by a little, sometimes by a lot.

Yep they’re certainly not going to be the most accurate thing out there, but it is nice to sometimes have an idea on how some parks are doing.  A lot of people keep bringing up the Mystic Timbers numbers but Winterfest was also added that same year. Anyone have any idea how much of that growth is due to Winterfest? 

2 hours ago, KIghostguy said:

Mystic Timbers resulted in the park’s largest attendance since 1998.

I don’t know exact attendance figures, but I can assure you that TEA’s numbers are off—sometimes by a little, sometimes by a lot.

That still doesn't explain how Kings Island only had a 1% attendance boost after adding Banshee. It seems coasters don't boost attendance as much as they used too. Steel Vengeance didn't boost attendance as much as Valravn did. What is it that people want if coasters aren't doing it now. 

^ Cedar Fair doesn't release attendance numbers by park, so we don't know if it was 1% or 10%.

CF's attendance keeps growing each year; it's safe to say that the parks receiving the most capex are contributing to that.

For an already well-attended park like Kings Island, giving people a reason to come back every year is a major goal of new attractions. They might be looking for less of an attendance spike than at a park with significant untapped market potential, such as Carowinds.

On 5/26/2019 at 10:21 PM, Jrb1979 said:

That still doesn't explain how Kings Island only had a 1% attendance boost after adding Banshee. It seems coasters don't boost attendance as much as they used too. Steel Vengeance didn't boost attendance as much as Valravn did. What is it that people want if coasters aren't doing it now. 

The year of Banshee coincided with the re-opening of KK, who at that time I would imagine made it a priority to siphon off what would have been KI-goers. Granted, how much of that can be attributed to Banshee's "disappointing" return I do not know, but that's certainly a factor to consider.

But there was a ~3% increase the year following. How many of those were being drawn by the then-new Woodstock Gliders/Snoopy's Space Buggies? And how many of those were coming to ride Banshee for the first time? Again, I have no way of knowing the answer to those questions either, but I would imagine its a mix of the two to a varying proportion.

On 5/26/2019 at 10:32 PM, malem said:

For an already well-attended park like Kings Island, giving people a reason to come back every year is a major goal of new attractions. They might be looking for less of an attendance spike than at a park with significant untapped market potential, such as Carowinds.

That, and I think Cedar Fair still sees that a park as highly-attended as KI could benefit from some more people-eaters, which a B&M giga will most certainly be.

Unfortunately, most of Paramount's installations did little to increase the overall capacity of park (whether it being low-capacity like FOF or Face/Off, or don't exist anymore like SOB and TR:TR). This certainly wasn't helped when the first ride received from CF is a recycled Vekoma flyer which even lost its dispatch-time decreasing recline on lift (three train) feature.

We've come along way since then however. With four three-train coasters and a 64 -passenger flat in WS added, the capacity of the park has increased dramatically, which is another goal to invest in new rides/coasters.

I've said this before, and I will say this again. If DB, Banshee, and Mystic Timbers truly did not accomplish what Cedar Fair was expecting/hoping, then there would be no giga, no B&M, maybe no coaster at all coming for 2020.

Therefore, they must have worked out well enough.

 

EDIT: And as malem points out, the TEA are not necessarily the most reliable numbers (they're the only attendance numbers though)