GAcoaster Posted July 1, 2017 Report Share Posted July 1, 2017 They also charge more and their labor costs are much lower than GA's 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daved Thomson Posted July 2, 2017 Report Share Posted July 2, 2017 (edited) Neither of those parks has Kingda Ka. That requires $5 million in yearly maintenance. You want shows, you loose Ka. Unfortunately that's a decision that's not so easy to undue since it is a marquis attraction (people actually come to the park for it, like it or not). The current park is unfortunately saddled with the decision of the past management as well as the present, so it always comes down to what decision will make more money than the cost (RoI). If they spent the $5 million on shows and shut down Ka, attendance would go down. Yes, a few people would come back because "now there are shows!" but they'd lose more people because the signature coaster was closed. And, I absolutely agree, a well rounded park needs shows as well as rides, but that ship has sailed (for now) unless there's a sudden change in management priorities or finances. If Kingda Ka requires $5 Million in annual maintenance they really should have considered such costs when they purchased it. If they didn't, it's just another example of poor management selling off short term profits at the cost of longer term brand equity. If what you'e saying is true, I don't believe for one minute that Kingda Ka draws significant numbers of guests (season pass or gate) to justify its continued existance some 12 years after its debut. Again, it's not like this park is drawing 4 or 5 million people annually. It continues to draw below its 90's peak and has been surpassed by other seasonal theme parks in smaller markets with a better balance of attractions. Sadly, I'm of the opinion that the park can not consistently grow its attendance by marketing a single new attraction each season as opposed to marketing the entire park and park experience. Unfortunately, the entire park experience at this point is extremely limited to thrill rides of limited appeal and children's rides of limited adult participation. Obviously much of the industry has moved in a similar direction, but again, it seems most obvious at the Six flags parks. Edited July 2, 2017 by Daved Thomson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrummer Posted July 2, 2017 Report Share Posted July 2, 2017 $5M a year in maintenance is a stunning number. Is that mostly because of the launch system, and because the ride is so tall? I know bridges are a lot of money to paint these days, especially with all the environmental regulations. That's a lot of money to be able to claim you have the tallest and fastest coaster. Does most of that take place off season? I wonder what it costs to put on a show for the season? I know the performers don't make a whole lot of money, but there are definitely labor and other costs. BTW - I saw an ad for Justice League on an electronic billboard leaving Long Beach Island a few days ago (on Route 72) near the Parkway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GAcoaster Posted July 2, 2017 Report Share Posted July 2, 2017 If Kingda Ka requires $5 Million in annual maintenance they really should have considered such costs when they purchased it. If they didn't, it's just another example of poor management selling off short term profits at the cost of longer term brand equity. If what you'e saying is true, I don't believe for one minute that Kingda Ka draws significant numbers of guests (season pass or gate) to justify its continued existance some 12 years after its debut. Again, it's not like this park is drawing 4 or 5 million people annually. It continues to draw below its 90's peak and has been surpassed by other seasonal theme parks in smaller markets with a better balance of attractions. Sadly, I'm of the opinion that the park can not consistently grow its attendance by marketing a single new attraction each season as opposed to marketing the entire park and park experience. Unfortunately, the entire park experience at this point is extremely limited to thrill rides of limited appeal and children's rides of limited adult participation. Obviously much of the industry has moved in a similar direction, but again, it seems most obvious at the Six flags parks. The current management (and even the previous management) I'm sure wishes the investment had never been made. I know Red Zone made plans to remove KK and send it to the planned park in Dubai and saddle them with the costs. It was a big mistake made by past management. Had the old Premier management stayed and had the former park manager stayed and followed his plans, it might have been another story. The bold plans of investing in rides, shows and theme elements and completely refresh the park COULD have paid off and made it a smart investment. The $2 billion in debts that Premier had made that not work out with the stockholder revolt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daved Thomson Posted July 2, 2017 Report Share Posted July 2, 2017 The current management (and even the previous management) I'm sure wishes the investment had never been made. I know Red Zone made plans to remove KK and send it to the planned park in Dubai and saddle them with the costs. It was a big mistake made by past management. Had the old Premier management stayed and had the former park manager stayed and followed his plans, it might have been another story. The bold plans of investing in rides, shows and theme elements and completely refresh the park COULD have paid off and made it a smart investment. The $2 billion in debts that Premier had made that not work out with the stockholder revolt. We're in agreement on the key issues here. It's just that the park is very much now locked in a vicious cycle where it really needs to increase its attendance with a broadened base of customers but the park doesn't have a wide enough variety of attractions to attract them. I'm really not suggesting that they pull any of the coasters that they already have and am hoping that JLBFM is the first of a new group of rides that is geared toward all of the family. Dark rides are a form of shows in and of themselves. I realize that the Aqua Spectacle had real maintenance issues, but it's draw when it had dolphin shows was significant. Maintenance, in general, has always been a big issue at GA largely because of the size and uniqueness of some of the structures. But, those same structures were really what was unique about the park and did drive the overall image of the park. I just find it a shame that so few remain and will never be replaced. The cost of having lost them, I believe, is far more expensive than it would have been to properly maintain them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrummer Posted July 3, 2017 Report Share Posted July 3, 2017 With more attendance comes potential crowding issues. But shows in themselves tend to help with crowding, because you take a few thousand people out of the park and rides for up to a half hour. I'm also amazed at how infrequently they use the main outdoor arena for concerts. I seem to remember in the early years they would have a concert nearly every weekend, but maybe I'm wrong. Didn't they also have horse/wild west shows in that arena? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viper26 Posted July 3, 2017 Report Share Posted July 3, 2017 I'm also amazed at how infrequently they use the main outdoor arena for concerts. I seem to remember in the early years they would have a concert nearly every weekend, but maybe I'm wrong. Didn't they also have horse/wild west shows in that arena? They had a western show in the arena but I believed they only had it on days there wasn't a concert. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daved Thomson Posted July 4, 2017 Report Share Posted July 4, 2017 With more attendance comes potential crowding issues. But shows in themselves tend to help with crowding, because you take a few thousand people out of the park and rides for up to a half hour. I'm also amazed at how infrequently they use the main outdoor arena for concerts. I seem to remember in the early years they would have a concert nearly every weekend, but maybe I'm wrong. Didn't they also have horse/wild west shows in that arena? Yes, they had western/horse shows in the arena during the park's early years before the Arena floor was paved as well as other seasons after it was paved by laying down a layer of dirt, if I'm not mistaken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29yrswithaGApass Posted December 31, 2017 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2017 On 6/20/2017 at 11:22 PM, 29yrswithaGApass said: A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of meeting up with Dan Inghram who was a key person in the park's advertising and marketing department during GA's early years. He created the now infamous star-lined rainbow logo that would be used during the 1977 season and which was enhanced with the SIX FLAGS letters to become the first logo used by Six Flags when they acquired the park. Pictured below is THE original hand drawn and colored artwork of the rainbow logo, which I am proud to say is now part of my Great Adventure memorabilia collection. How strange is this...... I randomly made the post above earlier in the year on June 20, 2017 after having the logo for a couple of years. I just searched for Dan on Google and discovered that he recently died. Strange thing is he passed on the exact same day that I made the above post. That is really odd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29yrswithaGApass Posted January 15, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29yrswithaGApass Posted September 26, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2020 I ran across these items and they took me back to 1977 when my family did the "After 5PM" visit that season when you could get in for $6.00 at night. It made me laugh because my mom would ask me for the next 30+ seasons if the park was still letting people visit for "$5 after 5 o'clock"! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daved Thomson Posted September 28, 2020 Report Share Posted September 28, 2020 I knew several families that attended GA for the first time using this type of ticket. If you think about it, if you were bringing a family of five people, the economy at the time, and so many other things going on that affected people's pocket books, you could bring that family for close to half the price it would cost you had you bought a full-priced combination ticket to the park. And, on top of it, there really was a different magic to Great Adventure at night back then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29yrswithaGApass Posted January 5, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2021 Through the generosity of Eileen Hudiak a whole set of photos from the 1977/78 season have been uploaded to our GAH Photo Drop. These photos were taken by her dad John Hudziak. Click HERE to check them out. Below are a few samples! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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