With theme parks set to rebound, journey advisors share journey suggestions

The Covid pandemic made the previous 14 months a literal curler coaster of a experience for each theme parks and their followers.

Parks shut down or did not open in any respect final spring, and though some did reopen by summer season, it was with strict capability limits and stringent well being and security measures that delay some clients and positively dented the enjoyable issue for others.

This is a have a look at how issues are shaping up in 2021 for this a part of the journey and tourism sector, and the way potential guests can take advantage of out a theme park trip because the pandemic winds down.

Pre-pandemic, issues had been going effectively for the sector. The highest 20 North American theme parks drew 159,108,000 guests in 2019, 1% greater than the yr earlier than, based on the 2019 TEA/AECOM Theme Index and Museum Index.

To attract much more guests, park operators had been rolling income again into much-hyped, big-budget new points of interest just like the Jurassic World Velocicoaster at Common Orlando Resort’s Islands of Journey in Florida and the Marvel-themed Avengers Campus at Disney California Journey Park in Anaheim.

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Individuals have not forgotten these debuts had been within the pipeline.

“A number of households are opting into going to theme parks this yr,” stated Trish Smith, a Kansas Metropolis, Missouri-based journey advisor affiliated with the InteleTravel community of home-based brokers. “I’ve truly had extra bookings at this level this yr than I did in 2019.

“There are such a lot of new points of interest coming that lots of people are like, ‘Yeah, I do not need to miss out on that, and I need to be the primary,'” she added.

Demand is particularly pent-up in California, the place parks did not reopen till this April.

In actual fact, Michael Erstad, senior analyst, shopper for analysis agency M Science, stated theme parks may see a return to former attendance ranges as quickly as subsequent yr. “I actually suppose it is a risk,” he stated. “It can all rely how issues go along with the virus for the remainder of the yr.

“I would not depend [a rebound] out.”

Shopper knowledge insights agency Cardify has discovered, unsurprisingly, that theme parks noticed a giant drop in shopper spending final yr however “had been in a position to recuperate a bit” by final summer season by reopening with capability restrictions. Now that cities and states are enjoyable pandemic restrictions, parks are seeing what Cardify phrases the “silver lining” for park operators — a brand new “sharp enhance” in spending.

Cardify additionally present in a survey of 1,044 customers that 72% are excited to return to amusement parks after the pandemic, extra so than film theaters (68%) or bars and golf equipment (67%). Solely in-person concert events (79%) and sporting occasions (74%) are extra eagerly awaited.

Theme parks “are in a significantly better spot” relative to cinemas, cruises, air journey, motels and different leisure choices, stated Erstad at M Science.

As at ski resorts, at theme parks “a variety of the expertise is open air,” he stated, and due to this fact much less dangerous by way of publicity. “You do queue up for rides, however during the last yr they’ve made enhancements to enhance the buying choices for meals and beverage so that you do a variety of issues electronically.”

So, the place are thrill-seekers headed?

There are primarily two theme park markets within the U.S., though there may be some crossover between them. Massive vacation spot parks — similar to Walt Disney World, Common Orlando Resort and SeaWorld Orlando, clustered collectively in central Florida — draw each home and worldwide guests for longer holidays, whereas regional parks, typically smaller and fewer closely themed, entice extra of a drive-in, day tripper demographic from close by areas.

Examples of the latter sort of park would come with the 27 theme and water park properties operated in North America by Grand Prairie, Texas-based Six Flags Leisure Corp. Some smaller but extremely themed parks, similar to Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, straddle the road between the 2 classes.

(Apparently, Disneyland boasts a worldwide vacation spot park profile however successfully operates as a regional park, drawing most guests from its native southern California market. That stated, the park — at present restricted to Californians — reopens to all guests in full on June 15.)

Shopper spending at Orlando parks has been recovering from final yr’s crash for months, with out-of-state guests opening their wallets greater than Florida residents, Erstad defined.

“I feel it’s a wholesome signal for Disney and the destination-focused operators, in addition to general shopper attraction for theme parks normally this summer season, [and] indicative of customers looking for out such a [mostly outdoor] leisure,” he stated.

Florida’s been among the many least restrictive states in terms of pandemic-related regulation, and Orlando space Disney, Common and SeaWorld parks have all been open since final July. Momentary interstate journey restrictions and quarantine necessities tamped down on long-distance demand for a couple of months however had been finally eased by year-end.

Whereas curiosity in Disney’s Orlando parks is robust, “street journeys near residence might be very talked-about this summer season for regional theme parks like [Cedar Fair’s] Kings Dominion [and] Cedar Level, Six Flags, Sesame Place, Busch Gardens and Dollywood,” stated Carolyn Moody, an InteleTravel advisor in Durham, North Carolina.

The jury’s truly nonetheless out on how regional parks will fare, with a scarcity of actual knowledge for climate-related and company causes at some venues, Erstad stated.

Cedar Honest Leisure Co., for instance, took 4 of its 11 theme parks within the U.S. and Canada utterly offline for many of 2020, even in jurisdictions that allowed restricted opening with restricted capability, and minimize the working season brief in the remainder. It had simply 487 whole working days in 2020, in comparison with 2,224 in 2019.

“Cedar Honest has taken extra of a conservative strategy to issues; they had been the primary to announce they’d honor 2020 go holders into 20201 and took a cognizant choice to take a extra cautious strategy,” Erstad stated. “It is a bit of too early to have a look at a few of your colder climate parks, though we have been seeing fairly wholesome demand on the parks which can be open.”

This yr, Sandusky, Ohio-based Cedar Honest plans on opening all its U.S. parks — similar to Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Level, California, and Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina — by Memorial Day, though Canada’s Wonderland, outdoors Toronto, Ontario, will stay closed. The corporate plans to debut points of interest initially deliberate for 2020 and to spend an extra $100 million on new upgrades this yr, stated president and CEO Richard A. Zimmerman, in a Could 5 assertion, in anticipation of “sturdy pent-up shopper demand for closer-to-home, out of doors leisure, significantly within the yr’s second half.”

“We’re happy with the early main indicators now we have seen up to now, and our 2021 working technique is targeted on maximizing efficiency throughout our seasonally weighted second half of the yr,” he added. “With our park openings proper across the nook, we’re as soon as once more seeing a carry in season go gross sales.”

Erstad, in the meantime, pointed to Six Flags Nice Journey & Safari in Jackson, New Jersey, as a regional park that opened early within the pandemic and did “extraordinarily effectively final summer season.”

“That was simply attributable to the very fact they’ve the safari attraction, the place you could be in your automotive with your loved ones and socially distant from others,” he famous.

The park, close to New York Metropolis and Philadelphia, reopened its safari final Could 30 to drivers with reservations, after which reopened its theme park portion at 25% capability on July 3. The nice response factors to a variety of “pent-up demand,” Erstad stated.

Parks like these of Cedar Honest’s that weren’t open in any respect final yr may even see an preliminary spurt of visits however “I do not know that they will see a surge in demand the best way Disney and a number of the different bigger parks have skilled,” stated Summer time Hull, director of journey content material at web site The Factors Man.

“However I feel that for a number of the individuals who usually take pleasure in going to these spots, this can be the summer season they do get again to them,” she added.

So, in the event you’ve determined to go to a theme park, what suggestions do journey advisors have?

Moody, a Disney specialist, stated households contemplating theme parks this yr ought to seek the advice of a journey advisor, “who can replace purchasers on the newest CDC laws, reply any questions, discover the very best offers, guide all the things from begin to end. and be a single level of contact all through your journey.”

She additionally recommends reserving journey as early as doable, visiting parks early or late within the day to keep away from crowds, shopping for tickets and remembering to make any required entry reservations, too.

Smith additionally confused that final level. Whereas Common Orlando by no means required reservations and Six Flags scrapped them at its parks nationwide this month, guests to Walt Disney World parks nonetheless want them — as does anybody visiting any of the newly reopened theme parks in California.

“Even in the event you purchase the ticket, you are not assured to get into the park that you simply need to go to, as a result of that park could also be booked up with reservations,” she stated.

As soon as within the park, observe any guidelines on masking and social distancing nonetheless in place — the state of affairs is fluid and might change quickly — however don’t fret an excessive amount of. There haven’t been any stories of Orlando-area parks changing into Covid hotspots since reopening.

“The theme parks have completed a terrific job of maintaining folks protected,” stated Smith. “Even with extra folks being vaccinated, they’re nonetheless taking security into consideration …so I do not suppose there’s going to be a giant uptick in circumstances or something.”

The Factors Man’s Hull has been to Walt Disney World 3 times because it reopened and stated “it has been a blast.”

“It is largely open air they usually’ve completed a terrific job of creating it really feel enjoyable and on the identical time protected in your individual little ‘Disney bubble,'” she stated.

Even be open to vary. “That is the most important factor,” Smith stated. “Have no plans set in concrete; you have to be a bit of versatile proper now.”

Hull agreed and stated theme park friends who do their homework could have a good time this summer season. “However those that assume it is simply enterprise as ordinary are going to have a couple of surprises awaiting them,” she stated, noting that many components of bigger vacation spot parks — from motels to eating places to rides — are nonetheless not on-line or working at regular capacities.

“You have to line some stuff up in a approach you won’t have earlier than and nonetheless go in with tempered expectations for issues round eating, housekeeping and different components which can be nonetheless kind of pandemic-era and have not gotten again to regular but.”

 (Disclosure: CNBC and Common Parks & Resorts are each subsidiaries of NBCUniversal, owned by father or mother Comcast.)