Everybody is really gearing up for it, particularly because of the fuel crisis and the weather. The parks are putting a heavy emphasis on it, so they can help generate the numbers that will help pick up some of the drop they've seen in late August and early September. |
It's a direct promotion to increase attendance. |
Our industry is going through another revolution cycle. Six Flags has just been sold. There are individuals and people in the job marketplace who haven't been in the marketplace in a while. |
Parks [nationally] are experimenting with a lot of different promotions right now. I haven't seen one like this. |
They're gambling they're going to spend more money inside the park once they arrive. I'm seeing that at the majority of the parks, with the exception of Disney. |
This is the first of a handful of parks that will be brought up for sale. Every time they sell a park it will help them reduce their debt. |
What Shapiro is doing is, first of all, getting back to the basics, which is very important. He's pointing the missile in the right direction to get back the good image that the park once had; to rebuild the credibility among his marketplace by doing basic things: cleaning the parks up, operating them fully, offering better value once people come to the parks. |
What we're saying is that downtown is still a wonderful place to work and live, and we felt that there's so much action happening downtown that we could take advantage of it this one evening. |