Will high gas prices and rising airfares keep tourists close to home this summer? Major theme parks have been enjoying relatively strong financial returns over the past year, as communities lifted their COVID-19 restrictions. But rising prices now threaten the industry’s recovery.
The one company that seems best positioned to avoid a downturn is, as usual, Disney. It’s the only major chain still requiring customers to reserve dates to visit its parks. That encourages people to book early, to get the dates they want. And that, in turn, makes Disney visitors less affected by fluctuating prices than people who wait until the last minute to plan a getaway.
With Disney locking in its guests, will other parks be able to attract big crowds of their own this summer?
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The SeaWorld Parks chain is trying. SeaWorld is hoping that the public’s enduring love for Sesame Street will help drive attendance to the former Aquatica water park in Chula Vista, which it has redesigned as Sesame Place San Diego. Elsewhere, the company has opened new roller coasters at four of its SeaWorld and Busch Gardens parks across the country, including the new Emperor dive coaster in San Diego.
Six Flags Magic Mountain will have a new coaster this summer, too. But as the summer travel season kicks off this weekend, Wonder Woman Flight of Courage remains under construction. Elsewhere, Six Flags is opening a new coaster and rethemed indoor boat ride in Texas, but the chain lacks the record-breaking, headline-grabbing new thrill rides that SeaWorld is offering the public this summer.
Still, that is more than the Cedar Fair parks are opening this summer. Knott’s Berry Farm is selling the return of its popular Ghost Town Alive! and Knott’s Summer Nights, while sister park Kings Island in Ohio is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Meanwhile, fans online are salivating over rumors of major new coasters coming to Knott’s and the company’s flagship park, Cedar Point.
Universal fans also are looking more to the future this summer, as they await the opening of Super Nintendo World and its real-life Mario Kart ride at Universal Studios Hollywood next year. Across the country, Universal Orlando continues work on its third theme park, Epic Universe, which remains on target to open in 2025.
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So who will have the best new attractions to offer the public this summer? Again, it’s Disney.
While Disneyland is promoting the return of live entertainment spectaculars such as Fantasmic!, World of Color and the 50th anniversary Main Street Electrical Parade, sibling Walt Disney World is wowing fans with Epcot’s first roller coaster and a unique new Star Wars experience. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is a next-generation Space Mountain with a great queue, fun story and catchy on-board music, while Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser creates a two-night, interactive, cruise-like experience in a hotel themed to a Star Wars spaceship.
No matter what ends up happening this summer, it seems clear that Disney remains determined to be the company that everyone else in the industry is chasing.