The Similarity between Ski Areas and Amusement Parks

Similarities end when you start comparing prices. Season passes at many amusement parks are barely more than the price of  two full day passes. With exception of Disney, you can get in most of the best amusement parks for half the cost of the biggest names in skiing. The amusement park strategy is to get you in the gates where you are a captive audience and have to buy their services. Brown bagging is much easier in skiing. The investment in equipment for the end user is obviously nothing versus hundreds to thousands of dollars. While some of the worst ski area lines can reach half an hour, that is a typical time (or even a good wait time) for many popular coasters on a weekend. While that Mountain Creek picture looks pretty terrible, most non-holiday weekend lines at even the biggest resorts don't hit the half hour mark. Mid-week, no ski area has lines whereas amusement parks still will for their rides. At an amusement park, you wait for 1-2 minutes of thrill whereas at a ski area, you get a lot more bang for your buck in terms of standing in line versus fun time... but you still need to ride the lift after the line.

Neither business is making much money. Six Flags has had financial issues. I'm sure Disney rakes it in but lots of small amusement parks have folded, just like smaller ski areas... you need a critical mass to survive. No one likes lines but you need enough paying customers to cover costs at a minimum, if not make a profit and reinvest in the business.

They really are two different beasts and two different operational models. It is interesting that northern amusement parks are seasonal like ski areas but southern parks are year round, giving them a distinct financial advantage of not having to close for almost half the year. But are those parks making ends meet mid-week during the shoulder seasons? Each business has its problems with seasonal aspects.

I don't really see much basis for comparison. Demographics are also significantly different with skiing tending to skew older whereas amusements parks skew younger. Skiing is active even for the the most casual skier whereas riding rides is completely passive. Both can be exciting be for significantly different reasons.

I'd go back to Great Adventure to ride El Toro endlessly. Otherwise, I wouldn't exactly call Great Adventure the Whiteface of amusement parks. :)

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snoloco wrote

If ski passes were as cheap as amusement park passes I could get passes to 8 different mountains for the price of one to Hunter and one to Mountain Creek.  How cool would that be?  Not to mention that Six Flags passes cost $100 each and you can go to any Six Flags park.  ASC used to have a ski pass to all their mountains and it cost over $1800 for one pass.

Actually, it was the opposite for ASC. Their All For One pass was the cheapest pass going and was valid at seven of the biggest areas in New England. It caused long lines and a bad product. Killington got much better after ASC went away and the new operator started charging what K could afford to charge. There is a very valid argument for pricing rising to what the market can allow as it reduces lift lines and increases the quality of the product. Personally, I am in favor of MRG increasing prices, for example, to reduce lift lines and preserve powder. I think MRG is under valued for weekend tickets which is a problem. Crowding at an amusement park doesn't bother the powers that be much. The last thing someone wants to do after waiting 1+ hour is jump into another 1+ hour line. So maybe they go eat or shop or play a game instead. At a ski resort, people won't every come back if a line gets to 1+ hour.

Wind holds just suck....the soul and heart out of us....

If you're going to make the comparison at least know what you're talking about. Six Flags has been having some financial problems itself. That mixed with some poor decisions haven't been helping them. They've dropped off a few parks in the last 5 or so years including darien lake in western NY.

As far as the next part I don't think many ski areas are comparing themselves to amusement parks when looking at their financial situations.

"The reason for this similarity I think is just businesses trying to appeal to customers."

And most businesses don't try to appeal to customers? Business is about figuring out who your target audience is and marketing your product to them. It would be hard to run a successful business if you didn't try to appeal to your customers.

More customers=more money which means a better experience.

Better experience for the customer or the theme park/ mountain? More customers means longer lines,crowded trails or walkways, parking  way out there, and other things. More customers brings in more money but that doesn't translate into a better experience for the customer. At the same time if the mountain or theme park hurting financially because of small crowds, they might get rid of some services or raise their prices to make up the lost revenue.