New tourist thrill: No lines at California theme parks

DAN VOELPEL; THE NEWS TRIBUNE
Last updated: August 6th, 2008 06:54 AM (PDT)

We hopped right on Knott’s Berry Farm’s Sierra Sidewinder, a newfangled roller coaster that not only zips you along the traditional up-and-down track but also allows your four-person cart to spin. We could have ridden it again and again without much wait if my queasy stomach hadn’t kept me grounded.

We shuffled through the queue for maybe seven minutes to hop a tram tour of the back lot at Universal Studios Hollywood. I wanted to see the damage from a massive June fire that wiped out acres of old street facades and buildings that served as sets for movies including “Transformers,” “Back to the Future” and “Spider-Man 2.”

Meanwhile, at Wild Rivers, a sprawling suburban water park in Irvine, the line was so short to ride Bazooka Bowls that I flushed myself through it multiple times. Visualize being shot via steep tube slide into a water-gushing toilet bowl the size of a Starbucks coffee shop, swirling around and around, then flushing through a hole for a 3-foot drop into a 9-foot-deep pool.

Yee-ha! Wish you were here.

If you ever wanted to do what we did – experience Southern California’s theme parks, shop Rodeo Drive, sunbathe on Venice Beach – you should do it this summer.

Because America has decided to stay home.

Theme park revenues in the U.S. will decline this year by more than 2 percent – the first decline since travel rebounded from the terrorist attacks of September 2001, according to a recent industry report from IBISWorld, a business intelligence research firm here in L.A.

Staycations have replaced trips to the Magic Kingdom as gas prices have raised travel costs and declining housing values robbed many families of the equity vault they tapped for travel and other luxuries.

“Park admissions are expected to suffer this summer because of the economic outlook and related deferred investment in new rides and facilities,” said George Van Horn, senior analyst for IBISWorld.

The Walt Disney Co., which operates Disneyland and Disney World theme parks in the U.S., accounts for around half of the industry’s revenue as a result of more than 50 million visitors a year.

And since U.S. visitors account for 80 to 85 percent of theme park attendance, an anticipated boost in international tourists can’t offset the number of Americans staying home.

“Even Disney will not be safe” from the economic downturn, Van Horn said.

On the ground here – this is my 13th visit to a Disney theme park – I can report never seeing crowds this light. I wouldn’t even call it a crowd despite a sunny, 80-degree day.

Van Horn said he thinks Disney – and the entire theme park industry – needs to look beyond America’s immediate economic troubles to a longer-term trend if it wants to recapture the magic.

“While the 25- to 44-year demographic and their kids have typically been the main visitors to theme parks, the vast number of baby boomers entering retirement – with plenty of spare time and money on their hands – must not be neglected,” he said.

“Over the four years to 2012, the 60-plus age group will experience an average annualized growth of 2.8 percent, the strongest growth in all age categories,” Van Horn said. “And theme parks may need to adjust their offering to appeal to older Americans and foreign tourists, too, through shows, musical activities and gentler rides.”

That’s all industry insider gobbledy-gook.

I’ve aged beyond the typical demographic, but I’m still a sucker for Minnie Mouse, driving Beverly Hills to see the homes of the rich and famous and sitting down for a warm slice of Mrs. Knott’s boysenberry pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. (Although gentler rides agree with me these days.)

If you can afford it, Alaska Airlines still has an airfare deal going – through Thursday – with late summer airfares as low as $79 each way to LAX.

If you can’t afford it this year, start saving up for summer 2009. IBISWorld’s report anticipates the numbers next year will look about as gloomy as they do this year – for the industry.

But for you and me, having smaller crowds to fight through makes the experience much more pleasant.

And we can get flushed through the Bazooka Bowls many more times.

Dan Voelpel: 253-597-8785

dan.voelpel@thenewstribune.com

Originally published: August 6th, 2008 01:27 AM (PDT)