Six Flags Great Adventure One of the Top 20 Attended Parks in North America!

[rjholla2003]

http://www.teaconnect.org/etea/TEAERA2008.pdf

Themed Entertainment Association released their 2008 Attraction Attendance report and Great Adventure ranked number 19 in North America at nearly 2.8 Million visitors!  Six Flags as a chain ranked number 4 worldwide with 25.3 million guests entertained in 2008.

[WadeJ]

As exciting as that is as well as a step in the right direction, I remember it being not that long ago when they were in the top 10 .

Still very impressive though when you look at the even higher numbers the Disney parks are making.

Dan probably remembers but I think 3.8 million was the highest they hit just a few years ago.

[darkridedan]

I think 3.6 million was reported in 1995 and 1996 by  Amusement Today. I don't have the figures on hand any more, but 3.8 sounds familiar. I believe the highest number reported since I had worked there was 3.5 million in 2001. It dropped below 3 million in '02-'04, and I believe attendance went back over 3 million with the introduction of Kingda Ka and the revamps. It dropped back down in '06 and '07.

[WadeJ]

Just look at what Behemoth did for Canadas Wonderland!  That is a crazy big bump.

[Blackhand1001]

Yeah, Disney has everyone in their clutches pretty deep.

[darkridedan]

I wonder if Great America will be able to top GAdv with their addition of Bucaneer Battle this season. I wish all the best with Bizarro. With the drop in stature at Magic Mountain and the rise of GAm, it's almost safe to believe that some guests like family flat rides. It's probably not a bad idea to have some, especialy when your park has competition and in the case of MM, when your coaster collection is mediocre at best.

     With the addition of a new coaster at MM, we may see how important flat rides/all-encompassing rides are by next year's results. Terminator is a decent addition to MM, but the coaster collection is already heavy in 48'' rides. Ninja, the lone 42'' coaster, and their water rides carry a heavy burden!

[Railer]

  I think this will see a big rise in those numbers this year. With the World the way it is nowadays, alot of people are staying local, and a Season Pass is a very good alternative to spending alot of Money to go to a Trip to a "Destination Park". I am just happy that I work for a very strong Company (PSEG) Our Bill is the only one alot of people are paying, althogh our "Shut-Off Non Pay's" are up, I am still getting alot of O.T.

[themeparkrider]

One of the factors is that GA needs to maintain there rides. I am not saying they don't, because they do. It is just they need to do a better job with it. That would make the park look better.

[rjholla2003]

The only blemish the park has this season is Kingda Ka...and no amount of maintenance can stop lightning unfortunately.  It was fine until then.

[themeparkrider]

Thats a good point.