sirloin
12-10-2007, 12:16 PM
With the recent mention of a resort for Six Flags, and the declaration that, at least at one point, a hotel was planned for the Great Adventure property, I thought it would be interesting to discuss the possibility of actually making a resort out of the Great Adventure property. Personally, I believe that the Great Adventure or Great America properties would be fantastic places to build a resort, and I believe there are several reasons for each.
First off, I'll discuss Great Adventure. Six Flags Great Adventure is currently the highest-attended park in the chain. Much of this is provided by the park's choice location, the park lying in the New York City and Philadelphia market areas, and even to a degree, the Baltimore market. Then take into account that the park has a large waterpark right next door, as well as a drive-through safari. Assuming you wanted to do all three, it's inevitable that you would need more than a day to do both. By throwing in a resort hotel, and figuring that package deals could easily be developed, you could give guests incentive to stay overnight and on top of that, make money off of it. Whether or not an indoor waterpark would be needed is open to debate. While I don't think it would be a bad idea, even with an outdoor one right on the property (Soak City still survives at Cedar Point, even with Castaway Bay, Kalahari, and Great Wolf Lodge nearby), it may not be totally necessary. Also, I think it would possibly cause a spike in out-of-state tourism, and the park could easily become a national (or even international) draw. Great Adventure is pretty much equidistant from the major hubs of Philadelphia International and Newark International (both offering a great deal of international service as well), and only slightly farther from JFK (again, a MAJOR international hub). You could draw people in from all over the country, or even the world, if you market the place properly and over a large enough area.
I would now like to dicuss the cons of having a resort at Great Adventure. The first reason? Crowds. The place gets packed in ways never before imaginable on a pretty frequent basis. By throwing in a resort hotel (and possibly other amenities), you're looking at sell-out crowds. The park is indeed big, and it has alot of capacity (and possibly growth potential, though I'm not sure how much additional land they own adjacent to the park), but if it can already pull 2 hour waits for every major ride on a weekend in the early spring, the summer crowds could become unmanageable, leading to a need for severe expansion of the park, possibly even to the point where it would take more than a day to do everything even if the place wasn't crowded (picture a very large mega park, possibly the 1.5x or 2x the size of the current Great Adventure, because that's what I'm getting at). Second off, an hour drive from any nearby major airport might be a bit much for some. Getting to Walt Disney World from Orlando International can possibly take a half hour or more to get to, and adding a half hour or much more, depending on traffic, might be a bit much for some.
As for Great America, plenty of potential remains there. To start, a resort hotel with an indoor waterpark would do wonders to keep people in the Chicago area from running northwest to Wisconsin Dells for their waterpark fix, and that alone could have a drastic effect on the attendance of the park. Great America is also a mere 45 minute drive from O'Hare International, the world's second-busiest airport with an abundance of both domestic and international service, and Midway is only 20 minutes farther of a drive away. In addition, Chicago is a very nice city and, for at least the out-of-the-area tourists, an additional activity. Again, package deals could be worked out to give guests alot to see and do, and seeing as Great America is not particularly far from the city (roughly 52 minutes from the heart of the city), guests could go check out the place (the same could work for New York City or Philly with Great Adventure, though they are slightly farther from the park).
As for cons, again, a 45 minute drive with no traffic and the possibility of a much longer drive if you hit it at the right time could prove too far for some. Also, Great America doesn't have anywhere near the room of the Great Adventure property, and if crowds (which are already pretty high, the park being #2 in attendance in the chain, though this includes the waterpark) got too high, it would be difficult to find ways to thin out the lines. This would almost necessitate an indoor waterpark at the resort hotel as Six Flags, ironic as this may sound, would almost need to keep people out of the park in order to have manageable crowds. Another disadvantage is the length of the season, which I believe can be up to 2 months shorter (though those are really weekends only) than that of the New Jersey park. I would keep the indoor waterpark open year-round, but Chicago is not always the nicest place to visit in the winter from what I've heard, and that could drastically limit the number of out-of-state tourists (a problem Great Adventure could face as well, but to a slightly lesser degree).
In the end, I firmly believe that if a park in Sandusky, Ohio (a ways away from any nearby major airport or city, and those cities, namely Cleveland and Toledo, not being anywhere near the size and scope of New York City, Philadelphia, or Chicago) can survive as a full-blown resort, even in a relatively weak economy, a similar resort in Jackson, New Jersey, or Gurnee, Illinois could do the same, and possibly to a better degree. Six Flags would seriously need to up the ante service-wise, though, and those rides would HAVE to be running.
First off, I'll discuss Great Adventure. Six Flags Great Adventure is currently the highest-attended park in the chain. Much of this is provided by the park's choice location, the park lying in the New York City and Philadelphia market areas, and even to a degree, the Baltimore market. Then take into account that the park has a large waterpark right next door, as well as a drive-through safari. Assuming you wanted to do all three, it's inevitable that you would need more than a day to do both. By throwing in a resort hotel, and figuring that package deals could easily be developed, you could give guests incentive to stay overnight and on top of that, make money off of it. Whether or not an indoor waterpark would be needed is open to debate. While I don't think it would be a bad idea, even with an outdoor one right on the property (Soak City still survives at Cedar Point, even with Castaway Bay, Kalahari, and Great Wolf Lodge nearby), it may not be totally necessary. Also, I think it would possibly cause a spike in out-of-state tourism, and the park could easily become a national (or even international) draw. Great Adventure is pretty much equidistant from the major hubs of Philadelphia International and Newark International (both offering a great deal of international service as well), and only slightly farther from JFK (again, a MAJOR international hub). You could draw people in from all over the country, or even the world, if you market the place properly and over a large enough area.
I would now like to dicuss the cons of having a resort at Great Adventure. The first reason? Crowds. The place gets packed in ways never before imaginable on a pretty frequent basis. By throwing in a resort hotel (and possibly other amenities), you're looking at sell-out crowds. The park is indeed big, and it has alot of capacity (and possibly growth potential, though I'm not sure how much additional land they own adjacent to the park), but if it can already pull 2 hour waits for every major ride on a weekend in the early spring, the summer crowds could become unmanageable, leading to a need for severe expansion of the park, possibly even to the point where it would take more than a day to do everything even if the place wasn't crowded (picture a very large mega park, possibly the 1.5x or 2x the size of the current Great Adventure, because that's what I'm getting at). Second off, an hour drive from any nearby major airport might be a bit much for some. Getting to Walt Disney World from Orlando International can possibly take a half hour or more to get to, and adding a half hour or much more, depending on traffic, might be a bit much for some.
As for Great America, plenty of potential remains there. To start, a resort hotel with an indoor waterpark would do wonders to keep people in the Chicago area from running northwest to Wisconsin Dells for their waterpark fix, and that alone could have a drastic effect on the attendance of the park. Great America is also a mere 45 minute drive from O'Hare International, the world's second-busiest airport with an abundance of both domestic and international service, and Midway is only 20 minutes farther of a drive away. In addition, Chicago is a very nice city and, for at least the out-of-the-area tourists, an additional activity. Again, package deals could be worked out to give guests alot to see and do, and seeing as Great America is not particularly far from the city (roughly 52 minutes from the heart of the city), guests could go check out the place (the same could work for New York City or Philly with Great Adventure, though they are slightly farther from the park).
As for cons, again, a 45 minute drive with no traffic and the possibility of a much longer drive if you hit it at the right time could prove too far for some. Also, Great America doesn't have anywhere near the room of the Great Adventure property, and if crowds (which are already pretty high, the park being #2 in attendance in the chain, though this includes the waterpark) got too high, it would be difficult to find ways to thin out the lines. This would almost necessitate an indoor waterpark at the resort hotel as Six Flags, ironic as this may sound, would almost need to keep people out of the park in order to have manageable crowds. Another disadvantage is the length of the season, which I believe can be up to 2 months shorter (though those are really weekends only) than that of the New Jersey park. I would keep the indoor waterpark open year-round, but Chicago is not always the nicest place to visit in the winter from what I've heard, and that could drastically limit the number of out-of-state tourists (a problem Great Adventure could face as well, but to a slightly lesser degree).
In the end, I firmly believe that if a park in Sandusky, Ohio (a ways away from any nearby major airport or city, and those cities, namely Cleveland and Toledo, not being anywhere near the size and scope of New York City, Philadelphia, or Chicago) can survive as a full-blown resort, even in a relatively weak economy, a similar resort in Jackson, New Jersey, or Gurnee, Illinois could do the same, and possibly to a better degree. Six Flags would seriously need to up the ante service-wise, though, and those rides would HAVE to be running.