From excessive rain to heat advisories, California has seen its fair share of wild weather this year, which seems to have impacted attendance and revenue at some amusement parks in the state.
The companies behind Knott’s Berry Farm, Six Flags Magic Mountain and SeaWorld San Diego released their recent quarterly earnings reports and cited that “unusual” weather has impacted attendance and revenue figures.
Knott’s, Six Flags and SeaWorld San Diego will close for the day or reduce their hours depending on weather conditions. At the same time, their competitors, notably Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood, may choose to do the latter.
Most recently, as Tropical Storm Hilary passed through the Southern California region, both Knott’s and Six Flags chose to close the parks for the day, while Disneyland reduced its hours and Universal Studios decided to stay open.
Cedar Fair, the parent company behind Knott’s Berry Farm, stated that in July, attendance totaled 5.9 million guests, a decrease of 4% or 219,000 visitors from July 2022. The wild weather has also impacted sales of 2023 season passes.
“Unfortunately, anomalous weather patterns – including unprecedented rainfall in California and wildfires in Canada – have significantly disrupted year-to-date attendance, as well as sales of 2023 season passes, creating a headwind on demand,” Richard Zimmerman, Cedar Fair’s president and CEO, said in a statement.
“To better adapt to changing market dynamics, we have expanded our research efforts to further isolate the impact of macro factors on specific markets.”
At Six Flags, challenging weather impacted attendance during the beginning of 2023 but has rebounded, according to its quarterly report.
At SeaWorld San Diego, attendance has decreased by about 125,000 guests compared to last year. Theme park officials also blamed the decrease on significantly adverse weather.”
Guests typically are able to visit the theme park on another day if their theme park plans are impacted by severe weather.
In its most recent quarterly earnings report, Comcast, the parent company behind Universal Studios Hollywood, stated that its theme parks experienced an increase in guest attendance but disclosed if California’s unusual weather patterns impacted them in any way.
Disneyland, on the other hand, doesn’t disclose its attendance figures.
