A visit to your typical theme park is usually a recipe for a good time. However, on occasion, you might find yourself in the middle of a unique special event. They can come in all shapes and sizes, but typically these have become an excuse to host a park-wide celebration.
For example, there have been hundreds of celebrations for different styles of music from Blues Celebrations and Country Music Fests to Gospel Praise Weeks and Rock ‘n Roller Weekends. From local musicians and tribute bands to the booking of actual musical megastars, these will often result in free concerts for the park’s guests.
After music, a food celebration has probably become one of the next most common events. These will often have a regional or cultural slant. Food events can take the form of a simple Oktoberfest celebration featuring beers and German cuisine, or perhaps a Latin or Hispanic Music weekend. I’ve got to give a special nod to Knott’s Berry Farm here as well. It has created a whole special event in celebration of what first put the family on the map: the Boysenberry.
Sometimes one flavor is not enough, and a whole International Food Fest is brought out, offering unique dishes from around the world for the guests to enjoy. Regardless of the final theme, in virtually every case it is a perfect opportunity to break out the culinary treats and offer up a feast of flavors.
Why host theme park special events?
Holidays are perhaps the biggest inspiration for these special events. For many parks, they may have started off by hosting some kind of Halloween-themed event. A costume party kids-fest throughout the day, full of in-park trick-or-treating opportunities is hard for a parent to say no to. Even more exciting are the after-dark Halloween Haunts and Frightfests. These lure thrill-seekers to stay late and walk quietly down dark passages where the monsters lie in wait.
The one thing that most of these special events have in common is that they were created as a way for parks and attractions to generate extra business during what may have been a slow month.
Most of these events take place outside of the traditionally busy summer season. For example, food festivals often boost the crowd levels from spring through to the start of the summer season. What may have had the biggest impact of them all however would give attractions a reason to to build Haunted Houses, as it created a reliable annual method to extend the entire season into the cooler fall months.
Halloween, Christmas and more
Now that events like Halloween Horror Nights are well established at virtually every theme park chain, there has been a move over the past decade to really push Winter Holiday/Christmas-themed events.
Six Flags expanded the number of parks hosting Holiday In The Park winter events. Meanwhile, Cedar Fair brought back their WinterFest events to many parks as well. In the same way that Halloween helped parks extend their seasons into the fall, the build-up of a really solid winter season event has proven to be a very popular way of extending the season all the way through to the end of the year.
Nostalgia does play a part in this. But perhaps the best driver for winter events, even when the cold weather might keep many of the big thrill rides closed, is the desire for families to create their own holiday traditions. In essence, parks and attractions have found a way to tap into this concept and made themselves an important part of many a modern family’s current list of traditions.
Shared memories
Theme park giants like Disney and Universal have been able to tie their on-site resorts into the experience as well. This creates an easy way for families to mix holiday get-togethers with a fun family vacation. You have only to ask anyone who has ever vacationed in Orlando over Thanksgiving or during the last two weeks of December. They’ll admit just how packed those resorts are with large family groups at that time.
Other parks and attractions have also learned this lesson. Places like Dollywood and Silver Dollar City have grown their own large followings who come to their resorts year after year. It is also worth noting that this isn’t just an American park thing. Many of the biggest attractions in Europe have also been able to transform themselves into magical winter experiences. Examples include Efteling, Europa Park, Tivoli, Parc Asterix, Legoland, PortAventura, and many more.
What’s the cost of theme park special events?
There is a cost for these events, however. And I’m not just talking about the budget, I’m talking about the cost for the guests to attend. Smaller events may be included for free with the cost of admission. Especially at events where the focus is going to be on the upselling of special food and beverages. But the biggest and most popular events have now evolved into extra-cost special-ticket events.
This is especially true for the Halloween season. Even if the event itself is included with general admission, sometimes the Haunted Houses can come at an extra cost. And then there is Disney…
To say that Disney has taken its craft to the next level is an understatement, especially at Walt Disney World. Over the last third of the year the Magic Kingdom park will often close a little earlier than normal to day guests in order for the park to host special “Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party” or “Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party” after-hours hard-ticket events.
I took my own kids to each of these events from time to time when they were little. The extra cost for admission for an event that only lasted a few hours wasn’t terrible, especially while trying to make those family memories.
These days, however, I’ve got to say that I think the pricing has gotten a bit out of hand. A quick look at this year’s prices for both events shows a calendar of variable pricing that can range from $149 to $199 per person.
When the cost of these special events exceeds the cost of a day’s admission, do they hold the same appeal? Are you now more inclined to seek out a new experience?
Rise of the pricing resistance
The ever-rising cost of admission has started to become a turn-off to many potential guests. Yet, the fact that these events are still selling out on a regular basis tells management an entirely different story.
Disney, however, has learned an important lesson in pricing resistance as it prepares to close Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser after just 18 months. After the initial wave of excitement wore off, regular guests were unwilling to pay the huge price tag Disney wanted for this ultra-themed resort experience.
It should be interesting to see what lessons were learned moving forward.
Top image: Universal Resort Orlando, Halloween Horror Nights
