Orange County Register

This year, fewer people have stepped through the turnstiles of parks owned by Knott’s Berry Farm’s parent, Cedar Fair Entertainment Co.

On Tuesday, Cedar Fair reported attendance had dropped at its theme parks–and revenue along with them–for the first nine months of 2009, compared with the same period last year.

A company release notes attendance was down by 1.2 million, despite many of the parks adding operating days to their seasons this year. Besides Knott’s, Cedar Fair owns 10 other amusement parks, seven water parks, and five hotels across the United States and Canada. Only Knott’s and the indoor water park Castaway Bay in Ohio remain open year-round.

Net revenue company-wide was $810.5 million, down by $66.5 million from the same time last year.

 “As anticipated, 2009 has been a challenging year for us,” said Dick Kinzel, Cedar Fair chairman,
president and chief executive officer.

Specific results for Knott’s were not made available. The third quarter’s numbers would have included only a small portion of the attendance and revenues for Halloween Haunt, which started in late September and ended Nov. 1. The report released on Tuesday did say Knott’s gets most of its visitors during the last half of the year.

Knott’s does not release specific attenance figures, but officials there have said the number of visitors for Haunt this year was “flat” compared with last year.

Kinzel blamed the lower attendance numbers on a steep drop in group sales, due to the slow economy and spending cuts by businesses and schools. Poor weather was also a factor at some of the parks, he added.

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