FOX Enterprise’ Ashley Webster stories from the Amusement Park Expo and showcases the sights and video games on ‘Varney & Co.’
Costs are more and more high of thoughts for households planning theme-park holidays – and it’s displaying within the numbers.
Revenues at U.S. amusement parks have slipped practically 2% yr over yr after a number of years of regular post-pandemic development, based on the Federal Reserve Financial institution of St. Louis.
A serious sign got here from Disney: in its newest earnings report, the corporate revealed a drop in attendance at its home parks for the fiscal yr ending in September.
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Company stroll previous Cinderella Fortress on the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World on April 2, 2025, in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune Information Service)
With customers extra cost-conscious and selective, operators are racing to create recent causes to go to, pouring cash into family-centered sights and high-profile partnerships with main leisure manufacturers and gaming franchises.
“We see increasingly manufacturers coming into this trade,” Worldwide Affiliation of Amusement Parks and Sights (IAAPA) CEO Jakob Wahl advised FOX Enterprise. “If it’s DreamWorks themed water parks, Epic Universe with Nintendo, or Minecraft coming to the Merlin parks – the gaming and leisure industries are merging collectively.”
Common’s new Epic Universe park is banking closely on that technique, tapping Nintendo to anchor a flagship land constructed round its globally beloved characters. Tremendous Nintendo World goals to harness the big base of followers who know the model from video games, movies and merchandise.
A nighttime celebration at Common Epic Universe in Orlando, Florida. (Common Parks USA)
And Minecraft, the best-selling recreation of all time, is headed to Merlin’s international parks, a part of a broader push to carry immediately recognizable mental property to the entrance gates.
On the identical time, family-oriented parks are spending large to remain aggressive.
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Legoland simply introduced its first “design-your-own-coaster” attraction in Florida and California. The Galacticoaster – a $90 million funding – lets youngsters select the nostril, tail and wings of the spacecraft they’ll trip into “Lego house,” with 625 potential combos.
| Ticker | Safety | Final | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIS | THE WALT DISNEY CO. | 104.28 | +1.58 | +1.54% |
| FUN | SIX FLAGS ENTERTAINMENT | 13.45 | +0.62 | +4.83% |
| CMCSA | COMCAST CORP. | 27.35 | +0.72 | +2.70% |
Rob Smith, Merlin’s COO, which owns Legoland, advised FOX Enterprise the purpose is a real multi-generational expertise: “With the Galacticoaster, you’ll see nods to Lego merchandise from a long time in the past that folks will bear in mind from their very own childhood. It’s all of the classics, delivered via new know-how and immersive digital experiences.” The trip opens in early 2026.
Dollywood Parks and Resorts in Tennessee unveiled one of many IAAPA Expo’s greatest splashes: a $50 million NightFlight Expedition that can turn into the world’s first household hybrid coaster–whitewater raft trip. Utilizing greater than half 1,000,000 gallons of water, the attraction sends visitors on a nighttime journey via the Smoky Mountains, mixing an indoor coaster with a river-raft plunge.
Dollywood Parks and Resorts’ new NightFlight trip on show on the 2025 IAAPA Expo. (Dollywood Parks and Resorts)
“This can be a large step ahead for Dollywood,” President Eugene Naughton advised FOX Enterprise. “It permits us to compete with Disney and Common, and I feel we’re beating them at their very own recreation.”
Naughton says Dollywood’s deal with visitor expertise has helped draw households from greater than two dozen states every season.
Parks chasing the thrill-seeking demographic are additionally upping the ante.
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Six Flags is investing closely in its new “Tormenta” coaster in Texas, which is able to break a number of world information when it opens in 2026. The dive coaster would be the world’s tallest and longest, and the quickest – hitting 87 mph – together with that includes the steepest 95-degree vertical drop, the very best Immelmann inversion (a half-loop adopted by a half-roll), and the tallest vertical coaster loop.
“We’re all the time going sooner and taller,” Ken Parks, Six Flags’ company vice chairman of planning and design, advised FOX Enterprise. “For 2026, this will likely be a assured world breaker.”
The Tormenta Rampaging Run curler coaster that can debut at Six Flags Over Texas in 2026. (Six Flags)
Parks added that whereas thrill rides carry headlines, households nonetheless drive the trade.
“There’s an enormous viewers seeking to make reminiscences collectively.”
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At the same time as costs climb, operators are layering in reductions and perks to maintain attendance up. Disney, for instance, has paired worth will increase with focused incentives like “free eating plan” promotions, lodge offers, and resident-only reductions.
Merlin’s Smith says the trade has no alternative however to adapt.
“Everybody is aware of the challenges on this shopper financial system,” Smith stated. “We’ve reacted with completely different worth factors, completely different presents, annual passes as we head into 2026.”