Luv2Roam
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Full article:
http://orlando.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/2003/01/06/newscolumn1.html
"Go figure. Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, Walt Disney World published its quarterly park attendance figures and provided year-end numbers for the Orlando and California parks. Following the 1986 arrival of Michael Eisner, the releases ended.
Did that pose a problem for Tim O'Brien?
"Hell, yes. I panicked," says the veteran journalist for Amusement Business, the trade journal for the industry. O'Brien started the list in 1985 and says at that point, everyone wanted their numbers published. However, Disney's decision changed the momentum. So much so that this year's list contains "official" figures from only four of the top 50 parks.
O'Brien has developed a process for getting those "secret" attendance figures, however.
"I have a little formula I follow. I talk to local convention and visitors bureau people and some really knowledgeable (hotel) general managers and get a sense of what's going on in the region," O'Brien says. "I depended on inside sources, mostly marketing people. Then one day an operations guy called me and said, 'I don't know who is blowing smoke about our numbers, but here's the deal.' Now I'm getting even better ones."
For O'Brien and the magazine, it's more about the ups and downs and less about the actual numbers. "Research people call me all upset," he says. "They say, 'How can you adjust your numbers in midyear?' "
It's all relative. "Our goal isn't to be totally accurate; it's to create a list that indicates the relative popularity of the parks to each other," O'Brien says.
"I'd bet I'm only off by less than 2 percent," he adds.
For the record, the magazine ranks Disney's Magic Kingdom as the No. 1 performer with an estimated 14.7 million visitors.
However, all of Orlando's Disney parks dropped in attendance. Only California's Disneyland gained, by 3 percent.
The big winner was Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure, up 10 percent to 6.1 million visitors, a gain attributed to the Halloween Horror Nights move. Sister park Universal Studios, which previously hosted the popular seasonal event, took a 6 percent drop.
© 2003 American City Business Journals Inc."
http://orlando.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/2003/01/06/newscolumn1.html
"Go figure. Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, Walt Disney World published its quarterly park attendance figures and provided year-end numbers for the Orlando and California parks. Following the 1986 arrival of Michael Eisner, the releases ended.
Did that pose a problem for Tim O'Brien?
"Hell, yes. I panicked," says the veteran journalist for Amusement Business, the trade journal for the industry. O'Brien started the list in 1985 and says at that point, everyone wanted their numbers published. However, Disney's decision changed the momentum. So much so that this year's list contains "official" figures from only four of the top 50 parks.
O'Brien has developed a process for getting those "secret" attendance figures, however.
"I have a little formula I follow. I talk to local convention and visitors bureau people and some really knowledgeable (hotel) general managers and get a sense of what's going on in the region," O'Brien says. "I depended on inside sources, mostly marketing people. Then one day an operations guy called me and said, 'I don't know who is blowing smoke about our numbers, but here's the deal.' Now I'm getting even better ones."
For O'Brien and the magazine, it's more about the ups and downs and less about the actual numbers. "Research people call me all upset," he says. "They say, 'How can you adjust your numbers in midyear?' "
It's all relative. "Our goal isn't to be totally accurate; it's to create a list that indicates the relative popularity of the parks to each other," O'Brien says.
"I'd bet I'm only off by less than 2 percent," he adds.
For the record, the magazine ranks Disney's Magic Kingdom as the No. 1 performer with an estimated 14.7 million visitors.
However, all of Orlando's Disney parks dropped in attendance. Only California's Disneyland gained, by 3 percent.
The big winner was Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure, up 10 percent to 6.1 million visitors, a gain attributed to the Halloween Horror Nights move. Sister park Universal Studios, which previously hosted the popular seasonal event, took a 6 percent drop.
© 2003 American City Business Journals Inc."