http://www.teaconnect.org/etea/2009report.pdf

KI had approximately 3,000,000 million guest last year, outdoing the sister park to the north.

Interesting that KI topped CP in total visitors.

I also noticed that Splashin' Safari didn't make the list of top U.S. water parks. With Splashin' Safari being such a big part of Holiday World's appeal it seems odd that less than a third of their 1,000,000+ visitors (the number that would've been needed to make the list) didn't go to Splashin' Safari.

Attendance numbers like that are based on estimates and guesses based on industry trends. It is widely known that those numbers can be way off at time, and are not a very accurate way to say one park has better attendance than another regional park.

At one point in time, when Kings Island was owned by Taft and later KECO, they would report the attendance figures, right down to the single digit level (ie: in 1986, Kings Island had 3,190,165 visitors. Of that number, 320,496 visits came during Winterfest that year). Too bad Cedar Fair doesn`t break out attendance figures like that in their releases!

Yeah that would be really interesting to see exact figures industry wide, not just for Cedar Fair.

I would be neat to see a break out of the numbers such as how many people come for Haunt.

The reason Spashin Safari did not make the list is due to the fact it is not a separate gate. The water parks in the survey are separate gate admissions that don't require admission to a dry park.

^Ah yes, forgot about that.

I wonder what the difference was in season pass vs. one time admissions, particularly for KI & CP?

^ Or it could be Sandusky's extreme weather...

The weather and CP being located between Cleveland and Detroit and not, comparitively speaking, near a major city has a lot to do with it.

Take a look at CW that attracted more visitors than CP and KI by 100,000+, and is located near Toronto.

That is, if those numbers are accurate.

I cannot believe Soak City was on the list of top waterparks. Maybe it is just me, but on my visit to Soak City there wasn't anyone in the whole waterpark but us and we got to ride every water attraction and I really was not impressed with it. Maybe it's because I was just looking forward to getting back into CP with Magnum looming over my head.

The weather and CP being located between Cleveland and Detroit and not, comparitively speaking, near a major city has a lot to do with it.

Take a look at CW that attracted more visitors than CP and KI by 100,000+, and is located near Toronto.

That is, if those numbers are accurate.

Cedar Fair has made comments on Canada's Wonderland being the most attended park.

CW doesn't have any real competition does it?

pretty nice that once you get out of the mecca of theme parks (Orlando)- KI is #5 in North America.

^ Six Flags La Ronde

La Ronde is not close enough to CW to consider it competition (6 hrs, if the 401 actually moves). The only competition is during the Canadian National Exposition (CNE or The Ex) for 2 weeks at the end of August.

Interesting that KI topped CP in total visitors.

A big part of that may be because KI got a new coaster. CP didn't have anything new going on.

La Ronde is not close enough to CW to consider it competition (6 hrs, if the 401 actually moves). The only competition is during the Canadian National Exposition (CNE or The Ex) for 2 weeks at the end of August.

La Ronde is competition. It's one of the other major parks. Cedar Point is a 4.5 hour drive for me. CP is KI competition. HW is a 5 hour drive for me and is also KI competition. Plus La Ronde is adding a new coaster for 2010. In my opinion a 6 hour drive isn't that bad. La Ronde also has a "okay" set of rides. The same goes for Canada's Wonderland. Point is I don't think it's fair to count La Ronde out of the game.

Plus, competition or not, Canada's Wonderland is a great park. It's unfair to say a park doesn't deserve its attendance because it doesn't have competition... If Kings Island didn't exist, Cedar Point would (more or less) have no competition, and would still draw in about the same crowd. People go to Canada's Wonderland because it's a good park, not because there's no where else to go to.

Th13teen, drive the 401 and then tell me it isn't a bad drive.

goodyellowkorn182, CW is an excellent park, in fact their I-street is the best IMO.

^ The fact is, it's competition. You could even say Cedar Point is competition.

Drive the 401 and then tell me it isn't bad drive.

Agreed wholeheartedly about the 401, although I'd much rather drive the 401 than get stuck on the Don Valley Parkway. I've never seen traffic like what the DVP experiences.

CW is an excellent park, in fact their I-street is the best IMO.

CW is a good but not great park IMO. It feels a lot like KI, the atmosphere there is a notch above KIs, but there are only two standout rides, Behemoth and Vortex. Everything else in their coaster collection is average at best. Their wooden collection is not good and is not recommended for people who dislike rough rides. I don't think it's coincidence that Cedar Fair decided to install B&M hypers almost immediately after the ownership change. Both parks really needed a good fan-friendly steel coaster.

La Ronde is not close enough to CW to consider it competition (6 hrs, if the 401 actually moves). The only competition is during the Canadian National Exposition (CNE or The Ex) for 2 weeks at the end of August.

La Ronde is competition. It's one of the other major parks. Cedar Point is a 4.5 hour drive for me. CP is KI competition. HW is a 5 hour drive for me and is also KI competition. Plus La Ronde is adding a new coaster for 2010. In my opinion a 6 hour drive isn't that bad. La Ronde also has a "okay" set of rides. The same goes for Canada's Wonderland. Point is I don't think it's fair to count La Ronde out of the game.

If you consider LaRonde competition for CW, than every park in the North America is in competition with each other as you can take a quick 5 hour flight from Cincy to LA and enjoy SFMM, KBF, or Disney's parks.