Disney's $100 Million Gamble

LAKE BUENA VISTA (Orlando Sentinel) – Walt Disney World called it nahtazu in its TV ads – striving to define its Animal Kingdom as anything but a plain old zoo. But now, Disney is about to try a shot of steel-railed adrenaline to drive home that message in an attempt to attract more – and younger – visitors who want a little more of a rush along with the lions, tigers, shows and themed rides. It's called Expedition Everest, Disney's first large outdoor roller coaster that opens to annual- and seasonal-pass holders late this week and other guests intermittently for the next month. With a reported price tag of up to $100 million, Everest needs to be more than just a must-ride new attraction. It must be enough to entice visitors to tack an extra day onto their Disney stays. And by staying longer at Disney – a key strategy for the company – those visitors may opt to skip a trip or shorten a visit to crosstown rivals SeaWorld Orlando or Universal Orlando, each of which has added new attractions or rides in recent years. "It's the whole function of how you get your money back. You don't just get it from the gate," said Orlando-based consultant Steve Baker, president of Baker Leisure Group. "You get it through extended stays in hotel rooms. People who plan to come when something is new, they'll get them. Now it'll take an extra half-day to see everything, and they'll get that extra night in the hotel." And right now Animal Kingdom – Disney World's most passive and least popular park since it opened in 1998 – may be the one that vacationers most likely try to squeeze into a few hours, or simply skip on a tight schedule. While agreeing that Everest should extend visitors' stays at Animal Kingdom, Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Polak dismissed the idea that the park now is often a quick visit that people fit in around the other parks. "Animal Kingdom, in and of itself, is a full-day experience. It doesn't have the nighttime appeal the other parks have. It typically closes around 5 o'clock," she said. "But it certainly . . . offers an experience that the other theme parks don't have here at Walt Disney World." Animal Kingdom's attendance of 8.2 million last year still was far ahead of all non-Disney theme parks in North America, according to data published by Amusement Business magazine. But that gate was bolstered by the major celebration tied to Disneyland's 50th anniversary – and the trick is staying popular, Baker said. "It's critical," Baker said of Everest. "You can't maintain your market share . . . without new inclusions every so often, maybe every 18 months or every two years." Yet big new attractions don't guarantee more customers.

• Last year, Universal Studios Orlando opened its Fear Factor Live show but saw a 6 percent drop in attendance compared with a big 2004, when its Revenge of the Mummy ride opened.
• Likewise, attendance fell at Kings Island in Ohio and Knott's Berry Farm in California despite new coasters.
• On the other hand, Mission: Space, which also reportedly cost $100 million, helped turn around Epcot's falling attendance in 2003.
• The last time a major new roller coaster was added to an existing Central Florida park was 2000 with Kraken. SeaWorld saw an 11 percent increase in attendance that year.
  

At Animal Kingdom, Everest also may be key to capturing the attention of teens and young adults who can grow tired of animal safaris, shows and slower rides, industry observers said. "I think they're trying to open the demographic that would be interested in that park," said Jerry Aldrich, president of Amusement Industry Consulting in Orlando. Spokeswoman Polak and other Disney officials insisted the ride's main appeal would be familywide, driven not by the physical thrills but by the story line and an adventure conveyed through details and special effects. In fact, Disney officials normally don't even refer to Expedition Everest as a "roller coaster," and the words don't appear in promotional materials, other than with a promise of "coaster-like thrills." It's a "runaway train adventure." The story has riders traveling into the Himalayas, where the mythological yeti – as the Abominable Snowman is called there – protects the region. Disney says the Everest train tops out at about 50 mph with a maximum drop of 80 feet and that at one point it rushes backward. A database on roller coasters, rcdb.com, reports that the ride will be 4,400 feet long, with a maximum height of 112 feet, figures Disney did not confirm. Disney is setting the minimum-height limit for riders at 44 inches. None of those features would place Everest among the top 10 coasters in the United States for speed, drop, length or height. But American Coaster Enthusiasts' Steve Gzesh, who watched test runs in November, declared Everest "a very respectable ride." "And it goes forward and backwards," Gzesh said. "That ought to be pretty cool."