Despite recession, area theme parks look to thrive

At Kings Dominion, the 161-foot-tall Dominator will shoot you down a 148-foot drop, accelerate you to 65 mph, turn you upside down five times, and sling you through the world's tallest vertical roller-coaster loop.

All in 2 minutes and 6 seconds.

So, of course, "it was a lot of fun," said 14-year-old Rebecca McDevitt, fresh off the swooping, thundering thrill ride.

Welcome to your "staycation," an answer to the recession vacation blues and the reason why Virginia's two big theme parks likely will weather current economic times better than the nation's megaparks, like Florida's Walt Disney World Resort.

"It's real simple -- we wanted to find a place that's fun to go to," said Mary McDevitt of Midlothian, explaining why she and her two children came to Kings Dominion during spring break from school this week.

"It's close by. We don't have to pay for a hotel room," said McDevitt, a consulting budget analyst. "It has the water park. It has the fun."

Echoing with excited screams, roaring rides, the sound of music and the peal of laughter, Kings Dominion in Doswell and Busch Gardens near Williamsburg are open for the 2009 season with new attractions and good-deal promotions to lure guests.

The McDevitts have season passes to the Hanover County park. "It's really expensive at Disney," Mary McDevitt said, but at Kings Dominion, "the season pass is such a deal. You get the rides and the water park."

The two theme parks loom large in the state's tourism industry, with Kings Dominion hosting more than 2 million guests a year and Busch Gardens welcoming more than 3.1 million.

Busch Gardens is the No. 8 attraction for tourists in Virginia, and Kings Dominion ranks 23rd, according to the 2007-08 state travel survey by the Virginia Tourism Corp. Top-ranked was the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Kings Dominion, which features more than 60 rides, slides, live shows and attractions on its 400 acres, employs more than 3,000 seasonal and 150 year-round workers.

Busch Gardens is a 350-acre, European-themed park with more than 50 rides, shows and attractions and employs about 6,400 people during its summer peak.

While the Disney parks -- the overwhelming leader among theme parks -- have laid off employees, the Virginia theme parks say they are pleased with the crowds they're seeing and they have no plans to cut their staffs.

Opening weekend attendance was up 20 percent compared with last year, said Pat Jones, Kings Dominion's vice president and general manager.

"Typically people stay close to home during hard economic times," Jones said. "Those people who may not be taking the far-away vacation are coming here."

At Busch Gardens, said Kevin Crossett, "so far attendance has been very good."

However, given the state of the economy, said Nancy Gard McGehee, who teaches tourism management at Virginia Tech, "I don't think anybody expects them to have a record year."

For regional amusement parks like Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens, opening a new attraction helps keep visitors clicking through the turnstiles.

For instance, Kings Dominion has two new rides in its lineup: Americana, a 110-foot Ferris wheel; and El Dorado, a high-in-the-sky swinging pendulum ride. Busch Gardens debuted its Sesame Street Forest of Fun children's play area this season.

Busch Gardens has rolled back prices on park passes, with its 1-Park Pass costing as little as $99.95, the lowest price since 2004, it says. The pass is good for a year and gives customers unlimited admission on regular operating days.

At Kings Dominion, "We've got the same price structure as last year," said the park's John Pagel. "We're trying to offer more value inside the park."

"This year, we're trying maintaining, not raising" prices, Pagel said. The Kings Dominion Value Pass is $69.99 per season.

But the park does offer a variety of discounts, like its $19.99 ticket for college students, which Kings Dominion did not offer last spring, he said.

The discounts work.

"We came out on the Spider Spirit coupon," said University of Richmond athletic trainer Katie Kaschub, who visited Kings Dominion with her family last week. "Twenty dollars off."

Contact Peter Bacqué at (804) 649-6813 or .