8 replies to this topic

[Deathsarthe]

My question is, is it possible to make a signifanct and consistant profit per month with a park setup that is Free Rides/Entrance Fee?

Alright... I got a lot to go through because I've tried several different approaches to the matter. About two months ago I've started a "concept park" where I build things and test them among guests. But recently I've been really working with it a lot. Right now the park is at year 76 - with about 73 years in operation. The park has come a long way. I've got 14 roller coasters within 120 different attractions. Attendance usually hovers at 3,000 guests - as most parks do - with the admission fee set at $50. Per month I can expect 1.5-2k profit at the gate.

I also just got done with a huge downsizing, sacking about 25-30 employees. I definitely think the park was over staffed, but I'm saving 2k a month. Before the downsize staff wages would ring at more than $4,000 per month - post-downsizing it sits right at $2.6k per month. I barely have enough mechanics to keep rides running and inspected, and I barely have enough handymen to keep the park spotless. Though I'm running very thin, I do have all areas of the park and all the attractions covered by staff. However, I can expect some rides to not be fixed as at any given time 4 or 5 attractions could be down and often times within the territory of a single mechanic.

As with sacking a bunch of employees, I've also demolished several stalls - most of which were ice cream stalls and souvenir shops (hats/t-shirts/sunglasses/ect.). Anything with a negative dollar per hour income or a negative profit was demolished. I've noticed restocking and running costs have diminished a few hundred dollars per month. The average food shop probably brings in $100 per hour? I've got some that bring in petty cash and some that bring in multiple hundreds of dollars per hour - but most of them are right around $100 per hour. I've got about 50 stalls in operation right now.

Anyway... I've figured that a major loss could be because the average guest hangs around the park for about 40 hours. I've researched this as I've got a weird knack for looking at their time in park. I've also got a handful of guests that have been in the park for over 70 hours that I've been tracking. It makes sense to me that souvenir stalls don't exactly move their product when the majority of guests probably already have most of the different kinds of souvenirs. Park guests just seem so damn stagnant. They come and just don't go away... lol. Only about 1% of the overall population cycle out - meaning only 30 or so guests leave and 30 come back in - giving me the $1.5-$2k gate profit each month.

Oi... that's a lot of information. Maybe I should stop playing RCT lol I've now realized how obsessive I've become. Anyway... I have managed to bring in monthly profits but nothing significant. I think the longest run I've had at bringing in positive income was maybe a year or two because it required so much maintance. However "profit" was between breaking even or making just over $300 a month at best. So I stopped trying for a long time. When I started this park, I had a $5 million fortune and now 76 years later its been diminished to $3.3 million! I've got enough money to last me for about 40 more years

Does anyone have any tips? Suggestions? Ideas? Is it possible to make a profitable park with this Free Ride/Entrance Fee setup?

Edited by Deathsarthe, 18 September 2011 - 08:25 AM.

[Sambo]

It is possible, but the only way I have found to do it is with a small park. Keeping staff trimmed lean, and closing shops that don't turn a profit is essential.

The smaller park has fewer attractions to maintain with the average entrance fee, and the guests get bored/satisfied quicker and leave/return. Thus a higher turnover in less time with lower maintenance. Bigger parks with many more options keep guests longer, but they don't spend in proportion to the length of their stay.

[allyopper1]

I hate to agree with Sambo, but that comment is correct: When guests get bored, they leave - hopefully to be replaced by new guests! however, it is a fine line to balanced: your park must be just good enough to entice new guest, but not so much that they linger. In other words, you must strive to be only a "So - So" park.

Personally, I prefer the pay as you go parks. I end up with plenty of cash to build the best park I can given the landscape. Also, I miss a feature from the old RTC 1 where you could charge for a ride AND have the guest pay for admission! With those parks, I would start with the park being free entry and the guests would pay a-la-cart for their rides . . . however after the park was established, I would gradually start to charge entry fees and first lower then ultimately eliminate the pay per ride and get all my funds from entry fees - but only after the park was well established and well populated with coasters, etc.

It became more fun for me to do this after I experimented with the scenario generation function - I would open one of the scenarios I like, tinker with the features, ride selection, objectives, etc. and then rename it so I don't spoil the original file. Mostly I go for goals that let me play for a long time - say park value of a relativel high value or specific level after 15 years or something similar so I can enjoy the landscape for as long as I want.

With RTC2, I have enhanced this sort of thing by downloading many of the stand alone rides I've found here and I am grateful for all the talented folks who have taken time to design (i.e. modify) existing rides into a different form factor. This helps me work with the 15 year time limit RTC 2 has for its attractions ( guests refuse to pay or otherwise loose interest in a ride after it is 15 years old ). So when I am running a park for 40 - 50 years or so, I replace the Enterprise when it is 14 years old with the Round-Up for the next 14 years. Then it is back to the original Enterprise again.

The 15 year interest level also keeps me active replacing coasters on a fairly regular basis. sometimes, I save a custom design and then reuse it after its replacement becomes too old.

One final comment: It is always dangerous to let staffing levels go too low. I always try to run a park that I would enjoy visiting. To me that means clean and there is only one way to maintain that! As for mechanics, as my park grows, I given them specilized jobs - the majority I assign to a specific area to where they fix broken rides, but approximately two out of six or seven mechanics I assign as inspectors and give them free reign over the park or at least over a large area if it is a large landscape.

Enough for today,

Regards, Allyopper

[Jekkle]

If the original poster should read this, I must say it's very possible to make entrance-fee / free rides as profitable parks. I often build parks using custom landscape and maxing out the area of land the park owns. I do either where guests like more intense rides, or where guests dont have a preference. I'm sure some fanatics would not call my parks 'big' but I believe them to be.

And i'm not really sure what this forum is talking about with the 15 year interest thing in rides?

I'm looking at a 23 year old hyper-twisting coaster i made. I have the game paused... but it sees...
2,688 per hour
100% popularity
75% satisfaction
total customers: 69,743
favorite of: 330 guests
built: 23 years ago
And 118 people are currently on it.

So i'm not sure what that 15 year thing is.... or is that just for rides you have to pay for?

(the ride i'm talking about is a very good coaster though)


Just some examples of profitable parks of mine...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Park 1:

45 Rides
20 years
currently 3500 guests (it used to be upwards of 4000 though
park rating: 520 - bad i know but i'm just looking back on an old game

handymen: 106
maintence: 41
security guards: 44
entertainers: 14
(A couple those might have been fired or something so maybe a couple less in each category)

Money:

my ride running costs run about-------------- 2800 a month
staff wages are ------------------ 11,687 a month
Park Entrance tickets gain me --------------- 9000 to up to 20000 in a good month
Food drink sales ------------------------------ 1900 to 2500 a month
Food drink stock ----------------------------- -450 to -620
Loan Interest (going down due to profits) 400 a month

I net between (i'd say) 2000-3500 on an average month
On a good month, up to 7000

I do advertise pretty constantly

Park Value: 496,000
total admissions: 38,712
income from admissions (over 20 years) 1,953,361.00

Current Entrance Fee: 65.00

REASON I STOPPED PLAYING THIS PARK: I actually maxed out the number of Staff allowed- which is stupid, almost like a bug, because if i can pay to have more staff, i should be able to.

And this park was a GUESTS PREFER INTENSE RIDES so it's heavvvyyyy in roller coasters (i always custom build my own)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Park 2: I wont give as many details but its from a custom scenerio, pay to enter, guests do not prefer intense nor gentle rides. (which i found out with this park is the way to go- better profits

This park:

6,354 Guests
park rating 808 (although just recently... had been 950 and above up until i had over 4000 guests)

Food/Drink Sales : 4500 a month
Food/Drink Stock: -343 to -500 a month
Entrance Tickets: anywhere from 9000 to 15000 a month
Staff Wages: -4280 a month

Currently rapidly paying off a debt that is giving me -700, -650, -600 a month and falling

Park Value: 406,000 or so

53 handymen
19 mechanics
3 security
1 entertainer

49 rides

park entrance: 57.00

This is the park I do if i have time right now... very profitable, 11 years in

[Deathsarthe]

Thanks for replies guys, very informative! Interesting points. I have been reading this post and I put a lot of these points to action. Also thanks Jekkle for sending it to my email, good post very helpful.

[COA]

(In my experience) I find that if you model your park after a real one, it is very possible to keep a pay-at-gate park profitable year after year. Even with a large park. Also, on-ride photos are a good way to make some money from the rides, and food/souvenir stalls too. Remember, easy access to the exit is critical.

[ccarroll]

The 15 year thing is for paying rides. Coasters especially if they are priced high, may drop off after 7 or 8 years. Here's the trick - demolish the old ride, put the same ride in the same place, the game thinks it's a new ride.

[rcthelp]

 As you say, you have reached a 3K guest 'watermark', so you need to get rid of some guests from the park to allow more to come and pay at the gate. I would add 4 things:

 

1. Get rid of ATMs if you have any. You don't want the guests filling their pockets with cash in the Park, only to spend it very slowly on food & drink (assuming they already have most of the souvenirs and on-ride photos).
2. Look at how much cash the guests are arriving with. They usually arrive with 1 of 4 different amounts. If they are arriving with (say) 70,80,90 and 100, crank the entrance fee up to something like 65.
3. Consider closing the park for a couple of months, watch folks go home, then open it again. New guests will arrive quickly to allow you to get back up to the 'watermark'.
4. Add a few more cheap to run rides. Every additional ride cranks up the 'watermark'.

[Woodpecker]

There's also this article by Fossil on how he completed Gravity Gardens, a paid admission park that has a reputation for being the toughest of all the scenarios included with RCT2:

 

http://www.rctmart.c...tyGardens1.html

 

EDIT: and there's this thread, reproduced on Fossil's site, where various users discuss tactics for beating paid admission parks:

 

http://www.rctmart.c...dAdmission.html

Edited by Woodpecker, 07 October 2014 - 09:49 AM.