Roller Coasters Vs. Genesis: Creationist Museum Outside Cincinnati Had 22% 2009 Attendance Drop, King's Island Fell 4%

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Developers of the proposed Ark Encounter theme park in Williamstown, Ky., need no polite reminders of how tourist attractions are affected by economic downturns.  All the reminders they need are in the publicly available tax returns of their own Creation Museum, which is located on the Bluegrass State side of suburban Cincinnati .  In its first full year of operation, the Creation Museum reported it pulled in "slightly over" 400,000 visitors to its exhibits showing dinosaurs living alongside humans on an earth created by God some 7,000 years ago.  The museum rejects the theory of evolution.  Year two, which ended June 30, 2009, saw a near 22% attendance drop-off to "roughly" 310,000 visitors.  The dip occurred in the throes of the Great Recession and many attractions across the U.S. suffered from down gates.  But the Christian exhibit did far worse than Disney -- whose theme parks managed to eke out gains in 2009.  Mickey Mouse & Co. somehow kept them coming.  So far, there is no tax return available for 2010; it is hard to know if the drop in interest at the Creation Museum has leveled off, turned the corner or benefited from a miraculous recovery.

Still, the proposed Ark park's co-developer, Answers in Genesis of Kentucky, is no Mickey Mouse operation.  In its first two years, it paid a combined $21 million in employee salaries and benefits.  It paid a combined $19 million in other expenses, such as office equipment, advertising and travel.  And there is no telling what kind of halo effect it had on all the gas stations and restaurants west of the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

But if the museum's second-year tax return is any kind of guide, the recession has hurt.  Total revenue fell 12% to $20 million.  Contributions and grants fell 15% to $8.2 million.  Its ministry outreach program went from 399 seminars and 205,000 attendees to 288 seminars and 185,00 attendees.  And its revenues-minus-expenses line item (they don't call it profit) shrank from $2.1 million to $715,563.  Other interesting takeaways from the 2009 (most recently available) tax return:

• CEO Ken Ham received $129,832 in salary and $46,186 in benefits and other compensation.
• Ham had two daughters, a son and son-in-law on the payroll as staff members.
• Takenbac Enterprises LLC of Hebron is listed as a general or managing partner.  Kentucky's Secretary of State office shows its "managers" to be James Hatton (AiG's chief financial officer), John Pence (AiG's general counsel) and a Dale Janssen.

From Theme Park Insider, you can see that Ohio's King's Island and Cedar Point did not have the attendance declines that hit the Creation Museum.  Obviously, a museum is not quite the same as a theme park, but the numbers offer some glimpse into the economy's impact.  Here are data about attendance rates for the Top 20 U.S. theme parks for 2009:

1. Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom: 17.2 million +1.0%

2. Disneyland: 15.9 million +8.0%

3. Epcot: 11.0 million +0.5%

4. Disney's Hollywood Studios: 9.7 million +1.0%

5. Disney's Animal Kingdom: 9.6 million +0.5%

6. Disney's California Adventure: 6.1 million +9.5%

7. SeaWorld Orlando: 5.8 million -6.8%

8. Universal Studios Florida: 5.4 million -12.0%

9. Islands of Adventure: 4.5 million -13.8%

10. Universal Studios Hollywood: 4.3 million -6.0%

11. SeaWorld San Diego: 4.2 million -12.6%

12. Busch Gardens Tampa: 4.1 million -12.3%

13. Knott's Berry Farm: 3.3 million -6.5%

14. Canada's Wonderland: 3.2 million -6.5%

15. Kings Island: 3.0 million -4.0%

16. Cedar Point : 2.9 million -8.0%

17. Busch Gardens Williamsburg: 2.9 million +3.7%

18. Hersheypark: 2.8 million -1.2%

19. Six Flags Great Adventure: 2.6 million -4.6%

20. Six Flags Magic Mountain: 2.5 million -2.5%

(tie) Six Flags Great America: 2.5 million -6.3%