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%

Ohio Concert By Flag-Waver Lee Greenwood: Country Singer Likes Fred Thompson Over GOP Field

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani barnstorms across the Cincinnati-area today: A fundraiser, a Reds game, a political rally in a pub, then on to conservative talker Sean Hannity's touring show at the Kings Island amusement park in Warren County. One of the acts performing is country music star Lee Greenwood, who is famous for God Bless the USA. Turns out that the flag-waving singer is not a Giuliani fan -- he likes Fred Thompson, the former senator from Tennessee who is expected to jump into the GOP race by September.

Greenwood bills himself as America's Most Recognized Patriot, and he has a huge following that loves his way of praising the red, white and blue values. They are generally conservative folks, sometimes with ties to the military. Greenwood spoke to a Cincinnati freelancer, Chris Varias, for a piece promoting Hannity's Freedom Concert, which is touring this summer to raise money for military families.

Varias asked Greenwood: "Are you endorsing any presidential candidates?" Greenwood's reply ladled out praise like red-eye gravy on biscuits for Thompson, but noted Fred's not running. Yet.

"No. We haven't aligned ourselves with anyone, but at this time in the world we need a strong leader. It would be Fred Thomspon, but he's not running. He's a Tennessean, of course."

All of Varias interview with the singer is posted online HERE. Political observers who are Nashville cognoscenti know Greenwood's words conjured up another song, a tune by Hank Willians Sr., that goes " move it on over, move over little dog because the big dog's steppin' in."

Ohio's Kings Island: There's A Report It Looks Dumpy

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The 364-acre amusement park off Interstate 71 called Kings Island is 24 miles north of Cincinnati and has been visited by millions. It is one of the most important tourist destinations in Ohio. Cedar Fair, the operator of Cedar Point, bought it last year and Wikipedia reports the company has beefed up the staff assigned to keep Kings Island clean.

Even so, a couple of reports have reached The Bellwether -- all by word-of-mouth -- that the park looked a little unkempt, or frayed. And it would be a blow to Ohio's economy if Kings Island lands a reputation as a dump.

Now there is a first hand description of the slide. Joe Wessels, a freelance journalist and blogger from Cincinnati, recently visited Kings Island on a family outing. He wrote that he had a great time, but still noted a disturbing decline in its appearance.

"Safe to say: The park just does not look itself these days. It is no longer well cared for anymore. Many of the buildings need paint, grass needs to be mowed, weeds pulled, mulch put down, pavement repaired. Light bulbs were burnt out throughout the park. The bathrooms were disgusting. And not trying to sound like an old geezer or anything, but, kids, it just wasn't that way when i was a youngin'. It used to feel magical being at that place."

The park's website is HERE. There are reviews available all around the Internet, too. All can easily be found and accessed. Don't know how much to trust them because they could be subject to sockpuppetry, but the reviews generally give the place fine ratings. Mostly, the unflattering comments seemed to be mentions of steep prices. However, Wessel's take matches what others have said in conversation this summer. (Have not been up there to check things out.)