STAR-BULLETIN FILE Fiji dancers performed for tourists at the Polynesian Cultural Center during a 1999 show.

Hawaii attractions enjoy
new life during holidays

Amusement parks nationwide
also see strong sales between
Christmas and New Year's

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By Mike Schneider
Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla. >> The Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World closed its entrance gates three times because it was too crowded during the week between Christmas and New Year's Day.

Legoland California racked up its strongest attendance during the last two weeks of the year. And the Las Vegas Strip in the days around New Year's Eve was the most packed it has been since Sept. 11.

In Hawaii, where visitor arrivals for the week prior to New Years were down almost 17 percent compared to a similar period last year, local attractions enjoyed their own mini boost in attendance.

One of Hawaii's biggest visitor attractions, the Polynesian Cultural Center, had its down time after Sept. 11 but has come back to life.

"We've had a couple of our best days since Sept. 11," said Blaine Jascobson, vice president of marketing.

ASSOCIATED PRESS Walt Disney World, which drew huge crowds for its Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Parade, had to stop admission to the park three times during the holidays.

Holiday business picked up late, after a slow start, but putting all the numbers together the PCC's holiday business came out close to last year's, he said.

For a couple of days at the end of 2001 the facility was close to capacity, he said.

A number of other Hawaii visitor attractions reported they too were encouraged by visitor attendance over the holidays.

Even if the numbers were not as strong as last year, attendance was better than many expected, said Lori Lum, president of Hawaii Attractions Association, the trade group that represents some of the state's most popular visitor attractions.

"In spite of everything, people continued to travel," said Ron Williams, president of Atlantis Adventures.

Overall, the weeks around the holidays marked a bustling end to what was one of the most miserable years for the nation's tourist attractions. But questions remain about whether the revival can be sustained during January and February, traditionally slow months between Christmas and spring break.

Many plans for Christmas and New Year's travel were made before Sept. 11, so the success of those two holidays are no indication of how tourist attractions will fare in 2002, said Orlando-based tourism consultant Peter Yesawich.

"I would by no means take admission counts of the past few weeks as to what the future holds," Yesawich said. "The holiday numbers are a bit of an aberration."

Florida tourism officials say the success of the next two months will be determined by consumer confidence, special promotions and how cold it gets up north.

"We pray for snow everyday for every place north of Jacksonville," said Nicki E. Grossman, president and CEO of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau.

During the last two weeks of the year, many tourist attractions had their best business all year after suffering dramatically following the Sept. 11 attacks.

"They can't say that people weren't traveling because they were here," said Donna Lynne Dalton, recording secretary for the Teamsters Local 385, which represents costumed workers at Disney World.

In Key West, tourists scrambled to find hotel rooms and the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum was back to its usual peak of about 400 visitors a day.

Lodging occupancy averaged 85 to 90 percent throughout the Florida Keys during the past two weeks, said Peter Ilchuk, executive director of the Lodging Association of Key West and the Florida Keys.

In Orlando, which has almost 105,000 rooms, the occupancy rate during the week between Christmas and New Year's averaged 80 percent or higher, a vast improvement from November's 52 percent.

But hoteliers didn't make near the money that they did in past years because the average room rate was down 25 to 50 percent, said Richard Maladecki, president of the Central Florida Hotel Motel Association.

The Magic Kingdom wasn't the only theme park to close due to overcrowding. Epcot had to shut its gates once, although neither theme park reached the levels of Christmas week attendance of past years.

SeaWorld Orlando and Tampa Bay Busch Gardens have seen their numbers of domestic visitors recover, helped by their Salute to America's Heroes program, which gives free admissions to the nation's law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians and members of the armed forces.

Both Disney World and Universal launched similar programs this week.

At Legoland in Carlsbad, Calif., near San Diego, attendance boomed during the last two weeks of the year as families looked for places to take their school-age children during winter break. The pace will slow down, however, until March when spring break arrives, spokeswoman Courtney Simmons said.

In Las Vegas, hotels were close to full occupancy, although revenues were down due to discounting around New Year's Eve, one of the busiest times of the year. The metro area has more than 125,000 hotel rooms.

"It was a very strong weekend for us," said Erika Brandvik, a spokeswoman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. "Everyone is raving about how it went."

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Star-Bulletin reporter Lyn Danninger
contributed to this story.