• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, April 9, 2007

Ah, spring break--the unofficial start of the roller-coaster season. And with higher gas prices threatening to dampen family travel plans, amusement park companies are pulling out all the stops to attract new riders.

The TEA/ERA Global Theme Park Attendance Report prepared by TEA (formerly Themed Entertainment Association) and ERA (Economics Research Associates) for 2006 shows, overall, attendance was up, but not by much: 119.8 million visited the top 20 theme parks in the U.S. in 2006--an increase of 1.5%. And 11.8 million visited water parks--an increase of 2.5%.

Disney owns the top 5 U.S. parks, ranked by attendance: The Magic Kingdom, Disneyland, Epcot, Disney/MGM Studios, and Disney's Animal Kingdom. Other major players include Universal Studios, Seaworld and Busch Gardens (owned by Anheuser-Busch Cos.), Six Flags, and Cedar Fair, which owns such attractions as Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, and Knott's Berry Farm in California.

Faced with those flattening attendance trends, parks are putting more emphasis into marketing innovations that provide the most impact, including adding "second gates," additional attractions like water parks, to the main amusement park. They're also working hard to expand the shoulder seasons well into the spring and the fall.

But more than ever, the TEA/ERA says, it's the ooh-la-la attractions that create buzz and draw crowds. (Historically, that's meant a roller coaster scary enough to make adults want to throw up and teenagers want never to leave.)

Adding a major new ride can increase traffic by as much as 10%, the TEA/ERA report says, borne out by such big-name 2006 launches as Expedition Everest at Disney's Animal Kingdom and SeaWorld's BELIEVE. And at Legoland California, the addition of a $10 million Pirate Shores is credited with a hefty 16% increase in attendance. (Of course, it's not foolproof: Six Flags Magic Mountain in California launched a major coaster named Tatsu, the report says, and still saw attendance fall 10%.

While there are 1,300 roller coasters in the USA, parks have typically competed furiously for any "-est" distinction, whether fastest, tallest, or steepest. At 456 feet tall and reaching speeds of 128 miles per hour, Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, N.J., currently has bragging rights as the world's tallest and fastest coaster.

Cedar Point, which bills itself as the roller-coaster capital of the world, will unveil its brand-new Maverick next month, a coaster that cost $21 million to build. "It offers the longest ride in the park," says a spokeswoman. "We've really moved in a whole new direction on this one. It's very low to the ground, with lots of twists and turns."

Other new attractions this season, according to the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, include Griffon, a dive coaster at Busch Gardens Europe in Williamsburg, Va.; Mystery Mine, an indoor, heavily-themed coaster at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tenn.; Flying Turns, a wooden bobsled ride at Knoebels Amusement Park in Pennsylvania; the Renegade, a wooden rollercoaster at ValleyFair in Shakopee, Minn., and Tony Hawk's Big Spin, a spinning rollercoaster at Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Six Flags St. Louis. Hershey Park in Pennsylvania is unveiling a 200,000-square-foot water park.

Editor's note: This story has been edited since publication to correct the source of the report.