User Guide

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In that window, select the Income and Costs tab to see a
breakdown of this particular attraction’s financial status.
For a summary of all your rides and shops:
Click the Rides Info button (on the Toolbar).
♦ In the window that opens, use the small arrow button to open the list of
Ride Data options.
♦ Select Profit from the list
♦ Click the nearby Sort button. The least profitable attractions fall to the
bottom of the list.
Once you’ve identified the places where you need to make adjustments,
you should use these same techniques to find out what’s wrong and
what sort of changes you need to effect. Check on the popularity of each
attraction, the level of guest satisfaction, and the thoughts of your visi-
tors about each problem ride.
♦ If customers complain that the ride is not a good value or that they
can’t afford to go on it (or won’t pay that much), consider lowering the
price of admission.
♦ Plenty of riders, but you’re still not making a profit? Maybe you should
raise the price.
♦ If a ride is very old and breaks down frequently, you should decrease
the time between inspections and consider demolishing it and building a
new one.
♦ Perhaps the wait for a ride is too long. Check the way this ride operates
(number of trains, cars per train, wait times, and so on). Maximize the
efficiency of the attraction, and the lines will flow more smoothly. If that’s
not the source of the trouble, you can also consider building a longer
queue and raising the price (so that there are less people in line).
♦ If the price of an older ride is very low, but still no one will patronize it,
then the ride has probably lost its novelty. Consider a marketing campaign —
or demolition.
♦ A brand new ride has no customers, and none of the guests in the park
has any thoughts about it. What’s wrong? Chances are your visitors can’t
find it or get to it. Check your system of footpaths and make absolutely sure
that the ride is accessible. Next, make sure that the ride is open.
Park ManagementPark Management
Need Money?
If you need extra money, you can often (not always — the bank has cer-
tain rules) increase the amount of your loan. To do this:
Click the Finances button to open the Finances window.
Your loan is listed at the bottom of the default display (the first
tab). Click the up arrow next to the amount to borrow more, in
increments of one thousand per click.
Some park managers are uncomfortable with the idea of being in debt to
the bank. At any time when you have enough cash on hand, you can pay
off a portion of your loan. Follow the instructions above, but use the
down-arrow instead of the up-arrow.
Marketing
Word of mouth is the best advertising (so the rubric goes), and a high
Park Rating is certain to attract guests to your gate. However, reputation is
not the only form of marketing, and you should seriously consider making
use of every public relations tool at your disposal.
First, click the Finances button to open the Finances window.
Next, select the Marketing tab.
The options in this display allow you to launch professional campaigns
Desperate Measures
You’re out of cash and the bank won’t give you any more funds. The end of the
month is approaching, and you can’t meet your payroll. What’s there to do?
♦ Wait. You can go into the red for a short time, and your park keeps running.
As long as your rides are generating income, you should eventually rise out of debt.
♦ Dismantle attractions, especially the less profitable ones. This generates immedi-
ate income, though not as much as you might expect. It also relieves you of concern
for the demolished ride, and of whatever long term profit it might have brought.
♦ Remove footpaths. At a few dollars a pop, this isn’t the most lucrative operation,
but most parks have pathways that they can run smoothly without.
♦ Raise prices. This works in the short term, but it might eventually cause dissatis-
faction in your guests. Of all the options, however, this is probably the safest overall.
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