If you ever begged your parents for a trip to Disneyland but instead found yourself shooting out of a waterslide two hours from home, then you’ve probably visited a regional theme park.

And much to the dismay of Disney-loving kids everywhere, they’re becoming increasingly common as consumers look to travel more and pay less, per The Wall Street Journal.

But these parks are working hard to make the trip worthwhile:

• Six Flags Entertainment and Cedar Fair had an $8B merger in 2023, joining their combined 27 amusement parks, 15 water parks, and nine resorts. In the 12 months leading up to Q3 of 2023, the companies saw 48m guests.
• British theme park operator Merlin Entertainments opened a Legoland park in New York in 2021 and is working on a Peppa Pig park in Dallas-Fort Worth after opening one in Florida in 2022.
• Great Wolf Lodge has 20 indoor water park locations across the US and Canada with more planned. By 2025, ~90% of the US population will be within a four-hour drive of a park. The chain has ~8.7k rooms, up from 4.3k in 2014, and the average occupancy rate is ~80% annually, up from 65% 10 years ago.

Some of the success might be due to deep-pocketed backers: The Blackstone Group acquired a 65% stake in parent company Great Wolf Resorts in 2019 and holds a majority stake in Merlin Entertainments.

Along for the ride

The demand seems to be gaining momentum — the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions estimates a 2% increase in theme park attendance this summer, totaling 300m+ annual visits.

Smaller players are also trying to ride the trend. Silverwood Theme Park in Idaho opened the “longest dueling water coaster” in the US this month, and Maine’s Funtown Splashtown USA added its first new ride in 20 years last summer.

And, of course, the major players are on it, too. Universal broke ground on a kids’ resort outside of Dallas, and Mattel is opening Adventure Parks in Arizona and Kansas.

The biggest potential obstacle? “We’re going to our nearest regional theme park!” just won’t hit the same at the Super Bowl.

$6.5m: How much you’d have to pay to live in the San Francisco home once occupied by the Tanner family in “Full House.” The four-bed Victorian appeared in both the original series (1987-95) and in the 2016-20 reboot we forgot about until just now. While the inside doesn’t look like the show — interior scenes were shot in LA — the new owner can opt to buy handprints in concrete stone from John Stamos and Bob Saget.

8,795: How many cans of SpaghettiOs you’d need to write The Lord of the Rings trilogy, according to Instagrammer, skateboarder, and artist Abstract Tyler. He came to this conclusion by finding the average number of each letter per can, then putting this data into a program he wrote for this specific purpose. It would cost ~$12.2k to buy enough cans, but on the bright side, you’d have 8.1m+ leftover letters — enough for several second breakfasts.

98: Age of the man believed to be America’s oldest organ donor. WWII and Korean War vet Orville Allen died in May after suffering a fall, but was in good health otherwise. His children were surprised when hospital staff asked if they would donate his liver, but said yes, as their dad always went out of his way to help others. The liver was successfully transplanted in a 72-year-old woman.

86%: Share of Americans who say it’s unacceptable to let children play in the aisle mid-flight. YouGov surveyed Americans on 30 controversial behaviors, finding that 80%+ also find it unacceptable to get drunk, leave their seat during turbulence, and watch TV without headphones. However, 55% think it’s fine to recline their seat, meaning that, yeah, that one’s still going to be a hot item for debate.