ORLANDO (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Florida's theme park industry is expanding their offerings of off season concerts to help bolster attendance and oftentimes, the target audience for such entertainment are local music fans rather than tourists.
"Concerts definitely help bring people to theme parks during these slower times of the year," Ricky Brigante, owner of InsideTheMagic.Net, a website that follows Orlando theme parks told the Orlando Sentinel. "I can tell just by driving into the parking lot — 'Oh, must be a concert day' — because the parking lot is a whole lot more full."
Some of the high profile artists performing at theme parks this year include Kelly Clarkson, Trace Adkins and rapper B.o.B but the theme parks do not charge extra for admission, instead relying on park admissions to underwrite the events.
One example is Seaworld in Tampa who expanded their Bands, Brew & BBQ fest, a four weekend concert series that features artists such as Sara Evans and Scott McCreery.
Disney is hosting the Flower Power concert series in March, featuring artists from the 1960s and 1970s such as the Turtles and Chubby Checker, while Universal is tying their events into a Mardi Gras theme.
"We don't put a lot of marketing toward tourists for our [concert] events at this point," Toni Caracciolo, SeaWorld's vice president of marketing told the Sentinel. "It boils down to more value and more reasons [for pass holders] to visit." – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
