A Scam As Old As Time

Which, if you ask the Ark Encounter people, is 6,000 years.  Via Yellow Dog, Joe Sonka crunches the numbers on just how many visitors the Yabba Dabba D'oh park is going to get (and its expected tax revenue base as a result).  Turns out not only does the Yabba Dabba D'oh feasibility study stink like a load of T-Rex dung (it was performed by the park owner's business partner!), but the estimate they came up with (1.6 million people per year, 80% from outside Kentucky) is also total dino poop compared to other attractions in the area.

But speaking of "feasible numbers", let's take a look at other parks in the area, and whether ARG's estimates seem feasible.

The Creation Museum averages over 300,000 visitors per year. And this is an all year round attraction, as the exhibits are inside no matter what the weather, unlike Ark Encounter. In fact, the major differences between the two are:

1) Ark Encounter is an outdoor attraction, meaning that this will be a mostly seasonal attraction
2) Ark Encounter has a giant boat, whereas the Museum has animatronic dinosaurs. I wonder which one kids will like more.
3) The Creation Museum is right next to 2,000,000 people. Ark Encounter is in the middle of nowhere.

Yet "ARG" expects us to believe that Ark Encounter will get 6-7 times the visitors that the Creation Museum gets. Interesting.

OK, how about King's Island? King's Island, which is nearing it's 40 year anniversary, had 3 million visitors in 2009. King's Island, of course, has about a million rides and a water park for kids to go nuts in. And despite the fact that Ark Encounter has no rides (just a giant boat), ARG expects people to believe that it will receive over half the annual attendance of King's Island in it's first year, and then 2/3 of its attendance in the following years.

Does this even pass the smell test?

How about the Cincinnati Zoo? In 2008, this zoo in the heart of a city of 2,000,000 people had 982,043 attendees. Yet ARG expects us to believe that Ark Encounter in Grant County will double the zoo's attendance in it's second year.

Have Steve Beshear's people really seen these numbers?

How about Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville? Before rides starting chopping little kids' legs off recently, in 2005 it had 850,000 visitors. So a park with tons of rides and water park in the middle of a metropolitan area of over 1,000,000 people had 850,000 attendees a year, but ARG expects a park with a giant boat to have twice that amount in it's first year.

If you believe that the Yabba Dabba D'oh is going to attract that many visitors, I have a six thousand year old picture of cavemen riding dinosaurs to sell you too.  My tax money is paying for this?  Really?  For a big boat, a petting zoo, and a soul-crushing miasma of science-killing ignorance?

Keep up the good work on this, Joe.

New tag for this national friggin' embarassment:  Yabba Dabba D'oh.