Profitability

The Gunstock Mountain Adventure Park offers a ZipTour® attraction, featuring dual cables over five spans covering nearly 1.6 miles. The entire guest experience is about 2 hours, and includes a scenic chairlift ride. For many of our guests, the ZipTour is the most exhilarating ride they’ve ever experienced. Before they try the ZipTour®, people constantly tell me “I’ve been zip lining before” and I smile and say “not like this you haven’t!” Our tours are selling out nearly every day, and many people have returned to experience the thrill multiple times. I personally can’t get enough of it.

People really like being able to control their own speed. It gives them a sense of security and safety that other zip line products can’t provide. From an operator’s perspective, the ZipTour® is relatively easy to run. The tour can be run either with dedicated guides accompanying each group, or with guides stationed on the top and bottom of each platform assisting guests on and off the lines. On a busy day, we’ve put more than 350 people a day through the tour.

The ZipTour® has become the anchor attraction for the resort. As the word about the tour spreads, we’re seeing guests from all over the country. We’ve had success in getting ZipTour® guests to try other attractions (Segway Tours, Aerial Treetop Course) while they’re here for their tour. From Memorial Day to Columbus Day 2012, we ran almost 16,500 customers through the tour, and grossed over $1 Million in sales. As of Labor Day weekend (2013), we hosted over 30,000 people on tours, and we reached the $2 million mark in total ZipTour® sales at Gunstock!"

“The ZipRider®, to me, is more than just a 90 second thrill ride. Just getting to the top is an adventure. You'll most likely see whales and other marine life on the first part of the drive, and then you get the privilege to take a look into the deep forested Alaska...where the mighty coastal brown bears dwell. Never is it guaranteed to see bears or any wildlife on the drive up, but the possibilities are there, which adds to the allure of the ride. Now onto the ride, I've personally ridden the ride 500 plus times and I can say I always find something that grips my attention and leaves me wanting to find the first person I see and recreate in words what I have just experienced.

The ZipRider® has continued to be a huge attraction at Icy Strait Point. There are a large number of guests each ship day that come here just for the ZipRider®. And yes, most of the riders that ride our ZipRider® for the first time are completely blown away. There are people at the top, waiting to ride, that are so terrified you'd think their worst nightmare came true, but with a few encouraging words from our playful, easy going crew they usually take the flight. Then, after the ride, the amazement is well defined in their body language AND their use of certain profanities. But it most likely ends with a big hug from family members signifying the completion of a major event or milestone in one's life. It's pretty neat to witness.”