Smaller amusement parks hope for a strong summer under the shadow of tariffs

NEW YORK (AP) — The trade disputes involving global economic powerhouses such as the U.S. and China are being felt even in such distinctly local places as your regional amusement park.

Families who balk at the cost of a summer vacation at big amusement parks like Disney World favor trips to regional parks, which typically are within driving distance, so expensive flights aren’t necessary. But if tariffs lead to economic uncertainty, they may just stay home.

For park owners, tariffs could subject them to extra costs that their customers might not think about. Parts of the rides are made of imported steel that’s currently subject to tariffs. Those prizes and toys people win after they shoot basketballs into a hoop? They usually come from China, which has been subject to varying tariffs.

So far this year, however, there’s been no letdown.

“We’ve had good crowds, and everyone seems excited to be here,” said Brian Hartley, vice president of Playland’s Castaway Cove, in Ocean City, New Jersey, which boasts 30 rides, miniature golf, go-karts, and other beachfront attractions. “As long as the weather is good, they’re ready to come down.”

That’s true for park-goer Chris Del Borrello, who visited Castaway Cove on a bustling Friday evening with a group of 10 family members, including his four children.

“We come here every year because it’s so fun, and we build memories every single summer,” he said.

Tariffs loom over the summer tourism industry just as leisure travel is expected to get back to pre-pandemic levels. The U.S. Travel Association expects Americans to take 1.96 billion trips this year, up 2% from 1.92 billion last year. Travel spending is also expected to increase 2% year over year.

As park operators prepared for the summer travel season, President Donald Trump unrolled on-again, off-again tariffs against U.S. trade partners that made planning difficult. For example, additional tariffs on goods made in China started at 10% in February, rose to 20% in March, ballooned to 145% in April, and were reduced to 30% in May. On Wednesday, the Trump administration put the number at 55%.

Hartley said he ordered items like stuffed animals for games from China early to beat the tariffs – and benefited from the reduction announced in May.

“We loaded up. We’re tripping over stuff at this point,” he said. “We tried to purchase as much stuff as we could to be ready for the season, because that little bit makes a big difference in the bottom line at the end of the day,” he said.

In particular, the park added two new rides this year, but parts were delivered back in the fall.

Not all parks were as fortunate. At Adventureland, in Farmingdale, N.Y., the steel structure for a new ride, Wave Twister, and some China-made game prizes like plush toys and basketballs were affected by tariff costs, said manager Jeanine Gentile.

“We ordered them months ago before the tariffs were in place, but they typically arrive for delivery at this time of the year, and so obviously the tariffs were in before we received the product,” she said. “We did have to pay additional for those tariffs in order to get the product.”

So far, the park is absorbing the cost. Its operators made the decision not to raise ticket prices this year. But that could change next year.

“We’ve just sort of felt that if we can do this (not raise prices) for Long Island and for our guests, let’s do it where we can afford it, at least for this season,” Gentile said.

Aside from tariffs, economic uncertainty is the biggest challenge for amusement parks this season.

Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, which is co-owned by country legend Dolly Parton and Herschend Family Entertainment, opened a week later in March due to concerns about the economy, Director of Communications Pete Owens said. But attendance at the park, nestled in the Great Smoky Mountains, so far is up 4% from last year. Attendees are spending but looking for deals.

A promotion giving discount tickets to public employees has proved popular. Owens said he is seeing customers buy tickets for their families closer to their actual visits instead of several days or weeks in advance. Some are even waiting until they’re in the Great Smoky Mountains to make a purchase.

“I think they’re all still looking very closely to see what value pricing there is or what opportunities there are,” he said.

The same holds true at Silver Dollar City near Branson, Missouri, an 1880s Western-themed park, which draws its visitors from what president Brad Thomas calls “America’s heartland,” an “oval” in the middle of the country, including Minneapolis, Denver and Memphis and Houston, Texas.

“What those families tend to say as they visit us is that they want their families just to escape, even though there’s a lot of concerns in every family’s life, they’re all dealing with time pressure and money pressure and inflation pressure and all kinds of other things,” said Thomas.

He said this year families coming to the park are sticking to a plan, moneywise.

“They have carved the money that they’ll spend in their day with us or their days with us,” he said. “They’ve planned that into their budget.”

Back at Castaway Cove, Hartley said that while the season is going well, he worries about the mood of consumers as economic uncertainty persists. That could affect trip planning later in the summer.

“People that really haven’t already booked a vacation … it may affect, do they come down here for a weekend? Do they not? Do they come for two days instead of four or five days?” he said. “I think people don’t know what the future is going to hold.”

Playland's Castaway Cove vice president Brian Hartley browses the storage facility at Playland's Castaway Cove amusement park, in Ocean City, N.J, on Friday, June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Mingson Lau)

Rubber ducks in a claw machine at Playland's Castaway Cove amusement park, in Ocean City, N.J, on Friday, June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Mingson Lau)

Park visitor Chris Del Borrello plays a water gun game at Playland's Castaway Cove amusement park, in Ocean City, N.J, on Friday, June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Mingson Lau)

Playland's Castaway Cove booth operator Ja'Vira Blake restocks prizes at Playland's Castaway Cove amusement park, in Ocean City, N.J, on Friday, June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Mingson Lau)

People line up for tickets at Playland's Castaway Cove amusement park, in Ocean City, N.J, on Friday, June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Mingson Lau)

Bags of toy prizes at the Playland's Castaway Cove amusement park storage facility, in Ocean City, N.J, on Friday, June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Mingson Lau)

People enjoy Playland's Castaway Cove amusement park, in Ocean City, N.J, on Friday, June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Mingson Lau)

People play a water gun game at Playland's Castaway Cove amusement park, in Ocean City, N.J, on Friday, June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Mingson Lau)

ADEN, Yemen (AP) — Saudi warplanes have reportedly struck on Friday forces in southern Yemen backed by the United Arab Emirates, a separatist leader says.

This comes as a Saudi-led operation attempts to take over camps of the Southern Transitional Council, or STC, in the governorate of Haramout that borders Saudi Arabia.

Tensions between Saudi Arabia and the UAE rose after the STC moved last month into Yemen’s governorates of Hadramout and Mahra and seized an oil-rich region. The move pushed out forces affiliated with the Saudi-backed National Shield Forces, a group aligned with the coalition in fighting the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.

Meanwhile, the Saudi ambassador to Yemen accused the head of the STC of blocking a Saudi mediation delegation from landing in the southern city of Aden.

The STC deputy and former Hamdrmout governor, Ahmed bin Breik, said in a statement that the Saudi-backed National Shield Forces advanced toward the camps, but the separatists refused to withdraw, apparently leading to the airstrikes.

Mohamed al-Nakib, spokesperson for the STC-backed Southern Shield Forces, also known as Dera Al-Janoub, said Saudi airstrikes caused fatalities, without providing details. The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify that claim.

Al-Nakib also accused Saudi Arabia in a video on X of using “Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda militias” in a "large-scale attack " early Friday that he claimed sepratists were able to repel.

He likened the latest developments to Yemen’s 1994 civil war, “except that this time it is under the cover of Saudi aviation operations.”

Salem al-Khanbashi, the governor of Hadramout who was chosen Friday by Yemen's internationally recognized government to command the Saudi-led forces in the governorate, refuted STC claims, calling them “ridiculous” and showing intentions of escalation instead of a peaceful handover, according Okaz newspaper, which is aligned with the Saudi government.

Earlier on Friday, al-khanbashi called the current operation of retrieving seized areas “peaceful.”

“This operation is not a declaration of war and does not seek escalation,” al-Khanbashi said in a speech aired on state media. “This is a responsible pre-emptive measure to remove weapons and prevent chaos and the camps from being used to undermine the security in Hadramout,” he added.

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen demands the withdrawal of STC forces from the two governorates as part of de-escalation efforts. The STC has so far refused to hand over its weapons and camps.

The coalition's spokesperson Brig. Gen. Turki al-Maliki said Friday on X that Saudi-backed naval forces were deployed across the Arabian Sea to carry out inspections and combat smuggling.

In his post on X, the Saudi ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed al-Jaber, said the kingdom had tried “all efforts with STC” for weeks "to stop the escalation" and to urge the separatists to leave Hadramout and Mahra, only to be faced with “continued intransigence and rejection from Aidarous al-Zubaidi," the STC head.

Al-Jaber said the latest development was not permitting the Saudi delegation's jet to land in Aden, despite having agreed on its arrival with some STC leaders to find a solution that serves “everyone and the public interest.”

Yemen’s transport ministry, aligned with STC, said Saudi Arabia imposed on Thursday requirements mandating that flights to and from Aden International Airport undergo inspection in Jeddah. The ministry expressed “shock” and denounced the decision. There was no confirmation from Saudi authorities.

ِA spokesperson with the transport ministry told the AP late Thursday that all flights from and to the UAE were suspended until Saudi Arabia reverses these reported measures.

Yemen has been engulfed in a civil war for more than a decade, with the Houthis controlling much of the northern regions, while a Saudi-UAE-backed coalition supports the internationally recognized government in the south. However, the UAE also helps the southern separatists who call for South Yemen to secede once again from Yemen. Those aligned with the council have increasingly flown the flag of South Yemen, which was a separate country from 1967-1990.

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Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.

Southern Yemen soldiers of Southern Transitional Council (STC) at a check point, in Aden, Yemen, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo)