Building a custom-made park in Planet Coaster can certainly be a challenge, but finding how to make money in Planet Coaster from your hard work can be even more difficult.
If your rides are too thrilling then your guests will probably puke all over the place, resulting in unhappy customers and less profit. Similarly, if your rides are too boring, guests will feel bored and will want to go home.
Striking the right balance can be a tough cookie to overcome, ensuring your entrance and ride prices are correct along with beautiful park scenery that really sets the mood.
This guide will show you how to maximize profits in Planet Coaster and teach you how to make money in Frontier’s theme park game, Planet Coaster.
Here’s a quick rundown of our 5 easy ways to make money in Planet Coaster:
How to Make Money in Planet Coaster
1. Set the correct entrance fee
When you first open your park or you’re in the process of building it, I recommend not charging a fee at all. Whilst it’s going to be hard to bare, your coaster park doesn’t currently have a reputation, so like anything in life, you’re not going to hand over your hard-earned cash on something you’ve never heard of.
Keep your entrance fee very low to start out with as visitors are the bread and butter to your creation. As guests start filling your Planet Coaster park up, you can raise the entrance fee and maintain a healthy balance between cost and the number of visitors.
2. Manage ride fees
The price of each ride can make or break your park. Rides are what make the money in your theme park so it’s essential to set the correct fee from the get go.
$10+ should be a reasonable price for your first ride, but if guests complain that the price is too high, you can lower it.
If your visitors aren’t saying much then take that as a good sign. People tend to only speak up if they have something to complain about, so keep an eye on your guest’s thoughts and feelings.
3. Practice good (or bad) business
Being a business owner can be ruthless, but if you want to make it big in this game and make more money, you’re going to have to toughen up.
When you first start your park in Planet Coaster you’ll want to hire a janitor to keep your park looking clean and tidy. You’ll also want a mechanic to maintain and repair your rides.
Unfortunately, staff needs paying, but you can actually get away with paying these staff members $1 per month until they pack their bags and quit. Whilst you’re going to end up with very high staff turnover, this is a great way to keep costs low and profits increasing.
If your guests are shouting about a particular ride or shop they love, then go ahead and raise the price – they clearly love it enough to spend their money.
4. Scenery
This is one of my favorite aspects of Planet Coaster. If you’ve ever been to a theme park, especially the likes of Disneyland, then you’ll know how much attention they pay to the scenery.
A decent level of scenery around a particular ride or shop will allow you to charge higher rates. If guests are surrounded by awesome scenery, they’re more likely to wait for a ride or queue for a food or drink store.
Keep your routes neat and tidy along with scenery themes to keep your guests entertained. You may find that you have a natural knack for creating some items that could end up on the Steam workshop.
5. Marketing
Think about the type of guests you want to attract to your park and ensure you’re targeting the right market. If you’re targetting families, the likelihood of them wanting to ride deathly rollercoasters in thin.
However, if you want to attract thrill-seekers, then a merry-go-round probably won’t cut it. Just like a business, you need to decide the kind of customers you want in your park and tailor the experience to meet their needs.
6. Listen to your guests
Guests are a great indicator of how you are running your theme park and if you want to make money in Planet Coaster, you are going to need happy guests, as would you in any business.
Thankfully Planet Coaster gives you the ability to read your guest’s minds, letting you know what they think of rides, scenery, and prices as well as other aspects of your theme park.
If your guests are saying rides or shops are great value for money, great, it’s time to hike the prices up and watch the money roll in.
Don’t feel bad about it, AI visitors don’t have feelings, well, not real ones anyway.
Do make sure to check back on that particular ride or shop you have increased the price on and make sure it’s not led to people moaning about the price rise, keep them happy, but also keep them paying, find the right balance of cash flow and happiness.
7. Build ATM machines
Making money on Planet Coaster by milking your guests of every cent they have is great, but they will eventually run out of money.
Not a problem, make sure to space ATM machines around the park and your guests will be able to get some more money out to spend on your incredibly overly priced attractions and shops.
8. Make staff work more effectivley
The more effective your staff are, the less of them you might need, saving so money and meaning more of your income are turned into profits, not expenses.
Having multiple staff rooms, each with its own perks, can help to maintain a better work schedule and could result in you needing fewer staff to pick up the slack.
This of course doesn’t directly earn you more income, but it will have an impact on your expenses, meaning you have more money left over to use on your park and increase the amount of paying guests coming through your gates.
