Planet Coaster: Tips For Building a Successful Theme Park

Don’t Be Afraid to Take Loans at First

Planet Coaster Tips

Loans might seem a bit daunting in Planet Coaster, but the reality is that the game is very flexible with the repayment options. You can go as little as $500 a month. It’s worth noting, though, that interest is still a thing within the game, so you’ll definitely end up paying more the longer you keep a loan lingering. However, this quick burst in funds can really be what your Planet Coaster park needs to get kickstarted off the ground. And, of course, you need to spend money to make money. So, once you do have a loan, let’s go over what you should build first…

Put the Essentials in Quickly

Planet Coaster Tips

What do we mean by essentials? The main things that will make your theme park run at the bare minimum. On top of whatever you already have in the park (provided that you start with a scenario), aim for these builds first in Planet Coaster:

• Food
• Drink
• Bathroom
• Two Rides
• Benches around food areas and thrilling rides
• Trashcans around food areas

You’ll be set with these first, and likely for quite a bit as you rake in the cash at first with your newly built theme park.

Charge For What’s By Default Not Charged

Planet Coaster Tips

The theme park entrance is very likely going to be “free” when you first start the game. So, you’re going to want to click on the entrance turnstiles to bring up your park’s entrance fee screen. Here, start off with $5 for single tickets and $10 for family tickets. You can experiment how ever you’d like, but these are very optimal for the beginning stages. They don’t piss off attendees with what you offer in your park at first. I then increase the offerings in the park, and in turn boost up the entrance fee by $5 every time I do.

Stock Up Staff When Needed

Planet Coaster Tips

If you start to see trash and vomit around a lot of your park, it’s time to both increase the amount of benches and trashcans you have as well as up the amount of janitors you staff. Likewise, if you see rides are breaking a lot or taking too long to get fixed, it’s time to hire some more mechanics. Start off with two of each in your park and you should be okay for quite some time. I also put in one entertainer in the beginning, with a maximum of two (look, my attendees can just get their entertainment from the rides, okay).

Don’t forget that you can upgrade your staff members’ capabilities by training and giving them raises. Every single time you train, you’ll need to increase their pay or else they’ll get mad about their salary and quit. Here’s our in-depth guide on an easy way to make sure you optimize your staff’s training and pay.

Research and Market As Much As You Can Afford

Planet Coaster Tips

The research and marketing tabs will be essential in growing your business. Marketing will let you target specific groups of people and have a nice influx of visitors coming into your park, which of course will raise the amount you’re earning. Research, on the other hand, is for developing new structures, facilities, and rides to make your park fresh. You don’t want to keep the same things forever, and adding new stuff will make sure your visitors will keep coming back.

It’s important to note that both of these are a privilege and you should not funnel money into them if you can’t afford it. Marketing is more important if you’re in need of more customers, so make sure to focus on that at first. Put your funds into that and focus in on the TV marketing, since that’s the best. If you can’t afford the $5,000, I recommend the online campaigns for $1,000.

Leave Roller Coasters For When You’re Stable

Planet Coaster Tips

Roller coasters are the coolest rides you can build in Planet Coaster, but they’re also very expensive. Make sure you stock your park up with the ground rides first, and then you can focus on these $6,000+ investments. If you’re making your own, you’re going to want to take care of the amount you spend. Don’t go building all willy nilly if you’re playing a campaign that will take a portion of your refunds away, by the way. Making mistakes over and over in those scenarios will see you losing mad money. But you should always keep an eye on the cost of the ride, regardless of the scenario you play, because it might cost you more than you’ll earn back from tickets.