however when one realizes that children are the prime customers of the parks and schools are closed during those months the difference is understandable also amusement parks are largely unprotected from the elements and the weather is best during June to august in the northern hemisphere where the vast majority of parks are located in fact many venues simply shut down after labor day in early September and do not reopen until April or may competition in the regional segment not only comes internally from other parks in the vicinity but also against other claims on leisure spending such as movies shopping malls and sporting events to keep the product fresh regional operators have had yo engage in costly new product innovasion Destina theme parks which attract long-distance visitors similarly face local competition such as Disney versus universal in orlando but also must deal with other similar theme park and non-theme park destinations as well