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Seaworld CEO Change

  • Thread starter Thread starter Teebin
  • Start date Start date Dec 11, 2014
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Mad Dog

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  • Dec 15, 2014
  • #41
GAcoaster said:
If things were just and right, the bulk of the layoffs would have been in the corporate office. There are a TON of people who work over there in the main office who really don't seem to do much but show up at the parks periodically and screw things up. The morons who keep making bad decisions over on South Park Center should have been fired long ago and the first to go with this layoff.
Click to expand...
There are always so many corporate types that are prime examples of the Peter Principle. Seems like this company sure had their share.
 
blue180

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  • Dec 15, 2014
  • #42
darkridelover said:
What about Disney? They are probably one of the only companies that could make the Blackfish stuff go away and immediately turn the parks into a desired destination again. Seaworld fits more inline with Disney Parks core business than Universal.
Click to expand...

I think disney has enough on their plate in terms of trying to successfully manage 4 parks
 
quinnmac000

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  • Dec 15, 2014
  • #43
Benefits of Major companies buying a park-

Cedar Fair- SeaWorld Parks And Ent would expand their base especially with that more parks will finally be open year round instead of just seasonal.

Disney- Disney finally gets a money grab with boutique park Discovery Cove

Comcast-More property to later expand their Florida reign and finally get the rights to Sesame Street add in the possible regions to enter and make a name for themselves makes it a viable option especially with the success of their parks lately.

Six Flags-First Six Flags in Florida


Cons
Cedar Fair-If they owned SeaWorld would end up cannibalizing their own sales in places like Virginia and California where Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Sea World San Diego could affect ticket sales for King Dominion.

Disney-When they are effective trying to cut costs, running a theme park/zoo is a financial burden as there are more variables such as things like Blackfish and animal health etc that can cause huge major PR and financial issues. Also way too far from the major resort areas and possibly effect animal kingdom sales with the purchase of two animal based parks in Florida

Comcast- The cost to change the story of the week and to get back positive SeaWorld PR if they decided to keep SeaWorld as SeaWorld. Other than that it is still close enough to the main resort to work (would make a fantastic chance for them to make a Jurassic World boutique park just saying, Universal makes a light rail from the main resort to SeaWorld campus etc blah blah blah)

Six Flags- Retheming to fit the Six Flags brand would take a lot of capital in addition to the purchase of the park. Add in the competition especially the loyal Disney crowd who refuses to step foot into a not overly themed park and it can cause some issues. People will justify not going to six flags as we have a six flags back home etc.
 
Kevin38

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  • Dec 15, 2014
  • #44
It would be great for Comcast to buy them.Move the whales to Texas or California .

When new Water Park Opens move some of Wet and Wild's Attractions to a rethemed Sea World.

Build a Monorail Connecting Sea World,Wet and Wild ,Unnamed empty land and Current Parks and Hotels (anyone else think the pedestrian Bridge by Cabana Bay would make good monorail stops around Orlando)

Within 6-8 Year Universal Could be The size of Disney in Orlando (4 Parks and 2 water parks)
Most of them would have newer attractions and Rides than Disney.
 
Jakemeister

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  • Dec 15, 2014
  • #45
Cedar Fair wants nothing to do with SeaWorld. They already shuttered the park in Ohio.
 
Cole

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  • Dec 15, 2014
  • #46
I don't think any major park wants anything to do with sea world right now. They are in such a state of ongoing controversy that it would be like disney promoting the hell out of captain EO immediately after the pedophile case. Unneeded drama and is pretty much out of the question right now
 
Last edited: Dec 15, 2014
Mad Dog

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  • Dec 15, 2014
  • #47
The Blackfish stuff is getting to be a pretty old story. Nothing like old news becoming really old news that less & less people will pay attention to. The main thing wrong with Seaworld is it's management group. That can be fixed by a new company. Seaworls was doing fine before Blackstone took over. They were certainly healthier than Universal at that point in time. It's my opinion the animal parks are still a viable business, though I don't personally care for them. They just need a good company to run them.
 
Cole

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  • Dec 15, 2014
  • #48
Mad Dog said:
The Blackfish stuff is getting to be a pretty old story. Nothing like old news becoming really old news that less & less people will pay attention to. The main thing wrong with Seaworld is it's management group. That can be fixed by a new company. Seaworls was doing fine before Blackstone took over. They were certainly healthier than Universal at that point in time. It's my opinion the animal parks are still a viable business, though I don't personally care for them. They just need a good company to run them.
Click to expand...
Well the thing is that a documentary like blackfish can easily ruin something like sea world with name recognition alone (look at supersize me). People will remember it when the words sea world are mentioned
 
shiekra38

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  • Dec 15, 2014
  • #49
Mad Dog said:
The Blackfish stuff is getting to be a pretty old story. Nothing like old news becoming really old news that less & less people will pay attention to. The main thing wrong with Seaworld is it's management group. That can be fixed by a new company. Seaworls was doing fine before Blackstone took over. They were certainly healthier than Universal at that point in time. It's my opinion the animal parks are still a viable business, though I don't personally care for them. They just need a good company to run them.
Click to expand...
As many have said, Blackstone not Blackfish...
 
GAcoaster

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  • Dec 15, 2014
  • #50
The state of SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment right now is as much the fault of management as it is any damage from Blackfish. Except for BGT, all of the capital expenditures in the last four years have been crappy which would have kept attendance flat without Blackfish, but when you add the bad publicity to the mix it caused big problems. Now, some of the problem has been the uncertainty of Blackstone ownership/going public, but the management team committed to the poor capital expenditures rather than spending on better quality. To know that Antarctica was the biggest expenditure on a new attraction in the history of SeaWorld speaks volumes to the company's poor planning. That money could have been much better spent on a marquis attraction (which Antarctic was supposed to be, but any moron could have looked at the plans and see it would fall far short of that goal).

This whole situation makes me sad. While the Busch family owned AB they understood that the parks were not a "core asset" but they created good will and helped promote the brand while still turning a profit (even if it was a modest profit compared to the beer). To see the decline in the parks over the time since In-Bev bought out AB is just depressing. If they had been smart they would have kept the parks and let them run as they always had. They made money...not HUGE profits but the turned a profit all the time. They created a good image for the AB brands which they have now lost on many levels. Guests are so disappointed by the changes over time and that tarnishes the AB brand to some extent as well.

The only thing I can hope for the parks now is that they either find a buyer who will turn things around before too much more damage is done. Even if the parks are broken up and sold individually it would most likely be a better future for them than the current company running them. I think the SeaWorld brand is near an end overall, and the Orlando property is more valuable for the land it sits on that anything else at this point.
 
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blue180

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  • Dec 15, 2014
  • #51
GAcoaster said:
I think the SeaWorld brand is near an end overall, and the Orlando property is more valuable for the land it sits on that anything else at this point.
Click to expand...

To this point exactly. Couldnt Universal buy Seaworld, close down the park, maybe transplant the coasters somewhere, sell off the property to make some $$$, and then use that money to buy up property closer to their main resort? Obviously that is a serious undertaking....and granted I have no idea what it would cost to buy SW and then to sell of the property. Just talking out loud.
 
MillenniumDragons

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  • Dec 15, 2014
  • #52
Seems far fetched for me to believe Universal would buy SeaWorld. Definitely not in the near future with Uni expanding and all. Question I'd like to know is should a company buy SeaWorld now when this whole mess is happening (CEO, Blackfish ect) or do they wait until the embers have cooled some? Cedar Fair-Busch Gardens Tampa for the win!
 
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  • Dec 15, 2014
  • #53
Overlooking the irony of them having just begun construction on their own marine attraction on I-Drive, surely Merlin could buy Seaworld? Although, doesn't Blackstone part own Merlin? Aargh!

(Although personally, I don't think Merlin could run the park appropriately.)
 
Nick

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  • Dec 16, 2014
  • #54
Another now former Sea World employee popped up on my Facebook feed saying he got let go. He wasn't management or anything, he was a diver under the entertainment division. He had worked in the park for 13 years.

The cuts are coming and they don't give a crap who it is or what you've done. Scott Swenson CREATED Howl-O-Scream and he got let go. It's all about the bottom line right now and making it seem like the company is turning a profit.
 
anihilnation

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  • Dec 16, 2014
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Had an email from BGT promoting christmas town ... man, does that feel ironic ...
 
shiekra38

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  • Dec 16, 2014
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Next Big Thing said:
Another now former Sea World employee popped up on my Facebook feed saying he got let go. He wasn't management or anything, he was a diver under the entertainment division. He had worked in the park for 13 years.

The cuts are coming and they don't give a crap who it is or what you've done. Scott Swenson CREATED Howl-O-Scream and he got let go. It's all about the bottom line right now and making it seem like the company is turning a profit.
Click to expand...

Yeah, not too excited for HOS this year...I wouldn't be surprised if we see the same houses and zones with a new theme...I'm hoping Universal will pick Scott up and whoever else was let go on the HOS team...
 
Cole

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  • Dec 16, 2014
  • #57
Scott deserves better than this anyways, he's so talented that I'm surprised he didn't quit way earlier. Best of luck to both of those guys, what a loss
 
A

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  • Dec 17, 2014
  • #58
Now they have fired a couple of mimes makes you wonder who they are going to fire next?
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-seaworld-lays-off-mimes-20141216-story.html
 
Octobers Fade

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  • Dec 17, 2014
  • #59
aluvict67 said:
Now they have fired a couple of mimes makes you wonder who they are going to fire next?
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-seaworld-lays-off-mimes-20141216-story.html
Click to expand...

They were probably some of the higher paid employees, BGT let go their (fan favorite marching band) musicians when Blackstone took over as they were some of the highest paid.

Sad part is they were just as good as the show.
 
Brian G.

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  • Dec 17, 2014
  • #60
:lol: "a startup investment"
 
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