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SeaWorld Entertainment Corporate News (Old Leadership Thread)

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Give them time. This disaster isn't going to be fixed overnight. They are doing all the right things, but it will be a long time before SeaWorld recovers to 2013 levels. (I'm not sure they'll ever get back to 2008) Without the Brazil problem, SWO would have had a great year in 2016 as domestic attendance was up significantly. We are now also beginning to see growth in San Diego and San Antonio and Orca Encouter has been well recieved by the majority of people. The rest of 2017 will show some overall growth for them I'm sure.

Also, to people who are still moaning about the Orca breeding decision, it is a fact that SeaWorld San Diego would have had all of its whales rounded up and transported to sea pens by now if Manby had not acted decisively. Without Manby's decision SeaWorld would have lost all its Orcas in California months ago, plain & simple. The team have also taken great care on the legal side of things to ensure that the breeding ban remains reversible in Florida & Texas so that future management has the choice.
 
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This isn't all Blackfish. Blackfish was a huge problem, but people eventually forget.

This is Potter. SeaWorld has a much larger existential crisis. For decades, SeaWorld was able to pitch itself as an alternative to Disney in the same vein as Universal. But, Universal pulled way, way ahead. Now, SeaWorld has a major identity crisis. In Orlando + San Diego (it's two largest markets), it can't compete on the same level as Disney or Universal. In its smaller markets, it's still trying to convince people people that it's not a Six Flags or Cedar Point.

Add on Blackfish and now you've put a big PR problem onto this.

If you look at Orlando, I always thought that the market would cut itself into 3 parts:
* Disney + Universal - national acclaim, advanced rides, most expensive
* Busch Gardens, SeaWorld - regional parks in Orlando. Standard rides, good value
* I-Drive, Fun Spot - dirt cheap.

Ultimately, SeaWorld needs to start acting like Six Flags in my opinion. Make it cheaper and focus on the regional areas more.
 
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I wouldn't want them to go exactly like Six Flags, but I think they should definitely adopt a more ride focused approach to attract reigonal visitors without getting rid of the animals which will always be important to SeaWorld.
 
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GadgetGuru said:
This is Potter. SeaWorld has a much larger existential crisis. For decades, SeaWorld was able to pitch itself as an alternative to Disney in the same vein as Universal. But, Universal pulled way, way ahead. Now, SeaWorld has a major identity crisis. In Orlando + San Diego (it's two largest markets), it can't compete on the same level as Disney or Universal. In its smaller markets, it's still trying to convince people people that it's not a Six Flags or Cedar Point.
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Agreed completely. Biggest mistake they made was trying to go toe-to-toe with the Big Boys on price increases the first couple years of Potter. Walked back on APs, and halted increases on 1-day tickets, but probably need to be 20% cheaper, or at least offer a gimmick like free soda all day.

Also, has to be said, they opened a string of horrible new attractions. Manta is my favorite coaster in Orlando, but it's a love it or hate it ride. Turtle Trek such a nothing that no one even remembers it's there to complain about it. Antarctica replaced Stitch's Great Escape as a punchline to Orlando theme park jokes. Mako the exception, but never really caught on. And through it all, JTA was allowed to sit there, an outdated mess. This year they've added 4-hour waits to Kraken.

The infrastructure is there to make this a world-class regional park. But you need people in charge who know what they're doing.
 
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To some who just started making it a point to be offended by it, yes, but why would any of that audience ever want to return to the park anyways? They won't. SeaWorld's biggest problem is that they're drawing a local audience and not tapping into the dollar of the tourist because they don't know how to anymore. While the Potter claim is partially right, I still place most of the blame on the creative decisions the park made over the past decade. Really, the only thing that's benefitted SeaWorld in recent times is Manta - which is really their crown jewel when it comes to their attraction lineup.

They need to identify their audience and develop the park towards that group - which they still haven't done after all these years. There's only so many Spanish music festivals you can schedule before your whole park becomes obsolete to the audience that truly matters, which is the out of state visitor.
 
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P@n!K_Sw1tC# said:
To some who just started making it a point to be offended by it, yes, but why would any of that audience ever want to return to the park anyways? They won't. SeaWorld's biggest problem is that they're drawing a local audience and not tapping into the dollar of the tourist because they don't know how to anymore. While the Potter claim is partially right, I still place most of the blame on the creative decisions the park made over the past decade. Really, the only thing that's benefitted SeaWorld in recent times is Manta - which is really their crown jewel when it comes to their attraction lineup.

They need to identify their audience and develop the park towards that group - which they still haven't done after all these years. There's only so many Spanish music festivals you can schedule before your whole park becomes obsolete to the audience that truly matters, which is the out of state visitor.
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A couple of years ago the SeaWorld CEO stated publicly that Sea World's attendance was one third foreign tourists. With the downturn in foreign visits to the USA, the economic & political issues in South America, Brexit, etc., plus the resurgence of Universal, I would think this is the attendance area that Sea World Orlando is bleeding the most attendance. And that's a much higher guest spending demographic than locals. The future is probably troubled, and they may be at the ceiling of where their attendance level will be, and that's significantly lower than they were 7 or 8 years ago.
 
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Mad Dog said:
A couple of years ago the SeaWorld CEO stated publicly that Sea World's attendance was one third foreign tourists. With the downturn in foreign visits to the USA, the economic & political issues in South America, Brexit, etc., plus the resurgence of Universal, I would think this is the attendance area that Sea World Orlando is bleeding the most attendance. And that's a much higher guest spending demographic than locals. The future is probably troubled, and they may be at the ceiling of where their attendance level will be, and that's significantly lower than they were 7 or 8 years ago.
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Saw a report this week that the downturn in foreign visitors has reversed and bookings are back to normal levels.
 
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Again, how much are they/you/we going to blame outside factors, especially when parks like Universal, Disney, and even Fun Spot are doing so well? SeaWorld builds attractions that nobody cares about, spends their efforts on seasonal festivals that nobody cares about, and hires their employees to 9-month temp contracts so that nobody that works there cares about the company they work for. Hate to say they're doing it wrong, but they're doing it wrong.

Things were so much better when the Busch family had control over these parks.
 
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Just to quickly interject about Fun Spot.

I'm not sure if their recent success means anything. SeaWorld plays on a whole different level than them. Fun Spot's growth just means that there's more crumbs for them to nibble on.

Fun Spot's revenues could never support a SeaWorld park. I've always had the feeling that Fun Spot was a locals place, but I could be mistaken about that.
 
P@n!K_Sw1tC# said:
Again, how much are they/you/we going to blame outside factors, especially when parks like Universal, Disney, and even Fun Spot are doing so well? SeaWorld builds attractions that nobody cares about, spends their efforts on seasonal festivals that nobody cares about, and hires their employees to 9-month temp contracts so that nobody that works there cares about the company they work for. Hate to say they're doing it wrong, but they're doing it wrong.

Things were so much better when the Busch family had control over these parks.
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Yep, I strongly agree with your points, most especially the Busch family ownership.
 
It's worth remembering that in 2016 domestic attendance was up significantly at SeaWorld Orlando. If the Brazilian economic disaster hadn't occurred, the park would have seen substantial gains in overall attendance levels.

It will be interesting to see what happens on August 8th, all the signs are pointing to the first growth of the company in several years.
 
MakoMania said:
It's worth remembering that in 2016 domestic attendance was up significantly at SeaWorld Orlando. If the Brazilian economic disaster hadn't occurred, the park would have seen substantial gains in overall attendance levels.

It will be interesting to see what happens on August 8th, all the signs are pointing to the first growth of the company in several years.
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The Brazilians are back in force at WDW so SeaWorld should be up by that metric. It's not.

But they are wearing Busch Gardens ponchos.
 
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That's interesting, it's not just SeaWorld who are still reporting problems with Brazilian visitors. The situation has improved over last year for sure, and it will continue to improve into 2018, but SeaWorld, Merlin and other operators continue to report some South American softness.

It is also too early to tell what the Brazilian situation has been like this year for SeaWorld, we probably won't get a clear picture until 3Q report in November.

On another note, apparently BGW is having a fantastic season so far this year :)
 
And btw, the news that Dueling Dragons/Challenge is closing is exactly the kind of break SeaWorld should be taking note of to establish some kind of identity in Orlando outside of just the marine animals. If I were SeaWorld, I'd be having an emergency afternoon meeting with creative to fund and build a few kick-ass coasters over the next 5 years. It's time to take ownership of being the thrill capital of Orlando. Universal is going to be a primarily screen based park going forward, and SeaWorld would look great with a skyline full of twisted steel. Disney is gonna be Disney no matter what.

Here's the opening you've been waiting for SeaWorld, take the opportunity and do something special with it!
 
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