Yes, and that's why I qualified it as BGW. BGW only has a couple of fairly small animal exhibits. As you said, I would doubt that they would be interested in any of those other parks.Cedar Fair would be interesting...I don't think they would want another animal experience park though..
Well kids, it's called "The Circle of Life". That's what happens when an aggressive invasive species of snot nosed magical brats move in and upset an established ecosystem where a whole pod of killer whales live off the scraps from mice.Sea World announced this morning that they will be laying off 300 employees. The layoffs will be primarily at the Corporate headquarters, sea World Orlando, and Sea World San Diego. Sea World said the layoffs are in reaction to declining attendance, most especially at the Sea World Orlando & Sea World San Diego parks......
Yeah, the problem with declining attendance in Orlando/CA is that you can't cut your capital spending because your competitors are spending at a higher rate than other markets (since those are the 2 most competitive markets in the world). So the only place to really cut is employment...Sea World announced this morning that they will be laying off 300 employees. The layoffs will be primarily at the Corporate headquarters, Sea World Orlando, and Sea World San Diego. Sea World said the layoffs are in reaction to declining attendance, most especially at the Sea World Orlando & Sea World San Diego parks......
Staff cuts which ultimately negatively impact the guest experiences, which usually leads to more attendance losses, and the down cycle continues until there is no profit margin at all. And then everything collapses rapidly.Yeah, the problem with declining attendance in Orlando/CA is that you can't cut your capital spending because your competitors are spending at a higher rate than other markets (since those are the 2 most competitive markets in the world). So the only place to really cut is employment...
They've had declining revenue for a while, but they have to maintain their capital spending, so the cuts are going to be the bone at the employee level in Orlando/CA until that gets turned around.
Yeah, this is also why I think some of the complaints in that Has Universal Lost Its Way? | Inside Universal Forums thread are a bit misleading...When I worked at Universal after 9/11 they fired A LOT of managers and higher-ups. If a lot of these SW layoffs are at corporate headquarters that could mean a big savings from a small amount of people. Fire off people that have worked the longest and make the most money. Then promote newbies below them and pay them less.
I remember how incredibly angry everyone was at Universal when that happened. It might make sense financially, but is a pretty messed up thing to do to your most loyal employees that had built careers out of the job. I think that was during the dark Blackstone days.
Every time you post your financial/statistical analysis, you sound more & more like Parents of Four on WDW Magic. And that's a good thing. :thumbsup:Yeah, this is also why I think some of the complaints in that Has Universal Lost Its Way? | Inside Universal Forums thread are a bit misleading...
Universal's experienced a massive boom (in large part due to Harry Potter of course, but a lot of other spending as well, new hotels/Volcano Bay as well as other attractions), but the last thing I think they want to do is hire too many employees if attendance stabilizes or falls at some point in the future.
I don't think that's likely to happen (in fact, Universal still has at least 3-5 years of good growth in all parks ahead of it, especially with Nintendo and more Harry Potter in Orlando).
The toughest thing about Orlando/CA especially is that there isn't much to cut when you hit lean times because you have to keep spending on capex to keep up with Disney/Universal...
And yeah, Blackstone was most interested in the dividend payouts from Orlando, they didn't really care about the business as a whole.
Sea World announced this morning that they will be laying off 300 employees. The layoffs will be primarily at the Corporate headquarters, Sea World Orlando, and Sea World San Diego. Sea World said the layoffs are in reaction to declining attendance, most especially at the Sea World Orlando & Sea World San Diego parks......
Lol. The Irony. Conserve Water while riding this raft ride that consumes water on a massive scale. And please ignore Aquatica next doorSeaWorld also seems to like to tie in a theme with all of their rides as of late, Mako being ending shark finning, Infinity Falls is about conserving water
If Merlin does buy the whole chain, I would expect to see the SeaWorld brand take over their aquariums within a year and a ton of synergy. Use the aquariums to drive traffic to the parks.
The general praise for Merlin on this forum baffles me. The state that Alton Towers, Thorpe Park and Heide Park are in is a disgrace.
:agree:PETA is a jihad. If it gets down to just keeping brine shrimp (i.e. sea monkeys), they will still piss and moan.
That's an odd statement Seventy. I couldn't imagine WDW with it's current attendance populating just MK, Epcot and DHS. I actually shiver at the thought.DAK proves you don't need 4 parks in Orlando, I think they'd rather a more contiguous 3rd gate.
Brian Morrow said that the current state is meant to be temporary during Kraken Unleashed press interviews.This is why they shouldn't have downgraded Journey to Atlantis. They need to progress, not regress.
Does anyone have word one when JTA might receive a proper refurbishment?
That's an odd statement Seventy. I couldn't imagine WDW with it's current attendance populating just MK, Epcot and DHS. I actually shiver at the thought.
What an understatement.There's no simple answer there. The easiest path as somebody else pointed out would be for an eventually closing and bankruptcy sale of SeaWorld Orlando to Comcast for an eventual rebuild of that land.
The problems are how to deal with the larger animals and what kind of changes could make the attendance at a Universal-run SeaWorld comparable to USF and IoA.
Well kids, it's called "The Circle of Life". That's what happens when an aggressive invasive species of snot nosed magical brats move in and upset an established ecosystem where a whole pod of killer whales live off the scraps from mice.
When I worked at Universal after 9/11 they fired A LOT of managers and higher-ups. If a lot of these SW layoffs are at corporate headquarters that could mean a big savings from a small amount of people. Fire off people that have worked the longest and make the most money. Then promote newbies below them and pay them less.
I remember how incredibly angry everyone was at Universal when that happened. It might make sense financially, but is a pretty messed up thing to do to your most loyal employees that had built careers out of the job. I think that was during the dark Blackstone days.
Right now (at least here in Orlando) the job market is so tight that anyone laid off could easily get another position with another company right now. It's not ideal but this is not the worst time to be looking for a job here.^ I feel badly for the front line employees. The news cannot make them feel great about their jobs right now. Fear not, Universal had similar times not too long ago.