SeaWorld Orlando's Future Plans

[TheGentTrent]

I pray that SeaWorld isn't hoping that Sesame Street is going to be their Potter moment. It might make an impact to their bottom line, but not big enough. Disney + Legoland own the little kid market.

Sesame Street doesn't have to be like Potter to be successful. The merch and photo sales alone should help SeaWorld.

 

[GAcoaster]

Sesame Street is part of their plan to bring in more locals. The other parks have priced out most of the locals unless they work for them. SeaWorld is more affordable in a community of workers on subsistence wages, like a Six Flags or Cedar Fair park.

 

[P@n!K_Sw1tC#]

You don't get IP licensing like Sesame Street to bring in the minimum wage neighbors... sorry, that's not true lol.

 

[WAJAS]

I had hope. I'm loosing hope.

Blind management and fierce competition is going to destroy this company if nothing changes soon. It's kinda sad because some of their attractions are (or could be or were) some of the best, too.

 

[UAN17]

Another great example is all of the generic pop up fairground games that they have scattered throughout the park. Who honestly thinks that is appropriate for the kind of environment that SeaWorld really is?

Not anymore.

This is a plague that's quietly infected Universal too. Seriously, take a step back and you'll notice how many there are. Only Disney have avoided it so far.

 

[s8film40]

So, the good news is that Antarctica is no longer the worst ride in the park.

The bad news is that they completely destroyed one of the best B&M floorless coasters in the world with their stupid virtual reality crap. Mine didn't work at all, knew I was in trouble on the lift when all the fish around me started to lag on the screen. Spent the entire ride with my eyes closed because nothing synced up and everything was spinning sideways.

Couple that with 8-minute dispatches (they time this in the station on a TV), one train operation, and sketchy VR goggle cleaning procedures, and you have a recipe for Orlando's worst theme park attraction.

How many times are they going to strike out before they make some real changes? They've probably wasted close to 100 million dollars inside this single park on total failures that have had zero impact on their business.

Fast tracking Sesame Street isn't going to do a darn thing for them either. They need new management and creative direction now more than ever before.

That still sounds better than Antartica, even in your worst case experience.

 

[Mad Dog]

I don't know. They put Sesame Street in BGW and the attendance dropped.

 

[s8film40]

I don't know. They put Sesame Street in BGW and the attendance dropped.

It's not like people are going to avoid the park because they have a fear of Elmo or something. I would imagine those attendance drops were probably due to something else. I don't think Sesame Street will drive vacations or anything, but it may draw in a few extra locals who have kids that want to go see it.

I think the key thing is it's not a big deal, but might help a little and also give the impression that there's something new at Sea World when in reality it will probably be mostly a re-themed Happy Harbor.

 

[Alicia]

I'm fairly certain they agreed to bring Sesame Street into SWO as part of negotiations for their licensing contract extension recently. Might not have been to increase attendance, but just to sweeten the deal for Sesame Workshop. SeaWorld Parks gets to build a new Sesame Place park as part of the renewed contract, (and not have to rip out existing Sesame Street things from the parks they have now.)

 

[Mad Dog]

It's not like people are going to avoid the park because they have a fear of Elmo or something. I would imagine those attendance drops were probably due to something else. I don't think Sesame Street will drive vacations or anything, but it may draw in a few extra locals who have kids that want to go see it.

I think the key thing is it's not a big deal, but might help a little and also give the impression that there's something new at Sea World when in reality it will probably be mostly a re-themed Happy Harbor.

Yes. No doubt. Just showing this as an example of SS not being a significant. attendance booster.

 

[GadgetGuru]

This is a plague that's quietly infected Universal too. Seriously, take a step back and you'll notice how many there are. Only Disney have avoided it so far.

Dinoland in AK has (had?) them and Paradise Pier in DCA has them.

I don't understand why these games exist. Do they really make that much money?

 

[Mad Dog]

Dinoland in AK has (had?) them and Paradise Pier in DCA has them.

I don't understand why these games exist. Do they really make that much money?

The parks always say they make money, but I never see anyone playing them at Universal.:shrug:....but they do seem to get real busy at the cheaper regional parks, like Cedar Point, King's Island, Kennywood etc.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Dinoland in AK has (had?) them and Paradise Pier in DCA has them.

I don't understand why these games exist. Do they really make that much money?

Yeah they are tacky and should be removed but let's not pretend Disney doesn't do it too.

 

[Scott W.]

The parks always say they make money, but I never see anyone playing them at Universal.:shrug:....but they do seem to get real busy at the cheaper regional parks, like Cedar Point, King's Island, Kennywood etc.

I always remember the ones at Jaws being crazy busy back in the day but now that you mention it, you almost never see anybody at them but they must be making enough to justify having them.

I imagine the shooting range at Disney would have been far busier when they used real ammo.

 

[bob albert]

Carnival games are basically free money. The prizes can be worth less than the fee to play, the employees are cheap, and they take up no space. Certainly you can oversaturate a place with too many though.

 

[Scott W.]

Carnival games are basically free money. The prizes can be worth less than the fee to play, the employees are cheap, and they take up no space. Certainly you can oversaturate a place with too many though.

A good way to tell how busy they are is by looking at how many people are carrying prizes about.

I've just remembered that my wife and I played one at DCA and won a Bullseye. Granted it had a squint but it's my cat best pal now.

 

[GAcoaster]

You don't get IP licensing like Sesame Street to bring in the minimum wage neighbors... sorry, that's not true lol.

Those people have kids and they can't afford to take them to Disney. It DOES bring in families who can't afford Disney.

 

[Scott W.]

Bonus cat photo.

 

[Brian G.]

I don't want to write off Sesame Street - but they need A LOT more than that.

They need something that makes Mako look like crap.

Someone on Twitter (@onlinehyde) also pointed out that they need to seriously rework their social media strategy; which I completely agree with.

They need to make smart moves, but also take some calculated risks.

 

[GadgetGuru]

A new social media strategy needs to be part of a much larger marketing pivot for SeaWorld.

Disney's marketing pitch is that they're a great place to meet characters from childhood and have a great family vacation.
Universal's pitch seems to be the same as above, except Universal's cool and is also not Disney. Much larger emphasis on tweens/teens. Oh, and Potter.

Seaworld's pitch is..."we don't kill animals"? They did a whole post-Blackfish thing and then they trudged along doing something or other. I've gotten to a point where I can avoid most online / TV ads, but I still know the Disney / Universal marketing stories. I have no idea what Seaworld's marketing plan is and I'm a theme park fan!