SeaWorld Orlando's Future Plans

[s8film40]

That said, with previous endeavors, I don't believe Sesame will make any dent in SeaWorld; as it faces a similar problem that Disney will face with Galaxy's Edge, the fact that those characters and stories are already in the parks. But, I think Disney will be able to handle that much better than SeaWorld, as considering previous endeavors on Sesame Street at the core SW/Busch parks, I sincerely doubt Sesame Street will be anything special.

But they're not already in the park. They are only in the park during special events. I'm well aware of this because these are the times my 3 year old specifically wants to go. Now it remains to be seen if what they do will create a real draw for us. If it's just a basic rebranding of happy harbor as you say it won't be anything special.

 

[matt78]

Personally I wish they would make the dolphin area bigger and stop the pay to feed stuff, just have a large natural looking area where you can see the dolphins and that's it.

What they should do is rip out both Shamu Stadium and the Dolphin Stadium. I would build a new state of the art aquarium for the dolphins where their stadium is located. For the orcas I would like to see them use the stadium area as well as part of the lake to greatly expand the area they have to live in. I would make the old Dolphin Cove the permanent home for the pilot whales unless they can share the expanded aquarium with the dolphins. I would include underwater viewing and restaurants similar to Shark Encounter. I think this would be really popular. Of course SeaWorld can't afford to do any of this right now.

 

[Jwhee]

Sky tower is now an up charge. Costs $2 to ride and is free for AP's and kids under 3.

 

[Nick]

Sky tower is now an up charge. Costs $2 to ride and is free for AP's and kids under 3.

That's too bad.

It only recently became free to ride. It was an upcharge for years before about 2015 or so.

 

[anihilnation]

Website says "currently closed". Always seems Skytower has a lot of downtime, wish they'd just got ride of it and put a droptower or Frisbee ride there.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

A big issue is that Sea World does not have a great "family" ride. One of the rides get you wet while the other one is just horrible. They need a dry family ride. Whether a dark ride or a flat, they need one.

 

[s8film40]

Sky Tower is the only thing I like in that park. I was a little disappointed when I saw they were charging for it again, but relieved to find it free for pass holders. Also I think $2 is very reasonable, seems like it's just a move to manage the demand for it since it doesn't have the largest throughput. It had a fairly long line when I went on Friday even though it was late in the evening. Also a great way to see the trees.

Also speaking of changes, not sure when it changed but they added Brisket and Ribs to the dining plan at Voyagers. Too bad there's less than a month left to my dining plan.

Here's a nice view of a slow evening in a park struggling to stay in business.

 

[MakoMania]

The negativity on this forum is unreal. There are so many parks around the world in a much worse financial state than SWO that aren't even considering closure. Christ, my home park hasn't made a decent profit in over a decade and in regards to SWO we know that it was in profit (according to interim CEO David D'Allesandro) until the start of 2015 at the very least. Attendance increased by about 2% in 2015 vs 2014 so if 2014 made a profit, we can likely assume that 2015 did as well.

I just find it absolutely unbelieveable that a park that is recieving such high levels of investment and a park that we know for a fact was making profit until very recently (and may still be now for all we know) is on the verge of closure.

 

[s8film40]

The negativity on this forum is unreal. There are so many parks around the world in a much worse financial state than SWO that aren't even considering closure. Christ, my home park hasn't made a decent profit in over a decade and in regards to SWO we know that it was in profit (according to interim CEO David D'Allesandro) until the start of 2015 at the very least. Attendance increased by about 2% in 2015 vs 2014 so if 2014 made a profit, we can likely assume that 2015 did as well.

I just find it absolutely unbelieveable that a park that is recieving such high levels of investment and a park that we know for a fact was making profit until very recently (and may still be now for all we know) is on the verge of closure.

I find it amusing. I go to the park quite a bit because my son likes it and we have the dining plan. It's always busy and crowded it seems so me and my wife are always sarcastically joking about how it's "so slow and going out of business" while it's ironically crowded. The real world perspective and the discussion here are like night and day, it's so over the top different it's funny.

 

[shiekra38]

The negativity on this forum is unreal. There are so many parks around the world in a much worse financial state than SWO that aren't even considering closure. Christ, my home park hasn't made a decent profit in over a decade and in regards to SWO we know that it was in profit (according to interim CEO David D'Allesandro) until the start of 2015 at the very least. Attendance increased by about 2% in 2015 vs 2014 so if 2014 made a profit, we can likely assume that 2015 did as well.

I just find it absolutely unbelieveable that a park that is recieving such high levels of investment and a park that we know for a fact was making profit until very recently (and may still be now for all we know) is on the verge of closure.

Welcome to Orlando

 

[zg44]

The negativity on this forum is unreal. There are so many parks around the world in a much worse financial state than SWO that aren't even considering closure. Christ, my home park hasn't made a decent profit in over a decade and in regards to SWO we know that it was in profit (according to interim CEO David D'Allesandro) until the start of 2015 at the very least. Attendance increased by about 2% in 2015 vs 2014 so if 2014 made a profit, we can likely assume that 2015 did as well.

I just find it absolutely unbelieveable that a park that is recieving such high levels of investment and a park that we know for a fact was making profit until very recently (and may still be now for all we know) is on the verge of closure.

I think the critical difference between SW Orlando and SW San Diego is that there's no real competitors for a regionally (00 miles visitors) priced/marketed park in Orlando, whereas South California has much higher levels of regionally priced competition.

SW San Diego is in worse shape and would be the one in much more risk and probably faces a much worse long-term outlook. SW Orlando can probably stabilize over the next couple of years and should be more insulated from its competition due to attractive pricing.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

^Especially when you consider that BF likely resonated far more in Cali than in Texas and Florida (and Virginia if we’re to include the BG parks).

 

[Scott W.]

I don't think this has been mentioned:

https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/...dmission-throughout-2018-for-kids-5-and-under

 

[AlexanderMBush]

I don't think this has been mentioned:

https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/...dmission-throughout-2018-for-kids-5-and-under

I'm surprised you didn't bring this @RichOBJ post up..

https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando...seaworld-area-hotel-project-get-2nd-wind.html

 

[Scott W.]

I'm surprised you didn't bring this @RichOBJ post up..

https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando...seaworld-area-hotel-project-get-2nd-wind.html

It’s a sign of the times. When a forum dedicated to theme parks in Orlando can’t even be bothered to talk about SeaWorld.

 

[Disneyhead]

I'm surprised you didn't bring this @RichOBJ post up..

https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando...seaworld-area-hotel-project-get-2nd-wind.html

Ohhh, Le Méridien. Swanky.

 

[Donald Razorduck]

As annual passes continue to skyrocket in cost at Disney and Uni, Sea World and BGT stand to gain on that front even more. I'm still shocked neither have a flat ride package for new kid's areas from Zamperla on the way,

 

[cwgator]

^There's a chance that could come to SWO when it changes Shamu's Happy Harbor into Sesame Street. It could be nice to add at least a few more rides, than just do an overlay and call it a day.

 

[s8film40]

I don't think this has been mentioned:

https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/...dmission-throughout-2018-for-kids-5-and-under

I was waiting for that to be announced and was worried they weren't going to bring it back. They removed Busch Gardens from it this year. I was definitely going to cancel our annual passes if they didn't do it and still might not sure.

 

[Jake Obannon]

I don't think this has been mentioned:

https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/...dmission-throughout-2018-for-kids-5-and-under

Even free kids could still care less about Seaworld. #goingoutofbusiness