Wanda to buy SWP&E?

[IzzyB]

Comcast won't buy this. They may have been approached, but I don't see Comcast wanting to get into the Animal business. That is what is going to be difficult with this sale and turnaround vs. the Uni sale and turnaround. When animals are involved it makes things much more tricky on a PR side of things. Especially with that movie. It really is probably going to have to be some foreign company that the PR hit won't really happen for them. Maybe once they take over and make things better and the movie dies down they can sell it for more money to a US based company, but it is going to be tough in this new world where anything with animals is evil. Heck Darden is trying to dump Red Lobster because of the PR nightmare and bad profits due to changes to make the company look like it cares. I am all about treating animal fairly and have done a ton of work for the SPCA, but I think sometimes we take things too far. Sea World does a lot of good work to help animals.

 

[Plastic Person]

I personally had issues with Seaworld's Orca programme prior to Blackfish, and I don't necessarily think their worthy environmental work elsewhere gives them carte blanche when it comes to their star attraction. However, I'm not sure it cancels it out either. It's a complicated issue... which of course, when getting people into a theme park is your aim, is half the problem. As has been pointed out though, Seaworld's recent poor PR is only half the issue, when attendance and customer feedback are failing across the chain.

 

[shiekra38]

I personally had issues with Seaworld's Orca programme prior to Blackfish, and I don't necessarily think their worthy environmental work elsewhere gives them carte blanche when it comes to their star attraction. However, I'm not sure it cancels it out either. It's a complicated issue... which of course, when getting people into a theme park is your aim, is half the problem. As has been pointed out though, Seaworld's recent poor PR is only half the issue, when attendance and customer feedback are failing across the chain.

Regardless of Blackfish..the parks needed things added and were becoming stale...now they are in deeper water than they previously were

 

[IzzyB]

Regardless of Blackfish..the parks needed things added and were becoming stale...now they are in deeper water than they previously were

Well technically they added a ride last year, it just flopped big time.

 

[shiekra38]

Well technically they added a ride last year, it just flopped big time.

I beleive that the expansion helped attendance a bit..still the ride gives you no reason to come back

 

[MrRoamer]

Its a shame because the new penguin encounter is really impressive, probably my favorite thing in the park now that the Budweiser land is gone

 

[GAcoaster]

Comcast won't buy this.

They might cherry pick assets though, or buy it all and sell the parts they don't want. While SeaWorld as a brand is tarnished, the property here in Orlando is prime real estate that could easily be re-developed into a third theme park (minus all or most of the animals) without having the hassles of having to deal with neighbors and other problems they could find with other tracts of land that might be available.

While the other properties may or may not fit with their ideas for expansion, the other parks are valuable assets that could be sold individually to other companies to help finance the transaction. Between that and getting the Sesame license, it could be a really good deal for Comcast. The two Busch parks and even the Texas SeaWorld each could easily find buyers (Six Flags, Cedar Fair, Herschend). The only parks that would have shaky futures would probably be Sesame Place and SeaWorld California, but their assets could even be sold off to other companies. Disney wanted to buy Discovery Cove when the parks were up for sale from AB.

When it comes down to it, the SeaWorld parks just became a bargain, dropping from a value of around $5 billion to around $3 billion in two days.

Now, SeaWorld also said today they are making a "ground breaking" announcement tomorrow on the Today show...

 

[Teebin]

They might cherry pick assets though, or buy it all and sell the parts they don't want. While SeaWorld as a brand is tarnished, the property here in Orlando is prime real estate that could easily be re-developed into a third theme park (minus all or most of the animals) without having the hassles of having to deal with neighbors and other problems they could find with other tracts of land that might be available.

While the other properties may or may not fit with their ideas for expansion, the other parks are valuable assets that could be sold individually to other companies to help finance the transaction. Between that and getting the Sesame license, it could be a really good deal for Comcast. The two Busch parks and even the Texas SeaWorld each could easily find buyers (Six Flags, Cedar Fair, Herschend). The only parks that would have shaky futures would probably be Sesame Place and SeaWorld California, but their assets could even be sold off to other companies. Disney wanted to buy Discovery Cove when the parks were up for sale from AB.

When it comes down to it, the SeaWorld parks just became a bargain, dropping from a value of around $5 billion to around $3 billion in two days.

Now, SeaWorld also said today they are making a "ground breaking" announcement tomorrow on the Today show...

This is a good argument right here. Ditch the mammalfish in consort with PETA. Build a whole new park on top of the SW infrastructure. This said, I don't believe Comcast would be the team to venture into this, but someone else might be.

 

[Jonathan15]

Maybe Project Blue will help SeaWorld's financial troubles and there will no need for a buyer.

 

[GAcoaster]

Probably not. This seems like too little to late and will cost a fortune with little to no ROI. If they had started this a year ago and it was scheduled to open within a year it might have worked, but with a completion scheduled for 2020, I doubt they will be able to last that long. This will be a HUGE drain on their already stretched finances leaving little to no cash for other improvements in the parks and lead to further cutbacks. This is the beginning of the end unless someone buys them out or they start divesting assets.

 

[AK-Jake]

I think the Blue World Project will be a HUGE boost to their overall image. The buzz on Blackfish is already dying down dramatically, and in 5 years, no one's gonna remember it (politics operate on this principle too). The Blue World Project will also be a nice new attraction for their parks because again, Shamu IS SeaWorld. He's their brand. In 5 years, they could easily turn the parks around, but they're going to have to make some changes. First and foremost, their ticket prices HAVE to come down. Blackfish may have put the hurting on SeaWorld, but boosting their ticket prices THREE TIMES in ONE YEAR was a stupid move that hurt them too...they priced themselves out of the market with nothing to show for it. You can't boost ticket prices as much as they did and cut back as much as they did. They're NOT Disney.

The whole question to this is whether or not they can ride out the next 5 years. If they can, I think they'll be just fine. If they can't, it's game over (obviously). I think they're going to need a new investor to step up to the plate to get them through the next 5 years too, but if they can just ride out the storm, they'll be back on their feet by the time this reopens.

To echo what was mentioned above, I don't see Comcast buying the chain. As much as I'd LOVE for them to do it, I just don't see it happening...unless they buy just the Orlando property to gut it and convert it into a new 3rd gate (which would be sad). I could see them keeping Aquatica and repurposing the Discovery Cove land if such a thing were to happen, but I'm sure they'd sink a whole bunch of money into retheming/upgrading Aquatica into something more "Universal."

Not gonna lie, I love SeaWorld and Busch Gardens, but I worry about their future. Times are hard and uncertain for the company. I'm rooting for them!

 

[Mad Dog]

If I was a betting man, my money is that Blackstone is not with Sea World in 5 years. This is just a gimmick to buy time and get around the bad publicity & bad management. Blackstone will be out of there as soon as the price of the company recovers a bit, and they find someone that'll buy, at a price above today's depressed prices.

 

[Teebin]

ITEC was bragging yesterday, about two attractions they recently opened at Wanda Movie Park in China. It appears they may have built copies of Universal attractions. Terminator and Transformers come to mind. Another attraction looks like a knockoff of Star Tours.

Type in a fake email address to get past and see the pictures.
http://www.themeparx.com/wanda-group-theme-parks/

 

[anihilnation]

Met Bob (pixels at the park) two days ago, he told me that seaworld orlando is not doing as bad as most people think they do, and that BGT is not doing as good as people think.

 

[shiekra38]

Met Bob (pixels at the park) two days ago, he told me that seaworld orlando is not doing as bad as most people think they do, and that BGT is not doing as good as people think.

BGT clearly isn't doing well..Good to hear about Sea World...we seriously don't know the details..

 

[anihilnation]

BGT clearly isn't doing well..Good to hear about Sea World...we seriously don't know the details..

Bob told me that the Blue Ocean project really is massive. Personally I think they ought to get rid of the shamu stadium as well and just have a natural show free environment, though unfortunately that will never happen. On the downside, seaworld continues to be starving for new rides and that might not change. But well, if the Blue Oceans project works, maybe in 10 years we'll finally get a new coaster

 

[Teebin]

Is Blue Ocean that plan to build bigger tanks for the Orcas?

 

[anihilnation]

Is Blue Ocean that plan to build bigger tanks for the Orcas?

Yes, I am also hoping that it will create something that looks more natural, something akin to Dolphin Cove.

 

[SeventyOne]

On the downside, seaworld continues to be starving for new rides and that might not change. But well, if the Blue Oceans project works, maybe in 10 years we'll finally get a new coaster

I still think this is the larger issue than the backlash from Blackfish (which is still an issue). Last two E-tickets bombed hard. One before that (Manta) is very polarizing, never became the iconic Orlando ride it should be, IMO.

On top of that, based on amount of merch, their 3 most iconic animal attractions seem to be orcas, dolphins and polar bears. The polar bears are gone, leaving behind their early 90s simulator ride, and the dolphins are about to get a whole lot more expensive to touch. Blue Ocean will take a while and seems more about damage control than convincing tourists to skip Potter/Minions/Transformers (or SpongeBob/Fast & Furious/Star Trek/whatever) by the time it opens.

The number of days spent in Orlando is a zero sum game. (Even for locals, only so many weekends in a year.) You either need to have something exciting to draw people in, or be able to compete on price. And doing the latter, which seems SWO's game plan, hurts revenue and makes you look like a lesser competitor.