SeaWorld Orlando (SWO) Discussion Thread

77 million seems really low with 1.4 billion in revenue. My math says that is only 5.5% profit on the 1.4 billion. I'm beginning to see why there is talk of an IPO. It will take them forever to pay off the 4 billion they paid for the parks at this rate.

I've heard Magic Mountain and Six Flags Great America can make 50 million a year on their own, which is another reason I would have expected Seaworld Parks to have been higher.

I've heard Magic Mountain and Six Flags Great America can make 50 million a year on their own, which is another reason I would have expected Seaworld Parks to have been higher.

I'm no expert and don't know all the facts, but I feel there's something to be said to the competition in the Orlando area vs. Magic Mountain and Great America being the only major park in their area. I mean, SWO is smack dab in between two other major parks. It's hard to compare those parks' profits. Just my thoughts though.

Yes, but all the Seaworld parks have a much higher gate price and most of their parks operate year round. Seaworld likely gets their guests to spend more in the parks too, in food and merchandise. Magic Mountain isn't even open during the week in winter. And the competition brings more visitors to the area. When people visit Chicago, I can't imagine going to Great America to be much of a priority.

Theme Park Review was invited back to SeaWorld on Saturday to experience Viva La Musica, the park's Latin music festival filled with music, food and plenty of unique offerings! Featuring Daddy Yankee as the headliner for the concert series this year, we were able to check out all that SeaWorld Orlando has to offer with this event, and we were thoroughly impressed~

The food was great (we liked it even better than Bands, Brew & BBQ) and the concert was especially fun, despite the fact that Daddy Yankee rapped in Spanish for the majority of the show.

We also had the chance to check in on the latest happenings in the park, including the opening of a new Coca-Cola Freestlye booth. Now I can get my Fanta Lime at SeaWorld, and it is still amazing!

Special thanks again to SeaWorld Orlando for inviting us. We had a great time and I know I'll be looking forward to next year's events!

Viva La Musica runs on weekends at SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay through May 4th.

There's plenty for the kids to enjoy at the Viva La Musica special event area. The same space is also used for the SeaWorld Christmas Celebration and Bands, Brew & BBQ.

Sesame Street's Rosita was out dancing with guests in the events area.

Themed character costumes!

And of course, there was food!

As if we didn't love SeaWorld Orlando already, they had to go and start serving Dippin' Dots Sorbet!

An overview of the Viva La Musica special event section of the park. Not pictured but very important to the overall festival is the Atlantis Bayside Stadium where the main concerts are hosted.

Bayside Stadium will host Willie Colon, Grupomania and El Gran Combo over the next three weekends.

SeaWorld Orlando gave us some fantastic seats for the concert, also giving us the chance to see Daddy Yankee up close as he walked into the stadium.

Not a bad backdrop for a concert, right?

It should be noted that the concerts at Viva La Musica are extremely popular and the stadium could fill up quickly, so get your seats early!

We were sure to sample the food at the event as well, and nothing underwhelmed us.

Cheers for beers!

Best of pals!

New Coca-Cola Freestyle machines have opened up underneath Manta.

And to close, a look at Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin. It really has begun to look like this could welcome guests very soon!

It looks like signage has begun to go up in the new realm.

We are really looking forward to checking out Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin on May 24th for its grand opening! Thanks again to SeaWorld Orlando for hosting us for Viva La Musica! We look forward to returning soon to experience Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin, opening on May 24th, 2013!

The Antarctica area looks great. How cold exactly is it supposed to be on the ride or in the attraction building? I can imagine all the people wearing shorts in there.

The food actually looks pretty good. And beer.

The food looks great. BGW is supposed to be getting Coke Freestyle machines this year, too.

Looks like another great event which is the norm for this park! I don't have any interest in the music but the food and beer selection look good enough to make thyis work checking out one of theses days!

I really love all these food events they are having! Thanks for the report.

Yes, but all the Seaworld parks have a much higher gate price and most of their parks operate year round. Seaworld likely gets their guests to spend more in the parks too, in food and merchandise. Magic Mountain isn't even open during the week in winter. And the competition brings more visitors to the area. When people visit Chicago, I can't imagine going to Great America to be much of a priority.

While I understand what you mean by higher gate price, I get frustrated when people point out the high prices at SeaWorld, Disney Parks, Universal, etc.. Sure, the prices are higher, but the parks also spend so much more each year on new attractions. Have you ever heard of a Six Flags sinking 200 million into one ride like Radiator Springs Racer? No, but you get what you pay for. High prices, higher value. It really bothers me when Disney posts anything on Facebook and all anyone can say is about high prices. Sorry, if this went off topic.

This is a little off topic as well, but Screamscape is reporting that PETA just bought major shares in the company last week when they went public....and their first item on the menu is to demand that the parks release ALL of their Killer Whales! wow, just wow!

^I bumped into a screencap of the news and came straight here... Oh boy.

SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment - (4/23/13) Just while SeaWorld was enjoying their successful IPO run… they were blindsided in almost WWE style fashion by the announcement that not only was PETA amongst their new shareholders, but that PETA had bought enough shares “to give us the right to attend and speak at annual meetings and to submit shareholder resolutions asking for policy changes.”

 

Yep… and if you couldn’t guess, their first order of business “as part owners of SeaWorld” is that the group is formally requesting that all of the chain’s Killer Whales be released. They are also planning to start an educational campaign they’ll lead against the other stockholders about the evils of SeaWorld and the practice of captive marine mammals in parks.

 

Yep… things are going to get VERY interesting for SeaWorld Entertainment very quickly. See why I previously urged them to keep the company private and away from the manipulations of greedy investors as well as those with a private adjenda. But even I couldn’t have dreamed of a plan so sinister as what PETA has unleashed upon SeaWorld this week, as they attempt to destroy the company from the inside. I don’t imagine that the other stockholders will put up with their antics for long, but I’m not sure what they can do about it either. They may simply be forced to just put up with them at the meetings, much like how families try to ignore the that one crazy relative who only comes to the big family gatherings, drinks too much and then complains loudly to everyone about how good everyone else had it while they suffered endless untold hardships. (Or something like that…)

 

In other news, SeaWorld’s CEO hinted that one of the companies long term goals may be to cast their net into International waters and see what kind of global opportunities there are for the SeaWorld brand. There was no mention of the previously announcement project to build parks in Dubai however on a man-made island shaped like a Killer Whale."

Link

Edit: I now realize this news has already been brought up earlier under another thread.

Yes, but all the Seaworld parks have a much higher gate price and most of their parks operate year round. Seaworld likely gets their guests to spend more in the parks too, in food and merchandise. Magic Mountain isn't even open during the week in winter. And the competition brings more visitors to the area. When people visit Chicago, I can't imagine going to Great America to be much of a priority.

 

While I understand what you mean by higher gate price, I get frustrated when people point out the high prices at SeaWorld, Disney Parks, Universal, etc.. Sure, the prices are higher, but the parks also spend so much more each year on new attractions. Have you ever heard of a Six Flags sinking 200 million into one ride like Radiator Springs Racer? No, but you get what you pay for. High prices, higher value. It really bothers me when Disney posts anything on Facebook and all anyone can say is about high prices. Sorry, if this went off topic.

"Spend so much more on new attractions????? In the decade prior to Harry Potter, Orlando collectively hardly spent anything. Magic Kingdom has 1 less ride then it did in 1993. How many Cedar Fair or Six Flags parks can have that claim? Sure, Six Flags won't spend $200 million on one ride, but I'm sure many of their parks will get that much investment over 10 years. Disney is not spending $200 million on a new attraction every year.

Antartica is $40 million. That is the most expensive attraction in Sea World history. I bet over a 4 year period, Magic Mountain and Cedar Point spend at least as much as any of the Seaworld parks in new attractions.

There is plenty of complaining over on the Orlando United forum about Disneys penny pinching and extremely slow pace of bringing in new attractions. They take forever to build something. 2 of their parks are considered half day. If you think Disney is a higher value, have at it. Because for me Disney and value do not go together. They are complete opposites.

Someday Mr. 18 year old, when you have to spend your own money and not your parents, maybe you will see things differently.

^I'm 27 and have spent plenty of my own money in Orlando. "Value" is all relative, but I certainly never feel like I being ripped off by any of the Orlando parks when I visit.

^Same. The Orlando parks are some of the very few in the US where I feel I get value for my money. And I'm well past the age of 18...

dt

I have a new personal rule. Every time someone starts comparing WDW's spending to that of any other park and/or resort area, I'm going to pass right by it. When are people gonna realize that WDW's budget is unlike every other amusement entity on the planet? I guess the fact that they have 40-something square miles of entertainment to maintain (including 6 parks, countless hotels, shopping "districts," transportation, electric, payroll, garbage disposal, etc. etc. etc. etc.) kind of dictates how often they can drop $100-200 million on a new attraction, no? And of course, this seems lost on the blogosphere-type crowd who spend way too much time worrying about how far their entertainment dollar is stretching than actually having a good time once inside the gates.

Orlando is full of value in my book.

Now back to actual Sea World discussion, which come to think of it, includes the absolute best value in all of Orlando....Discovery Cove.

 

Someday Mr. 18 year old, when you have to spend your own money and not your parents, maybe you will see things differently.

Please do not make a post like this again. There is a right way to share your opinion, but when you make a statement like this, you are far from it.

And for an 18-year old, he appears to have a better grasp on things than you do. Comparing spending at the Florida parks to Six Flags parks is like comparing apples to oranges.

And yes, let's please now get back on topic.

So about PETA and Sea World... do you think so of the people who bought shares are regretting investing now that they see the looming drama show to take place... or do you think PETA will be ignored although they now have some ownership of the company?

^I don't think anyone will care about PETA anymore than they would a pesky mosquito.

"Spend so much more on new attractions????? In the decade prior to Harry Potter, Orlando collectively hardly spent anything.

And the decade prior to Harry Potter also included 9/11 where the few years following that were some of the worst in Orlando's history causing many smaller attractions to close up shop.

The fact that Orlando has pulled through as well as they have and the parks are currently spending HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS on new capital just shows the strength and value in entertainment that Orlando has.

You can make dumb arguments all you want. But you're wrong. Deal with it.

--Robb "I'd ask the world to stop making stupid posts, but then we all know that's not realistic, huh?" Alvey

Yes, I know. Finally............ I'm looking very forward to the future of Orlando theme parks that Harry is driving. 2014 and on should be great years with a lot of completed new attractions and projects.

I have a new personal rule. Every time someone starts comparing WDW's spending to that of any other park and/or resort area, I'm going to pass right by it. When are people gonna realize that WDW's budget is unlike every other amusement entity on the planet? I guess the fact that they have 40-something square miles of entertainment to maintain (including 6 parks, countless hotels, shopping "districts," transportation, electric, payroll, garbage disposal, etc. etc. etc. etc.) kind of dictates how often they can drop $100-200 million on a new attraction, no? And of course, this seems lost on the blogosphere-type crowd who spend way too much time worrying about how far their entertainment dollar is stretching than actually having a good time once inside the gates.

 

Orlando is full of value in my book.

 

Now back to actual Sea World discussion, which come to think of it, includes the absolute best value in all of Orlando....Discovery Cove.

I guess WDW has all of that stuff just to be nice to people, right? All for convenience.

Anyway back on topic. What makes Discovery Cove the best value? Is it the personal attention? Or a chance to do something you can't do somewhere else?

^ Yep, sure, convenience. Whatever works for ya.

Anyway, as for Discovery Cove...here's my review (scroll down and carry over to page 4).

Wow, that was one of the best trip reports I have seen. I can see why you consider that the best value in Orlando. Unfortunately I will be in Orlando in December, so it will be too cold and I am not really a water person. But that is a much better value than the Six Flags VIP package.

Value is the biggest reason I like the Seaworld/Busch parks the best in Florida. Reasonable gate prices with discounts available, good food, quality shows and entertainment, thrilling rides, good landscaping, and a great atmosphere. They are big parks and I'm not doing the same thing over and over the day I am there, unless I want to. There also aren't mobs of strollers and senior citizens 10 wide in the midways bringing foot travel to a crawl. Most importantly, I leave this company's parks happier than when I am at their competition.

^ Thank you. Yeah, it's tough to go wrong with the Sea World/Busch parks in Central Florida. They've evolved into some of the most complete parks around.