One thing that concerned me based on the conference call and press release, is they've seen very lack luster results through July. I mean based on the press releases, in July alone, they were down about 270,000 guests in 31 days. Also, from the conversations and press release, the tone insinuated that some days are positive, but other days are very not. Obviously more days are negative. Based on the tone of the conversation they're expecting lack luster results, at the very least, through Q3. This seems to be a chain wide issue which is being exacerbated by the weather, but not the fault of the weather alone. They've even stated they aren't even expecting to hit there bottom line guidance figures they projected at the start of the year, unless they get some good momentum through August. Obviously, these are my own opinion, formed from the call and the press releases.
I just feel that 270,000 guest visit decline in 31 days, and 480,000 guest visit decline in the first 7 months, is more than weather. Especially when for Q1, they were up about 110,000 guest visits. Heck, I thought for sure they'd being having a great year because even my group of friends visited Kings Dominion (for the first time in 4 years) to try out Twisted Timber. We even tried to plan a trip to Cedar Point (with no success) for Steel Vengeance.
Why it is so concerning to me is this is a pretty big drop coming off of good solid years of growth. Almost half a million guests through 7/31 have opted not to visit their parks. Even if they have a great event season, these summer season losses are going to be hard to overcome. I'm just really shocked that the line-up of new attractions didn't drive a modest increase in attendance so they could see a modest increase in stock price.
Curious to see how SEAS faired in Q2 now. With Six Flags less than anticipated performance and Cedar Fair's pretty big declines, I'm trying not to have any expectations. I really thought Cedar Fair would be sitting pretty right now.
