A few things I picked up through the call.
- Revenue up, attendance down on the whole. While they won't talk specifics at individual parks, it was stated that SeaWorld Orlando was having a "record year" so far. To me, this means there has to be one or more parks that are dragging down the attendance numbers. Imagine the revenue that could be generated if attendance was up overall.
- They talked about having fewer promotions overall, but the promotions they will have will be targeted and unique. If they go to dynamic ticket pricing like there have been talks about, then this makes sense - there won't need to be promotions because the shoulder/off season daily gate price will simply be less than the summer/holiday prices. Otherwise, it sounds just like what they said over at Disney - right before they continued with all sorts of discounts and promotions.
- Serious discussions are talking place about a new park/property as either a SEAS only or a joint venture project, either domestically or internationally. An announcement within the next 12 to 24 months would not be unreasonable, they said.
- Atchison refused to say that Antarctica had a positive impact on SeaWorld Orlando attendance when directly asked. He dodged it by saying they don't talk specific attraction numbers (which wasn't being asked) and that they were "delighted" with the attractions performance. Sounds to me like Antarctica at best is under-performing.
- When asked why SEAS is blaming weather for lower attendance while other parks and entertainment companies are not, Atchison explained when comparing to Disney/Universal, they are somewhat protected because of lodging. People there have reservations pre-booked and are more likely to follow through despite poor weather, as opposed to SEAS parks which are often a one day ticket with no lodging built in. He didn't answer as to why other stand alone parks are seeing increases but SEAS isn't, so while I'm sure his answer is at least partially true for Disney/Uni, I don't think it really gives the whole story. Weather can't be blamed for everything each quarter.
- In regards to the above, it was said that BGT has "a much larger percentage" of pass member attendance, and that weather directly effects those pass holders coming out. Since last quarter it was stated that 40% chain wide attendance is pass members, that to me means BGT is looking at over 40% pass member attendance annually. That's a pretty big number, and makes their decisions to cut back attractions, park hours, dining options (especially Crown Colony) etc all the more surprising, since they directly impact the returning pass holders the most.
- Attendance at BGT and SeaWorld Orlando on Monday through Fridays with the $50 ticket promotion saw a roughly same daily attendance each day of the week (M-F), which they were surprised at. I guess they expected that some days would be higher and others would be lower. I am a little surprised too - I would have expected overall higher attendance on Fridays and Mondays (people making long weekends) and less in the middle of the week.
- Online sales now account for 36% of sales, and there has been a 9% increase in the last year. This is good news; it means money up front from ticket sales, and better "weather-proofing" since people are more likely to still come if they have already pre-purchased their tickets.
