uhh, yeah...
Hope people are comfortable with 3/4 day a week operation.
Hope people are comfortable with 3/4 day a week operation.
Rumor SWO Cutting Hours and/or Operating Days
- Thread starter Python_Survivor
- Start date
Are we talking after Christmas?
Either way, it would be quite an admission that SeaWorld Orlando is very much not the destination park it once was.
I'm not completely opposed to be honest—I'd rather the park experience improve and for said experience to be available on a more limited schedule. That said, we have no evidence to suggest that SWO is actually interested in improving the experience.
Either way, it would be quite an admission that SeaWorld Orlando is very much not the destination park it once was.
I'm not completely opposed to be honest—I'd rather the park experience improve and for said experience to be available on a more limited schedule. That said, we have no evidence to suggest that SWO is actually interested in improving the experience.
I'm honestly not entirely sure timeline wise. I'd hope to god they don't think that would be a good idea before then, but we'll see.
That's crazy! This is a park that at one point was almost on level with universal. Obviously a lot has changed and they are no longer in the same realm, but this is just flat out giving up.
D
Deleted member 12707
Next year their park schedule for the whole year shows 365 days of operation. So it can't be next year or probably won't be happening at all.
I know SeaWorld San Antonio is going back to being open only on Saturday's and Sunday's in January and February. They of course will be open on Martin Luther King day and President's day.
I know SeaWorld San Antonio is going back to being open only on Saturday's and Sunday's in January and February. They of course will be open on Martin Luther King day and President's day.
paintervision
Coasters: 653 🎢
If any Florida park could get away with this, it would be BGT. Adventure Island is already closed after the first weekend in November thru the first weekend in March, and I could see BGT cutting Mondays-Tuesdays in Jan-Feb to cut costs. Cutting hours at other times of the year really don't make sense.
A big problem with this are Fulltimers. Anything less than five days a week isn't going to make sense for the staffing roster. At least when I worked full time at UOR, a lot of people had Sat or Sun off due to availability. Part time staff, they know hours drop after the busy holiday season, which is how the seasonal parks can get away with limited hours/weekends-only.
A big problem with this are Fulltimers. Anything less than five days a week isn't going to make sense for the staffing roster. At least when I worked full time at UOR, a lot of people had Sat or Sun off due to availability. Part time staff, they know hours drop after the busy holiday season, which is how the seasonal parks can get away with limited hours/weekends-only.
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What is the source on this? Hours get reduced all the time, but cutting entire days is unacceptable for a park like this. San Antonio isn't a major tourist destination, but cities like Orlando and San Diego get visitors every day of the year, and these parks need to be open every day of the year.
As someone who was worked for SWO in this timeframe in the past, the weekdays are usually very slow. Usually forecasted attendance barely even making it 4000 Monday-Thursday. Whereas universal and Disney see around 20,000-40,000 daily in the same timeframe. So Seaworld wanting to cut operational hours is understandable, because they’re almost certainly operating at a loss those days.
They have been operating 5 days a week for Aquatica and Discovery Cove in the slow season for the past couple of years. To close the theme park on opposite days one or two weekdays might actually make sense. Essentially they have two of the three parks open on a weekday, then everything open on weekends when crowds warrant it. As long as the hours/days are posted well in advance it shouldn’t be a big deal.
Agreed. I don't think there's a justification for SWO to open on days when they can reasonably forecast that they're going to run at a loss.
While I think it would be a sad commentary on the radically diminished tourist demand for SeaWorld Orlando, that doesn't mean they should continue doing it just to keep up appearances or something. If weekday attendance during the off-season doesn't allow for each day, on average, to turn a profit, consolidating down the calendar to force people into visiting on days when the park can operate with a profit-turning attendance level is a good, reasonable, rational, justified business decision.
We can't both reasonably ask for United Parks to improve the guest experience while also expecting them to spend many days operating at a loss. Assuming @Coasternerd's numbers are right and off-season weekday attendance is frequently that dire, it sounds like this is a long overdue move. We wonder why the guest experience at a marine life theme park is so poor? Operating with attendance numbers like that on a regular basis would force the guest experience cuts we all (rightly) despise.
While I think it would be a sad commentary on the radically diminished tourist demand for SeaWorld Orlando, that doesn't mean they should continue doing it just to keep up appearances or something. If weekday attendance during the off-season doesn't allow for each day, on average, to turn a profit, consolidating down the calendar to force people into visiting on days when the park can operate with a profit-turning attendance level is a good, reasonable, rational, justified business decision.
We can't both reasonably ask for United Parks to improve the guest experience while also expecting them to spend many days operating at a loss. Assuming @Coasternerd's numbers are right and off-season weekday attendance is frequently that dire, it sounds like this is a long overdue move. We wonder why the guest experience at a marine life theme park is so poor? Operating with attendance numbers like that on a regular basis would force the guest experience cuts we all (rightly) despise.
You can generally tell the attendance at SWO by the number of Orca shows. A one show day means the attendance is 5,000 or less. Two shows 5-10K, three shows 10-15K, etc.
Looking at the website, currently there are park hours posted every day in January-March and that is the really slow time of year. If they were closing at any time that's when it would be.
Looking at the website, currently there are park hours posted every day in January-March and that is the really slow time of year. If they were closing at any time that's when it would be.
I get that and agree with the rationale, it's just a sad state that it's come to this when they appeared to be so much more popular in the past. I know their image was hurt, and I know Universal has become a much, much larger draw, but I can't help but thinking the focus on profit and diminishing quality isn't a factor as well. The "United Parks" just don't have that same top level feel anymore. Bottom line, I get it, but I'd rather see them fix the underlying problems and return at least those the properties to top tier experiences.
Bright side is that if they make each day, on average, more profitable by cutting the far from optimal dead weight days that are hurting them, they could maintain similar levels of profitability while investing more into the park experience. Do that long enough and, if our theory is right that people are more likely to visit if the experience improves, then you can start adding days back again.
The sad reality though is that we have no reason to believe the additional profits would be reinvested vs syphoned off to benefit the stock in the short-term.
I'd like to believe that cutting slow operational days would result in better investment in the park, but I just don't think it would. I think this is just another in a long string of shocking budget cuts that won't end with this, and unless they get enough backlash from guests (like they did with cutting the parking trams at BGT) they will feel emboldened to cut even more. It's like they're testing to see what is the absolute minimum viable product the market will tolerate, except in most cases they fail to recognize when they've already gone below it because the market's response is a gradual decline in attendance instead of a vocal outcry. I think a lot of passholders like to visit the parks on these lower-attendance weekdays, and I could definitely see them choosing to cancel their passes if they can no longer do so.
On another note, would this also mean the onsite hotels are no longer happening if there would only be 1-2 nights a week that anyone would have reason to stay at them?
On another note, would this also mean the onsite hotels are no longer happening if there would only be 1-2 nights a week that anyone would have reason to stay at them?
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SeaWorld's long term plan:
1. Running well with high attendance.
2. Raise prices to increase per capital spending
3. Raise ticket prices to maintain revenue with lower attendance.
4. Start taking losses on weekdays during the off-season
5. Reduce operations
6. ?
7. PROFIT
1. Running well with high attendance.
2. Raise prices to increase per capital spending
3. Raise ticket prices to maintain revenue with lower attendance.
4. Start taking losses on weekdays during the off-season
5. Reduce operations
6. ?
7. PROFIT
D
Deleted member 12707
I see both positives and negatives to this. The positives is the park will be saving lots of money and can make the park experience better. On the other note, the loss of employee hours would cause many to quit. Season pass members will also be upset about the change as well. I know SeaWorld San Antonio had to change their operating days to include January and Feburary. That's because their passes advertised 12 months of access, when really people were only getting 10 months worth out of their passes. This ended up with a lawsuit on their hands.
Staffing at SWO has been a problem for a long time, and it will only get worse when Epic opens. Reducing the operating days could be as much about not being able to staff as saving any costs. The park pays so much less than Disney and Universal and operates full time with only the bare minimum full time staff, relying on hundreds of part time employees who work there as a second job.