Articles tagged “theme parks”

Disney has been talking about expanding its Shanghai theme park complex since before the doors officially opened. Despite a rough patch last year, the company is clearly optimistic about the market's future.

Universal theme parks are expanding in the U.S. and around the world even as larger rival Disney continues to pour money into growing its parks and resorts. As long as returns are healthy, expect the theme park wars to rage on.

Theme parks got more creative with loyalty and pricing, ramped up their building boom, and took steps to raise employee wages in 2018. One operator mounted a turnaround, while another struggled to meet expectations. Here are some highlights from a year of strategic twists and turns.

Disney had to lower ticket prices to boost attendance at its two-year-old Shanghai park, but that's not the story at most properties around the world. The company saw its overall theme park revenue jump 9 percent in its fiscal fourth quarter.

SeaWorld is making theme park visitors an offer some apparently can't refuse: a good deal. With attendance continuing to rise and a slate of new attractions on the horizon, the operator might finally be leaving the bad times behind.

Six Flags still considers international licensing an important driver of revenue growth, despite some roadblocks along the way. Back in the U.S., where most of its parks are located, weather put a damper on quarterly earnings.

It looks like things are starting to turn around for Merlin in its key London market. We'll have to wait until its annual results later this year for the full picture.

SeaWorld has been making it more affordable for people to visit its parks and sweetening the deal at some locations with free beer. Those tactics seem to be working, according to preliminary figures for the summer.

Disney shifted to seasonal pricing a couple of years ago, and the entertainment giant is drilling down even more with the latest changes. Visitors will likely grumble at the more complicated new system, but we don't expect Disney's business to suffer.

More than five years after the Blackfish documentary made a splash, SeaWorld is finally facing the music for lying to the public about the impact. In a way, though, the company has been paying a price for years: A $5 million settlement is a drop in the bucket compared to quarter after quarter of lost revenue.