Jump to content

BUSCH PARKS: BLACKSTONE, now what?


Recommended Posts

SeaWorld's response?

A marketing campaign, targeting the ambivalent, starting April Fools Day.

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/36327/20150228/seaworld-hopes-to-increase-attendance-with-new-marketing-campaign.htm

I sure hope this is an April Fools' stunt. If not, it's rather late, rather misguided, and rather likely to fail.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

In my completely non-expert opinion (which should be taken with a grain of salt) it seems to me that FUN would have more to gain from buying the two Busch parks than SIX would.

First off, it would expand their market area geographically.Their southernmost property outside of California is Carowinds. Get BGT in the portfolio, and now you can market to Florida residents. Plus, you get another year-round park out of it to offset the winter months where most of their parks would bring in very little revenue. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that FUN has only one year-round park (KBF) currently. Another could help that revenue stream.

Second, if they get their hands on BGW, then it stands to reason that sales of Platinum Passes in the Virginia market would skyrocket. If you lived in, say, Richmond, and loved amusement parks, it would be a no-brainer to buy the platinum. Of course, that increased marketability might lead to a price increase, which (if current trends continued) would lead to a price increase on Platinum Passes at every park in the chain. That said, SIX Gold Passes (more or less equivalent to a FUN Platinum) are not always priced the same at every park, so that could always change.

The other question is, if a hypothetical sale happened, who's to say the parks stay together? The Great America parks didn't.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

^ The last time I looked, it was cheaper to buy gold passes to both Carowinds and Kings Dominion than to buy a single platinum pass. Adding BGW would certainly be one way to increase the value of a platinum pass such that the price makes sense there. Perhaps more significantly, they could be completely sure that another buyer wouldn't, for example, install a giga coaster at BGW.

As for BGT, one factor in favor of a Cedar Fair acquisition might be the expansion in Charlotte. A second park in the southeast would help balance the regional revenue picture.

If the Busch Gardens parks are acquired by another US park chain, I still think that SIX is more likely than FUN. As Terp mentioned, they have a more favorable debt load (thanks to bankruptcy), and they have a national footprint which the Busch Gardens parks would compliment. FUN would certainly want to make sure that SIX didn't get the parks cheaply.

One thing I still do wonder: what would Cedar Fair call the parks if they bought them?

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pricing does indeed vary throughout the year. My aim was simply to point out that it is currently not that way. What it was in the past and what it will be in the future do not necessarily agree with what it is in the present.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

SeaWorld's response?

A marketing campaign, targeting the ambivalent, starting April Fools Day.

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/36327/20150228/seaworld-hopes-to-increase-attendance-with-new-marketing-campaign.htm

I sure hope this is an April Fools' stunt. If not, it's rather late, rather misguided, and rather likely to fail.

Seaworld's response to this mess has been disastrous at best. Regardless of the truthfulness of the film, Seaworld's mismanaged response is ultimately what's hurt them so badly. This sounds like a last-ditch effort to keep the few who haven't decided on their side, with hopes that those few will somehow change the minds of those who have decided never to give a penny to Seaworld again.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Seaworld needs to almost go on the offensive similar to McDonalds. 30 second TV spots saying check out "FHFHF.com" to get the real answers. Then its just has the weekly/monthly question being answered through a infotainment video. McDonald's can show you in 3-5 minutes how they make the chicken McNugget, Seaworld can show you in 3-5 minutes the care they give the animals....

  • Like 11
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Seaworld needs to almost go on the offensive similar to McDonalds. 30 second TV spots saying check out "FHFHF.com" to get the real answers. Then its just has the weekly/monthly question being answered through a infotainment video. McDonald's can show you in 3-5 minutes how they make the chicken McNugget, Seaworld can show you in 3-5 minutes the care they give the animals....

I actually kind of like this post.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its sad that so many brilliant minds in the SWP&E corporate structure botched this so poorly. I understand that in the beginning, these 'knocks' come every few years- don't feed credibility to them and eventually it'll go away. The message that this wasn't going to go away should have been painfully obvious very early on and they should have gone on the offensive months ago. For nearly an 18-month period a rather biased opinion persisted (one that wasn't all false... but not all true either, and completely one-sided)- with no rebuttal from the company. So for over 18 months the opposition controlled the message with not so much as a 'poof' from SW.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

And it wasn't like this message was coming from some obscure internet site that only had a small following. Instead it was receiving a national push and helped feed the 24/7 news cycle. After that many months public opinion views the situation as well they never responded so it must be true.

In todays 24/7 News Cycle and instantaneous updates via Social Media. Companies must be on their game at all times, ready to respond and take action. A perfect example is how Carnival handled the "poop" cruise compared to how Royal Caribbean handled the fire on Grandeur of the Seas. Carnival was not fully reporting details while passengers were providing real time updates to the new media, yet Royal broke the news first about Grandeur. Both very bad incidents, yet one company is praised for how they handled it and another is lambasted in the public eye.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What SeaWorld did seemed to have raised public awareness about Blackfish more so than it raised awareness about the truthfulness (or lack thereof).

People heard from the news media about SeaWorld's response to Blackfish.

What's Blackfish? People who hadn't heard of Blackfish looked it up.

It's on Netflix? Gee.

(Netflix has over 50 million subscribers, I might add)

And BAM. Now a lot more people have seen Blackfish, and have been scared / ill-informed about SeaWorld and their care of their animals.

SeaWorld encouraged people to research online for truthful answers. Honestly, I don't think people wanted to look up information about SeaWorld after seeing the film, because of its negative attitude towards the parks.

Really.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is the responsibility of the business to make sure consumers hear the right information and facts about their business. Don't be lazy and expect people to find the truth. Sticking your head in the sand and hoping the storm blows over is the wrong move every time. Sea World must pay for these mistakes, but having numerous customer service issues within the parks now and the automatic charging on folks credit cards shenanigans is making it easier for people to believe Blackfish.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not sheeple, I don't need a business to cover things up for me. Talk about lazy, if people really cared they would look into it for themselves. Another sad sign of this nation when people are too lazy to get on a computer for a few minutes and research.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Eh but most people rightly or wrongly assume that if it's being aired on CNN it has a measure of truthfulness to it.

Discovery Channel used to run a 100% fact based shark week. Now they don't. For some people it's hard to make the logical jump to self study.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

And why should a company as large as Seas take that risk?

Mine was more as a reason why people dont look things up. Seas should do everything it can to self promote and counter-act the negativity.

I said from the beginning that the way this was handled was a huge mistake. Immediately following the Blackfish Premier or before it, Seas should have had multiple press conferences about what it is doing and how it is doing it the right way. Talk about how things are going to change, talk about the bigger tanks, etc. By getting out infront of the media mass hysteria Seas could have made the Blackfish documentary look tame/poor.

Have the President/CEO/COO of Seas standing next to a Penguin answering questions. Have him sitting on the edge of a pool with the whales in the background. Heck show the footage of them rescuing whales from shoddy companies. Instead we got press releases.....

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The ironic thing is, the past couple of weeks I've seen two different positive stories about Sea World...

Story 1: SeaWorld helps rescue manatees: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-seaworld-helps-rescue-manatees-20150224-post.html

Story 2: SeaWorld Closes Sea Lion and Otter Show, Staff Helping Rescue Dozens of Stranded Sea Lions: http://fox40.com/2015/03/07/sea-world-closes-sea-lion-and-otter-show-staff-helping-rescue-dozens-of-stranded-sea-lions/

This is what SeaWorld should be known for - not Blackfish.

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...