The Interpreter Posted February 27, 2015 Author Share Posted February 27, 2015 SIX has a more stable balance sheet and lower debt levels than its competition. It most certainly could finance buying the Busch Gardens parks. That does not necessarily mean it would want to. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Italian Job 2005 Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 If Cedar Fair were to purchase the Busch brand, that would give them a key into the oh-so-popular money-raking Florida theme parks. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted February 27, 2015 Author Share Posted February 27, 2015 The same could be said for SIX, PLUS giving them a credible entry in the VA\DC\MD market... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted February 28, 2015 Author Share Posted February 28, 2015 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. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westcoaster Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 To better days for the great parks they are. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick_Plummer Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 I feel like I would rather see a smaller company buy the parks. Kind of do what the Kentucky State Fair Board did with Kentucky Kingdom. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver2005 Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 Kind of do what the Kentucky State Fair Board did with Kentucky Kingdom. Are you really sure about that? We really don't need an expansion of the Hartland. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RollerNut Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 Did closing Geauga Lake increase Kings Island and Cedar Point attendance? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted March 1, 2015 Author Share Posted March 1, 2015 By the time Geauga Lake closed, it had meaningful attendance? And Nick, look up what Mr. Hart did in Arkansas with a park named Magic Springs. I think you will find it interesting. And troubling. And hauntingly familiar. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homestar92 Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 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. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malem Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 ^ 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? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsus Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 ^ 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. Kings Dominion Gold (new): $112.50 Carowinds Gold (new): $102 KD + C (new): $214.50 FUN Platinum: $198 Throw an All Season Dining Plan into the mix and Platinum makes even more sense, even if just for those two parks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted March 1, 2015 Author Share Posted March 1, 2015 That's now. When passes first go on sale, it's not that way... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsus Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 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. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldiesmann Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 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. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark6495 Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 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.... 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faeriewench Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 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. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outdoor Man Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 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. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RailRider Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 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. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Italian Job 2005 Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 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. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
APE Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 Isn't it amazing how quickly uniformed people can ruin a business. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RailRider Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 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. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
APE Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 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. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark6495 Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 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. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RailRider Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 And why should a company as large as Seas take that risk? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dieseltech20 Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 I prefer to ignore all major news outlets. CNN, Faux News, etc. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark6495 Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 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..... 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homestar92 Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 The topic of Blackfish came up at work today. So I turned up the volume on my headphones and enjoyed some Zeppelin. Not feeling like getting in an argument with my coworkers today. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted March 6, 2015 Author Share Posted March 6, 2015 SEAS? Now there is an elephant in the room, too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldiesmann Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 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. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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