Attendance and revenue declined at United Parks properties in 2024, the company reported today.
The owner of the SeaWorld and Busch Gardens theme parks reported total attendance of 21.5 million guests at its parks last year. That is down 0.3% from 2023's attendance. In addition, revenue was down 0.1%, to $1.7 billion, net income declined 2.9%, and Adjusted EBITDA fell 1.9% for the year, to $700 million.
The lone bright spot? Revenue per capita (that's the average amount of money spent by each guest) increased 0.2% to a record $80.07. Average admission revenue was down 1.2% last year, but in-park spending rose 2.0%, no doubt boosted by the company's mandatory surcharges, which now cost an extra 9% on each purchase at SeaWorld in Orlando.
United Parks last year also bought back 9.4 million shares of its common stock (that's about 15% of total shares) at a total cost of $482.9 million.
"We've had a pretty bad run of unusually poor weather over the last couple of years," CEO Marc Swanson said. "Fourth quarter and fiscal year results were impacted by meaningfully worse weather, including Hurricanes Debby in August, Helene in September and Milton in October. We estimate that the combined impact of the meaningfully worse weather was approximately 167,000 guests in the fourth quarter and 432,000 guests for the fiscal year. Adjusting for these impacts, we estimate that fourth quarter attendance would have increased approximately 2% compared to the prior year quarter and full year 2024 attendance would have increased approximately 2% compared to 2023."
Looking ahead, Swanson said, "we are pleased with our overall 2025 booking trends and are particularly happy to see our 2025 international sales growth up mid-single digits and our 2025 group bookings growth up double digits. Assuming no worse weather than we experienced in 2024, we expect meaningful growth and new records in revenue and Adjusted EBITDA in 2025."
For links to what's coming next, along with our reader rankings and advice on visiting top SeaWorld and Busch Gardens parks, please visit our Theme Park visitors guides.
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So, did they have to pay a 9% surcharge when they bought back their own stock?
Before I even read the article, did they blame the weather?
*10 minutes later* They blamed the weather.
Sigh.
I really enjoy these parks, but it’s getting harder and harder to show that love as of late.
Good. Keep it coming. Only way to make them change is to hit them where it hurts – in the wallet.
Can't say I'm all that surprised. Nothing United announced for 2024 was all that exciting (and most of it didn't open until the second half of the season), nothing they've announced for next year is particularly notable, and they've done nothing but normalize nickel and diming customers. I didn't renew my pass when it expired in late 2023, and until the next time I visit Florida I don't really have much desire to visit a United property. It sucks because a couple of United's properties really should be in the top 20 US parks, but the way the company is running things there are at least a half dozen Six Flags properties I'd recommend first at this point in time.
*sigh* remember when six flags was the gold standard for bottom of the barrel, thrill-focused, half-baked parks? Those were the days.
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If only United Parks would provide some meaningful answers to their meaningfully declining results instead of meaningfully blaming Mother Nature.
In other news, I hope that 9% surcharge (up from 5%) bites them in the rear end. It's the most insulting thing I've ever seen at any point of sale aside from the various surcharges that have been proliferating the restaurant industry. I would hope that sticker folks see on the terminal just before they tap/swipe their credit card forces customers to reconsider their purchases from a company that wants to play "gotcha" at the cash register.