News SeaWorld/ BEC sold

[Exprmnt626]

SeaWorld Orlando, Aquatica Sold? - Central Florida News 13

Employees at a company communications briefing asked SeaWorld officials about a possible sale to the BlackStone Group which owns a 50 percent stake of Universal Orlando Resort.

[Dustysage]

Re: SeaWorld/ BEC sold

A sale would be a good thing. I was holding out hope that Disney might snap up Sea World and tie the parks in with the cruise line a bit (Especially in San Diego). But Blackstone has a history with parks and can help provide operational efficiencies which might help Sea World in the short run.

As an investment group, Blackstone's long term goal will be to strengthen Sea World's bottom line and eventually sell it for profit.

Let's see if this turns out to be true, or if Sea World is letting word leak so they can get a better deal from other potential interested parties.

[Eagleman]

Re: SeaWorld/ BEC sold

Is there any deal with one in San Diego CA. ?
I just Hope who ever take over they do not miss the parks up!
I love Sea World, it fun,enjoyable and worth going to .....
The Sea World in San Diego in 2013 would be 50 years... think was 1963 when open...A B did a good job takeing care of the parks and other theme parks!

[Athlonacon]

Re: SeaWorld/ BEC sold

I can see it now... new owner comes in, changes half the park and turns it into a rollercoaster haven for teenagers. SeaWorld San Diego has remained largely unchanged for many decades (they tend to add rather than subtract) and they've really done a great job balancing the theme park with the animal park. I personally couldn't care less about the other SeaWorld parks, but our SeaWorld is a crown jewel in the marine life animal parks, and animal parks in general. It's probably not fair that we have the San Diego Zoo AND *the* SeaWorld, but it's just a nice place to put a park.

I don't know what it is, but whenever you hand over a nice, clean park with fun attractions and great theming, it ALWAYS takes a turn for the worse. I guess it's the rundown parks that get bought out that are the ones that improve, but whoever gets the SeaWorld San Diego had better maintain the status quo, that park is an icon of San Diego and marine aquariums everywhere.

[krpink]

Re: SeaWorld/ BEC sold

I can see it now... new owner comes in, changes half the park and turns it into a rollercoaster haven for teenagers. SeaWorld San Diego has remained largely unchanged for many decades (they tend to add rather than subtract) and they've really done a great job balancing the theme park with the animal park. I personally couldn't care less about the other SeaWorld parks, but our SeaWorld is a crown jewel in the marine life animal parks, and animal parks in general. It's probably not fair that we have the San Diego Zoo AND *the* SeaWorld, but it's just a nice place to put a park.

I don't know what it is, but whenever you hand over a nice, clean park with fun attractions and great theming, it ALWAYS takes a turn for the worse. I guess it's the rundown parks that get bought out that are the ones that improve, but whoever gets the SeaWorld San Diego had better maintain the status quo, that park is an icon of San Diego and marine aquariums everywhere.

I'm not too worried about whoever buys SeaWorld San Diego adding too many roller coasters. There are so many height restrictions on buildings in that area. Hence why Journey to Atlantis is not very high. I've grown up going to SeaWorld and hope that whoever buys it, ends up treating it well. They are currently on a hiring freeze until they find out who buys the rights to the park. Still hoping it will be Disney!

[caesarboxfan]

Re: SeaWorld/ BEC sold

Councilwoman Frye and all the NIMBYs around SeaWorld will never allow a single coaster to be built, let alone let the park be overrun by them.

[Exprmnt626]

Re: SeaWorld/ BEC sold

It is official-

Anheuser-Busch InBev sells theme parks for $2.3B - SignOnSanDiego.com

[flynnibus]

Re: SeaWorld/ BEC sold

wow.. that price is dirt cheap. Only 2x revenues!

[CaliforniaAdventurer]

Re: SeaWorld/ BEC sold

Will they still have the Hospitality Center after the divorce?

[Exprmnt626]

Re: SeaWorld/ BEC sold

That's been gone since January. The area is a seating area and conservation information centre.

[CaliforniaAdventurer]

Re: SeaWorld/ BEC sold

Raises empty glass

[Exprmnt626]

Re: SeaWorld/ BEC sold

It's a move back to what should really be important, instead of focusing on how the park's image could better serve the beer image.

[kcnole]

Re: SeaWorld/ BEC sold

Blackstone is also an owner of Universal. I wonder if we'll see any cross promotion tickets especially in Orlando. While Universal would still be a separate entity it could allow for it to now equal the same number of parks. Three theme parks, Discovery Cove, and a water park.

I'd be interested to see an AP for Universal that also includes the Sea World chain of parks.

[flynnibus]

Re: SeaWorld/ BEC sold

The last thing the parks need to be doing is further reducing gate sales by offering park bundles even further. That's just price erosion. Get a discount.. ok. Cross promote.. but please no 'buy 1 park, get 3 free' stuff.. that's just the downward spiral you can not win.

[Exprmnt626]

Re: SeaWorld/ BEC sold

I've heard that there is no plan currently to do anything like that. They want to keep the Merlin and Worlds of Discovery parks separate as much as possible.

[Eagleman]

Re: SeaWorld/ BEC sold

I'm not too worried about whoever buys SeaWorld San Diego adding too many roller coasters. There are so many height restrictions on buildings in that area. Hence why Journey to Atlantis is not very high. I've grown up going to SeaWorld and hope that whoever buys it, ends up treating it well. They are currently on a hiring freeze until they find out who buys the rights to the park. Still hoping it will be Disney!

This not a put down BUT... have you seen Down Town San Diego lately?
I think you saying height restrictions around Mission Bay Area!

[Exprmnt626]

Re: SeaWorld/ BEC sold

If the Donna Frye and her constituents in Clairemont and Point Loma had their way the Skytower would be torn down because they think it obstructs their view and drives down property values

[Eagleman]

Re: SeaWorld/ BEC sold

If the Donna Frye and her constituents in Clairemont and Point Loma had their way the Skytower would be torn down because they think it obstructs their view and drives down property values

Skytower does has a very nice view of San Diego!

[CoasterMatt]

Re: SeaWorld/ BEC sold

Actually, Donna Frye has been working quite closely with the park recently, I believe Darkbeer might have a bit more to say on that...

As for no rollercoaster EVER being built at Sea World San Diego- Mack Rides would disagree with that one, wholeheartedly.

[aimster]

Re: SeaWorld/ BEC sold

From what Kevin posted in his article last week, they're going to remove the Clydesdale horses from the parks that have them in the near future. I'm planning on visiting Busch Gardens Tampa in a couple weeks to visit the horses one last time (and hopefully not be traumatized by horsie schwang again :blink: ).