SeaWorld CEO Gus Antorcha resigns less than a year into the job

Success is relative. Sure they weren't hitting great margins (or even enough margin to stand on their own), but both the Paramount and Busch parks existed to expand their respective brand. It's hard to truly quantify, but the general belief was that these parks helped drive sales to their primary business- making movies and beer.

To an extent that was originally the model with Disney as well, but the park business is much more important to them now. Interestingly enough, Disney is making 19% margin on the parks, compared to the 34% margin on Media Networks, and Studio Entertainment. It's all about the synergy between the business arms and whether you think the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

^ What Jeff said is what I was trying to get at. Yes- it needed to be profitable, but there wasn't all of the pressure of a typical chain, The Busch Family was rolling in it, and the acquisition of the chain in the late 80's was what Jeff said: A Passion Project. I guarantee you the board meetings had very little discussion as to what was happening at the parks aside from whether the numbers were good.

Tilt-A-Whirl said:

Didn't they cross promote both properties a few years ago with a ticket good at both parks? It's certainly unfair to use Geauga Lake as an example, as SFWoA was doomed the moment they connected the parks-

I would argue that the two parks are close enough, that it’s the same as connecting them. And while they might have marketed a ticket with both, it was exactly that: A ticket which ensured a discounted admission to both. I don’t have the specs but I doubt the savings were greater than the combined normal heavily discounted ticket available in that market.

Thats a completely different story than a common ownership structure that wipes out a significant chunk of admissions to the other park by current season pass holders. Think of the percentage of people who buy a psss to one park, and then make at least one trip a year to the other park, paying at the gate. That revenue goes to zero with a combined season pass.

Virginia is not going to be the top thing that gets someone to buy SEAs, the Orlando properties and the Sesame license are the big draw (followed by San Diego, Tampa, San Antonio and then Virginia) are the big upsides with the big downside being the zoo/marine baggage and costs.