SeaWorld Orlando has a new park president. Brad Gilmour, park president of Aquatica water park and Discovery Cove day resort, will immediately add the theme park to his responsibilities, United Parks & Resorts announced Thursday.
“Brad has consistently demonstrated the kind of leadership that puts our guests and our ambassadors first,” Kyle Miller, co-chief operating officer of Orlando-based United Parks, said in a news release.
“His deep operational knowledge, combined with his proven track record across our Orlando parks, makes him exactly the right leader to guide our parks into their next chapter. I’m confident our teams will benefit greatly from his leadership,” Miller said.
Gilmour, a graduate of the University of Central Florida, has been with the company for 23 years, starting at Discovery Cove in 2003. He has been park president of Aquatica and Discovery Cove since 2023.
Dewayne Bevil / Orlando Sentinel
Brad Gilmour speaks about the 15-year history of Aquatica water park in 2023. (Dewayne Bevil/Orlando Sentinel)
He replaces Jon “JP” Peterson, who had been SeaWorld’s park president since January 2023. His role before that was vice president of zoological operations for the theme park. Peterson left the company this summer.
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United Parks operates 13 theme and water parks across the U.S. and in Abu Dhabi, including Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and the SeaWorld parks in San Antonio and San Diego. This week, the company announced that its second-quarter attendance has dropped 2.9% from a year earlier to 6.1 million guests. Its revenue was $483.3 million, a decrease of 1.4%, in that period.
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