{"id":266721,"date":"2026-05-11T15:40:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T15:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/266721\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T15:40:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T15:40:07","slug":"theme-park-attendance-revenue-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/266721\/","title":{"rendered":"Theme park attendance, revenue down"},"content":{"rendered":"

Attendance and revenue were down at United Parks & Resorts<\/a> attractions during the first quarter, the Orlando-based company reported Monday. Among its properties are SeaWorld Orlando<\/a> and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay<\/a> theme parks.<\/p>\n

United\u2019s total revenue was $278.3 million for the January-March quarter, a decrease of 3% from a year earlier, the company reported. Attendance for the quarter was 3.2 million visitors, a decrease of 171,000 people from the first quarter of 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst-quarter results fell short of our expectations primarily due to unfavorable weather (including unfavorable weather in San Diego and Florida in January and February, and again in Florida and Texas during their peak spring break periods) and a decline in international attendance,\u201d United Parks CEO Marc Swanson<\/a> said in the report.<\/p>\n

\u201cAttendance in the first quarter was negatively impacted by approximately 140,000 guests due to weather and approximately 80,000 guests due to declines in international visitation,\u201d Swanson said. Without those factors, attendance would have increased more than 1% for the quarter, he said.<\/p>\n

SeaWorld: Electric Ocean to feature animal and aerial shows<\/a><\/p>\n

The company does not break out attendance by individual parks.<\/p>\n

In-park per capita spending for the quarter was up 5.3%, landing at a record $40.52.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also saw strong pass sales performance during the quarter, with paid pass sales up approximately 10% during the quarter and up approximately 12% through April 30, 2026,\u201d Swanson said.<\/p>\n

Advance bookings for Discovery Cove<\/a>, the SeaWorld Orlando day resort, are ahead of their 2025 levels by a \u201cdouble-digit percentage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

United Parks operates 13 parks in seven markets in the United States and Abu Dhabi. Upcoming additions at SeaWorld Orlando include the revamped Expedition Odyssey, which will have a new Fire and Ice theme, and SEAQuest: Legends of the Deep, a submersible-themed attraction. Opening dates have not been announced for either.<\/p>\n

Expansions elsewhere include Lion & Hyena Ridge at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and the Barracuda Strike roller coaster at SeaWorld San Antonio. A new Shark Encounter is set to open at SeaWorld San Diego this month.<\/p>\n

Level99 now hiring, set to open this summer at Disney Springs<\/a><\/p>\n

dbevil@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Attendance and revenue were down at United Parks & Resorts attractions during the first quarter, the Orlando-based company…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[558,740,104,28,114,266,1335,139,141,140,2043,109,76686,76687,76688,76689,135,2411,106,1316,107],"class_list":["post-266721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-entertainment","tag-florida","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-seaworld","tag-social","tag-social-business","tag-social-entertainment","tag-social-theme-parks","tag-social-travel","tag-tampa","tag-theme-parks","tag-things-to-do","tag-tourism","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}