Is Sea World in Financial Hot Water?

[mrx0000001]

Hi All, I would like to know what the theme park community makes of what is going on at SeaWorld Gold Coast.

Is this iconic theme park on its last legs? You would like to think that the addition of Storm Coaster would imply

that all is good and things are OK, however with all the complaints from customers on facebook and similar you

would have to question what is going on there.

The Sea Viper / Cork Screw Coaster still being closed and no opening date yet to be made public the question has

to be asked what is going on at the park. We all know what some people have been saying about the Viper being in a

hostile salt air environment and the age of the coaster being 32 years or thereabouts so it is tired etc etc, but surely the

idea of scheduled maintenance is design to keep this icon in tip top shape.

I can't imaging a Sea World park without the Sea Viper, the icon must be preserved.....

Anyones thoughts would be appreciated on this subject.

[Slick]

Hi All, I would like to know what the theme park community makes of what is going on at SeaWorld Gold Coast.

Is this iconic theme park on its last legs? You would like to think that the addition of Storm Coaster would imply

that all is good and things are OK, however with all the complaints from customers on facebook and similar you

would have to question what is going on there.

The Sea Viper / Cork Screw Coaster still being closed and no opening date yet to be made public the question has

to be asked what is going on at the park. We all know what some people have been saying about the Viper being in a

hostile salt air environment and the age of the coaster being 32 years or thereabouts so it is tired etc etc, but surely the

idea of scheduled maintenance is design to keep this icon in tip top shape.

I can't imaging a Sea World park without the Sea Viper, the icon must be preserved.....

Anyones thoughts would be appreciated on this subject.

Well, no.

Regular maintenance on a car, for example, doesn't mean something unexpected won't happen. If I go in for a routine service, they say my tyres are all good, and I pop a tyre, it's not like I can blame the mechanic, there's a million and one reasons why something like a popped tyre would happen in the first place.

Same with Sea Viper. Just because they go through regular rehab (and our country is one of the strictest and statistically safest in the world when it comes to our rides, might I add) doesn't mean something unexpected won't happen. We've heard before there's been cracking in the track, i'm pretty sure it's the same thing happening again. You can't foresee things like cracking in the track, by the way.

I haven't had a chance to read yet, and i'm happy to be proven wrong in this case, but what our parks are awful at is keeping guests in the loop. They don't have a real history of being honest or open with either new attraction openings or sudden maintenance issues, let alone their real intentions for SBNO rides and their fates. I think our east-coast parks could learn a thing or two from the American parks and even Adventure World - share openly and honestly. It's not hard.

[BigKev]

I would have said that in the 10 years or so I've been going Sea World would be at the front in terms of what they have done with their park, improvement wise.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

^ I agree flea. I don't think anyone can draw any conclusions about the financial viability of the park as a result of the downtime of a single ride.

Viper is in a very unique position at the moment. It has been said that Management have committed to keeping Viper open regardless of the cost. That doesn't sound like they're in financial trouble to me - that sounds like a profitable park with an aging icon that they will do anything to keep alive.

Besides - if Sea World were in financial hot water - so would the rest of the group - Movie World, Wet N Wild, Wet N Wild Sydney, (and other associated licensing agreements with Wet N Wild around the world) Outback Spectacular, Paradise Country etc etc etc...

[Slick]

^ I agree flea. I don't think anyone can draw any conclusions about the financial viability of the park as a result of the downtime of a single ride.

Viper is in a very unique position at the moment. It has been said that Management have committed to keeping Viper open regardless of the cost. That doesn't sound like they're in financial trouble to me - that sounds like a profitable park with an aging icon that they will do anything to keep alive.

Besides - if Sea World were in financial hot water - so would the rest of the group - Movie World, Wet N Wild, Wet N Wild Sydney, (and other associated licensing agreements with Wet N Wild around the world) Outback Spectacular, Paradise Country etc etc etc...

And last time I checked all of the VRTP parks and attractions were doing pretty damn well.

[Flea]

For me Corkscrew stopped being an icon when it was painted orange and replaced with horrible ugly trains (albeit the latter being unavoidable I'm sure). The park is evolving - if maintenance costs are becoming unreasonable to preserve what is now a mediocre roller coaster, get rid of it. I'm sure the land is needed and could be used for something that will become an icon for the next generation.

[Slick]

For me Corkscrew stopped being an icon when it was painted orange and replaced with horrible ugly trains (albeit the latter being unavoidable I'm sure). The park is evolving - if maintenance costs are becoming unreasonable to preserve what is now a mediocre roller coaster, get rid of it. I'm sure the land is needed and could be used for something that will become an icon for the next generation.

100% agreed. It also died for me the day it went orange.

The reality is that Storm is now the park's flagship ride. It visually dwarves Sea Viper when you look at the park from the other side of the spit, and as far as ride experiences go, in my opinion it gets killed by Jet Rescue just next door. It's had its day.

[mrx0000001]

Yeah OK, but how do you write off the complaints about no ice on hot days for patrons when buying drinks.

Facebook is a mass of complaints and finger pointing. Viper aside, they are not fairing too well on the positive

public perception.

Personally I love the place but it appears that something is not right about the place.

[Alex Berriman]

Yeah OK, but how do you write off the complaints about no ice on hot days for patrons when buying drinks. Facebook is a mass of complaints and finger pointing. Viper aside, they are not fairing too well on the positive public perception. Personally I love the place but it appears that something is not right about the place.

Wait... People are actually complaining to their Facebook page about the lack of ice? When they post their complaint about the lack of ice, do they make other complaints as well or are they that pissed off that they feel the need to complain about just the ice? Besides, you're always going to get complaints, and people seem to feel that venting to their Facebook page is the best way (to get other people to see it and build more complaints about the same thing on the one post).

[Brad2912]

Facebook has given all the whingers in the world a voice when they don't have the guts to: A) Speak to a supervisor/manager on the day; or call the guest services line and escalate the complaint. Go to any business/company FB page and you'll find complaints. It's what people do. You'll also find plenty of positive feedback, but in human nature it's the negative that sticks out to us and draws us in. No ice? Maybe the ice machine at one outlet broke down and required parts not held on site??

[nitromefans]

Back when Bermuda was SBNO before it got demolished I found the park to appear on it's last legs a bit. For example things weren't clean and all little details like that which showed they were cutting costs. As of my latest visit (Right after storm open) I saw nothing of that sort. Personally I think if it wasn't for the other park's Sea World would have gone bust in that period.

[alex_1]

All parks get Facebook complaints. I highly doubt any of that would affect visitor numbers.

It will be interesting to see what happens to Sea Viper. Sure, it's iconic within Australia, but it's an aging ride that has become quite outdated, and (though I'm basing this just off my observations of a recent visit) seems to be dropping in popularity. If it keeps having issues that will keep costing the park a lot of money to fix, I can't see how it'd be responsible to keep it around for much longer. Business logic is bound to overcome nostalgia.

[Richard]

Firstly I think that complaining on Facebook is an increasingly cringeworthy act. Good companies will try and resolve complaints privately if you give them a chance. That said, no ice on a hot day is a pretty valid complaint given the $6 or $7 that they're charging for a few cents of syrup. If the machine is broken or overworked then not charging for drinks for a while would cost nothing in the scheme of things but completely turn the situation around. I've not seen the FB complaints but it does sound like pretty bad service.

[BigKev]

Let's face it the reason theme parks get so many complaints is if you are there at the wrong time they create a lot of frustration.

We always go during school terms and generally aim for weeks early in terms when it is very quiet. We are lucky that our jobs enable us to take holidays in those times and our kids manage fine at school so some time off doesn't do any harm.

Last time we went though Vic and QLD holidays were out of sink and QLD was on holidays for a few days. The crowds and the queues at Movie World were horrible and waiting over an hour for a 3 minute ride gets anyone frustrated.

For a lot of people taking holidays in school holidays is the only option so it is no wonder they throw a few stones at the parks.

[JeffreyMoore]

All parks get Facebook complaints. I highly doubt any of that would affect visitor numbers.

It will be interesting to see what happens to Sea Viper. Sure, it's iconic within Australia, but it's an aging ride that has become quite outdated, and (though I'm basing this just off my observations of a recent visit) seems to be dropping in popularity. If it keeps having issues that will keep costing the park a lot of money to fix, I can't see how it'd be responsible to keep it around for much longer. Business logic is bound to overcome nostalgia.

witch is what happend to bt

[Jay Jay The Jet Plane]

Sea World can't be in Financial Hot Water because they pulled $20 million dollars from their back pocket on the new Storm Coaster also they pulled out some few more money on Seal Harbor and a expansion to Polar Bear Shores..

[bladex]

you think facebook is actually used for something useful except for idiots to complain, spy on their friends and than back stab them on their page or post about what they are doing every minute of the day. the whole thing should be shut down all it does it cause nothing but trouble. it is never used for anything actually useful or benefiting. face-tards

Edited February 9, 2014 by bladex

[themagician]

Of course they aren't struggling financially. If they were they wouldn't have just spent $20 million on a ride. If you had said Dreamworld then maybe, but Sea World, No.