Being a Los Angeles native and living in Pasadena, California for the past 13 years, I'll cop to a twinge of jealousy whenever I hear about someone booking a float for the Macy's parade in New York instead of our New Year's Day Tournament of Roses Parade. But who knows? Maybe SeaWorld will come through and sponsor a float in the state when the chain was born, too. Wouldn't SeaWorld's marine mammals and gardens look wonderful in flowers? ;^)
The nation's two big holiday parades have long histories with the theme park industry. The Macy's parade finds an alternate home through the holiday season at the Universal Orlando Resort. And Universal Orlando owner NBCUniversal is the Macy's parade broadcast partner, as the Thanksgiving Day parade airs on the NBC network. Disney's sponsored many floats in the Rose Parade over the years, most recently with a Cars Land float in this January's parade. We also should note that Disney-owned ESPN is the Tournament of Roses' television partner for the Rose Bowl game, which pays for the Rose Parade. The parade itself airs on multiple networks, including ABC and NBC.
Investor-owned SeaWorld doesn't fit into these media relationships, but the Macy's parade reached 22.4 million viewers last year, giving the park a huge promotional opportunity for its "A Sea of Surprises" float. What do you think of the float design? Will you be watching the parade? Do you think it will inspire more visitors to SeaWorld?
Tweet
This article has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.
