Then his parents pass away. He's sent off to live with a less-wealthy uncle, then eventually has to make it on his own. The parties stop. Many of the old friends (who were just there for the free beer) leave to start hanging out with another kid from the neighborhood, who's now throwing even bigger parties with a bunch of money from new friends from Great Britain.
But a core of friends stick with the young man. Yet things get worse. The guy's beloved co-worker is killed. He goes into shock and withdraws from his friends.
And then a bully starts picking on him. Withering under the bully's attacks, the guy retreats into a shell. The remaining friends feel ignored. They try to stand up for their friend to the bully, but the bully doesn't care and no one else in the city listens to them. The friends plead with the guy to come out of his shell.
Eventually, he does. But instead of returning to his remaining friends, the guy tries to suck up to the bully for approval. He often ignores his friends and tries instead to start hanging out with a smaller, different group of friends in the hope that the bully will leave him alone. The bully doesn't care. But the guy keeps trying.
Then, nearly 10 years after the loss of the parents, a few of the guy's remaining friends pay him a visit, for old time's sake. But then they see, on the curb in front of his house, a broken, framed photo of the biggest, greatest party the friend had ever thrown — now tossed aside with the rest of the trash. Shocked that their buddy would discard this beloved memory, some of the friends wonder if it's even worth trying to hang around with this guy any longer.
And that, my friends, is the parable of SeaWorld Parks and the theme park fans.
For more perspective:
Also, the public's taste for animal shows has waned, and it's not just Sea World, Ringling Bros. Circus closed forever after declining attendance after removing the elephants from their shows. I like Sea World, and I still like animal shows, but I have to admit I don't see any future for them, unless they do something drastic.
The submarine ride was a sad, half-hearted attempt to do something, anything. It's not even a submarine, it's an elevated people mover that goes through some indoor rooms. Legoland did their submarine ride right. It's like Sea World wanted to do something, but didn't have the confidence that the park would last, so they didn't want to put the necessary money into it.
Yeah, less of a bully when you complete the parable.
Focusing on this misses the point. They were already skipping SeaWorld before Blackfish reinforced their worldview, right or wrong.
The competition got bigger, better and vastly more aggressive is all.
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