Attendance rose slightly, but lower guest spending drove down revenue at the United Parks chain last quarter.
United Parks & Resorts - the owner of the SeaWorld and Busch Gardens theme parks - this morning reported its earnings for the three months ending June 30, 2025. Attendance at the company's theme and water parks was up 0.8% over the same period in 2024, to 6.2 million. But per capita guest revenue dropped 2.2% to $78.64 for the quarter. A 3.9% decline in admission per capita led that decline, followed by a 0.4% drop in in-park spending.
The result was a 1.5% drop in net revenue for the quarter when compared with 2024, to $490.2 million, and a 12.1% decrease in net income, to $80.1 million.
Nevertheless, United Parks' board approved yet another stock buyback, this time for $500 million.
"We are pleased to have grown attendance in the second quarter despite experiencing amongst the worst weather we have ever experienced in a second quarter," CEO Marc Swanson said. "Despite those headwinds, we saw an increase in international and group visitation compared to the prior year in the second quarter. Additionally, we saw an increase in attendance at all of our Orlando parks, including SeaWorld Orlando, Aquatica Orlando and Discovery Cove."
That Orlando increase is especially significant given that the second quarter was when Universal Orlando opened its new Epic Universe theme park. Rival Walt Disney World also reported strong attendance for the quarter, supporting the notion that Epic is helping everyone in Orlando rather than cannibalizing other parks in the area.
Swanson also noted that advance sales were trending higher than at this time last year for Howl-O-Scream events across the country, as are 2026 bookings for group sales and Discovery Cove. Swanson also teased the company signing additional deals for new theme parks outside the United States.
"On our international opportunities, we are in active discussions with multiple potential partners and expect to have two signed MOUs [Memorandums of Understanding] by the end of the year."
Swanson later clarified that he expects the arrangements to be similar to the licensing deal that SeaWorld has with Miral for the SeaWorld Abu Dhabi park on Yas Island, where Miral built, owns and operates the park, paying SeaWorld for the license of its name and IP.
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Oh! Imagine the irony when the biggest winner in Epic’s opening is WDW.
I did not lead with the international parks tease simply because it feels to me like "SeaWorld Hotel" 2.0 - another empty promise that I will believe only when it actually happens.
It's almost as if consumers were sick of overpaying for everything in the park. . .no wonder attendance is up while everything else is down
Its insanely stupid for executives to talk about the weather in earnings calls. Is that supposed to reassure investors that Sea World is a good investment when its so impacted by weather every quarter? Do you know any scientist or research university anywhere that is saying the weather is going to get better? Every one I've heard in the last 25 years says the heat and storms are only going to get worse. So as an investor why would I want to invest in a company so impacted by weather when I know the weather is only going to get worse?
what weather is he referring to? Orlando hasn't had any crazy weather this year other than the usual afternoon t-storms. granted, we are about at the peak of hurricane season but nothing so far. is he talking about texas?
What would those attendance numbers actually look like if they weren't constantly giving away free money, free guest tickets, free food, free Quick Queues, etc.?
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""We are pleased to have grown attendance in the second quarter despite experiencing amongst the worst weather we have ever experienced in a second quarter," CEO Marc Swanson said."
Is this guy also on the AMS payroll? United Parks talks about the weather more than the 6 o'clock news.
"supporting the notion that Epic is helping everyone in Orlando rather than cannibalizing other parks in the area."
I don't know if we can say that for sure, because Universal doesn't clearly detail the attendance at their other Orlando parks. I would surmise that by the stable to increasing trends reported at other Orlando-area parks and a significant, but not monumental, revenue increase at the Universal parks that it's most likely that Epic did do some cannibalization of the other Universal parks, and not so much of other Orlando parks. While a rising tide lifts all ships, I don't think Epic increased the market as much as Universal would lead you to believe given the reports from their competitors.