Attendance slumps at SeaWorld, Busch Gardens
Attendance, revenue and earnings all declined at United Parks & Resorts for the second quarter of 2026, the company reported this morning.
The owner of the SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, and Sesame Place theme parks reported combined attendance of 6.1 million guests in the three months ending June 30, 2026. That was down 2.9% from the same period one year ago.
Revenue was down 1.4%, to $483 million, with Adjusted EBITDA declining 5.2%, to $195.5 million.
Total revenue per capita rose 1.5%, to $79.82, driven by a 5.1% increase in in-park spending offsetting a 1.8% decline in attendance spending per capita. (All that could just mean that a higher percentage of park guests were passholders and that they encountered higher prices in the parks.)
And yet... United Parks kept buying back its stock, spending about $125 million to repurchase 3.3 million shares.
"Results in the second quarter were impacted, as expected, by the shift in the timing of Easter (earlier holiday meant fewer holiday days in the second quarter compared to prior year quarter) and a continued decline in international visitation. Adjusting for these impacts, attendance would have been flat for the quarter." CEO Marc Swanson said. "We delivered another quarter of growth in total revenue per capita, driven by continued strong in-park execution. During the quarter, we again grew in-park per capita spending to a record for the quarter."
"Looking ahead, we continue to see strength in our forward indicators for Discovery Cove and our group business with advanced bookings revenue for both up double-digits versus prior year. We continued to repurchase shares in the second quarter buying approximately 3.3 million shares for nearly $125 million. These buybacks emphasize our strong cash flow generation, our longstanding commitment to returning excess cash to our shareholders and our belief that our shares are materially undervalued. While we faced first-half headwinds across international visitation, weather impacts and holiday shifts, we are fully focused on executing against our strategic priorities and driving growth in revenue, Adjusted EBITDA, and total shareholder value," Swanson said.
Replies (11)
"weather impacts"
Ah, I was concerned there'd be a United Parks earnings without a mention of the weather.
Analyzing their performance, it seems odd they're hyping up the per cap play. That works when you're a theme park behemoth like Disney who has the pricing power to manage attendance & bring in the same or more revenue. But when you're SeaWorld and your attendance, revenue, & EBITDA are down (or your attendance is flat & the rest are down), increasing per cap spending isn't helping your bottom line!
Fewer people came through the gates, spent more money, yet not enough money to offset the attendance loss & increase earnings.
How can revenue declining by 1.4% be described as a "slump"? 20%+ is a slump. A little hyperbole to me to a theme park chain relentlessly being bashed on here.
@ProfPlum - I think it's more of the fact that United has been in decline for a number of years, but they continue to buy back stock. I think Epic has chewed up any available market share in Orlando, and it's really hurting Sea World/Aquatica. They note Discovery Cove is doing well, but that is such a niche experience that really has no comparable in the area. Until Sea World can get it's head above water in a more competitive and diversified Orlando market, it's going to continue to struggle.
Nickel and diming guests is beginning to hurt United parks. These guests they talk about, more than likely booked a few years ago, so were unaware of all the little add-ons.
As time moves forward, it's only going to get worse. SW is still suffering from having the Orcas at the park, so it'll be many years before they can put that saga behind them. The last few additions to SWO have been lackluster and just haven't got people thru the gate.
BGT may see an uptick depending on what Kumba's revenge turns out to be. Other than that, the park's a mess, and it saddens me to see the decline over the past few years. SWO is no better really.
Troubling times for United Parks, that's for sure.
I totally agree, Russell. Ironically, when we return in November Discovery Cove is a must to do but SeaWorld only if we have the ultimate ticket which we haven't yet decided on. With EPIC I can't realistically see SeaWorld being much more than an overspill park if people have a spare day when you compare it against WDW and Universal or a combination of both. SeaWorld really needs something totally original to capture people's imagination to drive attendance as it will continue to decline. Whoever is the creative genius for SeaWorld has a tough task to reverse the trend but whatever they come up with will need the appropriate investment.
The only way Sea World gets people to go there nowadays is by deep discounting and giving out free tickets like candy. It's like they took all the things that made people hate Six Flags in the 2000s and 2010s and said let's do that.
I will admit in the early 2010s I was all over Sea World saying they needed to lower their ticket prices, but at that time they were literally the same price as Disney and Universal. I didn't mean to completely ruin the parks experience while they were at it lol.
United feels like a company in a slow death spiral. I haven't visited one of their parks since 2023 because there has been a lack of compelling new attractions across the entire chain, plus with the Six Flags merger shaking things up they're not really competitive in the market given their much higher price point. I was just looking into BGT to decide if I want to visit on my upcoming Florida trip, and while they are discounting tickets to $55 (from a gate price of $148!), 10 A.M. - 5 P.M. hours, HOS only two nights per week (on nights that wouldn't match with my schedule), and negative reports from people who have visited recently are still making it a rather tough sell. SWO will probably make the cut for the trip as they actually have a couple sizable coasters I haven't ridden, but it's also probably the first park I'd drop should doing so be necessary.
This company really needs to stop investing in stock buybacks and start seriously investing in the guest experience at their parks, because I really don't feel their current position is survivable. I'm seeing other reports saying that they're exploring the REIT pathway, and if that were to happen I could easily see a couple of these properties ceasing to exist in the not too distant future.
It would be very interesting to see attendance figures broken down by park. Were any of the United parks up in attendance? Which parks had the biggest drop?
This is purely anecdotal, but Arie Force one's closing was absolutely mobbed with fans and enthusiasts. There were huge crowds of people there for a ride with no history, at a "park" that quite frankly no one cares about, in an area that isn't really filled with enthusiasts.
Meanwhile Kumba, one of the most iconic coasters of all time, in a location with the biggest theme park fanbase in the world BY FAR...and very few people showed up for its closing. Granted its rough, but this had the opportunity to be a huge theme park fan social event, and it just fell flat. I believe there is so much built up resentment for United and the way they have run BGT that people just blew it off. I even saw one video on youtube from a few weeks ago that was titled "Kumba last rides - Busch Gardens is falling apart!"
BGT really has no clue how to appeal to anyone.
Was at SW last night. First time in a very long time, and mostly b/c we had family in town that wanted to go. Park attendance was pretty light. But that has largely been the case all summer for parks in Orlando.
Barely, and I mean just barely, bringing enough value to justfiy continuing my pass. Please fix the parks, and stop with the endless giveaways and bribes (eh, rewards.)
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So who had “Problems between the Jewish and Gregorian Calendars” on their United Parks Excuse bingo card?