ORLANDO, Fla. — SeaWorld Entertainment is still recovering from the financial hit it’s taken from the coronavirus pandemic.


What You Need To Know

  • Attendance, revenue down at SeaWorld parks

  • Decline due to pandemic-related restrictions

  • SeaWorld said it saw monthly attendance improvements in 3rd quarter

The Orlando-based company on Thursday reported that attendance at its parks fell 81% during the third quarter because of pandemic-related restrictions. About 1.6 million people visited SeaWorld parks, while total revenue fell 77.6% to $106 million.

SeaWorld, which operates 12 parks across the country, reopened three parks during the quarter, bringing the total number of open parks to 10. The open parks were operating at a limited capacity and with reduced hours.

Despite the restrictions, SeaWorld’s interim CEO, March Swanson, said in an investors call that the company did see improved monthly attendance during the quarter. Multiple parks reached capacity limits on several days, according to Swanson. SeaWorld’s modified Halloween-themed offerings also helped to bring in visitors. At Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, for example, its annual Howl-O-Scream event — modified with new safety measures and open-air scare zones — drew 60% of last year’s attendance.

SeaWorld, which has been working on improving its finances, said it raised additional capital and, as of September 30, it had $800 million on hand. The company owes $70 million in deferred vendor payments and plans to pay off the balance by April 2021.

In early September, SeaWorld announced that it would permanently lay off an undisclosed number of workers who had been furloughed since April. More than 1,800 of the affected workers were from SeaWorld’s Orlando properties.

SeaWorld’s lineup of upcoming attractions was briefly mentioned in Thursday’s call. Swanson said that construction was “largely complete” on those attractions but didn’t specify which ones. The company pushed the attractions that were set to debut this year to 2021, including SeaWorld Orlando’s Ice Breaker and Busch Gardens’s Iron Gwazi coasters. Those attractions are now scheduled to debut in the spring, according to their websites.