SeaWorld's Parent Company Says Weather and Other Headwinds Cost It About 325,000 Visits, but Its 2027 Pass Product Base Is Up More Than 15%

Bad weather, an unfavorable calendar and a soft international market took roughly 325,000 visits away from SeaWorld's parent company in the July to September quarter, by its own count. That is the number CEO Marc Swanson put in writing on Thursday morning, and he paired it with a bolder claim: without those headwinds, he said, attendance would have gone up. On the company's own figures (a 320,000-guest drop against 325,000 lost visits), that works out to roughly flat, up about 5,000 guests.

United Parks & Resorts Inc. (NYSE: PRKS) reported its third quarter and first nine months of 2026 results on the morning of Thursday, November 5, ahead of a 9 a.m. Eastern conference call. The Orlando-headquartered company owns SeaWorld Orlando, Aquatica Orlando and Discovery Cove, but it reports attendance and revenue for the whole company, not park by park, so none of the figures below are SeaWorld Orlando's alone.

The quarter, by the numbers

Attendance for July through September was 6.47 million guests, down 4.7 percent, or about 320,000 guests, from the third quarter of 2025. Total revenue slipped 1.1 percent to $506.5 million. Net income fell 10.5 percent to $80.0 million, and adjusted EBITDA dropped 5.1 percent to $205.1 million.

Guests who did come spent more. Total revenue per capita rose 3.8 percent to $78.29, admission per capita rose 3.4 percent to $40.90, and in-park per capita spending (food, drinks, merchandise and extras) rose 4.4 percent to $37.39, which the company called a record. That is a reversal on admissions from the second quarter, when admission per capita fell 1.8 percent; this time the company credited higher realized pricing on some ticket products and a shift in the mix of tickets sold.

Swanson's explanation for the drop: "We are pleased with the underlying performance of our business, despite significantly unfavorable weather, calendar impacts and international headwinds during the quarter," he said. "Excluding the impact of these unusual headwinds, which amounted to approximately 325,000 visits, our attendance would have been up."

There was one more factor, and it was deliberate. The company said a planned cut in promotional admission products cost it more than 100,000 visits in the quarter. In other words, fewer discounted tickets went out the door, and fewer guests came through the gates as a result. The company did not say how much that lifted per-guest revenue.

Pass sales were up, and the 2027 pass base is up more than 15%

"Underscoring the progress we are making, our total pass sales during the third quarter were up almost 8% and our total paid pass base was positive as of October 31st," Swanson said. "What's even more encouraging, our 2027 specific pass product base is up over 15% as of October 31st."

The release does not say which products make up that 2027 figure, and it does not break the pass numbers out by park, so it says nothing about how SeaWorld Orlando's passes alone are selling. In Orlando, SeaWorld is currently selling its 2027 Fun Card in a Black Friday presale that its website banner says ends November 8.

Swanson also said October, outside the quarter, held up despite what he called "continued brutal weather." He said revenue for the month is projected to have risen, and "our separately ticketed Howl-O-Scream events saw meaningful year over year growth on non-impacted weather days."

Discovery Cove, again

For the second quarter running, Discovery Cove got a mention by name. "2027 forward bookings revenue for Discovery Cove and for our group business are each currently running up double digit percentages versus prior year at the same time," Swanson said. In August the company said much the same about Discovery Cove's advance bookings (we covered that in our second quarter story), so this is a continuing trend rather than a new one, and booking revenue can rise on price as well as on volume. Separately, the TEA report estimated that Discovery Cove's 2025 attendance grew 9.2 percent (our TEA story has the details).

What is coming in 2027

The release lists SEAQuest: Legends of the Deep at SeaWorld Orlando among the company's announced 2027 attractions, describing it as "a vibrant submersible adventure through dazzling undersea ecosystems." That matches what a SeaWorld representative told Attractions Magazine last week, when the suspended dark ride, first announced for 2026, became a 2027 opening (here is that story). The release gives no opening date.

Elsewhere in the chain, Busch Gardens Williamsburg is adding a motion theater ride called Return to Corkscrew Hill next year, and the release says Busch Gardens Tampa Bay will announce its next attraction at the IAAPA conference "in two weeks."

The nine-month picture

Year to date, attendance is 15.7 million, down 4.1 percent, or about 670,000 guests. Revenue is down 1.6 percent to $1,268.1 million, and net income is down 28.8 percent to $109.2 million. The company again blamed weather and international visitation, plus the same planned pullback on promotional tickets.

And the number that has nothing to do with money: United Parks says it came to the aid of 237 animals in the wild during the quarter, bringing its all-time total to more than 43,000.

What it means if you are visiting

An earnings report does not change ticket prices by itself. What the numbers show is a company that planned to sell fewer promotional tickets in the quarter, collected more per guest, and is pointing to its 2027 pass base as its best news. If you are weighing a 2027 Fun Card, the Black Friday presale mentioned above ends November 8, and Christmas Celebration begins on select dates starting Friday, November 6.

Sources

• United Parks & Resorts Inc. Reports Third Quarter and First Nine Months 2026 Results, United Parks & Resorts investor relations, November 5, 2026
• Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, November 5, 2026

Image credits: Featured photo (Dolphin Lagoon) and Grand Reef photo courtesy of Discovery Cove. SEAQuest concept art courtesy of SeaWorld Orlando.