Shame, any ideas how their attendance has been? I can imagine it has been pretty low .. like ghost town level? Being far away from the other parks probably doesn't help.
I wonder if these "not Disney" theme parks are going to just have to close up due to super low attendance. You'd think there is a point where it isn't even worth being open until the out-of-state tourists start coming in (which may be a while with the fear coming from the rising COVID numbers).
I've seen/read about theme parks that close up after a season of bad attendance. The Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach lasted one whole year because of the 2008 economic "downturn" .. (but they probably had a lot of debt and needed a big start). Still, I worry about the theme parks all over the country surviving basically NO summer season.
Hard Rock Park died for a multitude of reasons, the details surrounding it make for a fascinating read. It was doomed before it opened, the downturn just made it quick. It seems American Dream might be facing that same fate, after only 5 months of operation. Hard Rock at least got 2 “years” technically.
Most of these other Central Florida non Disney parks aren’t in that bad of shape. SeaWorld/ Busch was in great shape prior to the shutdown, and their attendance isn’t all that bad now. Their debt levels are manageable, the liens get them bad headlines, but it’s not unusual. And even if they do go under, those are the types of parks that would be purchased by somebody else.
Legoland’s parent company isn’t doing all that great overall, but things were improving and they continue to expand now that they are owned by the “
LEGO” family. They have significant financial backing, so they can survive but it certainly isn’t guaranteed. Fun Spot is supposedly making a profit again, and they were even looking for new parks to purchase earlier this year, they should be fine. Holyland seems like it’s the one to be most concerned about surviving in the area, they were barely holding on before the virus. Frankly my biggest concern is actually for
Epic Universe, if things don’t bounce back, it’s budget could get tight, or just cut altogether.
The parks to be most concerned about are the ones run by families and small companies. Multiple parks around the country have stated that they can survive a dead year, but if next year flops, they’ll have to close. Parks have been steadily closing for the past few years, the US actually has the fewest number of operating “amusement parks” now than in the past 120 years, although the remaining parks have been steadily growing in other metrics. This situation will absolutely kill a few more parks.