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Coronavirus: Impact on Theme Parks

A few days ago there was a post about Six Flags announcing the removal of 15 rides during their Q3 earnings call, but here are the actual numbers:
In the third quarter attendance was 2.6 million guests, down 11.4 million from the same quarter of 2019. Total revenue was $116 million, down $495 million from last year. This resulted in a net loss of $116 million, with an EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) loss of $54 million. The company spent $82 million in cash during the quarter, or around $27 million per month.
Nine of the company's parks remained closed during the 3rd quarter, out of 26 total. Attendance at the operating parks started at around 20-25% of prior year totals, increasing to 35% in the 3rd quarter. They also had a $22 million decline in park licensing agreements, mostly from the cancelled parks in China. There was also a $9 million write off of park ride assets.
The company's active pass base at the end of the quarter was down 49%, to a total of 1.9 million compared to 2.6 million at the end of the 3rd quarter 2019.
At quarter end Six Flags Entertainment had $673 million in liquidity (cash they have or can borrow). They continue to reduce operating expenses, including deferring or eliminating capital discretionary capital projects for 2020 and 2021,and feel that even if all parks close they could sustain the company through the end of 2021.
In order to breakeven and have 0 EBITDA instead of a loss, they estimate they need 45% to 55% of 2019's attendance. To have a breakeven of cash flow, they think they would need 65% to 75% of 2019 attendance.
 
ECG said:
At quarter end Six Flags Entertainment had $673 in liquidity (cash they have or can borrow).
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In other words, it's kinda vital for the bottom line that none of the investors take home any pens they use at the investor meeting?
 
Heide Park have shared concerns if corona restrictions continue to heavily impact them in 2021 they would face bankruptcy.

The German amusement park Heide Park will go under if the corona measures remain in effect in 2021. This is what director Sabrina de Carvalho reports in a statement. The restrictions due to the corona virus are causing financial problems at the amusement park in Northern Germany. "We will not survive another year like that," said De Carvalho. Like all major amusement parks in Europe, Heide Park suffered a lot from months of closure this year. The maximum number of visitors also had to be adjusted downwards. As a result, the 2020 season ended with nearly 60 percent fewer visitors than a year earlier. The number of overnight stays decreased by 50 percent.

"This means a loss of millions", De Carvalho tells news site Heidekreisheute.de. Employees will have to be fired to ensure the continued existence of Heide Park. The director calls it "very painful cuts". "We will have to reduce personnel costs."

It is planned to reopen on March 27, 2021. Heide Park is part of the British company Merlin Entertainments, where De Carvalho is regional director. The group also includes Gardaland in Italy, Alton Towers in Great Britain and all branches of Legoland, Sea Life and Madame Tussauds.
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Source
 
CSLKennyNI said:
Heide Park have shared concerns if corona restrictions continue to heavily impact them in 2021 they would face bankruptcy.


Source
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I've thought ever since my only visit in 2016 that Heide is a park with amazing potential that's been squandered by Merlin's handling of it. It would be really depressing if it went under (though I'm sure someone would come along and save it).
 
This provisional Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine sounds good.
Great timing for theme park geeks too; roll-out mass-vaccinations during the closed season ready for next Spring* ;)


(*Northern Hemisphere only)
 
davidm said:
This provisional Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine sounds good.
Great timing for theme park geeks too; roll-out mass-vaccinations during the closed season ready for next Spring* ;)


(*Northern Hemisphere only)
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I was excited by the news, and I knew manufacturing would take a while, but when figures like ‘a couple of million doses for the UK by the new year’ were mentioned on Sky news, despite us procuring twenty times that, it hit home just how long mass immunisation will take. :/ That said, the BBC is reporting 10 million doses for the UK by the end of the year. ?Which would obviously be incredible, and enough, once we overcome transport and storage issues, then administer it to the most at risk, for some normality to return.

There is a similar announcement imminent on the Oxford vaccine, they said on Sky news we ‘already’ have 4 million doses of that for the UK and more in production right now, which improves things, as we may at least be able to immunise the most ‘at risk’ by spring with that one if hurdles slow the pfizer one down. It doesn’t need -80c for starters.

The best thing about the pfizer jab is that it is one of the newer mRNA types, that can quickly be tweaked to take in new strains, such as the ‘mink’ strain emerging in Denmark.
 
Too bad it might take a year or more to vaccinate everybody.

Then again, they start with the most important groups, meaning the overall risk of Covid will hopefully plummet once the most vulnerable are taken care of.
 
Pokemaniac said:
Too bad it might take a year or more to vaccinate everybody.

Then again, they start with the most important groups, meaning the overall risk of Covid will hopefully plummet once the most vulnerable are taken care of.
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Yea exactly this, I would guess once the elderly and vulnerable have been vaccinated most of the population won't actually need the vaccine as the death and hospital admission rates should plummet.
 
I wonder if "vaccine passports" will get adopted for Covid in much the same way the yellow fever ones are required for entry to some countries...
 
The vaccine will apparently not be compulsory in Britain, and they’ve even said that not all of the population will get it. It will be the same as the flu vaccine; focused mostly on key groups such as the elderly, the vulnerable and the key workers.
 
^ And to carry further (reflective of how flu vaccine is distributed here in the States), an honest outcome is the immunization will be relatively free and (once we build out the distribution logistics over the next 1-2 years) widely available, and ultimately not a federally required immunization. For reference, at present (https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/imz-managers/laws/index.html), various states have required immunizations for students, healthcare workers, and patients/residents at retirement homes. This is partly why anyone can visit America (under normal circumstances) and needn't bring immunization records.

Granted, we are still 6 months - 1+ year away from opening that convo; let's clear the phase 3 trialing, peer review, and government approval first! But as it relates to amusement parks, fully expect the status quo for the next season of mandatory face masks, distancing, and augmented loading.
 
I’ve got a point possibly worth considering that I’m surprised wasn’t bought up earlier; could a Biden presidency possibly impact the parks in the USA, as I’d imagine Biden will likely have very different ideas with regards to COVID measures?
 
Matt N said:
I’ve got a point possibly worth considering that I’m surprised wasn’t bought up earlier; could a Biden presidency possibly impact the parks in the USA, as I’d imagine Biden will likely have very different ideas with regards to COVID measures?
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Short answer: not really. America runs government a little differently (see 10th Amendment to the US Constitution), where states are given control over a variety of policies and issues vs. what the federal government oversees. For public health, this is often delegated to the states, and has been thus far through Covid. The federal government has a number of things up it's sleeve that can be tapped, such as providing stimulus funding for businesses, create a national mask mandate, directing the CDC to give better clarity on Covid mitigation/protection, or approving vaccines - but doesn't have true authority to close all amusement parks, for example; nor give widesweeping direction for how they are to conduct business - this is something left to the states.

You can read up more here: https://joebiden.com/covid-plan/ and here: https://www.realclearpolitics.com/a...es_familiar_path_forward_on_covid_144627.html

TL;DR Biden is absolutely going to have a more specific Covid approach than Trump's "we're turning a corner/herd immunity" approach - but expect the federal government to be focused on vaccine and federal stimulus funding.

P.S. I have a Masters in Public Administration, basically an MBA in government - if anyone wants to talk more in the weeds, feel free to DM. ;)
 
Last week there more quarterly report calls with Cedar Fair bringing in a total of $87 million in revenue at the seven parks open during the quarter, down from $715 last year. Attendance was 1.3 million, which is down 11.7 million and out of park revenues were down $47 million.
Similar to Six Flags, Cedar Fair saw initial attendance levels at 20-25% of previous levels when the parks reopened, increasing to 35-40% in the past few months. As the season ended some parks even hit 50%, and in the fall both Cedar Point and Kings Island had instances of hitting their maximum capacities (during weekend only operations).
During the 3rd quarter the attendance was made up of 55% season pass holders, up from 46% last year. Per capital revenue was down 5%, largely on decreased admissions and the lack of in park spending on premium offerings like fast lane. However, the chain saw an increase of 90,000 season passes during the quarter, creating $10 million in sales. They have 1.8 million season passes outstanding that are valid for the rest of 2020 and in 2021.
Cedar Fair had $225 million in the bank at the end of the quarter, and total liquidity is $877 million. They estimate they can stay satisfy obligations and stay within loan covenants until the end of 2021. The quarter's cash burn was about $25 million a month. As for breaking event, to have zero EBITDA they need 45-55% of 2019 attendance in 2021, and for cash flow break even they need 70-75% of 2019 attendance.
The chain suspended their largest capital projects in March and year to date have spent $120 million on capital. They estimate spending at most $5 million in the 4th quarter and in total that will have cut $60-$65 million from planned capital in 2020.
On another call SeaWorld Entertainment said that visitor numbers for its parks in the third quarter were down 81% to roughly 1.6 million due to the coronavirus outbreak. The company also reported a 77.6% decline in revenue to $106 million and $70 million in deferred vendor payments, which it plans to pay by April 2021.
Sorry I haven't had the time to go through the breakdown of the rest of the numbers yet.
 
"Our reserves are melting dramatically" - Roland Mack speaking about the unexpected second closure of German theme parks.
The extended season in November has not worked for the amusement parks. The hopes now rest on the Christmas season - and 2021.

The ghost trains stand still. Nevertheless - or perhaps because of it - it is a scary time for amusement park operators. Actually, the companies wanted to open their attractions until well into winter this year in order to compensate for the loss of sales from the spring. Nothing will come of that: All over Europe, the resorts had to close prematurely due to the corona pandemic.
"This is a hard blow for the parks," says Jakob Wahl, Executive Director of the World Association of Amusement Parks IAAPA, the Handelsblatt. "The extended opening in autumn was a prospect for many parks, especially for those with their own hotels."
Before the beginning of December, however, hardly any park in Europe is likely to receive visitors again - and even that is highly unsafe. It would be extremely important to sell tickets at least over the holidays. “This is a time of high turnover for some operators,” stresses Wahl.
The new lockdowns across Europe are draining the substance of many previously healthy companies. “Our reserves are melting dramatically,” complains Roland Mack, boss and partner of the Europapark in Rust, Baden. The entrepreneur puts the loss of sales at the largest German amusement park at 100 million euros. Mack: "As a medium-sized company, we can only get through this economically because we have done well for decades."
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Moderna vaccine proves to be 94.5% effective at preventing infection, and 100% effective at protecting against severe disease!!

news.sky.com

COVID-19: UK government hopes to ensure access to Moderna vaccine by spring next year

The US-developed vaccine has been found to be more effective and easier to distribute than Pfizer's.
news.sky.com news.sky.com

That’s 2 from 2 with the oxford expected to make it 3 from 3 within days or weeks.

sadly the UK has secured precisely zero doses of the Moderna one so far...

The UK has now secured 5M doses expected by spring...
 
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Nicky Borrill said:
Moderna vaccine proves to be 94.5% effective at preventing infection, and 100% effective at protecting against severe disease!!

news.sky.com

COVID-19: UK government hopes to ensure access to Moderna vaccine by spring next year

The US-developed vaccine has been found to be more effective and easier to distribute than Pfizer's.
news.sky.com news.sky.com

That’s 2 from 2 with the oxford expected to make it 3 from 3 within days or weeks.

sadly the UK has secured precisely zero doses of the Moderna one so far...
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*breathing heavily*
 
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