April 29, 2025 • 30 mins
Cord-cutting continues to threaten Comcast, but it sees hope in its theme parks. As 200,000 broadband subscribers abandon Comcast in a single quarter, the company is aggressively pivoting toward theme parks despite them representing just 6.3% of current revenue. With $5 billion in free cash flow, Universal is simultaneously launching Epic Universe while developing Horror Unleashed in Vegas and planning new attractions in Texas and the UK—a diversification strategy that Disney, constrained by debt and market scrutiny, cannot match. Can the theme parks and media divisions grow fast enough, or is management selling an optimistically stable storyline? We explore how Universal aims to deliver Disney-level quality at broader accessibility and whether it can weather potential tourism challenges. Listen to weekly BONUS episodes on our Patreon
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay from our studios this week in Los Angeles and Tampa.
This is green Tagged theme Park and thirty, where we
break down the top theme park news from each week
and discuss why it matters to professionals. I'm Philip and
I'm joined as always by my co host Scott Swinson
a Scott Swinson Credit Development, and this week we are
discussing the earnings from comcasts, the first quarter arnings and
(00:21):
breaking down what it means for the theme park industry.
Yeahcome back, Scott, Welcome back from your trip.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Thank you, thank you. And you just got back from
a trip too. You were at what East Coast Saunters convention?
Speaker 1 (00:33):
I was at East Coast Shunter's convention and I'm still spinning,
but we'll probably get into that and unhinged.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Yeah, we'll ramble about that and unhinged. Yes, I'm just
glad to be back in the US. Back from Saudi.
I have already heard many, many wonderful comments from my students,
both in RIAD and Jetta about this show as well
as about the sessions that I taught. And I got
a very nice I got a very nice email from
the folks at at Gas saying the response had been
(01:01):
very positive, so I'm very proud of the work that
we did there, but I am very happy to be
back in the US, very very happy.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Excellent, And well, let's jump to our first story here,
which we're looking at Comcast earnings, and I want to
put it a little bit into context, but I think
they basically the Comcast earnings show a company striving to
diversify from one business, which was their classic cable model,
to a bunch of other businesses before time runs out. So,
(01:28):
in other words, the LBE side, location based entertainment is
a growth arena insulate. It's kind of insulated from the
cord cutting and streaming wars, and Comcasts is clearly doubling
down on that. So their Q one revenue decreased a
little bit zero point six percent, while profits also declined,
but the theme park division also experienced a five percent
(01:50):
revenue decrease. Comcast, however, remains optimistic about future growth, particularly
with Epic Universe. Of course, and the stock did dip,
but mainly the reason that it dipped was actually because
they lost two hundred thousand cable broadband customers. And I
think for this show and for our audiences, we're so
focused on the theme park stuff. You know, we see
(02:11):
the five percent decrease and we see, you know, this
kind of stuff. We want to know more about that.
But actually the reason that it had that dip was
because of the broadband, and the reason is I want
to kind of put this in context, which this is important.
So the theme park division is roughly six percent of Comcast,
but their connectivity the broadband is right now about thirty
(02:32):
seven and a half percent. And so that's why, because
broadband is the single largest product that Comcast sells, and
it accounts for over one quarter of the total revenue
of the company, which is far larger than the theme
parks or the films or Peacock or any of that stuff.
It's just that the theme parks are more sexy and
they're what we talk about. So that's why. But broadband
(02:55):
also has higher margins, Like it's just it it was
basically just printing money for Comcast. And so when they say, hey,
we lost two hundred thousand subscribers in one quarter, I
mean that, Yeah, that's significant, it's significant, and I think
that's that's really what you saw here. So basically Comcast
(03:16):
is in I don't want to say, like a rough spot,
because there is a good spot, you know, the.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
They're in a transitional phase. They're in a.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Transition, but that's why they're up here. And they're saying, hey,
look at Epic, look at how great it is. Look
at how many people are talking about it. Look at
how incredible. And then they're they're talking about horror and leation.
They're talking about the park in Texas because they're basically
they're saying, look, we understand that this is shrinking and
(03:43):
we are diversifying our revenue and we're really investing in
this location based entertainment and it's working because people love
it and they're showing up and we're able to keep
pricing power, and like, this is the story, and this
story is critical to them because they need to kind
of convince everybody that they're moving fast enough in because
(04:03):
you know, if if you just look at the cash
and the slope, I mean basically it's a ticking clock.
If the cable starts to you know, rapidly decrease, then
they're in a tight spot. So they kind of that's
why they're so aggressive with this and this aggressive with
the messaging. So I wanted that contact out there for
(04:23):
everyone to understand well.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
And I also think it's really important for people in
the park's industry, you know, in the theme park in
the live entertainment industry, to also recognize that if it
weren't for the you know, think about you said six percent, yep,
six percent of parks, If it weren't for the massive
gorilla that is the rest of the company, Universal couldn't
be as bold. You know, we've spent a lot of
(04:46):
time talking about how bold they're being with making these
decisions about building Epic and investing in the Texas Kids
or Family Park or kids park, investing in the Vegas
Horror Park or Horror Experience. But they could ever do
that if they didn't have, in essence, Big Daddy's trust
fund that is gonna that it's gonna help them and
(05:07):
provide for them. You know, we look at these little
independent parks who look at Universal and Disney and they go,
oh my gosh, how could they ever We could never
do that, We could never compete with that. And you
know what, you're right, You're right, you know, you don't
have ninety four percent of your business outside of the
theme park world. So it is and that's also why
(05:27):
it's really important. And I applaud Philip for doing this
because he's the one who puts together the vast majority
of content that we talk about on this show. But
I applaud you for doing this because I think it's
important to recognize that what happens to these larger companies
impacts their theme park divisions, and not only not only positively,
but both positively and negatively, I guess is my point.
(05:49):
So it is it is essential to look at the
macrocosms so that we don't get too mired down in
the minutia. I mean, this used to be. I think
back to the early days, and sorry I'm making this
antiquated reference, but I think back to the old days
of Bush Gardens, and Bush Gardens was less than one
percent of the Anheuser Busch Brewery conglomerate nation. And the
(06:12):
whole point originally for the parks was to lose money
so that they could have a tax right off. So
the whole reason Bush Entertainment Corporation was ever formed was
because it started to be profitable as a as an
independent microcosm. So this this all makes total sense, and
it's and it's just important for everybody to recognize that
when you compare a family run park, which I don't
(06:35):
think there are that many of anymore, But when you
compare a family run park with a park that roughly
holds the same acreage as a Universal or a Disney,
you can't compare them at all because they're really not
even in the same industry. The fact that what used
to be their their shiny, glittery diamond with Comcast used
(06:56):
to be their their broadband. You know, it's this, this
is what we're talking about here, and oh yeah, we
do these theme parks too. The fact that that is shifting,
even though it's never good. The theme parks are never
going to generate the kind of revenue that the broadway
band was generating. It's just simply not going to happen.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Ye.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
But it's a great shiny diversion. It's a great shiny
tactic to say, look how smart we are for diversification,
and diversification seems to be the word across the industry
right now. So kudos to Comcast for coming out with that.
But I just since Philip mentioned let's put it in perspective,
I also wanted to put it in perspective from the
from the theme park standpoint of you know, it's a tiny,
(07:33):
tiny part of a really big corporation, which is why
they can be riskier.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yes, that's a great point, and you know exactly that.
And the amount of free clash flow they generated was
five billion, so they're literally like not like five billion
in cash they can throw at some of these concepts,
and that's a lot of money. That's enough to build
you know, we're talking about Horror and Lesha, we're talking
about these like they can build these, they can test
(07:58):
these things with free cashis is they don't need to
get debt. And that's even with Disney. That's a key
differentiator because Disney is all about the entertainment side, and
they actually they do for some of these big projects,
need to take on debt. And as the interest rates
are going up, that debt's becoming more expensive. So it's
even harder for Disney to expand rapidly because of this,
(08:21):
whereas Universal just has like free cash flow that they
can then pump into testing. And it's not even I
mean five billions enough to do all this and more.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
I mean it's not even that you want if you
think about I know that I know there are people.
There are people listening going five billion. You know, I
could come up with some ways to spend five billion, Yeah,
especially if there was no interest and you know, when
you say there is no debt, I mean that is
a substantial, yes, amount of money. Yes, when you know,
(08:52):
you take five billion, and you you know, I was
I got into the theater because I was told there
wouldn't be any math. But you take five billion and
you look at what the just the interest payments alone
are going to be. That's huge. So it's because of
Comcasts significantly profitable interests that they currently own that they
(09:13):
can be so experimental they can be. So what appears
just if you look at just the microcosm of the
theme park world appears to be kind of cavalier. Really.
You know, we're gonna build this gigantic new park in
Florida and we're going to announce the same year that
we're doing something in Vegas and in Texas and in
the UK. But it's because they've got the money to
(09:33):
do it. Yeah, So why not why not invest now
while they've got the cash to do it. It's exactly
what's happening in the Middle East.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
It's exactly I was just gonna say that it was
exactly like what's going on in Saudi right where you
have you have a cash cow and they have that
generated they but they know eventually it's going to run out,
and so they are doing a strategic plan to diversify now.
And even if it takes losses for a decade, it's
okay to have the attend And it's because they need
the capacity available for when they transition into a different business.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Model, correct, correct, And they need to have that business
model set up while they still have you know, money
pouring in from a different source. So get it set
up now where you've got the cash to invest in it,
and that way, as one goes down, one can go
up and there's never a point of loss. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
I always think it's it's a little funny. You see,
especially now this week with the Epic opening date looming,
we've seen a lot of like mainstream articles and a
lot of people that aren't in our industry. They're talking
about Disney versus Universal and all this back and forth,
and I'm like, this is kind of funny because they
want different things from it. You know, they're not really
(10:45):
coming at it from the same direction and it's it's great,
you know that Universal is creating. Of course, they're trying
to make their stuff better and everything, but again it's
the same thing they're not. I guess it's okay if
they fail a little bit, and it's less okay if
Disney fails. They almost like can't fail because they're under
a microscope and because of the debt they have to
(11:06):
everything has to make more sense. And here they can
do a little test project in Texas and see how
it does and learn from it, and test in Vegas
and learn from it, and you know, do all these
things and it's okay.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
And for most people, a little test project is, oh,
we'll open a new food and beverage location in our park.
But for Comcast, it's, ah, yeah, we'll do a little
test thing where we open a family park in Texas
where we buy a bunch of land and you know,
open open a park that may or may not work.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Yeah, exactly, exactly. Well, let's talk about since, of course
this is a theme park podcast, so we're going to
talk about the theme park division specifically. As I mentioned
at the top of the show, the revenue drop was
about five percent, but it was expected due to these
two things we've been talking about. One, of course, is
that there was revenge travel in previous years, and that's
(11:53):
kind of like naturally dipping, so that it's equalization, which
they kind of pointed to. But there was also one
time factors that were happening in of course, the Los
Angeles wildfires, I mean that really distrupted that. Really the
park in Hollywood had to close down for a few days,
so it really disrupted business there.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
And the back to back hurricanes here in Florida.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Right, And so the only thing I would call issue
on is that they say it's like one time, but
we've talked about how it's not going to be yes.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Because there's never going to be another wildfire in California
and there's never going to be another hurricane in.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Florida, right exactly. That's the thing that I was like,
even still they're all trying to downplay that, Oh, it's
just happened once, and we're but you know what I mean,
Wall Street seems to buy in it. I Mean, most
of the analysts.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Don't live in California or Florida, so they don't understand
that this is a recurrence. That's true.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
They're all in New York, right, But they don't understand, like, yeah,
they are. They mostly believe, you know, this whole narrative
that Epic Universe excitement is strong, and you know bookings
are going to drive acceleration in the park growth at
least through twenty twenty five, you know, and it you know,
it's broad knowledgement that Epic is a game changer that
could significantly boost their EBITA and all that kind of stuff.
But and just also for perspective here, you know, the
(13:10):
division as a whole, their theme park section generated three
billion of EBITA in last year in twenty twenty four,
and it was only a billion just a decade ago.
And so I mean the growth, I mean, you can
you can see the growth. I mean, so it's clear.
It's a clear growth pattern. But just to essentially encapsulate
what they're trying to do here, they're basically they're trying
(13:31):
to right now. They know this first year there's going
to be losses do the opening expenses and all that,
and so you see the EBITDA shrinking and the theme
park division a little bit. But again they still have
the cash to offset it, and of course their plan
is to grow it. And even if they just grow
like one point or whatever. Then it adds right to
the top line. And so I think their goal is
(13:52):
to get it up to ten percent of you know,
ten percent from six point whatever point four up to
ten in the next year or so of contributing and
of course, the the gamble here, So what Universal is
trying to say is that this demand is so strong
because epic and it's you know, all this kind of stuff,
(14:14):
But the gamble is that what happens at the end
of twenty twenty five or twenty twenty six, Yet the
numbers aren't as strong and you're and they're not able
to push it to that ten percent mark, or they're
trying to. That's that's that's kind of the caution. And
it may not even be of their own fault. It
could be weather. It could be also macroeconomic trends, it
(14:34):
could be travel trends. I mean, there's a lot of
factors that it could be well.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
And I think that's why, at least at least locally,
because I've had you know, I've had tons and tons
and tons of colleagues and friends who have experienced Epic
Universe pre opening because they've been they've been beta testing,
they've been employee testing, they've been soon passolder testing, and
they have been slowly loosening their control over what is
(14:59):
being of the park and more and more as being seen.
And what it looks like to me is that they're
really doubling down on quality that they're they're trying to
get the word out that this is something that you
have never seen before. This is truly every pun intended,
I guess, this is truly of epic proportion. This is
(15:20):
something that you know you're not going to get a
chance to experience anywhere else in the world. And their
control over the narrative I think has been exceptional because
it's always focused. Each week there's one more thing that
they seem to let people release, and the fact that
there have been very I'm sure if you dig you'll
(15:41):
find them, but they're they they sort of have focused
on specific areas at specific times, so that it just
keeps expanding and expanding and expanding. It's it's it's very
cinematic in the way things are being revealed, and there
are I mean, for example, they're already they're already people
(16:03):
who because they sold out of certain merchandise items like
for example, the Danny Elfman soundtrack to uh to the
to the Monster section, the fact that it's not no
longer on sale until the actual opening again because they
had they have to, they had to reorder and reprint.
So and this is on vinyl. You know, this isn't
(16:26):
even a download situation where there's there is no limited
limited access. This is this is a limited quantity something
something on vinyl that that everybody seems to want. So
it's it's interesting that they are their narrative right now
is top quality best you're going to see, hands down,
(16:47):
better than anything else. So that so that when it
comes to the end of the year beginning of twenty six,
there are still people who haven't been able to make
that travel plans, make those travel plans to get here,
either because they haven't been able to get a reservation
at the hotel or they haven't been able to get
tickets or whatever, so that it will help sustain that
wave of new and exciting.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Well, exactly what you're saying. I think it there's a
strategy behind it. I mean, clearly they're trying for quality,
and I think they're trying for quality because they want
pricing power. Because you can see that Disney has been able,
and we just talked about last week the idea of
the Barbelle, where you have you have the budget, and
you have the luxury. And clearly Disney is aiming for luxury.
(17:31):
And the question is is Universal also aiming for luxury
or are they trying to create something that's the vale
that is perceived as value of Disney, like quality of
I guess, quality of Disney, but at a but a
more budget price. Or are they gonna eventually aim to
be the same like luxury pricing is Disney.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
The vibe I'm getting is the same quality. And I
don't think they're really talking about pricing. I think they're
more talking about accessibility, which I realized pricing is a
part of that. But I think I think they are
and maybe it's just my own perception. I don't know,
but they appear to be leaning into the thing that
frustrates me about Disney, and that is ease of accessibility.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
You know the fact that they're now building. You know
that their new their new park has a has a
hotel which is expensive as hell, that has a new
hotel that has its own direct access to the park. Now,
granted they have that in California as well, but it's
I mean Disney does. Sorry, Disney has it in California,
but it's it's just interesting to me that they are
(18:39):
just in the in their marketing speak, their marketing language,
their visuals are makes it seem so much makes things
seem so much easier. Yeah, And I think I really think,
especially in Florida, that's what they're leaning into. At least
that's my perception. I can't. I could be wrong, but
that's what I'm seeing.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
I would agree. I think it's probably a combination of
of multiple items where it's all aimed at the idea
of putting the Universal at the same quality of Disney,
but making it more accessible, whether that's through ease of
no reservations, or that's through price where you can actually
afford to take your family, you know, and you could
do a whole week for cheaper and have the same
(19:18):
quality of experience. And you know, if you just look
at some of the numbers, I think some of this
is in there. So attendance was we said was down,
but revenue only fell about five percent, basically implying that
the guest spending stayed strong, like spending per gassing wrong
because basically otherwise the revenue would have fell sharper right,
(19:40):
So basically they have pricing power, and they did raise prices,
but they didn't see that much of a pushback. So
maybe who's to know, Maybe they'll keep I don't know
if they'll keep rising, keep rising up or whatnot. But regardless,
it seems like the strategy. Whether it's sometime I'm sure
it's intentional or not, but whatever, but it seems like
(20:00):
they're getting to pricing power.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the thing you know, they are
universal is well at the least on par with Disney
when it comes to their merchandise offerings. Some would say
they are actually even passing them when it comes to
their merchandise opportunities. I would say, but again, it's it's
(20:24):
tough when you see people spending, you know, quite a
bit of money to build a lightsaber, but you also
see people spending quite a bit of money or the
popcorn buckets. But you also see people on the flip
side spending I would say, probably just as much to
get a Wand so you know, there's that's I think,
you know, when it comes to when it comes when
(20:45):
we talk about attendance maybe down, but revenue is still
holding relatively strong, or it's not dropping at the same
level as attendance. To me, that leans into all of
the in park upsale opportunities, whether that's merchandise or culinary
or tours or whatever.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
The makeup experience in everyone's loving that. You know, you
can hear about it. I mean, you're right, I mean again,
but that's all pricing power. I mean, they've been very
strategic and smart starting and again with Harry Potter, like
you always say, that was like the moment.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
That was a turning point for them.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Yeah, and now that you've seen that again again and
and so we talked last week about United Airlines, and
we talked about that decrease in domestic the kind of
softening domestic market and their decrease of supply for that.
So Comcast was actually asked specifically about that. I'm not
(21:39):
taking credit for that or anything, of course, but I'm
just saying it might be a coincidence.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
But I'm so lucky to have such a smart co host,
Philip good job so much. It means so much to me.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
So they were asked specifically about that, And I'm just
gonna read the exact statement here from them SO Comcasts
they said, the CEO said, our first quarter results continue
to be stable in Florida. We had pre opening expenses
for Epic Universe, but excluding that, underlying trends stable in Orlando.
(22:11):
What we're seeing for advanced bookings, for both ticket sales
and hotel bookings are strong for the overall parks and
for Epic. While I see the same headlines you're seeing
about airlines and the like, some of that might be
outside of the window of our booking, and what we're
seeing continues to be tracking well. To your point, some
of that is definitely related to the excitement about Epic
(22:32):
without a doubt, for which reviews and pre opening buzz
is very strong, and again, ticket sales and advanced plans
are a little ahead of our expectations.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Right now.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
What we see is continued steadiness for our backdrop of parks,
our Domesic parks do draw a lot of folks from
the US and a lot of folks from markets in
the South and in the case of Florida that are
not necessarily hopping on planes to get there, so there
may be a delayed effect between what the airlines are
starting to report on and what we see, but like
I say, said, no real sign of that in our
(23:02):
business as we sit here now in La. It's all
about getting La back to having the tourist ministry broadly
recovered after the wildfires. I think the whole market is
continuing to see people staying away a little bit more
than I think leadership of LA broadly or as a
parks on a market would like it to be. Thata's
domestic parks. International trends for Japan and Beijing are stable
as well. I think his response says it all, and
(23:24):
I think a lot of people took that and just
left it and walked away. But I feel like if
you read a little bit more into it, it's almost
exactly what we've been talking about. So he didn't say right,
It's like he said, what we're seeing in our booking windows.
So they're basically like our bookings were more than we thought.
And if you look at our booking windows, it's strong. Okay,
(23:49):
But if it was so strong, why did they cut
entertainment before they opened?
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Right?
Speaker 1 (23:52):
I mean, I think I think it's just like all
the analysts are saying, it's still possible that as you
get I mean we're we're This is a trailing indicator,
is my point. This is a trailing indicator. By the
end of this year or next year, if conditions worsen,
it is still possible for it to get worse. And
he's saying like he's acknowledging that. He's like, our booking
(24:13):
windows are strong.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Could it change?
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Yes? And I think that's fine, you know. I think
that's what we've been saying, is that it could get worse.
It could not. We've also said that Dizzy and Universal
are like we just suck with their value. I mean,
this is a great value experiences, so you may not
be dissuaded from going to them if you already had
your heart set on them, But maybe you won't go
(24:35):
to your local park instead. Do you'll make your five
year trip now, and then you know you'll delay it.
So we've said all these and then when he talks
about international things, that's also a huge thing. I mean,
of course they're building a whole park internationally, and he's like,
they're stable, which is another way of saying, right, like
(24:56):
they're stable in contrast to the US, which is unstable.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Right.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
So everything we've talked about I think is in this statement,
you know, and them referencing that they have an international
portfolio that can continue to be strong even if there's
instability in the US, you know, and then saying it's
strong now and we'll see what happens. Basically, it's what
they're going But need I remind you yet again five
billion in pre cashlow, so even if the domestic market softens,
(25:25):
they have the cash to make sure they're going to
keep the employed staff and all that. And then he
did mention the planes literally, you know, saying the bookings
are all coming from people that are just driving there.
So what happens when all those people have their visit?
Are they going to come back? He doesn't know, and
we don't know. And if they if everyone decides to
keep going to EPIC, it'll be great. If they decide
(25:46):
not to go, and if international tourism drops, it might
be a problem, but they have cash in the bank well.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
And it's it's interesting because I think that, you know,
when we look at when we look at stories like this,
and when we talk about whether it's you know, quarterly
review or whatever, you know, whatever the the event is,
we live. We live in the United States in a
world of past fail. We only want to hear things
are exceptionally good or exceptionally bad, and and if it's
(26:16):
and if it's not, you know, if it's we're good,
We're okay, we're standard. Yeah. It goes back to one
of the one of the most one of my mentors
when I was still working in the parks use the phrase,
and it has stuck with me because it is so true.
And it's true in pretty much every industry, but especially
especially the theme park industry, and that is, things are
never as good or as bad as we make them
(26:39):
out to be. So a statement like this, which appears
to be he's he's positioned it in a very positive way.
But what, as you say, Philip, what he's saying is
very much middle of the road. What he's saying is
we're we're okay, and we are not. We are so
used to the sensationalizing of information, especially in the US,
(27:02):
that okay is never good enough. It's like, oh no,
we've got to be stellar, and we have to be
you know, expecting five hundred percent return on our investment
and we have to you know. So to me, this
is one of the most logical statements we've heard in
a long time. I agree about any of the quarter
reviews that we've talked about. It's like, right now, we're okay,
(27:25):
if you look at this window, life is good. It
could get better, it could get worse. That's true. And
what quite honestly, that's true no matter what the big
CEOs say in their statements, because I realize their job
is to you know, bolster the stockholders. I get it,
I get it. But at the same time, I think
(27:46):
we need to start changing our perspective a little bit
and recognizing because when they most of the stockholders, they're
either using language that is deceptive or they really I
mean sometimes they really are having great years. But it's
okay to be okay, you know, it's okay to be
to be cautiously optimistic. There's nothing wrong with that, and
in fact, that's probably a good long term business strategy.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
So you know, I applaud this statement, and I'm really
glad that you read it because I think it makes
it makes total sense in the fact that, uh, here's
where we stand. We look like we're in good shape.
Because he never once denied any of the accusations in
the question.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
That is to see, those are all real that that's exactly.
So I feel like the people that covered this story
didn't talk about that, but he didn't. He didn't go
there and say, we're not saying I mean he basically
he was like a lot of locals are showing up.
So he didn't deny the dip in international tourism, right,
He just instead he said locals are coming.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
And that is one true right now, simply because it's
only open to locals. Really, I mean, you know, there's
not a whole lot of there's not a whole lot
of friends and family that are schlepping in from across
the world to come to the park. So so he
never denied it. It's it's it's masterful I think in
the way that he handled it, and I also but
(29:11):
I also think it is honest, and I also think
that it is optimistically stable. You know, one of the
things that I think would help us all is to
try to be a little bit more optimistically stable. And
pretty much anything we talk about in our lives, things
are never going to be as good or as bad
as we want to make them out to be. So kudos.
(29:35):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Yeah, Well, we're just about out of time.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Right, We are about out of time. Well, hopefully you
know we've got a whole rant to go on in Unhinged,
So if you're going to join us for that, please
do because you know Philip and I may scream and
yell at each other, but I doubt it because we
usually agree anyway. If you're not, thank you for spending
some time with us this week. We always appreciate your listenership,
and please tell you your friends if you think it's
(30:01):
something that is valuable to them. We are getting more
and more international listeners and viewers, which I really appreciate.
And so until next week on behalf of Philip Bernandez.
This is Scott Swanson from Green Tag Theme Park in
thirty and we will see you next week
Okay from our studios this week in Los Angeles and Tampa.
This is green Tagged theme Park and thirty, where we
break down the top theme park news from each week
and discuss why it matters to professionals. I'm Philip and
I'm joined as always by my co host Scott Swinson
a Scott Swinson Credit Development, and this week we are
discussing the earnings from comcasts, the first quarter arnings and
(00:21):
breaking down what it means for the theme park industry.
Yeahcome back, Scott, Welcome back from your trip.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Thank you, thank you. And you just got back from
a trip too. You were at what East Coast Saunters convention?
Speaker 1 (00:33):
I was at East Coast Shunter's convention and I'm still spinning,
but we'll probably get into that and unhinged.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Yeah, we'll ramble about that and unhinged. Yes, I'm just
glad to be back in the US. Back from Saudi.
I have already heard many, many wonderful comments from my students,
both in RIAD and Jetta about this show as well
as about the sessions that I taught. And I got
a very nice I got a very nice email from
the folks at at Gas saying the response had been
(01:01):
very positive, so I'm very proud of the work that
we did there, but I am very happy to be
back in the US, very very happy.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Excellent, And well, let's jump to our first story here,
which we're looking at Comcast earnings, and I want to
put it a little bit into context, but I think
they basically the Comcast earnings show a company striving to
diversify from one business, which was their classic cable model,
to a bunch of other businesses before time runs out. So,
(01:28):
in other words, the LBE side, location based entertainment is
a growth arena insulate. It's kind of insulated from the
cord cutting and streaming wars, and Comcasts is clearly doubling
down on that. So their Q one revenue decreased a
little bit zero point six percent, while profits also declined,
but the theme park division also experienced a five percent
(01:50):
revenue decrease. Comcast, however, remains optimistic about future growth, particularly
with Epic Universe. Of course, and the stock did dip,
but mainly the reason that it dipped was actually because
they lost two hundred thousand cable broadband customers. And I
think for this show and for our audiences, we're so
focused on the theme park stuff. You know, we see
(02:11):
the five percent decrease and we see, you know, this
kind of stuff. We want to know more about that.
But actually the reason that it had that dip was
because of the broadband, and the reason is I want
to kind of put this in context, which this is important.
So the theme park division is roughly six percent of Comcast,
but their connectivity the broadband is right now about thirty
(02:32):
seven and a half percent. And so that's why, because
broadband is the single largest product that Comcast sells, and
it accounts for over one quarter of the total revenue
of the company, which is far larger than the theme
parks or the films or Peacock or any of that stuff.
It's just that the theme parks are more sexy and
they're what we talk about. So that's why. But broadband
(02:55):
also has higher margins, Like it's just it it was
basically just printing money for Comcast. And so when they say, hey,
we lost two hundred thousand subscribers in one quarter, I
mean that, Yeah, that's significant, it's significant, and I think
that's that's really what you saw here. So basically Comcast
(03:16):
is in I don't want to say, like a rough spot,
because there is a good spot, you know, the.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
They're in a transitional phase. They're in a.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Transition, but that's why they're up here. And they're saying, hey,
look at Epic, look at how great it is. Look
at how many people are talking about it. Look at
how incredible. And then they're they're talking about horror and leation.
They're talking about the park in Texas because they're basically
they're saying, look, we understand that this is shrinking and
(03:43):
we are diversifying our revenue and we're really investing in
this location based entertainment and it's working because people love
it and they're showing up and we're able to keep
pricing power, and like, this is the story, and this
story is critical to them because they need to kind
of convince everybody that they're moving fast enough in because
(04:03):
you know, if if you just look at the cash
and the slope, I mean basically it's a ticking clock.
If the cable starts to you know, rapidly decrease, then
they're in a tight spot. So they kind of that's
why they're so aggressive with this and this aggressive with
the messaging. So I wanted that contact out there for
(04:23):
everyone to understand well.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
And I also think it's really important for people in
the park's industry, you know, in the theme park in
the live entertainment industry, to also recognize that if it
weren't for the you know, think about you said six percent, yep,
six percent of parks, If it weren't for the massive
gorilla that is the rest of the company, Universal couldn't
be as bold. You know, we've spent a lot of
(04:46):
time talking about how bold they're being with making these
decisions about building Epic and investing in the Texas Kids
or Family Park or kids park, investing in the Vegas
Horror Park or Horror Experience. But they could ever do
that if they didn't have, in essence, Big Daddy's trust
fund that is gonna that it's gonna help them and
(05:07):
provide for them. You know, we look at these little
independent parks who look at Universal and Disney and they go,
oh my gosh, how could they ever We could never
do that, We could never compete with that. And you
know what, you're right, You're right, you know, you don't
have ninety four percent of your business outside of the
theme park world. So it is and that's also why
(05:27):
it's really important. And I applaud Philip for doing this
because he's the one who puts together the vast majority
of content that we talk about on this show. But
I applaud you for doing this because I think it's
important to recognize that what happens to these larger companies
impacts their theme park divisions, and not only not only positively,
but both positively and negatively, I guess is my point.
(05:49):
So it is it is essential to look at the
macrocosms so that we don't get too mired down in
the minutia. I mean, this used to be. I think
back to the early days, and sorry I'm making this
antiquated reference, but I think back to the old days
of Bush Gardens, and Bush Gardens was less than one
percent of the Anheuser Busch Brewery conglomerate nation. And the
(06:12):
whole point originally for the parks was to lose money
so that they could have a tax right off. So
the whole reason Bush Entertainment Corporation was ever formed was
because it started to be profitable as a as an
independent microcosm. So this this all makes total sense, and
it's and it's just important for everybody to recognize that
when you compare a family run park, which I don't
(06:35):
think there are that many of anymore, But when you
compare a family run park with a park that roughly
holds the same acreage as a Universal or a Disney,
you can't compare them at all because they're really not
even in the same industry. The fact that what used
to be their their shiny, glittery diamond with Comcast used
(06:56):
to be their their broadband. You know, it's this, this
is what we're talking about here, and oh yeah, we
do these theme parks too. The fact that that is shifting,
even though it's never good. The theme parks are never
going to generate the kind of revenue that the broadway
band was generating. It's just simply not going to happen.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Ye.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
But it's a great shiny diversion. It's a great shiny
tactic to say, look how smart we are for diversification,
and diversification seems to be the word across the industry
right now. So kudos to Comcast for coming out with that.
But I just since Philip mentioned let's put it in perspective,
I also wanted to put it in perspective from the
from the theme park standpoint of you know, it's a tiny,
(07:33):
tiny part of a really big corporation, which is why
they can be riskier.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yes, that's a great point, and you know exactly that.
And the amount of free clash flow they generated was
five billion, so they're literally like not like five billion
in cash they can throw at some of these concepts,
and that's a lot of money. That's enough to build
you know, we're talking about Horror and Lesha, we're talking
about these like they can build these, they can test
(07:58):
these things with free cashis is they don't need to
get debt. And that's even with Disney. That's a key
differentiator because Disney is all about the entertainment side, and
they actually they do for some of these big projects,
need to take on debt. And as the interest rates
are going up, that debt's becoming more expensive. So it's
even harder for Disney to expand rapidly because of this,
(08:21):
whereas Universal just has like free cash flow that they
can then pump into testing. And it's not even I
mean five billions enough to do all this and more.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
I mean it's not even that you want if you
think about I know that I know there are people.
There are people listening going five billion. You know, I
could come up with some ways to spend five billion, Yeah,
especially if there was no interest and you know, when
you say there is no debt, I mean that is
a substantial, yes, amount of money. Yes, when you know,
(08:52):
you take five billion, and you you know, I was
I got into the theater because I was told there
wouldn't be any math. But you take five billion and
you look at what the just the interest payments alone
are going to be. That's huge. So it's because of
Comcasts significantly profitable interests that they currently own that they
(09:13):
can be so experimental they can be. So what appears
just if you look at just the microcosm of the
theme park world appears to be kind of cavalier. Really.
You know, we're gonna build this gigantic new park in
Florida and we're going to announce the same year that
we're doing something in Vegas and in Texas and in
the UK. But it's because they've got the money to
(09:33):
do it. Yeah, So why not why not invest now
while they've got the cash to do it. It's exactly
what's happening in the Middle East.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
It's exactly I was just gonna say that it was
exactly like what's going on in Saudi right where you
have you have a cash cow and they have that
generated they but they know eventually it's going to run out,
and so they are doing a strategic plan to diversify now.
And even if it takes losses for a decade, it's
okay to have the attend And it's because they need
the capacity available for when they transition into a different business.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Model, correct, correct, And they need to have that business
model set up while they still have you know, money
pouring in from a different source. So get it set
up now where you've got the cash to invest in it,
and that way, as one goes down, one can go
up and there's never a point of loss. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
I always think it's it's a little funny. You see,
especially now this week with the Epic opening date looming,
we've seen a lot of like mainstream articles and a
lot of people that aren't in our industry. They're talking
about Disney versus Universal and all this back and forth,
and I'm like, this is kind of funny because they
want different things from it. You know, they're not really
(10:45):
coming at it from the same direction and it's it's great,
you know that Universal is creating. Of course, they're trying
to make their stuff better and everything, but again it's
the same thing they're not. I guess it's okay if
they fail a little bit, and it's less okay if
Disney fails. They almost like can't fail because they're under
a microscope and because of the debt they have to
(11:06):
everything has to make more sense. And here they can
do a little test project in Texas and see how
it does and learn from it, and test in Vegas
and learn from it, and you know, do all these
things and it's okay.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
And for most people, a little test project is, oh,
we'll open a new food and beverage location in our park.
But for Comcast, it's, ah, yeah, we'll do a little
test thing where we open a family park in Texas
where we buy a bunch of land and you know,
open open a park that may or may not work.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Yeah, exactly, exactly. Well, let's talk about since, of course
this is a theme park podcast, so we're going to
talk about the theme park division specifically. As I mentioned
at the top of the show, the revenue drop was
about five percent, but it was expected due to these
two things we've been talking about. One, of course, is
that there was revenge travel in previous years, and that's
(11:53):
kind of like naturally dipping, so that it's equalization, which
they kind of pointed to. But there was also one
time factors that were happening in of course, the Los
Angeles wildfires, I mean that really distrupted that. Really the
park in Hollywood had to close down for a few days,
so it really disrupted business there.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
And the back to back hurricanes here in Florida.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Right, And so the only thing I would call issue
on is that they say it's like one time, but
we've talked about how it's not going to be yes.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Because there's never going to be another wildfire in California
and there's never going to be another hurricane in.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Florida, right exactly. That's the thing that I was like,
even still they're all trying to downplay that, Oh, it's
just happened once, and we're but you know what I mean,
Wall Street seems to buy in it. I Mean, most
of the analysts.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Don't live in California or Florida, so they don't understand
that this is a recurrence. That's true.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
They're all in New York, right, But they don't understand, like, yeah,
they are. They mostly believe, you know, this whole narrative
that Epic Universe excitement is strong, and you know bookings
are going to drive acceleration in the park growth at
least through twenty twenty five, you know, and it you know,
it's broad knowledgement that Epic is a game changer that
could significantly boost their EBITA and all that kind of stuff.
But and just also for perspective here, you know, the
(13:10):
division as a whole, their theme park section generated three
billion of EBITA in last year in twenty twenty four,
and it was only a billion just a decade ago.
And so I mean the growth, I mean, you can
you can see the growth. I mean, so it's clear.
It's a clear growth pattern. But just to essentially encapsulate
what they're trying to do here, they're basically they're trying
(13:31):
to right now. They know this first year there's going
to be losses do the opening expenses and all that,
and so you see the EBITDA shrinking and the theme
park division a little bit. But again they still have
the cash to offset it, and of course their plan
is to grow it. And even if they just grow
like one point or whatever. Then it adds right to
the top line. And so I think their goal is
(13:52):
to get it up to ten percent of you know,
ten percent from six point whatever point four up to
ten in the next year or so of contributing and
of course, the the gamble here, So what Universal is
trying to say is that this demand is so strong
because epic and it's you know, all this kind of stuff,
(14:14):
But the gamble is that what happens at the end
of twenty twenty five or twenty twenty six, Yet the
numbers aren't as strong and you're and they're not able
to push it to that ten percent mark, or they're
trying to. That's that's that's kind of the caution. And
it may not even be of their own fault. It
could be weather. It could be also macroeconomic trends, it
(14:34):
could be travel trends. I mean, there's a lot of
factors that it could be well.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
And I think that's why, at least at least locally,
because I've had you know, I've had tons and tons
and tons of colleagues and friends who have experienced Epic
Universe pre opening because they've been they've been beta testing,
they've been employee testing, they've been soon passolder testing, and
they have been slowly loosening their control over what is
(14:59):
being of the park and more and more as being seen.
And what it looks like to me is that they're
really doubling down on quality that they're they're trying to
get the word out that this is something that you
have never seen before. This is truly every pun intended,
I guess, this is truly of epic proportion. This is
(15:20):
something that you know you're not going to get a
chance to experience anywhere else in the world. And their
control over the narrative I think has been exceptional because
it's always focused. Each week there's one more thing that
they seem to let people release, and the fact that
there have been very I'm sure if you dig you'll
(15:41):
find them, but they're they they sort of have focused
on specific areas at specific times, so that it just
keeps expanding and expanding and expanding. It's it's it's very
cinematic in the way things are being revealed, and there
are I mean, for example, they're already they're already people
(16:03):
who because they sold out of certain merchandise items like
for example, the Danny Elfman soundtrack to uh to the
to the Monster section, the fact that it's not no
longer on sale until the actual opening again because they
had they have to, they had to reorder and reprint.
So and this is on vinyl. You know, this isn't
(16:26):
even a download situation where there's there is no limited
limited access. This is this is a limited quantity something
something on vinyl that that everybody seems to want. So
it's it's interesting that they are their narrative right now
is top quality best you're going to see, hands down,
(16:47):
better than anything else. So that so that when it
comes to the end of the year beginning of twenty six,
there are still people who haven't been able to make
that travel plans, make those travel plans to get here,
either because they haven't been able to get a reservation
at the hotel or they haven't been able to get
tickets or whatever, so that it will help sustain that
wave of new and exciting.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Well, exactly what you're saying. I think it there's a
strategy behind it. I mean, clearly they're trying for quality,
and I think they're trying for quality because they want
pricing power. Because you can see that Disney has been able,
and we just talked about last week the idea of
the Barbelle, where you have you have the budget, and
you have the luxury. And clearly Disney is aiming for luxury.
(17:31):
And the question is is Universal also aiming for luxury
or are they trying to create something that's the vale
that is perceived as value of Disney, like quality of
I guess, quality of Disney, but at a but a
more budget price. Or are they gonna eventually aim to
be the same like luxury pricing is Disney.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
The vibe I'm getting is the same quality. And I
don't think they're really talking about pricing. I think they're
more talking about accessibility, which I realized pricing is a
part of that. But I think I think they are
and maybe it's just my own perception. I don't know,
but they appear to be leaning into the thing that
frustrates me about Disney, and that is ease of accessibility.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
You know the fact that they're now building. You know
that their new their new park has a has a
hotel which is expensive as hell, that has a new
hotel that has its own direct access to the park. Now,
granted they have that in California as well, but it's
I mean Disney does. Sorry, Disney has it in California,
but it's it's just interesting to me that they are
(18:39):
just in the in their marketing speak, their marketing language,
their visuals are makes it seem so much makes things
seem so much easier. Yeah, And I think I really think,
especially in Florida, that's what they're leaning into. At least
that's my perception. I can't. I could be wrong, but
that's what I'm seeing.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
I would agree. I think it's probably a combination of
of multiple items where it's all aimed at the idea
of putting the Universal at the same quality of Disney,
but making it more accessible, whether that's through ease of
no reservations, or that's through price where you can actually
afford to take your family, you know, and you could
do a whole week for cheaper and have the same
(19:18):
quality of experience. And you know, if you just look
at some of the numbers, I think some of this
is in there. So attendance was we said was down,
but revenue only fell about five percent, basically implying that
the guest spending stayed strong, like spending per gassing wrong
because basically otherwise the revenue would have fell sharper right,
(19:40):
So basically they have pricing power, and they did raise prices,
but they didn't see that much of a pushback. So
maybe who's to know, Maybe they'll keep I don't know
if they'll keep rising, keep rising up or whatnot. But regardless,
it seems like the strategy. Whether it's sometime I'm sure
it's intentional or not, but whatever, but it seems like
(20:00):
they're getting to pricing power.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the thing you know, they are
universal is well at the least on par with Disney
when it comes to their merchandise offerings. Some would say
they are actually even passing them when it comes to
their merchandise opportunities. I would say, but again, it's it's
(20:24):
tough when you see people spending, you know, quite a
bit of money to build a lightsaber, but you also
see people spending quite a bit of money or the
popcorn buckets. But you also see people on the flip
side spending I would say, probably just as much to
get a Wand so you know, there's that's I think,
you know, when it comes to when it comes when
(20:45):
we talk about attendance maybe down, but revenue is still
holding relatively strong, or it's not dropping at the same
level as attendance. To me, that leans into all of
the in park upsale opportunities, whether that's merchandise or culinary
or tours or whatever.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
The makeup experience in everyone's loving that. You know, you
can hear about it. I mean, you're right, I mean again,
but that's all pricing power. I mean, they've been very
strategic and smart starting and again with Harry Potter, like
you always say, that was like the moment.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
That was a turning point for them.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Yeah, and now that you've seen that again again and
and so we talked last week about United Airlines, and
we talked about that decrease in domestic the kind of
softening domestic market and their decrease of supply for that.
So Comcast was actually asked specifically about that. I'm not
(21:39):
taking credit for that or anything, of course, but I'm
just saying it might be a coincidence.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
But I'm so lucky to have such a smart co host,
Philip good job so much. It means so much to me.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
So they were asked specifically about that, And I'm just
gonna read the exact statement here from them SO Comcasts
they said, the CEO said, our first quarter results continue
to be stable in Florida. We had pre opening expenses
for Epic Universe, but excluding that, underlying trends stable in Orlando.
(22:11):
What we're seeing for advanced bookings, for both ticket sales
and hotel bookings are strong for the overall parks and
for Epic. While I see the same headlines you're seeing
about airlines and the like, some of that might be
outside of the window of our booking, and what we're
seeing continues to be tracking well. To your point, some
of that is definitely related to the excitement about Epic
(22:32):
without a doubt, for which reviews and pre opening buzz
is very strong, and again, ticket sales and advanced plans
are a little ahead of our expectations.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Right now.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
What we see is continued steadiness for our backdrop of parks,
our Domesic parks do draw a lot of folks from
the US and a lot of folks from markets in
the South and in the case of Florida that are
not necessarily hopping on planes to get there, so there
may be a delayed effect between what the airlines are
starting to report on and what we see, but like
I say, said, no real sign of that in our
(23:02):
business as we sit here now in La. It's all
about getting La back to having the tourist ministry broadly
recovered after the wildfires. I think the whole market is
continuing to see people staying away a little bit more
than I think leadership of LA broadly or as a
parks on a market would like it to be. Thata's
domestic parks. International trends for Japan and Beijing are stable
as well. I think his response says it all, and
(23:24):
I think a lot of people took that and just
left it and walked away. But I feel like if
you read a little bit more into it, it's almost
exactly what we've been talking about. So he didn't say right,
It's like he said, what we're seeing in our booking windows.
So they're basically like our bookings were more than we thought.
And if you look at our booking windows, it's strong. Okay,
(23:49):
But if it was so strong, why did they cut
entertainment before they opened?
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Right?
Speaker 1 (23:52):
I mean, I think I think it's just like all
the analysts are saying, it's still possible that as you
get I mean we're we're This is a trailing indicator,
is my point. This is a trailing indicator. By the
end of this year or next year, if conditions worsen,
it is still possible for it to get worse. And
he's saying like he's acknowledging that. He's like, our booking
(24:13):
windows are strong.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Could it change?
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Yes? And I think that's fine, you know. I think
that's what we've been saying, is that it could get worse.
It could not. We've also said that Dizzy and Universal
are like we just suck with their value. I mean,
this is a great value experiences, so you may not
be dissuaded from going to them if you already had
your heart set on them, But maybe you won't go
(24:35):
to your local park instead. Do you'll make your five
year trip now, and then you know you'll delay it.
So we've said all these and then when he talks
about international things, that's also a huge thing. I mean,
of course they're building a whole park internationally, and he's like,
they're stable, which is another way of saying, right, like
(24:56):
they're stable in contrast to the US, which is unstable.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Right.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
So everything we've talked about I think is in this statement,
you know, and them referencing that they have an international
portfolio that can continue to be strong even if there's
instability in the US, you know, and then saying it's
strong now and we'll see what happens. Basically, it's what
they're going But need I remind you yet again five
billion in pre cashlow, so even if the domestic market softens,
(25:25):
they have the cash to make sure they're going to
keep the employed staff and all that. And then he
did mention the planes literally, you know, saying the bookings
are all coming from people that are just driving there.
So what happens when all those people have their visit?
Are they going to come back? He doesn't know, and
we don't know. And if they if everyone decides to
keep going to EPIC, it'll be great. If they decide
(25:46):
not to go, and if international tourism drops, it might
be a problem, but they have cash in the bank well.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
And it's it's interesting because I think that, you know,
when we look at when we look at stories like this,
and when we talk about whether it's you know, quarterly
review or whatever, you know, whatever the the event is,
we live. We live in the United States in a
world of past fail. We only want to hear things
are exceptionally good or exceptionally bad, and and if it's
(26:16):
and if it's not, you know, if it's we're good,
We're okay, we're standard. Yeah. It goes back to one
of the one of the most one of my mentors
when I was still working in the parks use the phrase,
and it has stuck with me because it is so true.
And it's true in pretty much every industry, but especially
especially the theme park industry, and that is, things are
never as good or as bad as we make them
(26:39):
out to be. So a statement like this, which appears
to be he's he's positioned it in a very positive way.
But what, as you say, Philip, what he's saying is
very much middle of the road. What he's saying is
we're we're okay, and we are not. We are so
used to the sensationalizing of information, especially in the US,
(27:02):
that okay is never good enough. It's like, oh no,
we've got to be stellar, and we have to be
you know, expecting five hundred percent return on our investment
and we have to you know. So to me, this
is one of the most logical statements we've heard in
a long time. I agree about any of the quarter
reviews that we've talked about. It's like, right now, we're okay,
(27:25):
if you look at this window, life is good. It
could get better, it could get worse. That's true. And
what quite honestly, that's true no matter what the big
CEOs say in their statements, because I realize their job
is to you know, bolster the stockholders. I get it,
I get it. But at the same time, I think
(27:46):
we need to start changing our perspective a little bit
and recognizing because when they most of the stockholders, they're
either using language that is deceptive or they really I
mean sometimes they really are having great years. But it's
okay to be okay, you know, it's okay to be
to be cautiously optimistic. There's nothing wrong with that, and
in fact, that's probably a good long term business strategy.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
So you know, I applaud this statement, and I'm really
glad that you read it because I think it makes
it makes total sense in the fact that, uh, here's
where we stand. We look like we're in good shape.
Because he never once denied any of the accusations in
the question.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
That is to see, those are all real that that's exactly.
So I feel like the people that covered this story
didn't talk about that, but he didn't. He didn't go
there and say, we're not saying I mean he basically
he was like a lot of locals are showing up.
So he didn't deny the dip in international tourism, right,
He just instead he said locals are coming.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
And that is one true right now, simply because it's
only open to locals. Really, I mean, you know, there's
not a whole lot of there's not a whole lot
of friends and family that are schlepping in from across
the world to come to the park. So so he
never denied it. It's it's it's masterful I think in
the way that he handled it, and I also but
(29:11):
I also think it is honest, and I also think
that it is optimistically stable. You know, one of the
things that I think would help us all is to
try to be a little bit more optimistically stable. And
pretty much anything we talk about in our lives, things
are never going to be as good or as bad
as we want to make them out to be. So kudos.
(29:35):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Yeah, Well, we're just about out of time.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Right, We are about out of time. Well, hopefully you
know we've got a whole rant to go on in Unhinged,
So if you're going to join us for that, please
do because you know Philip and I may scream and
yell at each other, but I doubt it because we
usually agree anyway. If you're not, thank you for spending
some time with us this week. We always appreciate your listenership,
and please tell you your friends if you think it's
(30:01):
something that is valuable to them. We are getting more
and more international listeners and viewers, which I really appreciate.
And so until next week on behalf of Philip Bernandez.
This is Scott Swanson from Green Tag Theme Park in
thirty and we will see you next week
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