Gardens parks by In-Bev in order to pay off debts in their take over of Anheuser Busch has captured my imagination. As you may imagine, I do keep a close eye on any news about theme parks. While Disney has been mentioned as a possible bidder for the parks, most sources online are saying that their name has just been put in there, possibly by the potential seller, to “spark” interest in the deal. And what a deal it is, they are estimating 2.5 to 4.5 billion for the three Sea World parks, two Busch Gardens parks, Discovery Cove, Sesame Place and two small water parks in the US along with the Big Kahuna: the huge island park currently being built in Dubai.I do think that it would be wise for Disney to start to think about investing in smaller attractions throughout the US, mostly because I think that the days of casually hopping on a plane are over, I do really hope I’m wrong about this but the airlines just seem to barely be keeping their heads above water. Disney needs to get past the idea of “Well Disney Quest didn’t work...” I think Disney Quest didn’t work because, well, Disney Quest isn’t Disney enough. People who go to Disney expect immersive themed environments and anything less is just a disappointment. I love the idea of themed hotels with either a water park (yes I know it’s been done) or smaller themed attractions.
However, I don’t want to write about Disney’s buying the parks, what I want to think about is who is going to buy these parks and what it might mean for Disney. There are some intriguing possibilities and from the net sources, a VERY short list. The two major players are Parques Reunidos and Merlin Entertainments. Although Dubai World and Disney have been mentioned by the media both are being largely dismissed by the same media. Back to the major players: Parques Reunidos is a Madrid based entertainments giant that owns all different kinds of amusement parks, mostly in Europe. In June, they acquired the US based Kennywood entertainments which owns 6 parks, mostly in Pittsburgh, PA; including the historic Kennywood and Lake Compounce in Connecticut. This acquisition is interesting as these parks are relatively minor parks mostly noteworthy for their historically significant rides, as they serve as homes to turn of the century classic amusement rides.
The other player is Merlin Entertainments, this group is a little bit better known, they own Alton Towers, a UK based park most recently in the news for banning cell phones. They also own the London Eye, Madame Tussauds and along with its partner Blackstone owns...wait for it...50% of Universal. Hmmm...this just got even more interesting.
The other factor in the equation is Dubai. Dubai is the next Orlando of the World, more like a combination of New York City, Orlando and Las
Vegas combined into one city. All of the conglomerates mentioned above, are building parks in Dubai, except for Disney and Parques Reunidos. The infrastructure is already being built for an enormous SeaWorld/Aquatica/Busch Gardens/nighttime entertainment complex all on a man made island in the ocean shaped like Shamu. This park is the X factor for me. Dubai is quickly becoming an international destination for pretty much everyone except Americans. I have been surprised to not hear that Disney is looking to get involved here. I think that the major thing to hold Disney back is that they are an “American” company and the United Arab Emirates is not a country that the US has wanted to be involved with. To my untrained business eye, I think Disney has made the choice to go to China instead and be the first to get a toe hold into the 1.3 billion people looking to have have some fun. I think that Disney would never buy “used” parks” therefore the deal is dead but the Dubai park is overkill for Disney’s involvement.What I am curious about is how much does the competition factor increase, worldwide, if Merlin wins the bid. Owning arguably, the next three biggest theme parks: Universal, Sea World and Busch Gardens, would it put them in competition with Disney. Could they even come close? They have Harry Potter, again another X factor, are people going to still love Harry in 2010 when the Wizarding World of Harry Potter opens? Can Universal even pull Harry off? While I don’t think that anyone can truly compete on a theming scale etc. with Disney, can the combined clout of these parks along with a shrinking American economy come close? Can they take away a bit of the shrinking market share of leisure money in the US? Now that people are traveling less, will owning a scattering of smaller parks in the US put a company in direct competition with Disney? I don’t have the answers but I’m fascinated by the questions.
What do you think? Please leave a comment, I would love to hear others thoughts.
Main Street Mom is the chief author of the popular Daily Dose of Disney emails sent to members of the 
14 comments:
This is a link to a real business person's blog, All Things Diz. He has a careful business analysis of the deal.
http://allthingsdiz.blogspot.com/2008/08/disney-and-seaworld.html
I don't know if I'd go that far (describing me as a 'real' business person), but I play one on TV. ;)
Thanks for the links.
I think you and I are in agreement that Disney probably won't buy SeaWorld, for many of the reasons we both pointed out.
Recently one of the execs from Parques Reunidos was reoported to be spotted at the Orlando park and is said to be buddy, buddy with Busch the III who loves the parks unlike Busch the IV. Some say it is possible that Busch #3 wants to go in with Parques Reunidos to run the parks, who knows it may just be the roumor mill in over drive. Only time will tell, but one thing I would bet on.... Disney would not buy thoes parks, it will cost too much to make them like the rest of the mouse house.
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