Liens, which are specialized legal action which can be placed on a construction project whereby an asset can be seized if debts are unpaid, are fairly commonplace for theme parks, as construction workers, contractors, and sub-contractors all work together to ensure everyone gets paid on major projects. Projects at almost every major theme park in the world has been subject to this type of legal action, and In fact, in the early 2000’s, the Magic Kingdom’s own Cinderella Castle had a lien placed on it for a short amount of time! However, it looks like SeaWorld parks are now being hit with several liens thanks to unpaid bills piling up due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Ambitious projects
The most recent lien against SeaWorld was filed on June 10, by Premier Rides, the ride manufacturer contracted to build SeaWorld’s Ice Breaker roller coaster. According to the lien, Ice Breaker’s total cost is $8.2 million and Premier rides has said that SeaWorld currently owes $2.7 million for work that was done between August 17, 2018 and March 13, 2020.
This is now the third lien brought against SeaWorld Entertainments Inc in recent weeks with SeaWorld San Diego reportedly being sued for missed payments on their new ride, Emperor and Screamscape reporting that RMC Inc has filed a $3.5 million lien against Busch Gardens for Iron Gwazi.
It has certainly been a rocky road for SeaWorld over the last few years and although things seemed slightly more positive back at the beginning of March with SeaWorld reporting positive attendance and revenue gains in most recent financial results, which was great to hear. Unfortunately since then, with the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in the closure of all theme parks for almost three months, financial difficulties were to be expected for all, and back in mid April, SeaWorld appeared to be in serious trouble.
When SeaWorld closed all of its parks back in March, unlike Disney and Universal they did not continue paying their workers for any length of time, furloughing all but the most essential employees immediately and cancelling their healthcare benefits.
At the beginning of May, SeaWorld quietly released its financial report with the theme park operator, SeaWorld Entertainment Inc confirming that they are losing a lot of money due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, with their quarterly revenue down $60 Million.
Trying to stay afloat
SeaWorld announced it was taking new measures to stay afloat during the parks closure including the good news that the company secured $227.5 million in loans, according to an SEC filing. With this new cash-raising loan SeaWorld had said it officially has enough cash to survive through to 2021, even if the worst case scenario happened and its theme parks couldn’t reopen at all in 2020. This came as very positive news from where SeaWorld appeared to be in April.
With SeaWorld Orlando now open again, as of June 11, and despite reports of a rough reopening day, we are hoping SeaWorld can get back on track as soon as it can. As I said earlier liens are not unusual for theme parks so hopefully good news is on the horizon for SeaWorld Orlando.
2020 was set to be a massive year for SeaWorld parks with a number of new attractions opening, the biggest being the Ice Breaker roller coaster, which this lien has been brought against. Icebreaker is a launch coaster and is fully built with its trains placed on the track. It was supposed to open sometime this spring. We are still waiting for official news on when this blockbuster ride will actually open.
It has unfortunately seemed to be one thing after the other for SeaWorld parks over the last year. Let’s hope SeaWorld can get its finances in order and pay the construction company what it owes and then can finally get back on track as quickly as it can. I am sure theme park fans can’t wait to have the opportunity to finally ride Icebreaker, and hear positive news from SeaWorld.
Check out our News Page and Facebook Page daily to keep up to date with all the latest announcements from SeaWorld Orlando, SeaWorld San Diego as well as Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Disneyland and all the other parks from the US, UK and around the world.
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