Theme Park Analysts See Changes Brewing for Sea World

Will Shamu meet Spuds McKenzie?

Will Anheuser-Busch begin marketing a new beer, Shamu Lite?

Will the baby whale finally become a party animal?

These and other questions were making the rounds the day after Harcourt Brace Jovanovich announced the sale of San Diego’s Sea World to Anheuser-Busch, the nation’s largest brewer, in a $1.1-billion cash deal that includes three other theme parks nationwide.

So, exactly what changes are in store for the marine mammal park on Mission Bay, which, in 25 years, has established itself as one of San Diego’s premiere tourist attractions?

“They’re going to start selling Budweiser beer on the premises, that’s for sure,” said Emanuel Goldman, an analyst for PayneWebber Inc. who follows Anheuser-Busch.

Interviews with theme park observers and analysts Friday painted a picture of the beer company as an experienced and market-savvy park operator with a passion for quality. The St. Louis-based brewing giant operates Busch Gardens theme parks in Tampa, Fla., and Williamsburg, Va.

However, the two companies couldn’t be more dissimilar in their business approaches. HBJ is a staid publishing company that had little experience running a theme park when it actively took over the management reins five years ago.

Wracked by debt, it has introduced little that was new to Sea World in the past year--and change is the lifeblood of the theme park industry, insiders say.

Anheuser-Busch, on the other hand, is continually diversifying and has the deep pockets to make a new venture flourish.

According to analysts, the company realizes it has bought into a potential gold mine--industry observers estimate that the acquisition will triple the size of Anheuser-Busch’s theme park business, which made $175 million last year, contrasted with the $388 million in revenues generated by the HBJ parks.

The bonus, they say, comes with the marketing rights to Shamu, the baby killer whale that has drawn hundreds of thousands of young visitors to the parks each year.

“Busch is going to begin marketing the daylights out of that little whale,” said Nick Winslow, president of Harrison Price Co., a consulting firm specializing in theme parks whose clients include Disneyland.

“It gives them a real presence in Southern California, something they haven’t had in a very long time. In one fell swoop, they’ve become a major player in the commercial attraction industry.

“Now they’re right up there with Six Flags behind Disney. And Shamu is going to help lead the way for them.”

So a meeting of the mascots--Spuds and Shamu--could be inevitable in San Diego, right?

Not so fast, insiders say. Remember, these are savvy marketing meisters who had the foresight to feature recent promotions pointing out the downside of the alcohol industry.

“They’re sensitive to the workings of their primary industry; that’s why they came out with the ‘Know When to Say When’ campaign,” Winslow said. “If they do it, it will be correctly done.

“They’ve done a good job not to oversell beer in their parks. So you might not see Spuds for a while. Sea World is the penultimate family attraction. They’re not going to alienate the market.”

PayneWebber’s Goldman agreed. “Even with Spuds, they took their time. The same will go for Shamu. Right now they’re asking themselves, ‘How do we position the little whale?’

“The last thing they want to do is do things too quickly without doing their homework. They know they have something with a lot of potential in San Diego. They’re in no hurry.”

If the company’s track record in maintaining its parks in Florida and Virginia is any example, analysts say, Sea World is in for a remake not seen since Dorothy first entered the gates of Oz.

“They’re very concerned with quality in their beer--it’s the same with everything they do. You go through Tampa and Williamsburg, and they’re clean as a whistle; the places reek of quality,” said Goldman, who is based in San Francisco.

“That’s what will happen to Sea World. Anheuser-Busch will do what it is necessary to make the park a high-quality, comfortable place where people can go.”

The first thing the big brewer will do, insiders say, is introduce a big change to Sea World, vital in keeping a commercial theme park afloat.

Something New Every Year

“Harcourt Brace was so strapped for cash the past couple of years, they put little money into the park, especially in the past year,” Winslow said. “They let 700 people go last year, cut back on their services.

“In this business, you have to have something new every year and something really big and new every couple of years. Harcourt wasn’t doing that. Those are some of the things Busch will look at, getting the staff up to speed, getting people accustomed to the Busch way of doing things.”

On a recent trip to Sea World in San Diego, Winslow said, he noticed that the little things were being neglected.

“The place needed a paint job, there were too many papers on the ground, the picnic tables weren’t clean enough, and the people didn’t seem to be as well-trained as they could have been.

Anheuser-Busch will “come into town, get the staff together and see what needs to be done--a wish list if you will. That will be the first order of business.”

Analysts said the beer company’s major concern will be the Orlando, Fla., Sea World, which faces stiff competition from nearby Disney World, but that San Diego will also get its share of the refurbishment dollar. The two other Sea Worlds involved in the deal are in Cleveland and San Antonio.

City OK Needed

If Anheuser-Busch has many changes in mind, however, it will have to persuade city officials first.

Robert Collins, supervising property agent for the city, said San Diego owns the 149 acres on which Sea World sits. And there are lease agreements to consider.

“It depends on what they want to do,” Collins said. “The lease is pretty specific: They’re supposed to maintain the property as a water-oriented marine park. If they’re going to depart from that, it’s something that the city’s going to want to look at.”

Al Reese, spokesman for the city’s Convention & Visitors Bureau, said officials are breathing a sigh of relief now that the future of the park is in experienced hands.

“We’re happy to see that it’s an organization in the business, so to speak,” he said. “Sea World has a considerable influence on the local economy.

“It provides something that’s getting harder to come by, and that’s entry-level jobs for people entering the workplace.”

Anheuser-Busch says it’s too early to predict what any changes might be. And it can’t answer the most important question of all:

Will Shamu meet Spuds McKenzie?

“Not that I know of,” said Vicki Pearlman, a company spokeswoman in St. Louis. “I don’t know of any plans to take Spuds on a tour of the theme parks.”