THEME PARK

tions, five console stations and a stage for tournaments is another addition. Six Flags expanded its water park too, with 11 individual water slides and raft rides.

Six Flags down for year

Arlington-based Six Flags swung to a profit of nearly $13.4 million, or 16 cents a share, on $279.9 million in revenue during the last three months of 2022. During the same period a year earlier, it posted a loss of $2 million, or 2 cents a share, on $316.8 million in revenue. During the same period in pre-pandemic 2019, it earned $11 million, or 13 cents a share, on revenue of $261 million.

For all of 2022, the company posted a profit of $108.9 million, or $1.29 a share, on $1.4 billion in revenue, down from profit of $129.9 million, or $1.50 a share, on $1.5 billion in revenue in 2021. In 2019, it reported profit of $179 million, or $2.11 a share, on $1.5 billion in revenue.

Six Flags attributed the declines in part to lower attendance, which it said was driven by higher ticket prices and cutting free tickets and heavily discounted pass options.

President and CEO Selim Bassoul is pushing the changes while adding new options at parks, such as esports facilities.

Seaworld’s record

Orlando-based Seaworld earned $49 million, or 76 cents a share, on a record $390.5 million in revenue in the fourth quarter. That profit was the second-highest quarterly mark in its history. The company posted profit of $71.5 million, or 92 cents a share, on $370.8 million in revenue during fourth quarter 2021, and a loss of $24.2 million, or 31 cents a share, on $298 million in revenue during the same period in 2019.

For all of 2022, Seaworld earned $291.2 million, or $4.14 a share, on a record $1.7 billion in revenue. That’s up from 2021, when it generated a profit of $256.5 million, or $3.22 a share, on $1.5 billion in revenue in 2021, and from 2019, when it posted a profit ot $89.5 million, or $1.10 a share, on nearly $1.4 billion in revenue.

About 4.94 million people visited the company’s parks during the three months ended Dec. 31, nearly unchanged from 4.95 million in 2021 but up from 4.7 million in 2019.

CEO Marc Swanson said attendance would have been higher if not for poor weather last fall and winter. He expects annual visits to rebound and exceed pre-pandemic levels eventually.

“Also, as we have discussed, we are still more than 3 million visitors below our historical high attendance of approximately 25 million guests achieved in 2008,” Swanson said. “This represents a clear opportunity to recapture lost attendance we once achieved.”

For Seaworld San Antonio’s new Catapult Falls flume coaster, an elevator hoists riders at 7 feet per second to a height of more than 55 feet, the only vertical lift in a U.S. flume ride, according to the company.

From the peak, riders in flumes plummet down at over 37 mph. The 53-degree drop is the steepest in a flume ride worldwide, Seaworld said.

Cedar Fair’record revenue

Sandusky, Ohio-based Cedar Fair Entertainment has rebounded better than many theme park operators, as its fourth-quarter 2022 attendance and profit eclipsed pre-pandemic levels.

The company earned $12.4 million on a record $366 million in revenue in the fourth quarter. That’s up from a loss of $27.2 million on $350.9 million in revenue during the same period in 2021 and profit of $2.7 million on $257 million in revenue during the same period in 2019.

For all of 2022, Cedar Fair posted a record profit of $307.7 million, or $5.45 per diluted limited partnership unit, on a record $1.8 billion in revenue. That’s a surge from a loss of $48.5 million, or 86 cents per diluted unit, on $1.3 billion in revenue in 2021, and a profit of $172 million, or $3.03 per diluted unit, on $483.9 million in revenue for 2019.

Roughly 5.3 million people visited Cedar Fair parks in the recent fourth quarter, down a few thousand year over year from 2021 and up from 5.1 million in fourth quarter 2019.

Cedar Fair sold a record 3.2 million season passes last year, President and CEO Richard Zimmerman said.