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Credit: SeaWorldThe age of expansion for Central Florida’s theme parks is upon us. Over the next decade, guests can expect an explosion at the parks.
Those expansion projects officially kick off in less than a week with the opening of Epic Universe, But even Epic Universe has left open land for future expansions.
While Walt Disney World doesn’t have a new theme park project on the docket, expansions and changes are coming to all four theme parks. However, with those projects just breaking ground, guests shouldn’t expect to see them for another few years.
Not to be forgotten in this expansion madness, United Parks and Resorts, which owns SeaWorld in Orlando and Busch Gardens in Tampa, met with investors to lay out the company’s ambitious expansion plans to keep up with its much larger neighbors.
Both parks added major attractions this year, but CEO Marc Swanson said this is just the beginning of the parks’ expansion plans. Swanson told investors that the company owns 400 acres of undeveloped land and plans to expand its parks and build hotels for the first time on its properties.
Swanson said that United Parks is working to lock down long-term sponsorship deals that could be worth as much as $20 million to build these planned expansions. He said:
In recent years, we have not pursued, nor had, meaningful sponsorship partnerships. Clearly, we have been missing this opportunity. Starting late last year, we formalized a partnership with a third-party group and dedicated internal resources to pursuing this opportunity. Since then, we have had meaningful discussions with several potential sponsors, and expect to have exciting announcements in the coming months.
Epic Universe’s opening is causing an unexpected problem for SeaWorld: staffing. Universal pays $17 an hour, while some Disney World employees can start at $20. SeaWorld starts its employees at $13.
CFO Jim Mikolaichick said:
We had planned for some labor increases for minimum wage across several different markets, not just Epic.
Swanson did have some bad news for investors. During the first quarter of 2025, the company saw a two percent decline in visitors and a 3.5 percent decline in total revenue over the same period last year.
Like Disney executives, Swanson believes Epic Universe will drive more visitors to SeaWorld and potentially Busch Gardens. However, only time will tell if any of them are correct.