Universal Reports Theme Park Revenue Falls 94 Percent

Universal has revealed that its theme park revenue has dropped 94 percent. The company’s second-quarter earnings results revealed the information this week. Spectrum News 13 shared the findings today as the theme parks division of the company tumbled 94 percent. $87 million might look staggering on paper, but last year’s second-quarter yielded an absolutely bonkers $1.46 billion. As of right now, only Universal Orlando and Universal Studios Japan reopened since closing due to the coronavirus pandemic earlier this year. Another contributing factor to the low numbers is the fact that Universal’s locations have had to limit the number of visitors to the parks to maintain distancing.

Universal had to make the tough decision to close their parks for Halloween. The Halloween Horror Nights is one of the most popular attractions at the park, but safety had to come first in this case. Universal issued the following statement.

“Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood have made the difficult decision to not hold Halloween Horror Nights events this year. Universal Orlando Resort will be focusing exclusively on operating its theme parks for daytime guests, using enhanced health and safety procedures already in place. Universal Studios Hollywood continues to face ongoing business restrictions and uncertainty around its opening timeframe. We know this decision will disappoint our fans and guests. We are disappointed, too. But we look forward to creating an amazing event in 2021.”

Fans looking forward to Super Mario World at Universal Japan will be waiting as well. The company had to decide to delay its opening due to coronavirus as well.

“It’s a whole new separate area of the park. It’s got food. It’s got merchandise. The first phase will have two rides, Super Mario Kart ride as well as Yoshi’s Adventures,” Universal Parks & Resorts Chairman and CEO Tom Williams told the press last year. “The whole land is interactive, and you’re going to have a wristband. It’s got the big red Mario symbol on it. It’s — by the way, the wristband is supercool. It’s all magnetic. You slap it at your wrist, and it just snaps on, and it won’t come off, […] and you’ll be able to go up and keep score and play with the various games, and that also translates to a score-keeping capability if you choose to do so within the rides and actually interfaces back with your game consoles. So you can build on it and come back again, and it’s really got everything going on.”

Have you visited Universal this year? Let us know down in the comments!