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Volume 1, No. 10. June 15, 2001

Whaling on teens
At a time when many parks are shifting their demographic focus away from teen-agers, SeaWorld Adventure Park in Orlando, Florida, long known for its family emphasis, is targeting teens who, the park points out, are often voting members of their families.

This summer the park is supplementing its Rockin' Summer Nights program—a series of nightly retro dances featuring 1960s and '70s music—with Club SeaWorld, a series of Friday night concerts featuring teen-fave groups. Teens under 16 can join Club SeaWorld for $57.95, which includes unlimited admission to the park. That's more than $20 less than the regular season pass. Florida and Georgia teens who bring a Pepsi 2-liter bottle label will get a further $10 off the club membership.

"We're targeting the families through the teens," said Greg Smith, SeaWorld publicist. "The idea behind it is you've got this area where adults want to go for '60s and '70s music. Will teens and pre-teens want to do that? No, so there's something for them to do as well."

Club SeaWorld continues a teen-shifting trend at the park that began with the installation of the Journey to Atlantis water coaster in 1998 and continued with the opening of the floorless coaster Kraken last year. Notably, the marketing campaign for Club SeaWorld has depended heavily on radio stations around Orlando and mall promotions in South Florida. "We're going after the local teens with this," Smith said. "There's a good amount of teens in central Florida. For SeaWorld, it's been an untapped demographic for us." He also said the park would like to see parents send their teens to the park as a "safe place to hang out during the summer."

That notion would send shivers up the spines of many park operators who have tired of running a veritble teen daycare during the summer, with all the security risks and depressed per caps that entails. Smith, though, points to the park's Shamu ambiance, not to mention the heavily staffed nature of the park, as a thwart against hooliganism. Besides, he says, it is still families SeaWorld is going after, and the park needs to overcome the veto power many teens wield.

"We definitely want the whole family to come out and enjoy the day," Smith said. "We now have something to entice the teen to want to come."

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