Does anyone live in the Orlando area? I keep track of the theme park business there – Disney, universal, and sea world. Whereas, there have been some layoffs, things don’t look as bad as they do in other industries. Does anyone have any insight to offer? Is the theme park business more recession proof than others?
Islands of Adventure and Bush Gardens are my favorites…
The ups and downs in the Space Mountain Rollercoaster remind me of the Down Jones. That there is no light makes it even more reminiscent.
nobody from orlando?
I used to vacation in Orlando for a month out of each year and have frequented pretty much every theme park on more than one occasion. It definitely made for a fun childhood/tween years. But as far as it being more or less recession proof, I can only offer an educated guess. When the economy’s down and people are losing their jobs, I believe one of the things they will cut back on is their vacation/leisure time spending. That being said because Americans are in a huge recession maybe they will try and keep it in the family (ie. domestic vactions) and Orlando is a good a spot as any in the United States. (As oppose to spending more on international flights/resorts etc). However if this were true then that means international travelers are less likely to come into the U.S. to visit these world famous parks. So I guess it depends how much of their business depends on international verses domestic customers. From my time there I definitely think there are more domestic visitors. I remember walking through the gigantic parking lots all the time and reading the license plates off all the cars from different states. I spent so much time there I think I know what ever states license plate looks like. Tons of Ontario and Quebec ones as well. Anyways that was longer than I wanted to type. All I’m saying as if these theme parks were an equity stock I think they would go in the defensive category.
I live in Tampa. Since InBev took over Anheuser Busch they shut down the free beer tent at Busch Gardens. My brother works in the restaurant industry at a mall right next to those parks and says traffic is down. That’s the only indicator I got for you.
What’s the Tampa market like? I’d love to live and work in Florida but I imagine the pay isn’t as good as other financial cities. Is there a decent amount of financial jobs in Florida?
i went to orlando for christmas. islands of adventure was fantastic, but the magic kingdom just didn’t feel right on christmas.
I feel the same way - I’d love to live in Florida but finance doesn’t seem to be strong there. I think from what I’ve seen Miami and Tampa/St Petersburg would probably be the best locations job-wise. It’d be sweet to be able to go outdoors more than 4-5 months out of the year. Reggie Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > What’s the Tampa market like? I’d love to live and > work in Florida but I imagine the pay isn’t as > good as other financial cities. Is there a decent > amount of financial jobs in Florida?
Most of the jobs in Tampa-St Pete are accounting related. If you want a research job or something like that you have to hit up Raymond James. I pull in mid 40s out of undergrad and live very comfortably. Weather is awesome and the beaches are a 45 min drive away. Id sacrifice making an extra 20k in another market for this weather.
USFbulls Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Most of the jobs in Tampa-St Pete are accounting > related. If you want a research job or something > like that you have to hit up Raymond James. I > pull in mid 40s out of undergrad and live very > comfortably. Weather is awesome and the beaches > are a 45 min drive away. Id sacrifice making an > extra 20k in another market for this weather. Weather is hot and humid. There is no culture. The population is transient. If you like to do something other than beach, theme parks, the choices are limited.
took the kiddies to disney for new year’s. place was packed, but i think there was a lot of discounting going on.
I spent a week and a half in Boca Raton last year. It was cool for maybe a day but then the snooty WASP and WASJ culture (of which I am neither) started wearing on me.
JohnThainsLimoDriver Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I spent a week and a half in Boca Raton last year. > It was cool for maybe a day but then the snooty > WASP and WASJ culture (of which I am neither) > started wearing on me. what do these mean? WASP WASJ?
WASJ = jewish version of WASP
what in f***'s name is WASP?
white anglo-saxon protestant
“Weather is hot and humid. There is no culture. The population is transient. If you like to do something other than beach, theme parks, the choices are limited.” New York is windy and cold. The people are snobs. The culture consists of high fashion and how much money you make. If you enjoy anything other than overpriced pubs/restaurants and art gallery’s your choices are limited. It’s pretty easy to pick apart any city/state with generalities. Everything has its good and bad.
USFbulls Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I live in Tampa. Since InBev took over Anheuser > Busch they shut down the free beer tent at Busch > Gardens. The most “bush” league move, EVER. I used to get a yearly pass. My friends and I would go once a month and drink a few free beers and hang out. Not anymore because instead of free beer…Beer costs $8. I wish I could meet the dick-head pencil pusher at InBev who made that call because I would spit square in his face. It was a brilliant marketing move too as traffic there is down more than at other area parks even though it is the best park overall.
RAwannabeCFA Wrote: > > The most “bush” league move, EVER. I used to get > a yearly pass. My friends and I would go once a > month and drink a few free beers and hang out. > Not anymore because instead of free beer…Beer > costs $8. I wish I could meet the dick-head > pencil pusher at InBev who made that call because > I would spit square in his face. It was a > brilliant marketing move too as traffic there is > down more than at other area parks even though it > is the best park overall. They also stopped giving employees a free case of beer each month.