Revenues

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Revenue from Contract with Customer [Abstract]

Revenues

4. REVENUES

Deferred revenue primarily includes revenue associated with pass products, admission or in-park products or services with a future intended use date and contract liability balances related to licensing and international agreements collected in advance of the Company satisfying its performance obligations and is expected to be recognized in future periods. At December 31, 2023 and 2022, $14.4 million and $14.2 million, respectively, is included in other liabilities in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets related to the long-term portion of deferred revenue, which primarily relates to the Company’s international agreement, as discussed in the following section.

The following table reflects the Company’s deferred revenue balance as of December 31, 2023 and 2022:

	2023		2022
	(In thousands)
Deferred revenue, including long-term portion	$	169,967	$	183,772
Less: Deferred revenue, long-term portion, included in other liabilities		14,353		14,237
Deferred revenue, short-term portion	$	155,614	$	169,535

The Company estimates substantially all of the deferred revenue, short term portion, balance outstanding as of December 31, 2022 was recognized as revenue during the twelve months ended December 31, 2023. For certain admission products, the Company estimated timing of redemption using average historical redemption rates.

International Agreements

In May 2023, SeaWorld Abu Dhabi, the first SeaWorld branded park outside the United States, opened on Yas Island in the United Arab Emirates (the "Middle East Project"). The first-of-its-kind marine life themed park was built through a partnership with Miral Asset Management LLC. As part of this partnership, the Company receives sales based royalties, certain incentive fees and other service based payments. Additionally, the Company provided certain services pertaining to the planning and design of the Middle East Project, with funding received from our partner in the Middle East expected to offset our internal expenses. Revenue and expenses associated with the above items (collectively the “Middle East Agreements”) began to be recognized when substantially all the services had been performed which occurred when SeaWorld Abu Dhabi opened in May 2023.

The Company also received additional funds, some of which were advanced, from its partner related to agreed-upon services and reimbursements of costs incurred by the Company on behalf of the Middle East Project (the “Middle East Services Agreements”). Revenue and expenses associated with the Middle East Services Agreements were recognized upon completion of the respective performance obligations and have no further obligations as of December 31, 2023.