Revenues

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

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, 2020 and 2019, $13.4 million and $10.0 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 Company expects to recognize this revenue over the term of the respective license agreement beginning when substantially all of the services have been performed, which is expected to be upon opening.  

The following table reflects the Company’s deferred revenue balance as of December 31, 2020 and 2019:   

	2020		2019
	(In thousands)
Deferred revenue, including long-term portion	$	144,187	$	114,416
Less: Deferred revenue, long-term portion, included in other liabilities		13,428		10,000
Deferred revenue, short-term portion	$	130,759	$	104,416

The majority of the deferred revenue, short term portion, balance outstanding as of January 1, 2020 was recognized as revenue during the year ended December 31, 2020, with approximately 5% remaining as deferred revenue as of December 31, 2020 due to product extensions. The increase in deferred revenue as of December 31, 2020 compared to December 31, 2019 primarily relates to extensions provided on some of the Company’s admission products due to the COVID-19 temporary park closures.

International Agreements

The Company has received $10.0 million in deferred revenue recorded in other liabilities related to a nonrefundable payment received from a partner in connection with a project in the Middle East (the “Middle East Project”) to provide certain services pertaining to the planning and design of the Middle East Project, with funding received expected to offset internal expenses. The Company expects to receive additional funds from its partner related to agreed upon services and reimbursements of costs incurred by the Company on behalf of the Middle East Project. Approximately $5.9 million and $5.0 million of costs incurred related to the Middle East Project are recorded in other assets in the accompanying consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.  The Company has recognized an asset for the costs incurred to fulfill the contract as the costs are specifically identifiable, enhance resources that will be used to satisfy performance obligations in the future and are expected to be recovered. The related deferred revenue and expense will begin to be recognized when substantially all of the services have been performed, which is expected to be upon opening of the park. The Company continually monitors performance on the contract and will make adjustments, if necessary.

Construction for the Middle East Project is on track and scheduled to be completed by the end of 2022. There is no assurance that the Middle East Project will be completed or open to the public.

In March 2017, the Company entered into a Park Exclusivity and Concept Design Agreement and a Center Concept and Preliminary Design Support Agreement (collectively, the “ZHG Agreements”) with an affiliate of Zhonghong Zhuoye Group Co., Ltd. (“ZHG Group”), to provide design, support and advisory services for various potential projects and grant exclusive rights in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. In April 2019, the Company terminated the ZHG Agreements for non-payment of undisputed amounts owed.  For the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, the Company recorded revenue related to the ZHG Agreements of approximately $1.7 million and $5.1 million, respectively, which is included in food, merchandise and other revenue in the accompanying consolidated statements of comprehensive (loss) income. There were no amounts recorded as revenue related to the ZHG Agreements in the year ended December 31, 2020 See Note 17–Related-Party Transactions for further details.