联合公园与度假村 (PRKS) 2026年第三季度业绩电话会：入园人次下滑，人均收入上升

联合公园度假村（United Parks and Resorts，NYSE: PRKS）公布2026年第三季度营收及调整后EBITDA下滑，主要系恶劣天气、日历效应以及国际游客减少导致入园人次下降。门票提价及园内消费增长部分抵消了上述下滑。

核心要点

• 第三季度营收同比下降1.1%至5.065亿美元，入园人次减少约32万人次，降幅达4.7%。
• 人均总消费同比增长3.8%，其中包括人均门票收入增长3.4%以及人均园内消费增长4.4%。
• 净利润从8930万美元降至8000万美元，调整后EBITDA减少1120万美元至2.051亿美元。
• 管理层将约32.5万人次的客流损失归因于天气、日历效应及国际客流逆风因素。此外，按计划减少促销类门票产品导致入园人次减少逾10万。
• 截至10月，付费年卡持有人基数增长0.3%；截至10月31日，2027年专用年卡产品的销量基数增长超过15%。
• 管理层预计2027年将恢复增长，主要得益于年卡销售、人均消费增长、团客预订、探索湾（Discovery Cove）需求、国际游客回流以及进一步的成本削减。

核心财务数据

2026年前九个月，营收同比下降1.6%至12.7亿美元。入园人次减少约67万（降幅4.1%）至1570万人次。净利润减少4410万美元至1.092亿美元，调整后EBITDA减少3140万美元至4.586亿美元。

截至9月30日，净总杠杆率为3.55倍。可用流动资金总计约6.75亿美元，其中包括约2600万美元现金。递延收入同比增长4.9%至1.525亿美元。

业务与运营表现

定价和产品组合拉动了人均门票收入，而更高的渗透率和定价举措推动了园内消费。管理层表示，若剔除异常天气、日历效应及国际因素造成的约32.5万人次损失，入园人次本应实现增长。

本季度年卡销售趋势有所改善。年卡总销量增长近8%，截至10月31日付费年卡基数转正。年卡产品约占公司全年入园人次的40%。管理层澄清称，2027年专用年卡产品逾15%的增长反映的是销量增长（主要为Fun Card等产品），而非价格上涨。

探索湾（Discovery Cove）2027年远期预订收入与团客业务预订量均保持两位数增长。近期国际销售收入实现了中等个位数百分比的增长，管理层预计国际游客回流将在2026年剩余时间及2027年成为顺风因素。

尽管如此，国际游客入园人次仍比2019年水平低50%以上。管理层估计，若恢复至2019年水平，可能带来约100万人次的增量机会，主要集中在佛罗里达州。

公司预计2026年赞助收入约为1200万至1500万美元，并致力于在未来几年达到每年至少3000万美元的目标。此外，公司已就中东地区潜在的新建园区签署了不具约束力的谅解备忘录，并继续与其他国际及知识产权（IP）合作伙伴展开洽谈。

管理层展望

管理层预计2026年资本支出将低于2.5亿美元。

公司仍有望实现5000万美元的总成本削减目标，其中大部分节约将在2026年兑现，其余预计在2027年实现。针对2027年，管理层已确定了初步的新增4000万至5000万美元总节约目标，涵盖人工智能（AI）、自动化、机器人、劳动力排班、保险、公用事业及税务等领域的机遇。

管理层力求使2027年营收与调整后EBITDA之间的成本保持持平，或至多以极低的个位数速度增长。公司预计技术投资和更具针对性的营销支出将有助于把总节约转化为净节约。

公司预计2027年的增长将受到以下因素的支撑：更大的年卡基数、门票及园内人均消费的持续提升、更强劲的探索湾（Discovery Cove）及团客预订、全新的游乐设施与活动、营销执行力的改善以及国际客流的恢复。这些预期在一定程度上仍取决于天气状况。

管理层还表示，在流动性、公司治理要求和董事会批准的前提下，预计在重建现金储备后将恢复股票回购。截至财报电话会议召开之日，公司在2026年已累计回购约2.18亿美元股票，约占总营运流通股的12%。

风险与关注事项

• 恶劣天气仍是短期内最大的运营压力。管理层提到了10月期间加利福尼亚州、弗吉尼亚州和佛罗里达州出现的暴雨、异常高温及风暴活动。
• 管理层表示，如果“超级厄尔尼诺”（Super El Niño）天气模式未能缓解，第四季度调整后EBITDA的增长将面临更大困难。
• 国际入园人次仍大幅低于2019年水平，且部分取决于公司无法控制的宏观经济状况。
• 营销执行力低于管理层的可接受水平，不过针对团队、合作伙伴、CRM能力以及宣传信息的调整正在推进之中。
• 从历史上看，总成本节约虽抵消了通胀压力，但并不总能转化为等额的净节约或实现利润率扩张。
• 利率波动拉长了房地产谈判的周期，管理层表示无法保证能达成可接受的交易条款。

分析师问答精选

管理层预计，尽管受到严重天气干扰及不利的万圣节日历效应影响，10月份营收仍将增长。在不受天气影响的日子里，单独售票的“尖叫之夜”（Howl-O-Scream）活动实现了显著的同比增长。

谈及2027年的增长，管理层重点强调了付费年卡基数转正、2027年专用年卡产品销量增长超过15%、探索湾（Discovery Cove）与团客业务远期预订实现两位数增长、国际销售改善以及人均消费的持续提升。

针对利润率，管理层表示，由于其商业模式具备经营杠杆，即便入园人次和营收仅实现适度增长，也应能带来强劲的利润转化。额外制定的4000万至5000万美元总节约目标旨在抵消通胀影响并支撑更大的净节约。

关于旗下园区组合的资本配置，管理层表示投资决策仍将因地制宜。管理层将坦帕湾布希花园（Busch Gardens Tampa Bay）视为尤为重要的机遇，理由是该园区的游乐设施组合优势，以及提升知名度与游客体验的需求。

财报电话会议完整实录

完整财报电话会议逐字稿

管理层陈述

Operator

Hello and welcome to United Parks and Resorts' third quarter earnings conference call.

[Operator Instructions]

I would now like to turn the conference over to Matthew Stroud, Head of Investor Relations. You may begin.

Matthew Stroud

Thank you, Sarah, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to United Parks and Resorts' third quarter earnings conference call. Today's call is being webcast and recorded. A press release was issued this morning and is available on our Investor Relations website at www.unitedparksinvestors.com. Replay information for this call can be found in the press release and will be available on our website following the call. Joining me this morning are Marc Swanson, Chief Executive Officer, and Jim Forrester, Interim Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. This morning we will review our third quarter financial results and then we will open the call to your questions. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that our comments today will contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal Securities Laws.

These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from those forward-looking statements, including those identified in the Risk Factors section of our annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports filed on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These factors may be updated from time to time and will be included in our filings with the SEC that are available on our website. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. In addition, on the call we may reference non-GAAP financial measures and other financial metrics, such as Adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow. More information regarding our forward-looking statements and reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measure is included in our earnings release available on our website and can also be found in our filings with the SEC. Now I would like to turn the call over to our Chief Executive Officer, Marc Swanson.

Marc Swanson

Thank you, Matthew. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. We are pleased with the underlying performance of our business, despite significantly unfavorable weather, calendar impacts, and international headwinds during the quarter. Excluding the impact of these unusual headwinds, which amounted to approximately 325,000 visits, our attendance would have been up. Our attendance during the quarter was also impacted by a planned reduction in promotional admissions products, which amounted to more than 100,000 visits. We delivered another quarter of growth in total revenue per capita driven by continued strong in-park execution and improved admissions product pricing and management. We are continuing to make progress across many of our key initiatives and continue to have significant opportunity to improve execution. Underscoring the progress we are making, our total pass sales during the third quarter were up almost 8% and our total paid pass base was positive as of October 31st. Even more encouraging, our 2027 specific pass products base is up over 15% as of October 31st.

Despite continued brutal weather in October, our projected total revenue was up for the month and our separately ticketed Howl-O-Scream events saw meaningful year-over-year growth on non-impacted weather days. Looking ahead to 2027 and beyond, we see a clear path to deliver significantly higher attendance, revenue, Adjusted EBITDA, and free cash flow. In addition to the encouraging trends in our admissions and in-park per caps, our pass sales and pass base, in 2027 forward bookings revenue for Discovery Cove and for our group business are each currently running up double-digit percentages versus prior year at the same time. I'm also pleased with the forward trends we are seeing in our international business, which is now and will be going forward, lapping a tough stretch. Our international sales revenue has been up mid-single digits recently, and we expect international visitation to be a tailwind for the rest of the year and into 2027.

As we enter this upcoming holiday season, we are about to launch another year of our popular holiday event lineup, which again will feature the popular rides, attractions, and immersive exhibits that guests have come to love, alongside new and improved elements across our parks. I want to thank our ambassadors for their dedication and hard work during our busy summer and Halloween seasons and their ongoing commitment to deliver another memorable holiday experience for our guests.

While this year's weather and international attendance-related headwinds have been challenging, we are encouraged by our recent results and trends and the significant opportunities we have ahead. We remain focused, well-positioned, and highly confident in our ability to significantly grow the business and deliver meaningful increases in value for shareholders.

Let me briefly comment on the most recent market price of our publicly traded stock. While I recognize we have recently delivered financial performance meaningfully below the potential of this business, the management and the board strongly believe the current value of our company is materially below the fair and reasonable value of the business. Our long-term track record, our irreplaceable assets, our globally recognized brands, our favorable market position, our owned underlying real estate, our proven and resilient business model, long-term cash flow generation potential, and the long-term growth prospects of the business warrant a significantly higher valuation. Management and the Board are committed to taking action and utilizing available options to close the sizable valuation gap. We expect to continue to buy back stock as long as a disconnect exists between our view of fair or reasonable value and the market price of our common equity, when we have sufficient available liquidity, when our governance documents allow, and when our board determines it's the best use of capital.

To date this year, we have purchased approximately $218 million of stock or approximately 12% of our total operating outstanding shares. While we didn't purchase any shares in Q3 due to the cash flow dynamics of the business this year, we expect to return to buying our shares when we rebuild our cash balances going forward, subject to the conditions previously outlined.

Now, let me give a brief update on some of our strategic initiatives. On real estate, as we previously reported, we've received interest from multiple highly credible parties that have assigned significant value to our real estate versus the implied value in the public equity market. Recent volatility in interest rates has extended the timeline of our discussions. As you well know, there can be no assurances we will ultimately achieve terms that meet our requirements. In any event, learning the value that these parties assign to our real estate has confirmed our belief that the value of our real estate is not reflected in our public market valuation. We will continue to work on these opportunities and will continue to report to you on our progress.

On sponsorships, we continue to be on track to have approximately $12 million to $15 million in sponsorship revenue in 2026. We expect this business to be at least a $30 million line of business in the coming years. We are really excited for this opportunity.

On international, we are happy to report that during Q3, we signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with a new partner for a potential new park in the Middle East, and we continue to advance discussions with several other partners around the world. We look forward to sharing more on this potential new project and on other discussions as they progress.

On IP partnerships, we continue to be in multiple active discussions to bring additional compelling and well-recognized IP into our parks in innovative and exciting ways. We're also in discussions with potential partners about adding complementary entertainment offerings on land we own adjacent to our parks. We expect to have more to share related to these opportunities in 2027 and beyond.

On marketing, as we've previously communicated, we have had less than stellar execution and it's been an area that has been quite frustrating. We are making slow progress. We are continuing to evolve our strategy, our partners, and our teams. We need to continue to make investments to reach new and incremental audiences and to provide more compelling visuals and messaging and generate more awareness. We also need to leverage our CRM much better and have made some progress to modernize our activities and increase effectiveness in this area. There's a lot more work to do, and we are confident the changes we are making will help strengthen how we communicate and position us to engage a broader audience more effectively.

On costs, we continue to be on pace to achieve our $50 million gross cost savings target, most of which will have been realized in 2026 and some of which will be realized in 2027. We are actively working on our 2027 objectives with an initial targeted savings of an additional $40 million to $50 million of gross cost savings. We have spent considerable time with an in-house team, along with third parties, on identifying and mapping plans for AI capabilities in the organization where relevant. We have also invested in and are excited about the results we have seen exploring the application of robotics and automation in certain parts of our operations.

Regarding capital allocation, as we've discussed in the past, our strong balance sheet provides us with the flexibility to allocate capital to maximize the long-term value of our enterprise. As you all know, our board is focused on maximizing long-term value for shareholders and will act dynamically with that objective as opportunities are presented.

We are encouraged by the clear strategic runway ahead, supported by substantial capital investments and a comprehensive suite of initiatives currently underway across our organization. These deliberate actions are designed to enhance the guest experience, accelerate revenue growth, and optimize our cost structure to drive long-term profitability. By building a more robust and resilient enterprise, we are confident in our ability to deliver higher attendance, revenue, Adjusted EBITDA, and free cash flow, and higher shareholder value. Jim will discuss our financial results in more detail.

James Forrester

Thank you, Marc. During the third quarter, we generated total revenue of $506.5 million, a decrease of $5.4 million or 1.1% when compared to the third quarter of 2025. The decrease in total revenue compared to the third quarter of 2025 was primarily a result of a decrease in attendance, partially offset by an increase in total revenue per capita. Attendance for the third quarter of 2026 decreased by approximately 320,000 guests or 4.7% when compared to the prior year quarter. The decrease in attendance was primarily attributable to unfavorable weather, a calendar impact, and a decline in international visitation compared to the same quarter in the prior year.

In the third quarter of 2026, total revenue per capita increased 3.8%, admission per capita increased 3.4%, and in-park per capita spending increased 4.4%. Admission per capita increased primarily due to increased realized pricing on certain admissions products and the net impact of the admissions product mix when compared to the same prior year quarter. In-park per capita spending increased primarily due to higher penetration and the impact of pricing initiatives compared to the same prior year quarter.

Operating expenses decreased $4.1 million or 1.9% when compared to the third quarter of 2025. Selling, general, and administrative expenses increased $7.9 million or 13.1% compared to the third quarter of 2025. We reported net income of $80 million for the third quarter compared to net income of $89.3 million in the third quarter of 2025. We generated Adjusted EBITDA of $205.1 million, a decrease of $11.2 million when compared to the third quarter of 2025.

Looking at our results for the first 9 months of 2026 compared to 2025, total revenue was $1.27 billion, a decrease of $20.9 million or 1.6%. Total attendance was 15.7 million guests, a decrease of approximately 670,000 guests or 4.1%. Net income for the period was $109.2 million, a decrease of $44.1 million, and Adjusted EBITDA was $458.6 million, a decrease of $31.4 million.

Now turning to our balance sheet, our September 30th, 2026 net total leverage ratio is 3.55x and we had approximately $675 million of total available liquidity, including approximately $26 million of cash on the balance sheet. The strong balance sheet gives us flexibility to continue to invest in and grow our business and to opportunistically allocate capital with a goal to maximize long-term value for shareholders.

Our deferred revenue balance as of the end of September was $152.5 million. Deferred revenue increased approximately 4.9% when compared to September of 2025. As a reminder, our deferred revenue balance contains a number of products that include ticketing, vacation packages, annual and seasonal passes, and ancillary products. We also continue to see many pass holders who have been with us for at least a year who transition to month-to-month payments at the completion of their initial pass commitments. This month-to-month revenue does not show up as deferred revenue. Through October 2026, our paid pass base increased 0.3% compared to October 2025.

During the quarter, we launched our new pass products for 2027, which include our best benefits ever. We have a new dedicated team, a new strategy, and approach to pass that we continue to expect will lead to meaningful increases in pass base for 2027 and beyond.

We spent $69.7 million on CAPEX in the third quarter of 2026, of which approximately $47.4 million was on core CAPEX, and approximately $22.4 million was on expansion, NRR, and/or ROI projects. For 2026, we currently expect to spend less than $250 million of CAPEX. Now let me turn the call back over to Marc who will share some final thoughts. Marc.

Marc Swanson

Thank you, Jim. Before we open the call to your questions, I have some closing comments. In the third quarter of 2026, we came to the aid of 237 animals in need. Over our history, we have helped over 43,000 animals, including bottlenose dolphins, manatees, sea lions, seals, sea turtles, sharks, birds, and more. I'm really proud of the team's hard work and their continued dedication to these important rescue efforts.

Looking ahead, our strategic priorities center on growing revenue, Adjusted EBITDA, and free cash flow, and significantly growing shareholder value. Our roadmap is driven by several high impact initiatives. We have an exciting pipeline of new rides, attractions, new or refreshed seasonal events. We are executing in-park upgrades to improve guest experience and optimize in-park per capita spending.

We are deploying an updated and modernized marketing framework to accelerate brand awareness and drive visitation. We are investing in resources and technology to help us manage and grow in-park and admissions per capita spending. We are rededicating resources to better manage and capture domestic, international, and group sales. We are investing in capabilities and dedicating teams to capture sponsorship opportunities and international licensing opportunities.

We are highly focused on identifying efficiencies and reducing waste and unnecessary costs through technology, capital investment, and process improvements. We are dedicated to allocating our excess capital with care and in a way that maximizes value for shareholders.

We operate in a growing industry characterized by favorable competitive dynamics supported by our irreplaceable brand portfolio, a highly cash generative business model, and well-capitalized assets. And we have high conviction in our long-term trajectory and our ability to increase shareholder value. Now we can take your questions. Thank you.

Operator

[Operator Instructions]

Your first question comes from Steven Wieczynski with Stifel.

分析师问答

Steven Wieczynski

So, Marc, I want to understand the October trends a little bit more. I guess you called out a significant weather headwind in October, but the month, it sounds like it's still going to be positive from a revenue perspective. So maybe can you help us think about what that revenue trend would have looked like if weather was normal, or maybe a better way to ask that is, on the days where weather was normal, what did revenue trends look like on those days? And I guess, given how October trended, do you think it's possible at this point to still kind of grow EBITDA in the fourth quarter, over the fourth quarter of '25?

Marc Swanson

Yes, hey, Steve, I can take that question. So, yes, October was really impacted by a lot of weather, as I mentioned in my prepared remarks. We're dealing with this Super El Niño that has been talked about quite a bit. So we saw a very meaningful impact, especially in our California park and then really across a number of markets, including Virginia, as well as here in Florida where we've had rain. So we just had a lot of rain on a number of weekends. And, when you have a rainout on a weekend in a park like Williamsburg, Virginia, where they're really not open as much during the week, the weekend is where they make most of their attendance. So when we have a rainout on a big weekend day, that significantly impacts it.

And we had poor weather over Columbus Day as well. And then again, these dynamics that we're seeing in California where, at one point it was 100 degrees in San Diego, which is very unusual, to where they had this tropical storm / Hurricane Rachel over Columbus Day weekend. And then they even had some rain on Halloween Day itself in San Diego, which is very, very unusual. So there's a lot of weather noise in the business in October.

Despite that, we did grow revenue or we're projected to grow revenue during the month. We did pick up an extra Saturday in the month, obviously, but it was Halloween day. And typically Halloween on a Saturday is not something we would prefer. A lot of people spend Halloween closer to their neighborhood or with friends or something and not necessarily at a theme park. But nonetheless, we expect to grow revenue in the month of October as far as the outlook for the rest of the year.

I like the setup for some of the things we talked about for the rest of this year and into 2027 with a positive pass base now, trends on our per caps as we discussed, and some of the other forward indicators that really go more into 2027, obviously. But we'll have to see. I mean, if the Super El Niño hangs around, it's going to be tougher, obviously, to grow EBITDA in the back half or in the next 2 or 3 months. We don't have an October number yet. So to grow, we'll have to get some break from this Super El Niño, I think. Otherwise, outside of that, when weather is normal, I think we feel pretty good about the business. We like the opportunities we're seeing when weather is good. We saw that a little bit in October, I mentioned with our Howl-O-Scream event, which is a separately ticketed event at night in a few of our parks. And when weather was good, we saw nice results with that. So hopefully that's helpful.

Steven Wieczynski

Yes, that's great. Thanks, Marc. And then, I know it's early and you guys don't give guidance anyway, but as we start to think about next year, I would assume based on some pretty easy comparisons, coupled with stabilization, it sounds like on the international side of things, it should be a year finally of getting back to the growth side of things from an EBITDA perspective, even if weather doesn't cooperate given the somewhat easy comparison. So I want to make sure I'm thinking about that the right way. And then, Marc, if you want to provide any kind of high-level thoughts around how you guys are thinking about 2027, I think that would be super helpful. Thank you.

Marc Swanson

Sure, I absolutely agree with you that next year is the year to get back to growth, obviously. So I would agree with what you said there. And there's a few things that give me confidence in that, obviously. The pass base turned positive, as you heard Jim and I talk about. And we know that's a pretty critical piece of our business. Roughly 40% of our attendance comes on some sort of pass product. So to have that come over and into the positive territory now, and then those products that are specific to 2027, like our Fun Card, to see the growth that we've seen here early on in that sales process is encouraging. So I like the pass base setup going into next year.

Like you mentioned, the recent trends in per caps, getting admissions per cap into positive territory was good. And so if we can continue to grow both admissions and in-park per cap, we like that setup. The bookings revenue for Discovery Cove and our group business is up as well and looks encouraging. And this will all be supported by a lineup of new rides, attractions, events. Our goal obviously is to have new things in our parks every year. I think, again, we will have a good lineup going forward of some mix of all those things that I just mentioned.

We're also making, I mentioned slow progress, but progress in marketing. I certainly think we can do a better job of that next year. And I mentioned in my prepared remarks, the real recent trends here in international are showing growth as well. So I think we've hopefully hit the bottom there. And now going forward, we will see growth, and that will be a tailwind for us as well. So we like that setup with all those things. And then if we get any sort of break with the weather, which I'm optimistic we will, I think that can drive the growth that we've been talking about.

Operator

Your next question comes from James Hardiman with Citi.

James Hardiman

So I wanted to stay on topic here based on your previous answer and really focus on the international piece. Obviously, we really haven't recovered to where we were in 2019. It sounds like maybe though, at some point, maybe starting in 2025, things take an even incremental leg down. Maybe give us some of the whys surrounding why you think international has been so difficult for you in the last couple of years, and then what's changed to allow you to see better numbers more recently, but more importantly, gives you the confidence that we are at an inflection point and that ultimately that's going to be a tailwind in 2027. Thanks.

Marc Swanson

Yes, James, I can take that question. And yes, just as a reminder, because you kind of alluded to this, I mean, we are still down more than 50% versus 2019. So while that's a lot, normally it's about 10% of our attendance internationally in 2019. That's what it was. We're getting obviously much less than that. But it's in the range of 1 million person opportunity if we can get back to 2019 levels with international. So it's a big opportunity and we're aware of that. It's obviously more confined to the Florida market for the most part.

I think some of the macro headwinds related to international visitation have been discussed by us and others. So I don't know that I have a whole lot of control over that. I think one of the things we have tried to do more recently here is we have a better team managing this business. We're seeing some encouraging things with some of the international resellers. We have people that go over and visit some of these markets and try to encourage people to come to our park. So we're managing that, I think, better than we have in the past. So I think we're going to do our part. We can always do better. But certainly, some function of this will be dependent on just the macro conditions improving, primarily in Florida, which hopefully they will. Like I said, I think we've come close or have hit the bottom just based on what we're seeing and we have a fairly easy comp going forward, so we should see this as a tailwind, obviously.

James Hardiman

Got it. And then on the cost margin side, you've outlined $40 million to $50 million of gross cost savings for 2027. Pretty much every year you've successfully identified and I think executed on an impressive cost savings program, at least on the gross front. The challenge is, sometimes or most times it seems like that hasn't necessarily translated into net savings or I guess more specifically margin expansion. Maybe walk us through sort of how we should be thinking about gross to net in 2027, puts and takes, and obviously labor is a big one, but it seems like you're pretty optimistic that we are going to buck the last, I don't know, 3 or 4-year trend of margin compression. What gives you that confidence?

Marc Swanson

Yes, I can take that question, James. So first, I think one of the biggest impacts on margin has just been our revenue decline, right? So the beauty of this business is any sort of attendance or per cap growth generally has a very high flow-through. So if we can get just some nominal growth even, and hopefully we're going to do better in that, in revenue and attendance and stuff like that, it should largely flow through and help that margin. But on the cost side specifically, I think there's a couple of things. One, as we've talked about kind of managing that Adjusted EBITDA cost growth. And by that, I mean the costs that sit between revenue and Adjusted EBITDA. We've managed that to like a low single-digit growth level. And we did that again here in Q3. So we are finding the savings like you mentioned, and they're offsetting other pressures. And I think lots of companies talk about pressures and all sorts of things, whether it's utilities or insurance, whatever it may be. And we've done a reasonably decent job of offsetting a fair amount of that.

Perhaps what's changing a little bit going forward is I think there's some new tools I mentioned around AI and automation and things like that that are promising. Still, obviously, mapping those out and seeing how we will deploy those, but those I think have the opportunity to be a little more transformative than maybe some of the things we've done in the past in those areas. We have work that is a little bit longer lead time, but we've been working on now for a good part of 2026 around insurance and claims and utilities and taxes, some of those things just have a longer lead time. So hopefully we'll start to see some of the benefit of those in 2027. So we like the setup to find the gross cost savings. We have to do a better job, as you said, of kind of delivering that to the bottom line.

Operator

Your next question comes from Patrick Scholes of Truist Securities.

Charles Scholes

Question regarding where you wrote in the presentation release about 2027 specific pass product pace is up 15% as of October 31st. If you can be a little bit more clear or provide specifics on what specific pass product base is and what it isn't. Thank you.

Marc Swanson

Sure, Patrick, I can help you with that. So we have certain products, especially in some of our more seasonal parks, but really across all our parks that are just good for the season. If you buy them now, one of the incentives is you kind of get the rest of this year and 2027 included. And so like the most popular one would be our Fun Card. So whenever you buy the Fun Card, it's just good for that year, unless you buy it now, you get the rest of this year and 2027. But if you were to buy that in March of next year, it's only good for 2027. Whereas like our more annual passes are good generally 12 months from when you buy them or you can go into like a month-to-month program and they just continue on. So we have two sets of products: the kind of annual pass that you can eventually convert to month-to-month, and then the products that are just tied to one specific year, which would primarily be our Fun Card.

Traditionally, we have sold those here in the third to fourth quarter for next year as an incentive, and you'll get the rest of this year and next year included. I think we've done a good job of supporting that better than ever with not only a good team of people executing that sale and that sales process, but more dedicated messaging and media around that. It's encouraging, it's obviously early in the process, and really the next big period here is coming up pretty soon with our Black Friday sale. We typically do sell a good amount of passes or Fun Cards during that time frame, so I'll be able to report to you on that when we talk next. But obviously it's a good sign and encouraging sign.

Charles Scholes

Okay, and just quick follow-up, how much as a percentage of total annual attendance do those specific types of products typically account for? Thank you.

Marc Swanson

Well, we don't break it out. I mean, what I can tell you is we consider all those things generically as a pass. And so when I say our pass base is up, that includes our annual passes, our seasonal passes, our preschool passes, our teacher passes, all that we kind of consider pass. And that pass base is up, as Jim said, as of the end of October. And that usually accounts for about 40% of our attendance over the course of the year. It can vary by park, but 40% in total for the company usually.

Operator

Your next question comes from Lizzy Dove with Goldman Sachs.

Unknown Speaker

Hi, this is Nina on for Lizzy. Given some of the recent pressure at the non-Orlando parks, has your view changed at all around the appropriate level of investment across the portfolio? And how do you determine which parks warrant incremental capital?

Marc Swanson

Yes, thanks for the question. I can help you there. I mean, look, I mentioned earlier, we're going to make investments in our parks to make sure we have new things to talk about. And that could be either rides, attractions, events, venues, whatever it may be. So we'll continue to do that. It's really a market-by-market opportunity there, and we do try to study what we believe will drive more visitation to those parks. So we'll continue to support the non-Orlando parks like we have in the past. I think we probably have the biggest opportunity in Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.

I think not only is it a great park, it has a good breadth of rides, attractions, a wonderful animal collection. But at the same time, I don't know that people really have a total awareness of everything it has and everything we can do. We also need to do a better job of managing the experience in that park. And we recently brought back one of our former leaders who is back running that park, and I think he's going to do a better job of getting that experience where we'd like to going forward. But we'll continue to invest in Tampa, and we have continued to invest in all of our parks going forward. Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from Ben Chaykin with Mizuho.

Unknown Speaker

Hi, this is Rita Chan on for Ben Chaykin. Would you mind talking a little bit more about your deferred revenue? It's up year-over-year in the quarter, and that includes a number of products. So we just kind of want to understand what's driving the acceleration.

Marc Swanson

Yes, let me start and then Jim wants to add anything. But yes, I'm glad you mentioned that. Our deferred revenue or the current portion is up almost 5%, as Jim said in his prepared remarks. And there's a lot of things that make up that balance, obviously, but clearly it's advanced purchases, right? So it's advanced purchases of our tickets, our in-park experiences, group business, all that. So there's a myriad of things that go in there and that drive that. I think the key takeaway is that it is positive and to be up almost 5% I think is another good indicator for where the business is headed for the foreseeable future here.

James Forrester

Marc, the only thing I would like to add to that is you mentioned the group business as part of that. We have some forward-looking indicators that our group business is going to be substantially up next year, which gives us a lot of confidence, again, in some of the indicators of how 2027 might fare for us. And so that is a major part of this that we're pleased to see that growth year-over-year.

Unknown Speaker

Great. Thank you for the—

Operator

Your next question comes from Arpine Kocharian with UBS.

Arpine Kocharyan

I was hoping you could clarify the pass product growth for 2027. What portion of that is actually pricing versus unit increase? And there's a small clarification question I have on per cap increases for the quarter. It seems like you were saying the sponsorship revenue will kick up in the back half of the year. Year-over-year, how that's adding to per cap growth if you could clarify that, and then I have a quick follow-up.

Marc Swanson

Yes, so on the 2027 comment, I was quoting the base, so the base would be number of units, so people who have a product, right? So the total pass base, as Jim mentioned, is positive as of October 31st and those 2027 specific products are more positive, but that would be the number of units, which I think is a good thing, right? The more people that have a unit or a pass, hopefully that translates into a visit. And then on your question on sponsorship revenue, I mean, certainly we've seen that as an opportunity. We've talked about that for a while now and we continue to execute on some of those things. We think over the coming years, that'll continue to be an area that we can grow. And that'll contribute to some of the growth here, I think, even in the back half of this year, right?

James Forrester

Yes. There's still some additional opportunity at the back half of the year, and then we continue to find new opportunities that will materialize in 2027.

Arpine Kocharyan

Okay, that's great. Thank you. That's helpful. And then my first question was actually related to how much pricing you've taken in the pass product if you're able to shed any light on that. But it's combined with my follow-up question, which is really on 2027. I guess I'm trying to better understand what gives you the confidence in projecting EBITDA growth for 2027. Is that just a function of this strong pass base that you're looking at, better group business, it seems like? But then I was hoping you could talk a little bit more on the OPEX side of things. What gives you confidence there as it relates to stuff that you can actually control? Like what underlying inflation are you factoring in today when you talk about growth in EBITDA for 2027?

Marc Swanson

Okay, yes, there's a couple of things there, so let me start and then Jim can connect maybe some stuff on the cost. But look, I think part of your question was about what gives me confidence for next year and one of them, one of the things you've already alluded to, is just the pass base and the fact that it's up and positive, and that's a good thing. I mean, we haven't been able to talk about a positive pass base in a little while, so to have that positive should obviously support more visitation from that group on a go-forward basis. And we'll continue to, I don't want to get into it too much for competitive reasons, but we'll continue to kind of optimize how we sell our product and we can test and learn and optimize from there. So our goal is obviously to drive total revenue. And there's times we're going to do things that we want to test and learn from. So we'll continue to look to sell more passes, more Fun Cards, those type of things on a go-forward basis that'll help support the 2027 growth potential along with some of the other things I talked about with the lineup of new things we've got coming to our parks next year.

And whether it's new rides or events or enhanced venues, we'll have, I think, a better marketing strategy and execution around that. We should have international growth going forward, as I already alluded to. The Discovery Cove and group business looks very encouraging for next year. And then more recently here, the per cap trends on admissions per cap. We continue obviously to deliver on in-park which we have for some time now. I guess the obvious other thing is if we would expect to get some better weather, we got to get through this Super El Niño thing. But I'm optimistic that weather like the majority of next year should hopefully be improved from this year, which was really, unfortunately, bad. So that's kind of how we think about next year. On the cost, I think you had a question around kind of inflation and our assumptions. So I'll let you—

James Forrester

Generally, we would assume that we're going to do everything we can to flatten the curve continued in 2027 for cost, at maximum extremely low single-digit, but again aiming for flat to seeing those net savings materialize to go under. We've got confidence there because of our current investments in technology, whether that is directly replacing things that lease costs, for example, or to implement some ideas in the labor scheduling area that will allow us to better schedule and reduce labor costs there. And then we also are being much more judicious in our use of marketing funds to be very much more targeted and to allow us to see the benefits there as well.

Operator

This concludes the question and answer session. I'll turn the call to Marc Swanson for closing remarks.

Marc Swanson

Yes, thank you, Sarah. On behalf of Jim and the rest of the management team at United Parks and Resorts, I want to thank you for joining us this morning. As you heard us today, we are confident in our long-term strategy, which we believe will drive improved operating and financial results and long-term value for stakeholders. We invite everyone to join us at our parks to experience the energy and excitement we are offering. Thank you, and we look forward to speaking with you next quarter.

This live transcript is auto-generated without human intervention or review.