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United Parks & Resorts Inc. (PRKS)

Q2 2015 Earnings Call· Thu, Aug 6, 2015

$34.54

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the SeaWorld Entertainment's Second Quarter 2015 Financial Results Conference Call. My name is Susan, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After conducting the prepared remarks, the management team from SeaWorld will conduct a question-and-answer session and the conference participants will be given instructions at that time. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference call over to Gene Ballesteros, Senior Director of Investor Relations and Corporate Treasurer. Please go ahead, sir. Gene Ballesteros - Senior Director of Investor Relations & Treasurer: Thank you. Good morning and welcome to our second quarter 2015 earnings conference call. Today's call is being recorded and webcast live. Our earnings release was issued this morning and is available on the Investor Relations portion of our website at seaworldentertainment.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 is Joel Manby, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Marc Swanson, our Chief Accounting Office and Interim Chief Financial Officer. We will begin today's call by discussing important factors impacting the business and reviewing our second quarter 2015 financial results before opening the call to questions. Before we begin, I'd 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 the actual results to be materially different from those indicated, including those identified in the Risk Factors section of our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on…

Marc G. Swanson - Chief Accounting Officer and Interim Chief Financial Officer

Management

Thanks, Joel. Good morning, everyone. Thanks again for joining us. I want to begin by reiterating Joel's sentiment that we remain focused on and committed to the work ahead of us as we continue recovering and rebuilding our base. For the second quarter of 2015 the company generated revenue of $391.6 million, which is a decrease of 3% from $405.2 million in 2014. The decrease in revenue was driven by a 1.8% decline in total revenue per capita along with a 1.6% decrease in attendance. The decline in total revenue per capita from $61.54 in the second quarter of 2014 to $60.45 in 2015 was a result of an increase in promotional offerings in passholder visitation along with an unfavorable change in park attendance mix during the quarter. Attendance for the second quarter of 2015 declined due to the timing of Easter, which shifted to the spring break holiday period for some schools in our key source markets. Also contributing to the decline was reduced attendance in Texas, primarily related to record levels of rainfall during the quarter and reduced attendance in California primarily related to brand challenges. The unfavorable impact of these factors was partially offset by an improvement in demand at our other park locations, including Florida, which we attribute to increased promotional offerings, strong passholder visitation and our consumer event programs. The cost of food, merchandise and other revenues decreased 8% from $33.7 million in the second quarter of 2014 to $31.1 million in 2015. These costs represent 20.3% of related revenue in 2015 compared to 21.6% of related revenue in the prior year quarter. This improvement is a result of our cost savings initiatives, including our leveraged buying efforts. Operating expenses increased 1% from $189.2 million in the second quarter of 2014 to $191.2 million in…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instruction] Your first question comes from the line of Tim Conder of Wells Fargo. Your line is open.

Karen Y. Wang - Wells Fargo Securities LLC

Analyst

Hey. Good morning. This is Karen calling in for Tim. Just a couple of questions from us. First you had called out Florida being particularly strong. I was wondering if you can maybe share between the Busch Garden Park and SeaWorld Park, if you could provide any color between those two parks and their performance please. Joel K. Manby - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Sure. This is Joel, Karen. How are you today?

Karen Y. Wang - Wells Fargo Securities LLC

Analyst

Good. Joel K. Manby - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Well, as we said in our comments, the main factor that drove us down versus last quarter was the weather in Texas and California. Other than that, all of our other parks in general were doing well. We don't want to split out specifically Tampa or Orlando, but overall we were pleased with the performance there.

Karen Y. Wang - Wells Fargo Securities LLC

Analyst

Okay. Great. And then as for promotions, I know there was a little bit of promotion in the first half of the year. I was wondering if you could share what your promotional plans for the second half as you plan to maybe step back some of the promotions from the first half given what you are seeing in trends or whether it's going to be consistent with the first half?

Marc G. Swanson - Chief Accounting Officer and Interim Chief Financial Officer

Management

Hey Karen. This is Marc. Yeah. So on the promotions a couple of things drove our per cap decline in the first half of the year and especially in the quarter. And you're right, we did some more promotions this first half of the year that we didn't have last year. If you recall last year, we didn't really start discounting until post Memorial Day when we saw some challenges in our business and even those discounts took a while to implement. So for most of Q2 this year, our discounts were going up against kind of non-discounted numbers last year. Going forward, we expect that dynamic to improve a little bit. We'll be doing a similar level of discounts in the second half of this year as we did last year in the second half, but we're doing it off of a higher gate price because we took price increases in most of our parks, so even if we do the same level of discounting, we're discounting often times off of a gate price that is a couple to a few dollars higher. So that should drive improved per caps going forward.

Karen Y. Wang - Wells Fargo Securities LLC

Analyst

Okay. Great. And last question from us, we saw the weather news, there was a little higher precipitation or flooding that occurred around the Tampa market more recently, I know it's happening in the third quarter. But to the extent that you can maybe comment as to whether or not there were any operating days that has been affected in this current quarter from what's going on in Tampa, that would be very helpful.

Marc G. Swanson - Chief Accounting Officer and Interim Chief Financial Officer

Management

Sure, Karen. This is Marc again. Yeah, we did have some impacts from the Tampa weather, they had some flooding in that area which impacted our attendance, but I can tell you that that was already contemplated in the guidance that we gave, so that's all been factored in to the guidance that we reaffirmed.

Karen Y. Wang - Wells Fargo Securities LLC

Analyst

Okay. Great. Thanks so much for taking the questions.

Marc G. Swanson - Chief Accounting Officer and Interim Chief Financial Officer

Management

Sure. Joel K. Manby - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Sure. Thanks, Karen.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Scott Hamann of KeyBanc Capital. Your line is open.

Scott W. Hamann - KeyBanc Capital Markets, Inc.

Analyst

Thank you. Good morning. Couple of questions here on Texas, first of all, can you quantify the impact during the quarter in attendance or revenue from the Texas flooding? Joel K. Manby - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Hey, it's good to talk to you again. How are you?

Scott W. Hamann - KeyBanc Capital Markets, Inc.

Analyst

I'm great Joel. Joel K. Manby - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Good, good to hear your voice. Big picture, we don't give the specifics on that, but it was significant enough for us to mention it. But as Marc already alluded, it's been factored into the guidance going forward, but it was significant enough for us to put it in our comments.

Scott W. Hamann - KeyBanc Capital Markets, Inc.

Analyst

Okay.

Marc G. Swanson - Chief Accounting Officer and Interim Chief Financial Officer

Management

Yeah. Hey, Scott, it's Marc. Just to follow-up on that. Really there was three things in the quarter that impacted attendance, one being the Easter shift which we talked about on our Q1 call. And what happened there is you had Easter last year on April 20 and this year it shifted to April 5, so effectively that peak week of Easter which is a peak spring break week started on Saturday March 28, we ended up kind of pulling four days out of Q2 into Q1 and those are peak spring break days. If you remember on our Q1 call, our attendance was up 169,000 for the quarter. And we said hey, it would have been up even without the Easter shift. So, you can kind of differ from that – the Easter shift is significant but no more than 169,000 obviously. The weather in Texas, as Joel said, every park is going to have weather throughout the year, but when it gets to a point of aggregation where it's significant, we're going to call it out, and Texas got to that point and that's why we wanted to call it out. Their rainfall and the weather they had there was really unprecedented and record breaking. One other thing that kind of can hurt you and Joel said this is in the prepared remarks is when you have that weather early in the season, you lose kind of that key pass acquisition period. So, even as the weather gets better in July and August, somebody who may come to the park in July or August who would have come back in April, they probably now are going to buy a single day admission as opposed to a pass. Schools getting close to starting again, if they're coming late July, early August, they're probably only going to visit one time. So, when you have a lot of rain early in the year, you lose that pass acquisition, you lose those multiple visits in May and June and July and you end up with maybe just a single visit later in the summer. But again, that's all factored into our guidance going forward.

Scott W. Hamann - KeyBanc Capital Markets, Inc.

Analyst

Okay. That's helpful. And then in terms of the trends that you're seeing in July and early August, can you kind of give us a flavor for what's going on there lately? Joel K. Manby - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Well, Scott, it's Joel. One last comment on Texas. We are, as we are heading into 2016, looking for different ways to market our season pass sales and try to pull more forward, so we're not quite as dependent on the weather impact early in the season. So, partly it was the way it's marketed that causes more of an impact on season pass from rain. But we are working to correct that. As far as July, we don't comment on that, as you know, but it has been baked in how we're trending in July from a per cap and attendance basis has been baked into our guidance for the rest of the year.

Scott W. Hamann - KeyBanc Capital Markets, Inc.

Analyst

Okay. And then just finally on the incremental cost program you talked about. Can you kind of give us a sense of what types of initiatives are there, and then maybe try to size it up as you think about the impact on the balance of the year, and I guess, into 2016? Thanks. Joel K. Manby - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Well, let me just comment big picture on the expenses for the reputation campaign. And I know that's kind of the question behind the question. We had some heavy upfront costs. We had a lot of production for the campaign. We had more spending there than the rest of the year. However, we are continuing it into the rest of the year. It's very important for us. It's been – it's had a huge and positive impact for us from a just changing people's opinion. So we will be continuing with it. But we've made other cost adjustments in the company in addition to what we've already announced from the 2014 restructuring. We've done some other cost reductions here in the second quarter. So that we can pay for that going forward and again that's all baked into our guidance for the rest of 2015, but Mark, do you have any another comments with that?

Marc G. Swanson - Chief Accounting Officer and Interim Chief Financial Officer

Management

Yeah. So, Scott, I mean, we've talked a lot about in the past the $50 million cost initiative that we had, the additional cost initiatives that we've recently implemented, I mean, they're obviously not in that range, but they're significant enough to help us with covering some additional costs, and then you know to help us offset some of the weather headwind and other headwinds, that we had the quarter.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Joel Simkins of Credit Suisse. Your line is open. Joel H. Simkins - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (Broker): Hey. Good morning, guys. Couple quick questions here for you, first of, Joel, one of your major competitors in Orlando just announced a pretty significant waterpark investment, how do you think about continuing to protect your flanks down there particularly with your two big waterpark assets in that market? Joel K. Manby - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Hey, Joel. How are you today? Joel H. Simkins - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (Broker): Hi. Good. Joel K. Manby - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: First of all, it's a very competitive market, as we said, big picture, it's the most popular tourist attraction in the world. We've admitted that there is headwinds here, and we've also admitted that we've lost some share to our competitors, and that's easy to surmise from looking at their numbers. However, we do see it strengthening again for us and that's positive. And big picture for me, it's all about stabilizing the business and moving forward. Specifically on being competitive, our first initiative is 2016 and just getting Mako in place, which we're very excited about. As you know, it's the biggest, tallest, longest, fastest coaster in the market, which we have a very good marketing plan for and then also Cobra's Curse, as I mentioned, in Busch Gardens Tampa. We are looking in 2017 and beyond of what to do with the water parks to make sure they're competitive. We have a very good packaging plan with the SeaWorld Park to make sure that pricing-wise it's competitive. And so we can't announce anything right now, but we're certainly looking at what we need to…

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line Amanda Bryant of Barclays. Your line is open.

Amanda K. Bryant - Barclays Capital, Inc.

Analyst

Great. Thank you. What gives you confidence in your expectations for improvement in revenue per capita in the back half of this year? And can you talk about how much of those expectations are driven by the calendar shifts versus your fall event line-up and your marketing campaign? Thank you.

Marc G. Swanson - Chief Accounting Officer and Interim Chief Financial Officer

Management

Hey, Amanda. This is Marc. Yeah, there's really three things that give us a lot of confidence in the back half of the year and which allowed us to reaffirm our guidance. And the first on is the calendar benefit, the second is the per capita improvement and the third is the cost saving initiatives. So on the calendar benefit, as Joel mentioned, we pick up the extra week of summer with the later Labor Day and that will benefit our seasonal parks. And then with Halloween falling on a Saturday, that is one of our most popular events so that should be a strong additional weekend day that we get out of that. And then on the per capita, as I was alluding to earlier, we'll be doing some discounting in the second half, but we'll be comping against similar levels of discounting in the prior year. The difference, though, is that we've taken price increases at most of our parks over the last 12 months. So even if do the same level of discounting, we're discounting off of a higher gate price, often times a gate price that's a couple dollars to a few dollars higher. So we should get that per cap benefit going forward. I would also point you to our increase in deferred revenue. It's up 8.2% or just over $11 million. So, that is all revenue that will be recognized over time with those products. It won't all be recognized this year, but a significant portion will and then the rest into the future. So we feel real confident with that strength there. And lapping the discounts with the higher gate prices, we should pick up some per cap improvement. And then on the cost saving initiatives, we have the higher expenses in Q2 as we ramped up our reputational spend and some additional third-party cost. Those will moderate over the rest of the year. And then with some additional cost savings initiatives we've put into place that will help us get to the guidance as well. So when you take all three of those things together, we feel confident reaffirming our guidance.

Amanda K. Bryant - Barclays Capital, Inc.

Analyst

Thank you.

Marc G. Swanson - Chief Accounting Officer and Interim Chief Financial Officer

Management

Sure.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Afua Ahwoi, Goldman Sachs. Your line is open. Afua A. Ahwoi - Goldman Sachs & Co.: Hi. Good morning. A couple of questions from me. First of all, on the marketing expense. Could you quantify how much more you spent? I don't think you've mentioned it. Because we definitely had built some of it in, but it seems like we didn't build as much as you ended up spending. And are you pretty much saying that's done in the second quarter or should we trickle some of it through the rest? And then on the per caps for this quarter, I noticed in the press release you mentioned the promotional offerings, the season pass, visitation and some mix change in the parks that affected it. But then I was actually surprised. I think, Marc, you were just talking about how the season pass visitors didn't show up as much. So I was wondering if you can reconcile those two comments. Because my question on that was, how much of the season pass visitation maybe hurt the per caps? And if we were to strip that out, would organic have been positive? And then just a final one on the October benefit from Halloween. Given it was on Friday last year, is there that much of a difference between a Friday and Saturday. I know, they're both good, but I guess I didn't realize Saturday was just that much better than a Friday? Thank you.

Marc G. Swanson - Chief Accounting Officer and Interim Chief Financial Officer

Management

Yeah, you bet. Hey, I'll start with the – this is Marc, I'll start with the per cap question. So, my comments on the pass visitation were specific to Texas, outside of that park we have seen strong pass visitation and that was purposeful, you know, we set out for the year to grow our pass base and we've been successful with that through not only our promotional offerings, but some strong consumer events. So, outside of Texas we've been successful with that, and again you see that in the deferred revenue increase of roughly $11 million year-over-year. On the marketing spend, I think, you're kind questioning, how much to bake in, et cetera. We alluded to if you remember in Q1 we said roughly $15 million would be deployed this year to the reputation and marketing spend, an incremental $15 million. A large part of that – I don't want to give a specific number, but a large part of that hit in Q2 especially as you ramp up that spending. But going forward that level would moderate, but as Joel mentioned, I mean, we're obviously committed to the program, but it will moderate over time. And then on Halloween, yeah, a Saturday would be stronger than a Friday especially at our parks that have the day time Halloween event that is more kid centric, like here in Orlando and some of our other parks. You will drive a bigger attendance lift off of that. Afua A. Ahwoi - Goldman Sachs & Co.: Okay. And I actually just had one more follow-up question; on the cost saves – on the new cost saves that you found, is any of that – how much of that is permanent cost saves versus maybe cost saves you found in the year for…

Marc G. Swanson - Chief Accounting Officer and Interim Chief Financial Officer

Management

And this is Marc. I did mention also in the prepared remarks the Gwazi coaster in Tampa as an example, where we had a ride that was high cost and frankly kind of underutilized. So, closing a ride like that drives some pretty good expense savings with very limited guest dissatisfaction or anything like that. So, that's kind of another example of the type of things we would look for. Afua A. Ahwoi - Goldman Sachs & Co.: Thank you. Joel K. Manby - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Sure.

Operator

Operator

The next question comes from the line Alexia Quadrani of JPMorgan. Your line is open.

James Kopelman - JPMorgan Securities LLC

Analyst

Hi. This is James Kopelman in for Alexia. Good morning, guys. Given the ongoing strength in the dollar, I was wondering if you could provide some granularity about which international markets or regions are holding up well in terms of volume of tourism. How are you seeing that play out over this summer, and are there any particular areas of strength, any color will be helpful. And I have a quick follow-up. Thanks.

Marc G. Swanson - Chief Accounting Officer and Interim Chief Financial Officer

Management

Hey, James, this is Marc. Yeah, I can tell you we have seen some weakness in international visitation, it's hard to peg exactly what it's related to, but we have seen some shortfall there at some of our locations.

James Kopelman - JPMorgan Securities LLC

Analyst

Got it, and then – and are there any particular regions that you could comment or Latin America versus Europe or Brazil or any other markets?

Marc G. Swanson - Chief Accounting Officer and Interim Chief Financial Officer

Management

No, we don't want to get into any specifics on that, but you can probably surmise that the international visitation we have would largely be into our kind of destination type parks largely into Florida and into California. So – but we don't really get into what specific countries or anything.

James Kopelman - JPMorgan Securities LLC

Analyst

And let me just ask a quick follow-up on sort of consumer sentiment, there seems to be a sense that despite lower gas prices that have persisted consumers are sort of yet to open their wallets and take advantage of that, even with the employment rising, how do you view the macro landscape in terms of consumer sentiment going forward, is there some opportunity there as consumers start to spend more? Joel K. Manby - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: I think, big picture the sentiment has been very good. This has been a good period for the industry and for spending. As usual, we're seeing more strength on the food side, and – than we do on the merchandise side, but I think that's the only area where if sentiment continues to improve, we could see I think some more merchandise lift, but really from a ticketing and a food standpoint, we've been pretty pleased with the kind of growth and what we've seen in their willingness to spend. But do you have any other comments?

Marc G. Swanson - Chief Accounting Officer and Interim Chief Financial Officer

Management

No, I would just add, the only other thing to take note of, and we kind of see this in our per caps is with that higher pass visitation, you're going to have – that's going to ultimately, you get more total revenue. It's going to be spread over multiple visits. So, it brings the per caps down a little, but the total revenue is higher, but those folks largely spend similar levels on culinary. And I think we've done a really good job in our parks with different dining options and specialty snack and specialty drink options, that even that repeat pass visitors feel compelled to buy some sort of culinary item. That gets a little harder on the merchandise side for somebody who comes three or four times to buy a T-shirt or something every time. So that's just a little more guidance into the per caps on that. Joel K. Manby - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: And one more thing I'll add to Marc's comment is where we have seen good success is, there is a high variability of what people are willing to pay, right. So we've done well whether it's the Discovery Cove, dynamic pricing, we can really drive based on where the demands, hot or cooler, and we just found that in our key products, and I know others have as well. But our fast queue products, the valet parking, special services, backstage tours, we are getting better and better at driving more revenue out of those willing to pay for it, and yet we still are able to keep a good value ticket for those who aren't willing to pay for it. And I think going forward, and we will talk about this more in November, and it's – I think it's a common theme for this industry in general. The industry in general is behind the curve a little bit on the dynamic pricing versus let's say airlines and others, and we also see that as an opportunity to make sure those who are willing to pay for more, we give them more, and yet so offer value for those who are not. So I actually think that's a little bit stronger opportunity than sentiment itself is to really be more targeted and give people who want to pay more individualized experience give that to them.

James Kopelman - JPMorgan Securities LLC

Analyst

Got it. Thanks a lot. Joel K. Manby - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Sure.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Barton Crockett at FBR Capital Markets. Your line is open. Barton Crockett - FBR Capital Markets & Co.: The brand issue – can you hear me? Joel K. Manby - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: We didn't hear you. Could you start over? Barton Crockett - FBR Capital Markets & Co.: Okay, yeah, let me get off the handset here, hold on – or the headset. Joel K. Manby - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Are you in your car, Bart? Barton Crockett - FBR Capital Markets & Co.: No, I'm not in my car, actually I have a headset on that's been working great until you guys got on me on the call here, so I'm sorry about that. Joel K. Manby - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Safety is our number one concern. Barton Crockett - FBR Capital Markets & Co.: Yeah, I appreciate that. I try not to drive and do conference calls, but efficiency always rules, right. Joel K. Manby - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: I never do, because I have my Chief Counsel sitting next to me. Barton Crockett - FBR Capital Markets & Co.: Yeah, yeah, that's good. So, yeah – so hopefully you can hear me now. I – what I wanted to ask you about was a little bit more on the brand issue, so you said there continues to be some brand headwinds in California, and in particular, you know, it seems like the past is that the brand was sensitive to the new cycle, right, the brand issues really started last year, you know, Joel, before you came here when there was a lot of news coverage of the legislative efforts in California. You know, there has…

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of James Hardiman of Wedbush. Your line is open.

Sean Wagner - Wedbush Securities, Inc.

Analyst

Hi. This is Sean Wagner on for James. I was just wondering if you had any comment or could shed any light on a couple of legislative issues, the first being the delay on the California Coastal Commission's vote on the new killer whale facility. I know you mentioned that you expect approval for Blue World this year, so it seems you aren't worried about that project at least. But the second is the report of recently renewed push by some congressmen to revise the federal regulations governing the marine mammal care. Is there any color you can provide on that and how it might impact your operations going forward if that does move forward? Joel H. Simkins - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (Broker): What was the last question? Marine mammal? Okay.

Sean Wagner - Wedbush Securities, Inc.

Analyst

There was a recent report about...go ahead. Joel H. Simkins - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (Broker): Yeah, I'm sorry. I got it, Sean. I'll take a cut. It's Joel. On the Coastal Commission piece, we have worked with the Coastal Commission for 30-plus years and really adjusting meeting dates or schedules is not out of the ordinary. They've told us that we are scheduled for their October meeting. And we don't anticipate any construction delays at this time. But it's a very big project with a lot of capital going behind it, so we find that very normal in the process. So we don't expect any approval issues there. On the issue in Washington, we are aware that the Senate Appropriations Committee directed the USDA to seek public comment on the rules for captive marine mammals. And I think the big point here is we've always been supportive of this kind of activity, as long as it's science-based. And we will cooperate and we will be leaders here from a science-based perspective, if that happens. And we are involved in Washington and I'm involved personally in it. So I'm not particularly concerned about it because we'll be involved in it and we will be supportive as long as it's science-based.

Sean Wagner - Wedbush Securities, Inc.

Analyst

All right. Thanks for the color. Joel H. Simkins - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (Broker): You're welcome.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from line of Jason Bazinet of Citi. Your line is open.

Jason B. Bazinet - Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.

Analyst

Good morning. I'm going to try and ask Barton's question in a slightly different way. If I just pick an arbitrary (50:30) in my model for 2008 to 2014, there's about a 3 million hit to attendance. I think the market believes, rightly or wrongly, that the arms race that's going in Orlando is going to be difficult for you guys to overcome, but the brand issues will prove transitory. And so I'm not so much asking if you agree with that hypothesis, but I think that's where the Street is. Is there a way to help the buy-side tease out how much of that would indeed be permanent pressure as opposed to transitory pressure, i.e., how much is the arms race, how much is the brand issue? Joel H. Simkins - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (Broker): Yeah, I don't think we can comment on that specifically. However, again, we've been very open that we are well aware of the arms race, so to speak. And I think the important thing is to be differentiated and make sure that we stay in the very top three or four choices in this market. And our research shows that there's no doubt in the first visit or possibly even the second visit we aren't as high on the list as a Universal and Disney, per se, but we are definitely high on their list/ And when they come back – they come back to Orlando multiple times, as we all know, and, in fact, our thesis is they'll start coming back even more because the market is so strong. And, again, back to my differentiation points, we just have to make sure we are a very compelling and differentiated choice and get our fair share. And also the one point I didn't mention is make sure that independent hotels around us see as a very strong ally and we always make sure we are their most attractive partner as Disney and Universal move more and more to their own hotels. So look, we're not naïve to it, but we also are doing everything we can to create a strategy to make sure we're differentiated. But as far as teasing out which is which, we don't try to do that.

Jason B. Bazinet - Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.

Analyst

I think the Street's hypothesis, right, is that in the past you used to benefit from the capital investment that some of your competitors would make as a rising tide would lift all boats. With three players now sort of taking the market seriously Disney, Universal and you, you're not getting the same sort of spill over dynamics that you used to get, in other words, people would go to Disney primarily, go over spend some time at your park, now they're doing Disney, Universal. And so the whole – the industry structure is just sort of changed in a three-player market. Do you agree with that being the core issue? Joel H. Simkins - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (Broker): It is certainly an issue that we're studying hard and we're making sure that we have our place. I think there are so many players in this market to say that there's only room for two to be successful, I think is not a true statement in a market that has 62 million-plus. And we have experienced strong competition for a long, long time and we see that continuing. So, as we move forward, we'll continue to look hard at how we differentiate and I've already made the point, we haven't tried to tease it out specifically, but we're very confident we can carve out our niche by being differentiated. There's nobody else who has the kind of experience we do, and as I said earlier, creates the kind of connection we create in our parks. And the thing that gives me confidence every day is when I go to the parks which I do a lot and then I see our guest scores, and our NPS scores are just through the roof and we don't make them public, but I will say they're very comparable to all of our competitors and they're comparable to even Apple iPhone product, which is about as good as you get. So, we have excellent product and we just need to get more people come and see them.

Jason B. Bazinet - Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.

Analyst

Thank you very much.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Tim Nollen of Macquarie. Your line is open. Tim W. Nollen - Macquarie Capital (USA), Inc.: Hi, hope this isn't belaboring the point, but I just wanted to clarify something on the brand challenges that you've obviously spoken freely about. You talk about California in particular, just want to make sure I understand how much of the PR marketing effort is focused on California because I don't think it's necessarily a California specific issue, although I do recognize all the legislative things that we've talked about before. And then a related question, on your marketing, you said kind of the majority of the PR marketing spending was done in Q2, I wonder if that means that the actual spending tails off here or in fact you have risen to that level and you will continue to spend to promote your brand. Joel H. Simkins - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (Broker): Well, big picture, we don't break out the reputation campaign spending. I think generically, we will do whatever we have to do to make sure the facts are known. And we are a very good company doing very good things and our 23,000 employees are deserving of making sure the facts are out there correctly. So, big picture, we'll do what we have to do, we have been very good at adjusting our spend and making cuts in other places to pay for as much of it as we can, but we don't split it out going forward. But as Marc said earlier, our guidance does already bake in our continuation of the program, and I think in any marketing program there's a heavy up and then you have a maintenance level continuing those messages and then we'll evaluate what the next wave is, and we'll communicate that if it adjusts 2016, but right now we're good for 2015.

Marc G. Swanson - Chief Accounting Officer and Interim Chief Financial Officer

Management

Tim, this is Marc, so just, as I said in my remarks, we did give some guidance around EBITDA expenses that we said they would actually be down year-over-year. So, I think that can give you some comfort that the increase you saw in Q2 is not necessarily indicative of a run rate going forward and that it would moderate as Joel said, and we'll ultimately end the year down in EBITDA expenses per our guidance. Tim W. Nollen - Macquarie Capital (USA), Inc.: Yes, got that. Okay, thank you. Joel H. Simkins - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (Broker): Sure.

Operator

Operator

There are no more questions in the queue. I'll turn the call back over to Mr. Ballesteros for closing remarks. Gene Ballesteros - Senior Director of Investor Relations & Treasurer: Thanks everyone for your questions and for your continued interest in our company. We look forward to speaking with you next quarter. That concludes our call and thanks again for your time.

Operator

Operator

Thank you again. This does conclude today's conference call. You may now disconnect.