The state of SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment right now is as much the fault of management as it is any damage from Blackfish. Except for BGT, all of the capital expenditures in the last four years have been crappy which would have kept attendance flat without Blackfish, but when you add the bad publicity to the mix it caused big problems. Now, some of the problem has been the uncertainty of Blackstone ownership/going public, but the management team committed to the poor capital expenditures rather than spending on better quality. To know that Antarctica was the biggest expenditure on a new attraction in the history of SeaWorld speaks volumes to the company's poor planning. That money could have been much better spent on a marquis attraction (which Antarctic was supposed to be, but any moron could have looked at the plans and see it would fall far short of that goal).
This whole situation makes me sad. While the Busch family owned AB they understood that the parks were not a "core asset" but they created good will and helped promote the brand while still turning a profit (even if it was a modest profit compared to the beer). To see the decline in the parks over the time since In-Bev bought out AB is just depressing. If they had been smart they would have kept the parks and let them run as they always had. They made money...not HUGE profits but the turned a profit all the time. They created a good image for the AB brands which they have now lost on many levels. Guests are so disappointed by the changes over time and that tarnishes the AB brand to some extent as well.
The only thing I can hope for the parks now is that they either find a buyer who will turn things around before too much more damage is done. Even if the parks are broken up and sold individually it would most likely be a better future for them than the current company running them. I think the SeaWorld brand is near an end overall, and the Orlando property is more valuable for the land it sits on that anything else at this point.