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SeaWorld Orlando: General Discussion

ThemeParkCrafter said:
Sky tower, Atlantis and penguin dark ride
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The Sky Tower suffered an incident about a year ago meaning that the entire cable system needed to be replaced, which takes time considering that the manufacturer no longer exists.

Journey to Atlantis has been closed for a major refurb for less than 3 months. New lift hill chain, complete repaint of all the boats, new audio, theming and effects overhaul, queue line deep clean, ride system re-calibrarion for better throughput including new sensors. It's a lot to do in less than 3 months to be honest.

Antarctica was closed weekdays in December to give the new penguin chicks time to adapt. They also did some hardware work during this time.
 
You really need to stop looking at the park with tinted glasses. The reality is for typical guests, there aren't enough rides and the shows are cruel towards the animals. Whatever excuse there is for all those closures, it is rather pathetic a park to be like that. You moan about towers closing some cloud cuckoo land rides being shut when around a quarter of sea world Orlando's rides are shut
 
Theme Park Tourist has a lengthy article on the problems at Seaworld Orlando, more closures of rides and shows are planned, to minimise losses due to a lack of attendance overall.
Mako has not been the crowd puller they hoped for apparently, the Blackfish negativity, combined with a general public's lack of desire to see any marine animals in a captive setting, has hit the group hard.
Market Watch reported that over two thirds of mentions of the group on the internet have been negative, with more and more groups and celebrities condemning animals being kept in captivity, and Seaworlds attempts at sheltering behind the conservation theme.
As far as overall attendance goes, no group is losing punters quicker than Seaworld.
 
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ThemeParkCrafter said:
You really need to stop looking at the park with tinted glasses. The reality is for typical guests, there aren't enough rides and the shows are cruel towards the animals. Whatever excuse there is for all those closures, it is rather pathetic a park to be like that. You moan about towers closing some cloud cuckoo land rides being shut when around a quarter of sea world Orlando's rides are shut
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I'm almost tempted enough not to justify that comment with a reply. There's no reason to go mad when you're proven wrong with facts you know, it's how the world works.

1-The reality is that for typical guests SeaWorld is a great option, it is much cheaper to visit than the other major parks and offers a wide range of attractions for all tastes.

2-To say a quarter of SeaWorld Orlando's rides are shut is laughable, the only ride shut at the moment is Sky Tower. Every other ride is open. If you want to be taken seriously you should stop making 'alternative facts' up.

3-I rarely moan about Towers, I'm not quite sure how that's really relevant here?

4-Do you have a degree in Marine Biology or veterinary science? If not then I think you should do what I do and istenin to people who have the relevant expertise and knowledge.

It seems here that I've been given a mouthful simply for posting facts, don't shoot the messanger :)
 
My issue is sea world as a theme park. It is more of an animal park with some coasters but by calling it a theme park, it makes the park far less attractive to visit. At the end of the day, people like my parents were shocked (at times for me) when watching blackfish which has made my dad say he will never visit sea world. People like him, that believed blackfish fully, have been lost
 
The ride part of Antarctica was closed the whole time I was there in September.

I dont want to wade to deep into this topic because I'm trying to write my own review of Sea World and would rather my opinion comes mainly from what I observed. However I did want to say that their conservation work is commendable. I also welcome the move towards education and sea themed attractions. But we can't ignore the fact the enclosures for some of the larger animals are way too small relative to what they need; a problem many zoos have faced, hence why you won't see Elephants at London Zoo anymore ect.

Also @MakoMania how can you call Sea World the best park in Orlando if you hadn't been to Disney! Half the parks in Orlando are owned by Disney. Do yourself a favour and check out Animal Kingdom. Great rides, insanely detailed environments and massive animal enclosures. Not to mention the Wilderness Explorers guide is a great interactive learning activity. If you come back and still say Sea World is your favourite, then fair play, at least you've seen what the competition has to offer.
 
ThemeParkCrafter said:
My issue is sea world as a theme park. It is more of an animal park with some coasters but by calling it a theme park, it makes the park far less attractive to visit. At the end of the day, people like my parents were shocked (at times for me) when watching blackfish which has made my dad say he will never visit sea world. People like him, that believed blackfish fully, have been lost
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Yes, you're making more sense now. Blackfish is full of misinformation, however it is undeniable to say that it has had an impact. The fact is that releasing the Orcas is the equivalent of a death sentence. The best business decision for SeaWorld would be to release the Orcas in over a few years, however morally and scientifically this would be unjustifiable so it's not going to happen. As an organisation, it's really important that word gets out about all the good that is done for animals, for example, $50 million has been comitted to make SeaWorld the largest marine rescue & rehabilitation organisation in the world, which is something that I personally am very proud of. We need to let people know that coming to the parks and supporting us benefits animals in the wild and at the same time more rides need to be added to balance the offering in a Busch Gardens style. All of this will happen, but it will take time.



EDIT: I have been to Animal Kingdom, just not on my visit last year, should have made that clearer, sorry!
 
that makes more sense. Cost is a legitimate reason to prefer 1 park over another (its part the reason why I still claim Europa is better than any single park In Florida). I just assumed that cost had put you off going at all.
 
I don't want to attempt a 10,000 word essay on the troubles of Sea World Orlando, but in short I think they've been hit by a lot of problems:

1) Increased competition from Universals, which is going to get tougher this year once Aquatica's competing with Volcano Bay.
2) The fact that Sea World missed the boat on adding its own accommodation, although there are partner hotels and plenty of accommodation along International Drive.
3) The fact that losing the tie with Anheuseur Busch and the free beer samples affected visitors more than they expected.
4) That tastes in theme parks have generally moved away from non-fiction themes (look at Epcot or Universals). Sea World tried to move towards fictional themes themselves, but this watered down the educational message which created new problems.
5) That until recently the park hasn't been divided into particular distinctive themed areas and has felt a bit samey (Antarctica has a much more distinctive feel than the older areas).
6) That some of the older rides have started to feel quite dated (particularly Wild Arctic).
7) The slow down in Brazil's economy has reduced the number of visitor from South America.
8) The fallout from the Tilikum incident which meant that trainers could no longer get in the water with the whales.
9) Cost cutting in response to falling visitor numbers.
10) Growing concerns about the ethics of keeping certain kinds of animal in captivity. This is partly because of Black Fish, but aside from this one films there was already a changing public perception, which is why we had already phased out cetaceans in the UK.

Each one of my points is controversial and could be debated in itself, but all in all there could be quite a few theories for why visitor numbers have fallen. Clearly they're doing their best to turn things around with more rides, putting more of an educational slant on the shows, emphasising conservation, dividing the park up into clearer areas etc. But to really turnaround Sea World is going to be a slow and challenging process.
 
MakoMania said:
Don't let anyone tell you that we deprive animals of food or use physical punishment
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It's not really how they (you?) train them that bothers me, it's the fact they're held captive for entertainment purposes. It wouldn't matter how good the training is or the conditions they're kept in, it just strikes me as slightly sinister.
 
John said:
It's not really how they (you?) train them that bothers me, it's the fact they're held captive for entertainment purposes. It wouldn't matter how good the training is or the conditions they're kept in, it just strikes me as slightly sinister.
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When I say we I mean us (SeaWorld) as an organisation.

Let me try to relieve your fears a little. I completely understand where you're coming from, now more than ever society is more concerned for the welfare of animals which can only be a good thing in the long run.

If you look back at the bottlenose dolphin and Orca presentations from the 90s, they were much more laid back than they are now. At the minute they're very theatrical, which I know can make some people feel uncomfortable. Soon they will be more natural and more educational, with a much lower focus on entertainment and a higher focus on education. Presentations only make up a small part of an animal or trainer's day however, play is very important. Cetaceans are incredibly intelligent, so they need to be kept psychologically stimulated all the time. This can be achieved by changing social groupings, providing different toys and doing excercise sessions to name just a few. Valuable research is also done with the animals, including a recent study to find the levels of carbon monoxide emitted from the blowholes of Bottlenose Dolphins!

I think you'll like what you see with the Orca Encounter. It's opening in May at SeaWorld San Diego so I'll be really interested to see how people react to it.
 
Meanwhile, at the San Francisco Cetacean Institute, Spock is mind-melding with some very confused Sperm Whales....
 
Funcone said:
I don't want to attempt a 10,000 word essay on the troubles of Sea World Orlando, but in short I think they've been hit by a lot of problems:

1) Increased competition from Universals, which is going to get tougher this year once Aquatica's competing with Volcano Bay.
2) The fact that Sea World missed the boat on adding its own accommodation, although there are partner hotels and plenty of accommodation along International Drive.
3) The fact that losing the tie with Anheuseur Busch and the free beer samples affected visitors more than they expected.
4) That tastes in theme parks have generally moved away from non-fiction themes (look at Epcot or Universals). Sea World tried to move towards fictional themes themselves, but this watered down the educational message which created new problems.
5) That until recently the park hasn't been divided into particular distinctive themed areas and has felt a bit samey (Antarctica has a much more distinctive feel than the older areas).
6) That some of the older rides have started to feel quite dated (particularly Wild Arctic).
7) The slow down in Brazil's economy has reduced the number of visitor from South America.
8) The fallout from the Tilikum incident which meant that trainers could no longer get in the water with the whales.
9) Cost cutting in response to falling visitor numbers.
10) Growing concerns about the ethics of keeping certain kinds of animal in captivity. This is partly because of Black Fish, but aside from this one films there was already a changing public perception, which is why we had already phased out cetaceans in the UK.

Each one of my points is controversial and could be debated in itself, but all in all there could be quite a few theories for why visitor numbers have fallen. Clearly they're doing their best to turn things around with more rides, putting more of an educational slant on the shows, emphasising conservation, dividing the park up into clearer areas etc. But to really turnaround Sea World is going to be a slow and challenging process.
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Very good post, I think you've summed it up really well. The Orlando theme park market is somewhat different to most others as well and it especially hard for SeaWorld to compete with the major powers of Disney and Universal.

Disney parks are even in competition with themselves. Once Pandora opens there will clearly be a rise in visitor numbers at Animal Kingdom, great news for Disney? On the face of it yes but in reality it is quite likely that these visitors are merely those who have chosen to visit Animal Kingdom over Epcot and/or Hollywood Studios (Magic Kingdom will always attract people regardless). So despite Pandora enhancing the visitor numbers at Animal Kingdom, Disney's numbers overally may remain pretty much the same. It's going to be interesting to see if this theory is proven to be correct.

So for SeaWorld they have to do things that are going to make people want to spend a day there over a day at a Disney or Universal park. That is a heck of a challenge in what is now an IP dominated market.

I hope SeaWorld's fortunes do change though, I quite like the park and they have some very good coasters. I understand that the animals performing does not sit well with everyone and agree that enclosures for the Orca's especially are far from ideal at the moment. However I also see that SeaWorld understand this and are going about addressing the issues as best they can, at the end of the day they do have these huge and impressive creatures so what else are they meant to do? Sell them to China like Russia has done (new shows coming soon to Chimelong Ocean Kingdom if you did not know)? Release them into the wild where they will die? Send them to a better enclosure somewhere that probably does not exisit? Or kill them on the spot so they are gone and sell Shamu Steak in park restaurants?

They are stuck betweek a rock and a hard place; current management will never be able to win so long as SeaWorld is in possession of Orcas.

:)
 
The answer is to lower the profile of the Orcas gradually over many years. They are still the main attraction, so stopping advertising them at all won't work, but advertise them too much and you put people off. It's a difficult balance, your main attraction is also your main detraction.
 
The best park in Orlando now has a brand new website and it's pretty awesome, that picture of Mako & Kraken against the sunset is amazing :)

https://seaworld.com/orlando/

In other news, I'm hearing whispers that the park is looking to announce their 2018 project on 13th April. I'm not 100% sure (well, I am like 95% sure) on the date but stay tuned for more info soon!
 
Animal Kingdom can't beat this for me! (Just a bit bummed that they are following the VR trend)
152pdnb.jpg


Anyway, getting quite excited about the 2018 project now!
 
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