SeaWorld Orlando: General Discussion

[BigAl]

Orlando Theme Parks News has some new Antarctica construction photos here. There's also a great selection of general shots of the park too.

 

[BigAl]

Screamscape has some details regarding two new shows coming to SeaWorld:

2014 - Sea Lions On Mars / Madagascar Live - Rumor - (2/13/13) Screamscape sources tell us that two new shows are on the way to SeaWorld Orlando in 2014. A new version of the Madagascar Live show will be coming to SeaWorld Orlando in 2014 as a replacement for the park’s Allure show in the park’s Nautilus Theater. I’m also hearing that the very long-in-the-tooth Pirate themed Sea Lion and Otter show will finally get replaced in 2014 as well by the long rumored “Clyde & Seamore Go To Mars” show.

The Madagascar show is also heading to SeaWorld San Diego and Busch Gardens Tampa too. Seems odd to have a Madagascar show at both SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa though.

:S

 

[Danny]

Lots of truly lovely images of the new Antarctica ride progress can be found here

 

[BigAl]

SeaWorld have sent Screamscape some new images of their Antarctica attraction:

2013 - Antarctica - Empire of the Penguin - (2/20/13) SeaWorld Orlando sent us a few sneak-peek pictures showing off the construction site for Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin. This must-see new attraction, “will transport families into a rarely seen, icy world. They’ll feel the majestic grandeur of the South Pole and see it through the penguins’ eyes on an exhilarating, first-of-its-kind family ride. They’ll explore a massive penguin colony in an expanse that envelops them in cool extremes, both above and below the penguins’ icy world. It’s a must-see, one-of-a-kind theme park experience only at SeaWorld in Orlando.” They have also made an official Antarctica app available for iPhones and Android devices, so click here for more information on how to download.
Meanwhile the park did offer a tour of the construction site to a few local groups, and you can see pictures and coverage from the tour posted to Behind the Thrills this week.

 

[BigAl]

This bit of news from Screamscape is regarding all SeaWorld park:

SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment - (2/22/13) While Blackstone is being courted by various groups for a possible sale of the SeaWorld Entertainment parks, Blackstone is apparently favoring going ahead with the initial plan to take the company public with an IPO at the moment. Or in other words... the interested potential buyers just haven’t floated a number with enough zeros at the end to raise Blackstone’s eyebrow yet. Initial reports were that Apollo and Six Flags were interested, and according to Bloomberg, Apollo and another group named Onex Corp. apparently did enter bids so far, while a team from Garlyle Group and Advent International Corp were interested, but have yet to make an offer.

Figured I'd post it here as SeaWorld Orlando is the most popular SeaWorld thread.

 

[BigAl]

cfnews13.com has some photos taken from inside Antarctica's "Planning Room" where the concept art and models of the attraction are.


Here's a couple of good images:

 

[BigAl]

A couple of updates from Screamscape here. The first is regarding a photo of a new entrance arch which has been built for their new attraction:

2013 - Antarctica - Empire of the Penguin - (4/2/13) A picture showing off what appears to be one of the icy archway entrances into the new Antarctica themed land was sent in by a reader today. Enjoy!

The next is an update on the situation regarding Blackstone trying to sell the SeaWorld parks:

SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment - (4/5/13) Looks like Blackstone has made up their mind and rather than try to sell the SeaWorld Parks chain, they will now move forward with their plans for an IPO later this month.

 

[BigAl]

IPO news from Screamscape:

SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment - (4/22/13) SeaWorld Parks launched their IPO on the New York Stock Exchange (SEAS) on Friday and raised over $700 million.

 

[BigAl]

Very, very interesting news about the SeaWorld Parks IPO from Screamscape:

SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment - (4/23/13) Just while SeaWorld was enjoying their successful IPO run… they were blindsided in almost WWE style fashion by the announcement that not only was PETA amongst their new shareholders, but that PETA had bought enough shares “to give us the right to attend and speak at annual meetings and to submit shareholder resolutions asking for policy changes.”
Yep… and if you couldn’t guess, their first order of business “as part owners of SeaWorld” is that the group is formally requesting that all of the chain’s Killer Whales be released. They are also planning to start an educational campaign they’ll lead against the other stockholders about the evils of SeaWorld and the practice of captive marine mammals in parks.
Yep… things are going to get VERY interesting for SeaWorld Entertainment very quickly. See why I previously urged them to keep the company private and away from the manipulations of greedy investors as well as those with a private adjenda. But even I couldn’t have dreamed of a plan so sinister as what PETA has unleashed upon SeaWorld this week, as they attempt to destroy the company from the inside. I don’t imagine that the other stockholders will put up with their antics for long, but I’m not sure what they can do about it either. They may simply be forced to just put up with them at the meetings, much like how families try to ignore the that one crazy relative who only comes to the big family gatherings, drinks too much and then complains loudly to everyone about how good everyone else had it while they suffered endless untold hardships. (Or something like that…)
In other news, SeaWorld’s CEO hinted that one of the companies long term goals may be to cast their net into International waters and see what kind of global opportunities there are for the SeaWorld brand. There was no mention of the previously announcement project to build parks in Dubai however on a man-made island shaped like a Killer Whale.

Another article on this can be read here.

 

[LiamC]

I'm all for animal rights, but PETA are so militant in their ways it borders on terrorism.

I thought SeaWorld were as much for conservation as they were for profits and business? Seems that by floating stocks they could have ended up shooting themselves in the foot, which is a shame as I love SeaWorld. Thanks for sharing the news, I'll be interested to see how this pans out for them

 

[Benzin]

 

[Rose Of Dawn]

Not much will probably come of it - PETA are atrocious at public relations. They are a joke to all but the most hard line vegans. They rarely accomplish anything but to annoy everyone who doesn't follow their own warped agenda, which they rarely stick to anyway. For example, PETA put down more rescue dogs than most dog pounds in the USA. On top of that, PETA's president uses insulin that was tested on animals.

 

[BigAl]

Not much will probably come of it...

And you would be correct! Another update from Screamscape will explain why:

SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment - (4/24/13) All the fuss about PETA buying shares of SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment is a bit overblown and all just for media hype for the initial “shock & awe” factor, like most things PETA does to get a quick headline grab. How so? According to Screamscape sources PETA has only spent a little over $2000 on “SEAS” stock. Just enough to be allowed into the annual shareholder meetings, but not enough to give them any kind of power or sway within the company. Still though… I gotta tip my hat to them for this ballsy move. They’ll probably follow it up in about a year with a bit show at the annual shareholder meeting, followed by a very public exit from the company as they sell their shares in disgust.

 

[BigAl]

TPR have made an on-ride video of Sea World's new Antarctica Empire of the Penguins ride:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azHxR_KtS3M#ws


Not really wowed by that, but the penguins themselves are a great addition nonetheless.

 

[Novas]

It could certainly do with more looking at real penguins and less watching videos of CGI penguins, but overall I really like it and a massive improvment on the previous penguin enclosure.

 

[aru]

I laughed when the dramatic CGI film cut to some rather static looking penguins!

It seems like a nice attraction but Sea World never really get 'immersion' right with their rides, they always feel like an exhibition space trying hard to be something more and not quite succeeding.

Saying that, I think this sort of approach does seem to work for Sea World as it is effectively a glorified zoo. That is a very expensive ride system though!

 

[Quetzal]

That ride looks like the epitome of a waste of money.

 

[BigAl]

Penguin escape!

 

[Sam]

Antarctica - Empire of the Penguin update.

(7/1/13) Good news as it seems the Antarctica ride opened last Friday, with a few new changes after being shut half of Monday, half of Tuesday and all of Wednesday and I think Thursday as well. From what I’m told not only was the technical glitch solved that was causing problems, but extra narration was added to the onboard soundtrack to describe what is going on in the first two rooms. No changes were made to the motion programming, despite a fair number of complaints that the “Wild” version is so mild, that many are afraid to even waste their time with the “Mild” version.

Sounds like a bit of a Floridian duffer to be honest!

 

[BigAl]

More budget cuts for SeaWorld's parks. :/


Edit: And more news on SeaWorld's cutbacks.