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SeaWorld Orlando: General Discussion

In a rare snippet of summer news, SeaWorld Orlando have announced that they will be beginning a "Killer Whales Up-Close Tour" from this Friday! It will be similar to the tours that the park has offered with Dolphins, Sea Lions, Beluga Whales and Sharks for years, except that for obvious reasons guests will not be able to touch the Killer Whales. This is another step by the park in trying to become more transparrent about their Killer Whale care and defend themselves from sensationalist media attacks (which do appear to be on the decline) much like Alton Towers is enduring at the minute. The tour will include a one on one interaction with a Killer Whale as well as a behind the scenes look at veterinary, food prep and possibly even life support system areas. The tour will be hosted by the Killer Whale training staff themselves with the opportunity to ask questions to them directly.

SeaWorld do seem to be handling this PR nightmare in a good way now after previously schooling the world in how not to respond to a PR crisis :p
 
Just a quick update: the new Flamecraft Bar is now open! (It does look rather nice with great lake views.)
The bar is located in the Waterfront area of SeaWorld inbetween the new Dolphin Nursery and the Sky Tower (which has seen its reliability improve dramatically in recent weeks)
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Over at Infinity Falls, ground clearing has nearly been completed, foundation work has commenced and vertical construction is likely not too far away!

It also seems increasingly likely that Orca Encounter will be opening in 2018 at SeaWorld Orlando rather than in 2019 as was previously thought. It seems its success in San Diego has convinced SeaWorld to accelerate the presentation's roll out in Florida. This means that 2017 will probably be the last year of the popular "One Ocean" theatrical Shamu show.
 
Whispers are circulating that SeaWorld (currently a public company on the NYSE) may be in the process of being bought out by a much larger company. As a reminder, SeaWorld Entertainment owns and operates 12 parks across the US including 3 SeaWorlds, 2 Busch Gardens, 3 Aquaticas, Sesame Place, Adventure Island, Discovery Cove and Water Country USA. A new SeaWorld park has been announced in partnership with Miral for Abu Dhabi and another Sesame Place park will open in the US in the early 2020s.

The main suspect is a Chinese company, called Zonghong Holdings who specialise in operating hotel resorts in Asia.

If successful, this would mean that SeaWorld no longer has to answer to shareholders at the stock exchange and could possibly mean that more money is available to invest in new rides, attractions and animal habitats across all the parks.
 
CatCatCat on Inside Universal has created a rather impressive and accurate diagram of the layout of Infinity Falls and its surrounding area (that for some reason can't embed). It shows the huge scale of this ride, there will actually be 3 lift hills (two traditional and one vertical elevator) and large parts of the queue will be either shaded or completely indoors. As we already knew, the Terrace Garden and animal ambassador buildings will be remaining but will be refurbished.
 
SeaWorld Orlando is currently caring for many animals that have had to be rescued or relocated due to Hurricane Irma. Five Bottlenose Dolphins arrived from Dolphin Connection prior to the storm, several Manatees have been rescued and the aviculture team continues to care for displaced and injured birds.
SeaWorld recently passed the milestone of 31,000 animal rescues!
 
SeaWorld Orlando have today announced that Ray Rush will be joining the lineup of attractions at Aquatica in Spring 2018!

Ray Rush will be an exciting launched family raft slide including a thrilling translucent sphere and a huge open air half pipe shaped like a Manta ray. To make way for Ray Rush, HooRoo Run will close forever on October 31st.

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MakoMania said:
SeaWorld Orlando have today announced that Ray Rush will be joining the lineup of attractions at Aquatica in Spring 2018!

Ray Rush will be an exciting launched family raft slide including a thrilling translucent sphere and a huge open air half pipe shaped like a Manta ray. To make way for Ray Rush, HooRoo Run will close forever on October 31st.

ray-rush_660x410.ashx
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Wow! I personally think this looks really good. I think that it could potentially rival Ihu's as Aquatica's best attraction (although Roa's Rapids gets an honourable mention!). On a side note, is HooRoo Run the family raft slide that was basically a big triple-down? Or is it the partially enclosed slide that has a much more interesting layout? I know that the other one is called Walhalla Wave, though. Both of the raft slides were fantastic slides, so I'll be sad to see HooRoo Run go, whichever one it might be.
 
Matt N said:
Wow! I personally think this looks really good. I think that it could potentially rival Ihu's as Aquatica's best attraction (although Roa's Rapids gets an honourable mention!). On a side note, is HooRoo Run the family raft slide that was basically a big triple-down? Or is it the partially enclosed slide that has a much more interesting layout? I know that the other one is called Walhalla Wave, though. Both of the raft slides were fantastic slides, so I'll be sad to see HooRoo Run go, whichever one it might be.
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HooRoo Run is the extremely short triple down slide.

This ride will occupy more space than HooRoo Run did, meaning that the road to the car park is going to be re-routed :)

So as far as SEAS goes in 2018, we've got:

SeaWorld Orlando-Infinity Falls
Aquatica Orlando-Ray Rush
Adventure Island Tampa-Vanish Point
Busch Gardens Williamsburg-Battle for Eire
SeaWorld San Antonio-Sesame Street Parade
Aquatica San Antonio-Taumata Racer
SeaWorld San Diego-Electric Eel & Sesame Street Parade
Sesame Place-Oscar's Wacky Taxi Coaster
 
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MakoMania said:
So as far as SEAS goes in 2018, we've got:

SeaWorld Orlando-Infinity Falls
Aquatica Orlando-Ray Rush
Adventure Island Tampa-Vanish Point
Busch Gardens Williamsburg-Battle for Eire
SeaWorld San Antonio-Sesame Street Parade
Aquatica San Antonio-Taumata Racer
SeaWorld San Diego-Electric Eel & Sesame Street Parade
Sesame Place-Oscar's Wacky Taxi Coaster
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For a company who are apparently suffering financially, that is a lot of new stuff for one year!
 
Now don't quote me on this, but according to some friends and recent footage that I've seen, Mako's trim and MCBR have been noticeably softened.
 
MakoMania said:
Now don't quote me on this, but according to some friends and recent footage that I've seen, Mako's trim and MCBR have been noticeably softened.
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Fantastic news! That means my number 1 coaster will be running even faster, and I didn't even notice the trims and the mid-course when I rode!

EDIT: Is it a coincidence that it only ever seems to be me and @MakoMania replying to this thread?
 
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SeaWorld Orlando have announced their 2018 lineup of special events. This lineup is the biggest in the history of the park and complements the opening of Infinity Falls at SeaWorld as well as Ray Rush at Aquatica.

Daily Jan 1st-6th: "Three Kings Day"

Saturdays Jan 20th-Feb 10th: "Praise Wave"

Weekends Feb 17th-Apr 15th: "Seven Seas Food Festival"

Weekends Apr 21st-May 15th: "Just for Kids"

Select dates May 25th-Sept 2nd: "Electric Ocean"

Weekends Sept 29th-Oct 28th: "Halloween Spooktacular"

Select dates Nov 23rd-Dec 31st: "Christmas Celebration"

Dec 31st: "New Year's Eve at SeaWorld"


Three Kings Day and Just for Kids will be all new events for 2018 whilst Electric Ocean will be extended for 2018 given its huge popularity this year.
 
MakoMania said:
SeaWorld Orlando have today announced that Ray Rush will be joining the lineup of attractions at Aquatica in Spring 2018!

Ray Rush will be an exciting launched family raft slide including a thrilling translucent sphere and a huge open air half pipe shaped like a Manta ray. To make way for Ray Rush, HooRoo Run will close forever on October 31st.

ray-rush_660x410.ashx
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Do you think this is likely to be open for may?
 
Not being sarcastic - I really, truly hated it.
  • I found the 'identity' of the park from its marketing and promotional material to its in-park branding, signage etc to be nauseating. Proper small-C conservative, nationalistic, tacky, lowest-common stuff. None of the subtly or nuance that Disney pull off in, say, Animal Kingdom. The worst side of America - to be filed alongside Chick-fil-A, the National Rifle Association and Kid Rock.
  • Both the main coasters when I went (Kraken and Manta) were mediocre at best. Manta is just unpleasant.
  • Empire of the Penguin or whatever it's called is - relative to its cost - quite easily the worst dark ride I've ever been on. Given how much they appear to have spent on it it's beyond belief how bad it is.
  • The park generally feels tatty and run-down given that it's meant to be a flagship Florida attraction. Journey to Atlantis and that Arctic simulator thing are falling apart.
  • Then there's their well-documented mistreatment of killer whales, about which I don't need to go into detail here. The shows are simply unethical.
I wanted to leave almost as soon as I entered. Fortunately it only took half a day to do the whole park plus re-rides as they don't have enough rides.
 
Sam said:
Not being sarcastic - I really, truly hated it.
  • I found the 'identity' of the park from its marketing and promotional material to its in-park branding, signage etc to be nauseating. Proper small-C conservative, nationalistic, tacky, lowest-common stuff. None of the subtly or nuance that Disney pull off in, say, Animal Kingdom. The worst side of America - to be filed alongside Chick-fil-A, the National Rifle Association and Kid Rock.
  • Both the main coasters when I went (Kraken and Manta) were mediocre at best. Manta is just unpleasant.
  • Empire of the Penguin or whatever it's called is - relative to its cost - quite easily the worst dark ride I've ever been on. Given how much they appear to have spent on it it's beyond belief how bad it is.
  • The park generally feels tatty and run-down given that it's meant to be a flagship Florida attraction. Journey to Atlantis and that Arctic simulator thing are falling apart.
  • Then there's their well-documented mistreatment of killer whales, about which I don't need to go into detail here. The shows are simply unethical.
I wanted to leave almost as soon as I entered. Fortunately it only took half a day to do the whole park plus re-rides as they don't have enough rides.
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Most of this post is rubbish, no two ways of going about it.

I'll adress the Killer Whale issue first. You have clearly fallen into the trap of believing the sensationalist headlines about SeaWorld, similar to the "horror" headlines that UK media run about Alton Towers. Have you got a marine biology or veterinary science degree? If not, I would trust the staff at SeaWorld who are fully qualified and have ample expertise in the field of animal care and welfare. But you don't just have to take it from SeaWorld's staff, respected organisations like WWF, AZA and the American Humane Association have all expressed support for SeaWorld.

I really do think you've made some rather strange charges with many of the statements made in this post. SeaWorld Orlando is anything but tatty and run down, it's one of the most beautiful parks in the world with extensive landscaping and good theming (albeit not Universal or Disney levels).

Manta and Kraken are two of the best B&Ms out there, and whilst everyone is entitled to their own opinions on rides, there are many people who would disagree that they are mediocre.

SeaWorld's ride count isn't very high but it isn't supposed to be. This is not ride heaven, rides are not the main focus, this is first and foremost an animal park and to go in with expectations of a massive theme park will only cause dissapointment.

I'm not mad at you disliking SeaWorld, but what I do get mad about (and I just can't stop myself) is people accusing the staff that I know and respect of animal mistreatment without any evidence whatsoever, it's disgraceful.
 
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MakoMania said:
I'll adress the Killer Whale issue first. You have clearly fallen into the trap of believing the sensationalist headlines about SeaWorld, similar to the "horror" headlines that UK media run about Alton Towers. Have you got a marine biology or veterinary science degree? If not, I would trust the staff at SeaWorld who are fully qualified and have ample expertise in the field of animal care and welfare. But you don't just have to take it from SeaWorld's staff, respected organisations like WWF, AZA and the American Humane Association have all expressed support for SeaWorld.
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Mistreatment and abuse does not just mean physical acts of cruelty by trainers, but psychological and physical effects of being confined in literally a goldfish bowl. Orca and all cetaceans can travel over 100km per day in the wild, so being enclosed in these small concrete tanks is indeed cruel.

They use echo location in the wild all the time, but when they are in captivity, they are relatively quiet as when they do echo-locate, it literally bounces off the walls and can cause pain and discomfort.

SeaWorld have split families apart by separating young from their mothers and moving them to different parks. In the wild, pods of orcas have very strong family ties and stay together. Yes, the males do go off for periods to reproduce with other pods females (they are intelligent enough to not breed with their immediate family !!), but they do come back. This separation causes pain and anguish to the mother and is cruel.

I have also witnessed with my own eyes at SeaWorld, Orca being held in very small holding tanks for very long periods. These holding tanks are tiny to the point where the Orca cant really do anything. Is this cruelty? In my eyes, yes it is.

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I could go on all day with this !!! :) SeaWorld and their trainers do care about their cetaceans, but the artificial conditions that they have to live in have a massive effect on their health and mental stability which is very very cruel.

MakoMania said:
SeaWorld's ride count isn't very high but it isn't supposed to be. This is not ride heaven, rides are not the main focus, this is first and foremost an animal park and to go in with expectations of a massive theme park will only cause dissapointment.
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SeaWorld has to move on from living off the name of Orca, so I predict that the ride offerings at their parks will increase (if the parks aren't sold). They have got to start to diversify and moving into installing more rides is what I think will happen. There is a lot of fake news about SeaWorlds attendance, in that BlackFish started it. It didn't, it was in decline before that, check out the attendance figures from 10 years ago to today. It was declining when the parks didn't install new rides, as soon as they installed a coaster, the attendance rose, before declining again.

Personally, I am torn with regards to SeaWorld. If it hadn't been for a captive Orca, my wife would probably have never developed a deep love for them, which eventually saw her study Marine Biology and now sees her conduct Whale and dolphin surveys to study the numbers of animals in certain areas. However, from a very young age, she knew it was wrong to keep cetaceans in captivity and she still does to this day and she is very vocal with regards to it and I agree with her. They are ambassadors, but its not fair to them to keep them in the conditions they are.

The below image shows why Orca (and other cetaceans), should not be in captivity. This is not SeaWorld, I hasten to add, but is Lolitta at Miami Seaquarium. Is it really fair for an animal which swims many miles each day in the wild to be held in a goldfish bowl like this? This is literally all the space that Lolitta has.... :(

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Sorry for the long post, but cetaceans are very important in my life now, due to learning this from my wife. Would I go to SeaWorld again? No, I would much rather spend time in the wild looking at them through binoculars or on a non evasive whale watching boat.
 
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