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2010 Best Theme Park Attraction nominee: SeaWorld Orlando's Clyde and Seamore Take Pirate Island

By Robert Niles
Published: January 25, 2010 at 1:00 PM
Sure, theme parks remain closed for the season in most parts of the United States, but here on Theme Park Insider, we're enjoying the best of the best that the industry has to offer. Based on your reader ratings submitted over the past 12 months, I've seeded 64 of the best rides and shows in the theme park industry into the 2010 Best Theme Park Attraction Tournament, and we're profiling one of those attractions each weekday up until the tournament begins in March.

Today, we shine the spotlight on SeaWorld Orlando's Clyde and Seamore Take Pirate Island, which joins the field as the 10th seed in the Best Live Show bracket.

SeaWorld Orlando's Clyde and Seamore Take Pirate Island

Playing in SeaWorld's Sea Lion and Otter Stadium, the show features - you guessed it - sea lions and otters (and a walrus). The current version, Clyde and Seamore Take Pirate Island, tells the story of lost treasure, pirates, and shipwreck... oh, who cares, really? The animals and trainers are going to mug for the audience, at some point, the trainer's going into the drink, and everyone sitting in the first few rows of the stadium is gonna get wet.

Sure, it's a formula, but when one works as well as this one, why mess with it? Take a look:

(You can watch part two and part three, as well.)

Many fans advise arriving early for the show, not only to snag good seats (inside or outside the splash zone is your choice), but to watch the mime who gets big laughs mocking late arrivals as they enter the stadium. Here's a life tip, folks: If you walk into a theater or stadium and see a mime in the aisle with you... walk away, as quietly and drawing as little attention to yourself as you can.

SeaWorld San Diego's "Clyde and Seamore" show is Sea Lions Live, which spoofs current TV shows, and San Antonio's show is Clyde and Seamore's Cannery Row Caper, where the crew tries to solve the mystery of missing fish at a local cannery. (Longtime readers might remember that I had a tiny walk-on role in a Clyde and Seamore show in San Diego in 2008.)

Let's hear your thoughts about Clyde and Seamore, in the comments.

Readers' Opinions

From vernon griffin on January 25, 2010 at 1:20 PM
It is good but no"Believe"
From Mark Migliaccio on January 25, 2010 at 1:21 PM
This is my favorite show at Sea World!
From Manny Barron on January 25, 2010 at 2:18 PM
Best show in Sea World in both the San Diego and Orlando locations. The show is funny and the animals are great in it. Unlike Believe, the show is actually centered around the animals. It's also important to note that the night time versions of the show are excellent.
From Joshua Counsil on January 25, 2010 at 3:19 PM
Could very well be the best animal show around, a 9-Outstanding on the scale.

The mime alone is worth watching, and although the performance features many of the corny gags theme park shows are known for, it delivers them with a surgeon's precision. Sure, it may be more incredible to watch a dolphin or whale act on a human's whim, but it's not nearly as entertaining as this. Sea lions and otters were born comedians.

Oh, and walruses. Also very funny.

From Robert Niles on January 25, 2010 at 3:43 PM
By the way, this entry is only for the daytime show. (Of course, by mentioning that, I'm probably giving away something about the nighttime version. Alas.)
From 67.8.63.61 on January 25, 2010 at 4:10 PM
this is ok to see once but i cant see this over and over..even once a year is too much unless the show is changed. i go every fall and kids w/ us love this show but i remember all the jokes and everything from the year before and its just as cheesy..this year i rode kracken few times & journey to atlantis while the rest of my party saw the show..
From Rob Chandler on January 25, 2010 at 6:06 PM
a good all round show, very cheesy but i like it beacuse of that. it knows what it is and the animals are very well trained and quite funny. get there 5 or 10 minutes earlier so you can see the mime he is hilarious.
From Derek Potter on January 25, 2010 at 6:10 PM
Also my favorite show at Sea World. I've always been a fan of Clyde and Seymour. The dolphin and Shamu shows are great and all, but I'll take this one anyday.
From Rob P on January 26, 2010 at 3:48 AM
This is always good fun and , as has already been mentioned, the pre-show mime is not to be missed.
Although many of the tricks are the same I do think that "Pirate Island" beats " Fools with Tools" ....by a whisker !
Just a thought : We've been watching this show in Orlando since 1996 so does anyone have any info on how many "Clydes" and "Seamores" there have been since then ?
Also do they have sets of animals that they interchange for different performances like they do with child twins in movies & TV ?
From Derek Potter on January 26, 2010 at 8:17 AM
Clyde and Seymour have been around a long time. I remember watching Clyde and Seymour at the old Sea World in Ohio when I was a lad. I have a VHS recording of one from around 1989. The theme was a haunted house/murder mystery story.
From 72.189.252.174 on January 29, 2010 at 6:11 PM
Rob P,
All the parts of C&S TPI are done by many different animals in every show.
They had two different walruses, a female and a big old guy; a few different otters and at least somewhere north of a dozen different sea lions to swap out for each show.
Just like the humans - they may be trained for only certain parts of the show or a few of the veterans can perform all of the behaviors. It's all run off a dry erase board chart backstage so each animal gets equal time throughout the day, and no one is worked too hard. Figure when an animal goes back stage and comes out again, good chance it's a different one, not always but a lot of the time. Depends on how many shows they have in a day - whether it's a slow winter day with just a few or a busy summer one with back to back shows.
It appears chaotic with trainers running around getting the different animals from their pens and just like us, some don't like each other & can't see or come in contact with one another because they just can't get along. And the layout backstage isn't the most conducive for doing this. It's really something to see - they should post a video of it, kind of like a swan gracefully swimming across the water and the legs & feet are just working so hard underneath.

67.8.63.61,
The animal behaviors and gags aren't the things to see over and over, but how the trainers handle whatever the animals throw at them. The shows that the animals do what & when they are supposed to go quick but are always the most boring ones. I even heard of a show the trainers did all by themselves one day because all the animals were in a rut and the stadium was packed - the show must go on.


The question is, when are they ever going to be allowed to swap this show out for another one? The San Diego sea lion show has changed three times in the last six years and C&STPI has been going strong for a total of what 14?! They were supposed to get a new show after Blue Horizons went in, then it was Believe instead, followed by A'lure. Sheesh - enough already give em some new material to work with PLEASE. I'm just hoping there isn't any cirque elements or all schmaltzy. It needs to stay true to the animal behaviors and stay the comedy relief that the show is.

Robert,
have to concur - Sea Lions Tonight is the best! IF anyone is ever at SW in the summer, you must stick around for this.
Noremac

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