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2010 Best Theme Park Attraction nominee: SeaWorld Orlando's Sea Lions Tonight

By Robert Niles
Published: February 17, 2010 at 11:29 AM
SeaWorld Orlando's Sea Lions Tonight joins the 2010 Best Theme Park Attraction Tournament as the fifth seed in the Best Live Show bracket.

SeaWorld Orlando's Sea Lions Tonight

Sea Lions Tonight plays seasonally and parodies other shows and attractions in the SeaWorld parks. Anyone who follows "Shamu" on Twitter knows that the SeaWorld Parks can display a fair amount of sarcasm toward theme park convention. Sea Lions Tonight focuses that sharp attitude into one no-holds-barred take-down of its park neighbors.

Seeing a walrus perform a killer whale's tricks from "Believe," or an otter trot out a Budweiser wagon like a miniature Clydesdale (well, I guess that gag's out now) elicits easy laughs, but these gags also serve to place the differences between SeaWorld's animal performers in sharper relief. I've always thought that you could see more of a walrus' personality when he's plodding through a few of Shamu's tricks than when he's going through the moves designed for him in SeaWorld's regular sea lion and otter show, "Clyde and Seamore Take Pirate Island." Perhaps it's not a surprise, then, that Sea Lions Tonight earned a higher seeding in this year's tournament than the Pirate Island show.

Ultimately, though, as with all SeaWorld shows, the jokes aren't on the animals - they're on the trainers and the audience. Trainers who put themselves on the same level as the animals get taken down a notch and people in the audience... well, they get wet.

Here's a YouTube clip of Sea Lions Tonight's send-up of "Believe":

Sea Lions tonight also plays at SeaWorld San Diego and SeaWorld San Antonio, with tweaks for those parks' various shows and rides. What do you think about Sea Lions Tonight? Is this a show that can go far in the tournament? Let's hear your thoughts, in the comments.

Readers' Opinions

From Pyra Dong on February 17, 2010 at 12:54 PM
I LOVE this show. VERY FUNNY! I have to admit most of the comedy weighs on the background noises, music, and acting on the non-animal parts-- but still very, very entertaining. You have to watch the other SeaWorld shows in order to get most of the humor... but I love how SeaWorld can still poke fun at itself. I think the trainers in this show have the most fun out of any SeaWorld employee.
From Helena Polansky on February 17, 2010 at 3:58 PM
So hilarious! I love it!!!!!!
From 66.192.143.170 on February 18, 2010 at 4:16 AM
This is seriously the best show at the park. So funny! Everyone who visits absolutely must see it. The only downside to the show is that it's a summer-only thing. But that makes just builds anticipation during the off season. :-)
From Manny Barron on February 18, 2010 at 10:01 PM
This show is just so funny and awesome. The animals are brilliant as usual and the human performers do an excellent job of poking fun of each other. By far the best show Sea World has ever done. This show should go far in the tourney.

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