I went to SeaWorld Orlando today. It had been a while and tickets were half price, so now seemed like the time. Allow me to go through my day and review some of the common criticisms of "modern" SeaWorld.
We arrived early, parked quickly, and went straight to Mako. The wait was short and the ride was fun, but I liked it less than I did last time. Is it just me, or is it just a one-trick pony?
Then we made quick work of Kraken and watched a great dolphin show before heading over to Pipeline. It was my first new ride and I had to say, it was great. The launch feels stronger standing up and the seats are comfortable. Biggest expectation exceeder of the day.
Then I hit Expedition Odyssey with only a five-minute wait. It was fine, but it really is just Soarin'. The Arctic exhibit at the exit is really the biggest reason to ride this, even if you don't have to ride Ex. Odyssey to see it. Also, "Expedition" and "Odyssey" are synonyms. It's like "Chai Tea".
I grabbed an admittedly great burger and went to Ice Breaker. Even though the posted wait was 30, I waited upwards of 70 for my first ride on this short but forceful little ride. I wouldn't wait more than 30 for it.
We saw two shows: A loud barrage of white noise called "Hydro Surge" and the Orca show. It feels icky to watch as SeaWorld tries to convince the audience that it's humane to keep the world's largest predator in a box for its whole life. A little preachy, but the tricks were impressive.
By the end of the show, it was stormy, so I reserved a spot in Manta's line. After 90 minutes of weather and technical delays, I got on my favorite ride in the park. An incredible, low to the ground flight of positive g's and near miss elements. A great 9/10. Better than Mako by a mile.
I tried to get on Penguin Trek, the fourth ride that I haven't ridden, but the storms kept rolling in and we decided to leave. I can't say I'm too disappointed.
Now let me address the common criticisms of SeaWorld. The parking lot was not an issue because we arrived early. The food quality was good for what it was, probably the best theme park burger I've eaten. The surcharge and food pricing is pretty terrible, but I got half off tickets, so it's hard to complain.
My first major issue was the wait times. Not the waits necessarily, but the lack of accurate predictions on SeaWorld's part. Ice Breaker, for example, had a posted 30 minute wait on the sign and a 10 minute wait on the website, even though I waited 70. Infinity falls was a similar case and I started mistrusting the posted signage. Also, they were running two trains on the high-capacity Mako, Kraken, and Manta, but one train each on Pipeline, Ice Breaker, and Penguin Trek. Do better, SeaWorld.
Also, the way that SeaWorld's classification of rides was done created easy cause for confusion. It may seem nitpicky, but "Manta" and "Mako" kept getting confused in my party of non- coaster enthusiasts. All of the rides (with the exception of Ice Breaker and Mako) are blue, white, or blue-adjacent. The lands, however, are worse. You'd think Pipeline would be categorized with the rides near the tropical beach- themed entrance, but no. It's part of a vaguely-named Sea of Power with Ice Breaker and Expedition Odyssey.
One thing that surprised me was the music. Besides few exceptions, I found the music to be orchestral, mysterious, and adventurous all at the same time. I know Robert just posted an article talking about the power of music, but seriously, the music significantly improved Manta, Kraken, Mako, Pipeline (even though it was surf rock) and Expedition Odyssey.
Overall, I had a positive experience. It wasn't perfect like some days I've had at Universal and Disney in the past, but I don't go too often. I'm surprised that recent reaction to SeaWorld have been so Hostile recently.
Thanks for Posting.
Mako is a nice coaster but the unloading seems to take a while. When you are lying face down waiting to debark - it can be annoying.
Since they stopped using the transfer track on Ice Breaker, it only ever runs with 1 train. And it's been an eternity since I saw 2 trains on Pipeline and Penguin Trek. Although I will admit, I do not visit at the more expected busier times.
Expedition Odyssey had potential, but it's not a great attraction, and is easily outdone by Soarin.
My take on SeaWorld as it is right now, centers firmly on the Orcas. I don't know, but my guess is if they could move them out, they would in a heartbeat. Watching the show these days, i always get the feeling the staff are just going thru the motions. Go and watch the dolphins or sea lions, and there's plenty of noise, music, crowd participation etc, but the Orcas just come out, do their thing (or not most times) and thats it. Very sad really.
Still, we've had our surveys and rumor is rife that the picture of the proposed coaster is a Voltron clone .... Hmmmm, we wait and see. Although if it is going to be a Mack, I'll take Ride to Happiness over Voltron every day of the week.
The_man25- Remember that my opinion on the park (besides operations and orcas) is still incredibly positive. I'm sure if I were an AP at SeaWorld, I'd be a tad more angry, but I'm an AP at BGT and I rarely have issues with operations there, as long as there's more than one train on Iron Gwazi.
Brian Emery- You're proving my point about Mako and Manta being easy to confuse! That's a point in my book.
Makorider- I was hoping I'd see you here, if I'm correctly assuming your namesake. I really do have to agree with the audience reception to the Orcas compared to dolphins. It's really quite sad.
I'm at IOA more than SeaWorld, so I suppose I could say the same about you ....
But, at least you have a VC picture for your profile :)
I was at SWO last week, hoping to see the Emporer penguins, but the entrance to the habitat was closed, and I was not going on penguin trek just to see penguins ... LOL.
I did watch Hydro surge, which I considered to be a typical OK SWO type show. The BGT ones are usually much better.
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I think your review actually parrots what a lot of our complaints are. Several of us on this site are locals that have APs and the operations you describe is what aggravates us. Since you are a Universal guy i'd pose the question to you: how would you feel if Universal were ran like what you experienced at Sea World? You probably would have something to say to Universal about it.
Ultimately that's what is so frustrating about Sea World, it actually would be an amazing park if the company just cared more. They can't use "we are struggling" as an excuse as they have spent $500 million buying back their own stock over the past five years, so the corporate management has been enriching themselves while they can't staff the place because they have the lowest pay of anywhere in Orlando.