In Dolphin Days, "the audience will learn more about the individual personalities of each Atlantic bottlenose dolphin while witnessing the special bond they share with their trainers," according to SeaWorld's press release. That sounds a lot more like a straight-forward educational experience than the current Blue Horizons show, which used a mythical theme, Cirque du Soleil-style acrobatics, and a musical narrative to complement the dolphins' behaviors.
Blue Horizons opened in 2005 at SeaWorld Orlando. The show ran for five years in San Diego, before being replaced by Dolphin Days in 2015. SeaWorld says that the new Orlando performance won't be a duplicate of the San Diego production, but given that SeaWorld's shows feature animal behaviors, no two SeaWorld shows are exactly alike anyway with their ever-changing line-up of animals in even the same production.
Orlando's Dolphin Days will continue to feature the macaws and other tropical birds that featured prominently in Blue Horizons. And there will be an audience element, as well, as a young volunteer will be selected to work with the training crew and get an up-close encounter with one of the dolphins and one of the macaws during the show.
The production change is the latest move in what appears to be a trend by SeaWorld to move away from entertainment-driven animal shows to more educationally-focused ones. In addition to the new dolphin production, the Orlando park will open a new Dolphin Nursery interactive educational exhibit this summer. And the San Diego park has closed its One Ocean orca show in favor of a new education-based Orca Encounter production that will open later this year.
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I suggest they install a Soarin' type attraction where they visit the 7 seas. The latest Soarin' Around The World gave us a Orca jumping out of the water. Flying in the sky like a seagull will be most fun for visitors.
Since the Orca stadiums are not going away, why not just use the stages for a Fantasmic clone? They can use Orca and Dolphin lighted props. This will still be years away from fruition, but they should definitely plan for this.
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