As the Central Florida theme park market heats up this month, SeaWorld Orlando is freezing over with Expedition Odyssey. The Mack flying theater attraction opens May 9, with Pass Member previews starting Thursday, May 1.
Featuring actual footage filmed in the Arctic, Expedition Odyssey has a height requirement of 39 inches (one inch less than Disney's Soarin', for those keeping score at home), making this a family-friendly thrill ride. It’s great to see SeaWorld adding some attraction diversity beyond their go-to coasters - and one that will operate during inclement weather.
The preshow of the ride displays some behind-the-scenes footage of the ride film that was captured with a drone and also explains how riders will encounter some of the animals featured in the film in exhibits afterward. Unlike many other SeaWorld attractions, Expedition Odyssey isn’t themed to a particular animal or creature, but rather an environment. It’s the Arctic habitat that takes center stage.
Guests are then loaded onto a single row of seats. Once the attraction begins the seats tilt back slightly and rotate into the screening room, displaying soothing images of northern lights, before the ride begins in earnest.
The attraction takes viewers above the Arctic, soaring over glaciers, waterfalls, and wildlife - including polar bears, beluga whales, sea lions, seals, and more. The movement of the ride vehicles seemed sharper than traditional flying theater attractions with more roll, pitch, and yaw, adding a tiny bit more intensity.
The ride really shines when the film transitions underwater, showcasing spectacular footage of orcas complimented by subtle, fluid movements of the vehicle. Aficionados of flying theater rides will recognize familiar elements: fans blowing from the overhead awnings to mimic Arctic winds and a water splash effect synced to a whale spout in the film.
But the real stars of the show are the animals in the renovated Wild Arctic Encounter after the ride concludes. This exhibit features beluga whales and walruses. Expedition Odyssey stands as an attraction unto itself, but functions almost like a pre-show for the animal exhibits. In doing so, SeaWorld adds a layer of thematic continuity and cohesion to the exhibit, themed as a frigid research outpost that guests have ventured to through their flying theater experience.
Those who are prone to motion sickness may want to reconsider Expedition Odyssey, however. During my ride certain parts of the film were blurry. I'm not sure if that's inherent in the footage or an issue with the projector, but the blurriness combined with the movement of the ride occasionally produced sensory mismatch.
Additionally, the film has a tendency to cut away before the full impact of the landscape or animals had a chance to land. There also were moments where the focal point of the film was obfuscated by the overhead awnings of the ride vehicle. Perhaps this was limited to my particular seat, but I had to position myself forward to see the majestic glacier waterfall on the top edge of the frame.
Overall, Expedition Odyssey is a solid addition to SeaWorld Orlando, providing more options to families and the roller-coaster hesitant. It's an integrated themed environment that highlights the secret star of the attraction - the magnificent animals.
* * *
To keep up to date with more theme park news, please sign up for Theme Park Insider's weekly newsletter.
Yeah, it's a good ride, but as a response to epic universe, you'd think they'd have something bigger planned. A large b&m, or a big launched spectacle, or something to draw guests away from Universal property.
I think it's smart from United Parks to not invest major money to combat the opening of Epic in its debut year. Even Disney is clearing the deck for Epic with no major new attractions opening at WDW until at least mid-late 2026. The only new offerings at WDW in 2025 will be the nighttime parade and re-envisioned TestTrack.
The competition is smart to hold off major capital investment until 2026 and beyond when they can build off the interest in Epic with new attractions to siphon off from the new park (Universal will probably do the same with the RRR replacement and whatever is coming to refresh Lost Continent). United has identified a clear blind spot in their attraction lineup by adding Penguin Trek and now this to increase/improve their lineup for families with smaller children.
To be fair since Sea World has repositioned itself as the more family budget-friendly option in Orlando instead of trying to compete head on with Disney and Universal (at least ticket/AP wise) they seem to be doing better business. The place always seemed to be dead in the early 2000s up until 2018 or so, so chronically dead to the point they almost went bankrupt. Florida is a huge market so there are still millions of people who are fine with "not as good as Disney/Universal but we can get in a lot cheaper."
That is certainly not to justify some of the scummy business practices United has become notorious for the past decade or so, just pointing out the obvious that there is a huge market for cheaper ticket/AP price with a lower quality product.
This article has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.
Flying theater attractions like this are becoming pretty ubiquitous as tourist attractions around the country. I'm kind of surprised other theme parks haven't installed more of these because they are so good in terms of spectacle and have great throughput and accessibility, especially when compared to traditional gimble-box motion simulators. The Fly-Over attraction we recently experienced in Las Vegas moved seats forward (rolled seats on massive i-beams into the domed theater) instead of rotating the seats into the dome, which is closer to Soarin's take-off sequence, and still unmatched particularly when you're sitting in the front row.
As far as the Arctic animal habitats, I've always like those areas that were part of the old Wild Arctic attraction, but after Sea World got rid of the polar bears it seemed very sparse in terms of action. The beluga whale tank is extremely large (by design), and there aren't any other animals in that enclosure. The former polar bear tank had some seals in it the last time we visited last year, and the walrus enclosure seemed pretty small for such large creatures. In other words, if Sea World didn't perform some major renovations to these exhibits, which is unlikely given the timeline of this project and the descriptions here, not much has changed to an area that has been in decline since the old Wild Arctic ride stopped running.