SeaWorld San Diego announced today that it has closed its Shark Encounter attraction in preparation to open a new version of the walk-through experience next year.
"This is more than a refresh - it's a reinvention," SeaWorld San Diego Park President Tyler Carter said of the project. "The revamped Shark Encounter is designed to engage the senses and imagination like never before, bringing guests closer to sharks in powerful, memorable ways. This revitalization is part of our ongoing investment in the park to create innovative, immersive experiences that also support marine conservation and education."
Designed to move away from "traditional fear-based portrayals," according to SeaWorld's press release, the park's new Shark Encounter will showcase the park's 11 species of shark, including sand tiger sharks, blacktip reef sharks, and the endangered Australian leopard shark. (It's worth noting that one of the more notable "fear-based portrayals" of sharks - the 1983 movie Jaws 3-D - was set and filmed in SeaWorld Orlando's Shark Encounter attraction.)
The revamped walk-through exhibit in San Diego will include an overhead video leading into the attraction's famous clear underwater tunnel, within which guests can watch sharks swimming overhead. Elsewhere in the exhibit, a new surge tank will simulate waves washing into a tide pool, recreating sharks' coastal habitats.
The encounter's finale will feature a multi-screen video installation, showing "rare live footage of shark diversity" in an eight-minute presentation.
SeaWorld San Diego is planning to open its new Shark Encounter next spring.
A textbook tells a story, but not one that people want to pick up and read on their own. That's the lesson I want to see placed on every SeaWorld's executive's desk.
I want to be scared not put to slee
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Frankly, I find Shark Encounter more iconic to Sea World than Shamu. The exhibits at all three American parks are excellent with characteristics every top aquarium tries to achieve in their larger tanks. I do worry that moving away from the lore of sharks as dangerous predators will impact the tone of the attraction that allows it to capture the imaginations of younger guests. While I'm all for being factual and realistic, sometimes you need to add some hyperbole and embellishment to make something interesting to younger (and less traveled) guests who only have the patience to see the extremes of our world.