SeaWorld Orlando will be adding a dark ride to the park next year.
The park today announced SEAQuest: Legends of the Deep, which it described as "the world's first-of-its-kind suspended dark ride."
"On SEAQuest: Legends of the Deep, guests will embark on a vibrant submersible adventure through dazzling undersea ecosystems, where they’ll encounter extraordinary lifeforms, breathtaking environments, and inspiring stories of the sea," the park said in its announcement.
The attraction will be part of the "SEA Collective" meta-narrative that SeaWorld introduced at its Yas Island theme park in Abu Dhabi and most recently continued with the refurbishment of the Journey to Atlantis water coaster at SeaWorld San Diego.
Here is the teaser video from SeaWorld.
Suspended dark rides are not new to the theme park industry. Disneyland's Peter Pan's Flight has been around since that park opened 70 years ago. But SeaWorld's announcement suggests a new iteration of this ride type, though there is no indication yet how much of the ride will be presented with practical scenery, actual environments, or screen media.
This also would be the park's first attempt at a dark ride since Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin closed in 2020 after a seven-year run. This year, the park opened Expedition Odyssey, a Mack Rides flying theater.
SEAQuest: Legends of the Deep will open at the Orlando theme park sometime in 2026. Stay tuned for more details, including an opening date. To keep up to date with more travel and theme park news, please sign up for Theme Park Insider's weekly newsletter.
Hopefully on this one you actually go in the water and see marine animals, unlike the short lived submarine ride at San Diego (if you want to waste 5 minutes of your life and be sad, check that out on youtube).
Sigh... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NinNGfXoZw
A submarine-themed outdoor elevated track ride was perhaps not the best concept.
Two first of its kind family water rides revealed in one day? Seriously, this is great for Orlando, which could definitely use a high- quality, high- capacity indoor ride.
I know that United doesn't have the best track record on dark rides, but I appreciate that they're still trying. Just have to set expectations accordingly.
The real test is going to be how well this looks five years from now. It's one thing to build a dark ride, it's another to maintain it as we've seen from the decline of Journey to Atlantis and Curse of DarKastle.
Well, Expedition Odyssey bombed, so let's hope this dark ride fares a bit better.
When I think of SeaWorld, I think of biological attractions; the fish and sea life and whales, whose containment is not as remarkable or culturally accepted as it was 40+ years ago. Trying to pivot from an aquarium park to a mediocre thrill ride destination has always seemed like a poor choice for them, especially considering the local competition. I'm not expecting much from this. No one goes to Chuck-e-Cheese for the pizza.
@the_man25 - I had the exact same thought comparing this to that failed attempt at a dark ride in San Diego. I certainly hope that Sea World has learned its lesson from previously failed dark rides - FWIW, DarKastle is probably the lone example of a successful dark ride for the chain and its demise was related to the maintenance costs that the park knew they couldn't keep up with as the ride aged, which is very different than what happened to Antarctica, which was a poor dark ride to start and Sea World did little to improve or even maintain it.
I do like the idea of Sea World increasing their lineup of attractions that can operate during adverse weather conditions and also cater to families. However, if this ride does not actually pass through a single animal habitat and is just filled with a bunch of filmed media projected on screens, it will be incredibly disappointing. I'm willing to give the park the benefit of the doubt here, but let's just say I'm not nearly as excited for this announcement as I am for NightFlight Expedition at Dollywood.
I am also wondering where in the park this is being built.
I pushed the "Ocean" button on Horizons. Been there...done that.
@sarah - That's hilarious, I thought the same thing!!!
I want to give SeaWorld the benefit of the doubt, but they haven't exactly earned it with their recent projects. Could they deliver a quality dark ride that adds something new to their attraction line-up? Absolutely! Do I expect this to be on par with even the average dark ride found in the competitive Florida market? Honestly, probably not. Hopefully I'm proven wrong, but until I see evidence of a quality product, I'm not holding my breath on this being a big deal.
As for where it's going, based on current work it seems to be next to or behind Expedition Odyssey.
If the same people who have been in charge of ride development have their hands on this one, I wouldn’t get too excited
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This looks ambitious! I'm glad Sea World's next ride will be aimed at a family audience. Big question... where in the park will it be located?
I can also say that with this timeline (about a year) the ride's scope may not be huge. Maybe a B-C ticket ride (using Disney's old system) and that's fine. A cool ride to get out of the sun with hopefully some engaging visuals and neat ride system implementation and this can be a real winner for the park. Looking forward to it.