SeaWorld Orlando today revealed more details about its new attraction for 2026, SEAQuest: Legends of the Deep.
On the IAAPA Expo show floor in Orlando today, SeaWorld unveiled the ride vehicle for its new attraction, in the booth of partner Vekoma.
The new attraction will be an installation of Vekoma's Suspended Dark Ride.
"SEAQuest: Legends of the Deep redefines what a family attraction can be," SeaWorld Orlando vice president of rides and engineering Conner Carr said. "By blending cutting-edge ride technology with the mystery of the deep sea, we’re creating an experience that inspires curiosity and brings explorers of all ages along for the adventure."
The dark ride will open next year in a newly expanded area of the park. Vehicles will offer onboard audio and will swing and rotate through different themed environments.
"Guests will embark together on an expedition beneath the waves — discovering glowing worlds, exploring sunken shipwrecks, and encountering astonishing creatures that capture the exhilaration of the unknown," SeaWorld said of the attraction in its press release.
This looks awesome. All the investment in SeaWorld Orlando is impressive. The gap widens between Orlando and San Diego, which feels like it's hanging by a thread.
Given the quality of SeaWorld's past attempts at dark rides, I'm very much keeping my expectations low until the finished product is unveiled. Rotating suspended ride vehicles are certainly fancy, but I worry about so much going into the technology that cuts are made in other areas of the attraction design.
Still no word on where this will go? I can't picture an area of the park that can accommodate this without something having to go. Maybe the theater by Mako?
I'm with AJ here given Sea World's track record with dark rides. It is a bit concerning to see that these vehicles appear to hold no more than 3 people, so this could be a seriously slow loader even if headways are kept small. I am definitely keeping my expectations low for this, and implore Sea World to make sure there are at least a couple of real animal habitats along the course.
As far as location, the early word is that this is going into space adjacent to Expedition Odyssey (across the path from Ice Breaker), which would mean this won't be a particularly large dark ride.
I mean they also said Empire of the Penguin was going to redefine dark rides in Central Florida before it opened. We saw how that turned out…
VelocicoasterFan, the attraction is going into a portion of the parking space located behind the Expedition Odyssey building. Estimating from recent construction images, it looks like they've torn up about 200k sq. ft. to use for this project, so that's a pretty sizable footprint available (for reference, it's about four times the size of the Antarctica ride building).
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"SEAQuest: Legends of the Deep redefines what a family attraction can be," SeaWorld Orlando vice president of rides and engineering Conner Carr said
Considering this park is right inbetween Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando, I feel like this is a bold take.