The Rise and Fall of SeaWorld Orlando (Part 2) | A Complete History

[@hellboundchaoscommand7567]

The irony of getting a Seaworld ad before this video

[@Peajay007]

Same. It’s summer break in Australia so SeaWorld queensland ads are all over KZbin

[@Bev4Ever2]

Finishing this video right before I clock in at my job… at SeaWorld Orlando…

[@smallBrainsPeckersEgos]

put me in a small bathtub, daddy

[@GeneralKenobi3]

Really wish they would’ve done a better job on upkeep for Journey to Atlantis. The original facade was so impressive

[@whydidntigetanysoup]

Honestly, I didn't realize they were owned by a private equity firm. But...that really is all you need to kn ow with regards to how it's currently operating. Great work, as always!

[@merik2001]

seems to be a running theme with these corporations. As soon as the equity firms come in, quality goes right down the toilet. They acquire a declining business for a discount, extract as much immediate value from it as possible, and then leave it to die when it's no longer profitable.

[@whydidntigetanysoup]

@@merik2001 Bingo!

[@dennisd9804]

Excellent work on this series, Poseidon! I especially appreciated your discussion about Wild Arctic as that was one of my favorite attractions/exhibit as a child. It was truly a strong thematic experience. Journey to Atlantis is amazing as well. Additionally, I remember the protests about Orca captivity in 2013-2017 when I had a pass to SeaWorld San Diego. As someone with a background in Finance, I also liked that you highlighted their ownership history as PE firms have hawk eyed SeaWorld for years now... Hillpath Capital definitely changed the direction of the park.

[@Greystar2426]

oooh I've been waiting for this one. Seaworld Orlando does not pay enough. I worked there for some small time as an education coordinator and it just was not sustainable.

[@richardlong172]

My sister works there part time and had to get a 2nd job. A couple months after getting the position they offered a full time position, but she declined because it wasn't enough money to survive on and she'd have to quit the 2nd job waitressing where she makes more

[@Greystar2426]

@@richardlong172 I really did enjoy the coordinator job and I still talk with some of my old coworkers when I come back as a guest, but that position I had was only full time during the summer for summer camp season. Even then it payed like 13$ an hour which is not worth it. Although i did live really close to the park and saved on gas at the time. I make a lot more in a full time hybrid job with another company now.

[@Carsons1572]

I want to see you cover more obscure theme parks next year I love learning about new attractions

[@davidhuffman8352]

Atlantis was the first "thrill" ride I ever rode growing up. It got me to face my fears and when I was young and now I love all "thrill" rides. Thanks for the nostalgia.

[@benjaminpfister938]

You're right on this being more interesting than Part 1. I saw SeaWorld Orlando from the outside A LOT being an Orlando local, but never went into the park. Now that I know how the layout of the coasters look, it makes more sense to me. I'm not a big fan of inversions, but I love how most of this HAD good queue theming. I'd love to see you do a history of Busch Gardens Williamsburg or Universal Islands of Adventure.

[@lennylennordson6135]

I have actually always appreciated sea world, the first time I’ve been was in San Diego when I was 4/5. I could never go on the rides but loved the shows, so it makes me so sad to see its company decline into six flags territory.

[@charliemoerler93]

These are quickly becoming my favorite videos you do! Hope there are more in the future!

[@houstonharwood7197]

Growing up in central Florida, I m remember the nonstop TV ads for the then-new “Manta” ride. It was a blast. We got to ride it on a school field trip. My family allways had universal/island of adventure season passes (they were cheap!). Only went to sea world on school field trips.

[@GungHoness]

Been looking forward to this part 2!

[@josephpatton8869]

I visited Sea World Orlando this month. It was a positive experience for me since I was there in the middle of the week and was able to walk on all of the rides. Prices were high for everything, but that is across the board in Orlando as of December 2024. I am barely below the allowable height limit for Pipeline, but I had no issues with fit and comfort on the ride. The layout is fairly tame, but I did enjoy it. I remember the “Mantis” B&M standing coaster at Cedar Point. That was a torture session! B&M seems to have made some progress in the standing coaster design with Pipeline. 🤷‍♂️

[@SuperBrainSandwich]

Since you mentioned it in this vid, I'd LOVE if you'd cover Silver Dollar City. It really is a unique park with some interesting history. I visited for the first time this past summer and I absolutely loved my time there (even with all the steep hill climbing).

[@rhys4668]

I know this is about Seaworld Orlando but… as an employee of BGW, private equity firms will always destroy everything they take (and also fuck InBev)

[@scottdenham848]

Great work on this series. You make some great films

[@jaedonogaming9565]

Great video! I’m so happy that you acknowledged the classic (superior) theming of Kraken! That whole Greek area was completely screwed up in 2017.

[@eddielinebaugh6356]

I’m 33 and I used to go to this park whenever I was little little every single summer we would go down to Florida for vacation. Dad used to get tickets from men who used to work at Anheuser Bush here in Missouri so we got like a book of tickets and we used to go for free all the time.

[@loveanchors]

Thank you for making these presentations on the history of SeaWorld Orlando. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@bjvincent8786]

Great Videos! This is what we need more of in terms of learning the history of the parks and I was unaware of much of the past history and current history of SeaWorld Orlando. All I can is you are right SeaWorld has the bones to be a great park with excellent dark ride, a revived waterfront area and an emphasis on animals minus the Orcas. But SeaWorld like many other theme park companies (Disney, Universal, etc) the owners have to really care.

[@rm06c]

Excellent video!

[@iced_latteZ]

Amazing work . thank you for this

[@AuthorCertifiedGoof]

Exhaustive research birthed an awesome pair of videos! I wish I could have visited the Orlando park in its heyday, but I never even visited the San Diego park during those years because I’d moved away by then, having only experienced San Diego pre coasters. I always loved the seal/sea lion/otter/Walrus show, though, even more than the Shamu show.

[@adamxcix1620]

I’ve never clicked on a video so fast

[@enchantingkatie2]

I didn’t ride Journey to Atlantis for the first time until a few years ago, but I was extremely confused by it when I did so since it was after they’d all but completely removed the story and plot from the ride. You literally just float through random static sets with zero context before suddenly ascending to the lift hill. I’m baffled about why they thought that was a good idea. The projections of the actors were hokey, but it at least attempted to tell a coherent narrative.

[@kiwicraft6901]

I'm surprised how many rides opened after mako I wasn't aware about, but I'm not sure if I'm willing to go back right now to experience them. Sad to see that the Atlantis "refurb" I remember from the mid 2010s new years events wasn't just general ride effects breaking down they hadn't replaced yet. Another great video as always! Happy early new year to you!

[@Shadowstitch]

I regretfully rode the VR version of Kraken way back in 2017. It was super slow to load as they had to clean every headset before loading, and my own headset failed halfway through the ride, leaving me stuck on a roller coaster with a heavy headset strapped to my face, being thrown around while able to see nothing but darkness. It left me horribly nauseated for the rest of the day, and I NEVER get sick on coasters.

[@jimt9245]

Thanks for the time machine tour ... having grew up only have gone to Sea World San Diego and Marineland once ... I have experienced more of the earlier corner stones of these parks. But like Universal - it is interesting to hear you refer to how Orlando is the location of the Sea World's flagship park. Never felt Sea World was well themed like Disneyland, but the shows specifically Clyde and Seymore and later the addition of Penguin Encounter, Penguin Encounter, Mission Bermuda, Ship Wreck Rapids and Journey to Atlantis were all memorable additions - some leaving a need for an encore or more theming. Even though Aquatica is a separate gate ... how does it relate to this Sea World Orlando park? I look at it as a more immersive experience to that of an smaller version as Baja Reef that was at Marineland of the Pacific. Great Video as always!

[@BuschGardensJunkie]

Perfectly stated. The downfall started with the investment firms buying parks. Thank you Scott Ross of Hill Path Capital for ruining the best parks around.

[@hoss4830]

The locals have boycotted SW since Scott Ross and company laid off thousands. Their scandalous tactics are legendary in treating folks with 10-20 and more years of service. Blacklisting former employees who couldn’t care less about him , but STILL CARE about the animals being neglected with inexperienced newbies all part time with no benefits, low pay. I also blame the Busch family for their scrabbling which led to the sale to their greed.

[@johnshoemakerpbc]

I really wish Busch could rebuy them and rebuild their vision. It can be an amazing park it just needs someone who cares at the top. A private equity firm shouldn’t own a theme park.

[@LauraBow]

The random Beetlejuice theme sent me to hell for a minute. Also I think pipeline sounds like a really fun idea for a roller-coaster. It just needs some workshoping. I don't live anywhere near a SeaWorld so it would take a lot to get me to plan a trip there in comparison to the other parks.

[@DominusPiscis]

I was just watching part 1 while eating dinner, that is a funny coincidence

[@DarkanonsChannel]

I remember the polar express on the simulator for wild artic during Christmas. It was so nauseating

[@Carsons1572]

Omg I’m so excited

[@ScofieldStudios]

Great video! Here in San Diego, Wild Artic closed down a few years ago and got replaced by a roller coaster. It sucks because Wild Artic is the closest this park has to a dark ride, and now it's all roller coasters. A theme park in San Diego is such a great idea, and it's a shame the park is becoming so lackluster. Last time I went, there wasn't one ride I waited less than an hour for. The worst thing I can remember is the wait for Journey to Atlantis. I was wondering why the line was moving so slow, and when I got to the end, I found out that there were four loading stations for different trains, and they were only using one. They were so understaffed that they were only loading one boat at a time when they could do 3. Sad to see. Also, can you do one on Knotts Berry Farm? There's not enough theme park content on it, and it has a really rich history.

[@jimt9245]

What impressed me with Mission Bermuda Triangle (at San Diego) was the spray of water as the submarine is taking on damage. As a "copycat" of Star Tours of sorts ... this added 4D feature as the exploration into the deep brought a different experience. A missed opportunity would have incorporated a Titanic or discovery of other sunken ships as narrated by either James Cameron or Bob Ballard. Of course entertainment tends to win over education ... but sometimes we get both!

[@narfii7302]

Geauga Lake pronounced correctly! We locals thank you, all 4 of us 😂 I wasn't old enough to remember going to our SeaWorld, but my brothers loved it growing up! In retrospect I'm ok with never making an appearance

[@cearathibodeau1852]

Whoa I didn't even remember the arctic ride until I watched the clip. For context I haven't been to SeaWorld since 2003

[@cruiseandthemeparkguide]

I dropped my AP at SW ORL because of its business practices and low pay. The low pay is prominent with its unhappy staff. I also think this park has so much potential.

[@TSkillz407]

About damn time. Almost as bad as waiting for wicked part 2. Thanks for dropping this 😊

[@R2Y2V2]

The irony I'm going to SeaWorld tomorrow😂

[@aquaarietta]

Something not mentioned was the period of time when the simulator was themed after the Polar Express movie. I remember it was a lot of fun when I rode it at 11 years old. It eventually went back to the arctic theming, which I agree also made me motion sick with how rough it was.

[@artemismoon7655]

This was a really interesting series. I will admit, even before the Orca controversies, I hated this park. As a kid, my family dragged me there and I thought it was so boring. I was all about rides and they were all about shows because they were scared of most rides (I have no idea how I was born into my family 😂). I can’t recall exactly when we went, but my guess is late 80s to early 90s. They must have had the simulator while we were there, but I bet my family avoided it so I never got to do it. Sigh. Now as an adult my family got annual passes to it and they even get extra passes as a bonus, but I refuse to go. I love Disney and Universal (thankfully I have a cousin who will ride everything and lives in Orlando), but I would rather spend the day plucking every single one of my leg hairs out with tweezers than go back to SeaWorld.

[@JP-1990]

Does anyone know the music track that plays at 21:52? I swear I heard it in a movie.

[@Mr.Platypus]

10/10 video

[@andrewdoucet1203]

I just went there last night and the park is an absolute logistics nightmare. Crowd control was a mess and trying to enjoy certain exhibits was impossible. What they’ve done to the penguin exhibit is beyond a nightmare for someone trying to see them in a wheelchair.

[@JakeCoasters]

Manby had a pretty aggressive resort strategy that would have been quite interesting if implemented correctly

[@sagastar4108]

I can only speak from my trip last year but the stand up coaster almost never ran when I visited, it was constantly opening and shutting down for maintenance. I hope after a year they’ve sorted out all the issues, but from the sounds of it they’ll continue to happen.

[@thebakednachos]

Seaworld has some really cool looking coasters. Their treatment of orcas and dolphins will always be the #1 thing stopping me from ever even visiting one. Empty the tanks

[@kawhi_wgs8303]

I wish they would do something with Atlantis that ride is so underrated

[@kevinbhieey9188]

Good job with the research and with not putting too much emphasis on 'Blackfish', as that excuse is mostly lazy "reporting". Blackfish came out in 2013 and was mentioned a lot by the media that year... and SeaWorld's attendance only dropped by about 268,000, from 5.36 million in 2012. This wasn't great, as the other Orlando parks mostly improved by about 2%. The following year was worse, with a drop of about 400K. But 'Blackfish' had its own controversies and was forgotten by then. Beyond that, this wasn't even the biggest drop the park had had in recent years. 2010 saw an attendance drop of 700K, more than the two 'Blackfish' years combined, and that was certainly NOT due to the Tilikum incident as it got way less play than 'Blackfish' did. (Animal parks and zoos are rarely affected by animal attacks as people know it's a possibility. REPEATED attacks, on the other hand...) Anyhow, had anybody done any real journalism, they would've know the importance of the years 2010 and 2014 in Orlando. When I saw those two years being two of the worst for SeaWorld in the TEA report, it immediately hit me: 2010 was when Hogsmeade opened. 2014 was when Diagon Alley opened. SeaWorld didn't counter with anything and got its ass kicked by a nerdy wizard! To prove this point, they also had one other precipitous drop in the 2010s: they had another 400K plummet again in 2017... the year of Pandora. SeaWorld can literally no longer compete with the big boys. All that said, my only real gripe with these videos - and it's a small one - is the title. SeaWorld hasn't fallen. They've plateaued. Since 2014, attendance has hovered around 4.5M, give or take a couple hundred thousand (not counting 2017 and COVID, of course). It's still doing better than the other SeaWorld Entertainment parks, and WAY better than every single one of the Six Flags and Cedar Fair parks - which were still separate companies in 2023 - all of which have minor gains or losses every year. The biggest difference between those parks and SeaWorld is pricing. SeaWorld Orlando, in trying to keep up with Disney and Universal, kept ratcheting up prices whenever WDW and UO did, but they were no longer ratcheting up the experience. In the early 2000s, SeaWorld and Epcot were basically the main locals' parks, and these higher ticket prices affected Single-Day tickets more than the Annual Passes, which meant fewer tourists. Epcot could survive the higher prices thanks to Disney's Multi-Day discounts, but SeaWorld's best Multi-Day offerings were combo tickets with Universal, and Universal certainly doesn't need to team up with SeaWorld anymore. It just took too long for SeaWorld to recognize that it's now, more than ever before, a locals' park. It does appear as if they've finally realized this, as they are starting to act like a Six Flags park, offering major discounts on Single-Day tickets; a new, $100 level Annual Pass; and the ever-popular All-Day Dining option. While this is fine for a big chain like Six Flags, investment groups won't like just maintaining the status quo, and I think Universal is patiently waiting for them to give up so they can swoop in and buy the next additions to the Universal Orlando Resort.

[@btverse]

Your assessment at the tail end of the video about the current state is dead on. We had a fun card this year and it was eye opening how aweful it is compared to neighboring Disney and Universal. There was no way we were going to get another.

[@alexalan5475]

Them being owned by private equity now makes so much sense.

[@djungelskog132]

Yesss

[@jeffreygross5706]

So…. Now when is the Pirates 4D theater show gonna be covered :)

[@Greystar2426]

Honestly I was a big fan of Pipeline. I got to ride it early as a former employee at the time, and came back even after many times to ride it. It never was uncomfortable for me and honestly was the most comfortable of the three standup Coasters I had ridden (Six flags over Georgia and Carowinds were the other two)

[@Bfyobrian12]

Yeah I don’t really agree with his takes here, the coaster may have been cheap to buy due to being experimental but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad ride. I thought it was the most comfortable stand-up coaster I’ve been on (others being Mantis, Green Lantern, Georgia Scorcher), and in fact I’d say it was more comfortable than many traditional coasters I’ve been on as well. Operations were slow across the park, with one-train ops at almost every ride besides Penguin Trek, but otherwise I thought the ride lineup was quite good.

[@MartyBlair-i7o]

Actually the first modern trackless ride system in the USA was in 2006 at Enchanted Forest in Oregon. The ride is Flight of Mondor. Put some respect on Roger Tofte!!!

[@Peajay007]

Batman the ride simulator also opened at WB movieworld Queensland

[@stevenmurphy1334]

We knew what would happen if Anheuser-Busch had to leave 🙃

[@flipcoin6301]

Most of their rides have very uncomfortable seating (and I am not a large person). Rode each once and never again.

[@adamcohen9297]

I love sea wrold its apart of my childhood field trips and learing about sea life at a young age i do think unfortunately they will take a pretty big attendance drop when epic universe opens they could have combined the budgets for pinguine treck and pipeline to make a brilliant atraction that would have gotten wrold wide attention they are both fun rides but ya nothing remarkable like hargids or even iron gwazi i really hope they bring the park up to standards if i had the experience i would run it my self break open the books and see what i can do

[@thefergyfilms]

I would agree that the current state of SeaWorld & Busch Gardens parks is completely unacceptable and sad, especially given how the chain was the only bastion of both high thrill coasters & themeing stateside akin to most European parks (other than Dollywood & Silver Dollar City). I wish more of the coaster community pressed them about their complete lack of care regarding themeing and maintenance. I don't care how much hangtime or g-forces are on Pantheon, how do you have a launch system like that and do absolutely zero theming to a comical, Six Flags degree. In fact, West Coast Racers at Magic Mountain has vastly better presentation so comparing it to Six Flags might be an insult to the latter at this point.

[@BestFriendOfJesus]

God bless

[@chillabrew_glycolinstall]

You gotta love do nothing organizations like osha that rarely prevent harm, and stand there with palms outstretched when something goes wrong.

[@swampsagacity4685]

Sea World Orlando is now not much more than a roller coaster park. Too bad they haven’t put more effort into additional family friendly rides and entertainment. They can call the new penguin coaster a family friendly ride all they want, but it’s still just another roller coaster.

[@QDude24]

That bermuda Triangle simulator is still not as cool as the ride at SeaWorld Australia (and its clone at Warner Bros Movie World Germany) Wild Arctic also reminds me of Arctic 1 at Wildlands Adventure Zoo

[@bassjasinski]

Great vid and Hill Path Capital is a horrible theme park operator