Trip Report: SeaWorld Orlando 1/19/2015

For the first ten years of my life, I lived in South Florida. A drive up Florida’s turnpike made SeaWorld Orlando a very reasonable and easy day trip. We regularly visited SeaWorld once or twice a year. Then I moved away.

I’m not sure when my last visit to the park was, but I know it was sometime between 1998, when Journey to Atlantis opened, and 2000, when I moved to North Carolina. Point being, it’s been a long time since I’ve been to SeaWorld. I really had no idea what to expect when I entered the park.

Being a holiday, we wanted to get to the park early to try to beat some of the inevitable crowds. We arrived at the parking gate about 45 minutes before the park opened, and were one of the first cars there. I was the first car through the gate, and headed towards the front gate. The first thing I noticed was SeaWorld’s iconic lighthouse, which has been decorated with the SeaWorld 50th Anniversary logo. I made my way through the entrance area of the park and headed towards the first attraction of the day, Manta.

Manta, my 97th coaster credit, was only the second B&M flying coaster (Superman: Ultimate Flight at Six Flags Over Georgia) I’ve been on. I don’t remember very much about the one time I rode Superman. I do know that I enjoyed Manta more though. It was a glass-smooth experience. The queue was incredibly themed, featuring various sting ray and manta ray tanks.

After a 140′ climb up the lift hill, the coaster features a 113′ drop that transitions almost immediately into a “pretzel” loop. I love the feeling of a pretzel loop, and wish it was easier to replicate on more coasters. Manta has 3 other inversions as well as a dive down to the water. I was able to ride Manta twice (2nd row, 7th Row) in quick succession right after entering the park. By this point, it was about 9:30, and the next attraction I wanted to visit was Kraken, which didn’t open until 10:00.

I made a detour to SeaWorld’s newest themed area, Antarctica, and the attraction, Empire of the Penguin. I had heard a lot about the technology behind this ride, but not much about the actual ride itself.

For those who are unaware, Empire of the Penguin features 8 passenger motion simulator ride vehicles similar to those on The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man at Universal’s Islands of Adventure. Unlike Spider-Man however, Empire of the Penguin’s ride vehicles are on a trackless system. After a brief delay getting out of the station due to technical difficulties, we were off. The ride experience was great, but it could have definitely been longer.

The ride emptied into an open-air penguin habitat, which was something I had never experienced before. I know that in the summer months, the chilly temperatures in the penguin habitat would be a welcome break from the hot Florida sun.

After Antarctica, I headed towards Kraken, one of 13 B&M Floorless Coasters in the world. Originally opened in 2000, Kraken was the longest roller coaster in Florida when it opened. It had some great elements; several vertical loops, a dive loop, cobra roll, and corkscrew among them. For a roller coaster that opened in 2000, it had a very smooth ride. I was able to ride in the second row, and obtain coaster credit #98.

Following Kraken, I followed the path to Turtle Trek, another one of SeaWorld’s newer attractions. Part exhibit, part 3D film, Turtle Trek opened at SeaWorld in 2012. The highlight of the experience was a 360 degree (think planetarium dome) 3D expereience about the life of a turtle from birth to finding its way back to the beach. I constantly found myself staring at different parts of the screen. No detail was left unnoticed, and Turtle Trek was one of the best theme park 3D experiences I’ve ever seen. (Yes, that includes Spider-Man and new Star Tours.)

Blue Horizons was a show that featured dolphins, birds, as well as human actors/trainers/acrobats. SeaWorld has always been known for its shows, and how the trainers interact with the animals in the water. The Dolphins were great to watch. Flipping. Jumping. Waving. Dancing. I’m not sure there was anything they couldn’t do. The acrobats were great, and there were some awesome Cirque-esque wire maneuvers. There were so many incredible moments in Blue Horizons that I was pretty much on sensory overload throughout the entire show. I also was buzzbombed by a large bird (I think it was a condor?) that came over my left shoulder and into the arena.

Coaster101 reader John Roach provided the recommendation to eat at Voyager’s Smokehouse at SeaWorld, saying that the barbecue was quite good for a theme park.

@Coaster101 go to the smokehouse. Not quite Carolina BBQ, but pretty good for a theme park.

— John Roach (@ZeroGRoll) January 19, 2015

I had the brisket plate, and though it wasn’t quite as good as Trapper’s Smokehouse at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, or Harmony Hall Marketplace at Carowinds, John was right. It still was very good, and was an ample portion for the price.

After lunch, I headed to the iconic Shamu Stadium for a performance of “One Ocean.” Before I go any further about this topic, I want to make it known that I have watched “Blackfish,” and I have seen the rebuttals from SeaWorld trainers (both who were in the documentary, as well as those who were not) about the film. I understand that there are two sides to every story. Anyway, moving on.In 2014, OHSA ruled that SeaWorld trainers would no longer be allowed to be in the water with the killer whales during performances, so I knew that this performance would not be the same as the performances at Shamu Stadium that I watched growing up.

The performance of “One Ocean,” was enjoyable, and there were some great interactions with the killer whales, but it was missing some of the unique moments that made previous versions of the show great. It’s just not what I remember it being.

We filed out of Shamu Stadium and I made my way to the motion simulator, Wild Arctic. Orginally Mission: Bermuda Triangle, Wild Arctic simulates a helicopter ride to the fictional Base Station Wild Arctic. There were several Arctic animals, including Polar Bears and Narwhals. Unfortunately, I have no idea how the ride ends. As the helicopter landed on a “glacier” that started to give way, the screen froze, was covered, and the simulator ride came to a close. I later found out that there were major power outages in the SeaWorld/International Drive area that day, so that’s what I’ll attribute the ride failure to.

Journey to Atlantis was next. When I last visited the park, it was still relatively new, and the only thing I remember was getting off the ride soaking wet. (To the point that i would take a step, and water would “squish” out of my shoes with each step). I went into Journey to Atlantis expecting that again. Luckily, I ended up in the back row of the boat, so I didn’t get too wet. Note: It’s not the big drop that gets you super soaked, but instead a smaller drop that transitions into the second half of the ride, immediately following the big drop.

I finished up with one more ride each on Kraken and Manta, and headed out.

Several quick notes.

1) Generally a “calling card” of sorts for the former Busch Entertainment/current SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment Parks, the park was beautiful and well landscaped.

2) SeaWorld Orlando’s “quick queue” was the best value of any “line jumping” program at any theme park I’ve visited recently. It was just $20 for unlimited front of the line access on every attraction, including Kraken and Manta. It was a life-saver on a relatively busy holiday Monday, and probably would be even better during the busier Summer season.

3) There’s a great mix of entertainment and rides at SeaWorld Orlando. The shows that we saw had some great production value. It’s a great park to visit for families.

4) The SeaWorld App was one of the best theme park apps I’ve ever used while “in-park.” There was a scavenger hunt included that I wish I would have had more time to utilize.