SeaWorld

File:Seaworldlogo.jpg

For the unrelated theme park with a similar name in Australia, see Sea World.

SeaWorld is a chain of marine mammal parks in the United States, with operations in Orlando, Florida, San Diego, California, San Antonio, Texas, and previously Cleveland, Ohio. The parks feature killer whale, sea lion, and dolphin shows and zoological displays featuring various other marine animals. The parks' icon is Shamu, the killer whale.

Kasatka, one of SeaWorld San Diego's 7 killer whales, performs during a routine Shamu Adventure show.

SeaWorld parks also feature a variety of thrill rides, including roller coasters like Kraken at SeaWorld Orlando and Steel Eel and The Great White at SeaWorld San Antonio. Journey to Atlantis, a combination roller coaster and splashdown ride, can be found at both SeaWorld Orlando, SeaWorld San Diego and in 2007 at SeaWorld San Antonio. The parks are owned by Busch Entertainment Corp., the family entertainment division of Anheuser-Busch, which is best known for brewing beer but also owns nine theme parks. On March 5, 2007, SeaWorld Orlando announced Aquatica to its adventure park family, which already includes SeaWorld and Discovery Cove.

One of the biggest attractions is the Shark Encounter, in which guests are carried through a submerged acrylic tube into the sharks' tank. Another famous ride is Wild Arctic, simulating a helicopter ride to the Arctic. After the ride, the guests arrive at a simulated base station, where they can observe polar bears, Pacific walruses, and beluga whales. Another attraction is the Penguin Encounter, showcasing a variety of penguins. In addition, an attraction features endangered Florida manatees. The park has an extensive playground for children, Shamu’s Happy Harbor (formerly called "Cap’n Kids’ World").

SeaWorld has made many contributions to wildlife conservation. SeaWorld scientists, zoologists, trainers and rescue teams participate in research and wildlife preservation. SeaWorld teams have helped save stranded whales, dolphins, seals, and sea lions and helped raise the awareness of endangered manatees. SeaWorld's commitment to conservation, research and animal rescue was recently formalized with the creation of the non-profit SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund. Sea World is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, meaning they have met and exceeded the standards in Education, Conservation and Research.

SeaWorld's official airline is Southwest Airlines, which has three Boeing 737 jetliners painted to look like a flying Shamu.

History

Entrance to Sea World San Antonio.

Milton C. Shedd, Ken Norris, David Demont, and George Millay brought SeaWorld to life, yet that was not the initial idea. The four graduates of UCLA originally set out to build an underwater restaurant and marine life show. When the underwater restaurant concept was deemed unfeasible, they scrapped those plans and decided to build a park instead, and SeaWorld San Diego was born on March 21, 1964. With only a few dolphins, sea lions, 6 attractions and 22 acres, the park proved to be a success and more than 400,000 guests visited there in just the first 12 months.

After considering other locations in the midwest, including the Lake Milton/Newton Falls area west of Youngstown, Ohio, it was decided that Aurora, Ohio would be the new home of a SeaWorld. The Aurora site was approximately 15 miles northwest of the Lake Milton site, and 30 miles southeast of Cleveland. By this time the founders of the company had captured a few more species of animals including an Orca that would call the new facility home. The Ohio site would prove to be challenging. The harsh winter climate permitted the park to be open only from mid-May until mid-September. However, the vast population of the Midwest and Northeastern states lived within a day's drive of the park, which would eventually add to the success of SeaWorld of Ohio.

The Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida opened near the end of the second operating season of SeaWorld of Ohio. The success of Disney in Orlando provided another ideal spot to capitalize on the mass number of tourists that would make their way to central Florida for vacations. Since opening day in 1973, SeaWorld Orlando has thrived in a place known as 'the theme park mecca of the world'.

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. (HBJ) purchased the company in 1976 and 12 years later they ventured deep into the heart of Texas. In 1988 SeaWorld San Antonio opened just a few miles outside of San Antonio. Although the climate was more like that of its Ohio counterpart, the park did have a longer operating season. Still, this park was not open year-round like its sister parks in California and Florida. The stress and financial resources it took to build and maintain a state-of-the-art marine mammal facility in the late '80s eventually took its toll on the company.

HBJ, whose primary focus was producing school books, needed to reduce its assets in order to avoid a bankruptcy.

The Anheuser-Busch Company made an offer to purchase the SeaWorld parks. However, HBJ also owned and operated two other parks, Cypress Gardens and Boardwalk and Baseball, and out of fear of not being able to find a buyer for the two other parks HBJ refused to sell the parks individually. Despite a long negotiation, Anheuser-Busch bought all six parks: SeaWorld in San Diego, Aurora, Orlando and San Antonio as well as Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven and Boardwalk and Baseball in Haines City. Soon after the sale was final, Busch sold Cypress Gardens to the park's management and closed Boardwalk and Baseball. Anheuser-Busch put millions of dollars back into the parks to revive and to prolong their longevity.

SeaWorld Ohio sale, re-birth, and eventual transition

In February of 2001, Anheuser-Busch sold the Ohio park to Six Flags, Inc., operators of neighboring Six Flags Ohio (Geauga Lake until the end of 1999, reverting to the Geauga Lake Name in 2004). Upon completion of the sale, the two parks were combined in spring 2001 as the mega-park Six Flags Worlds Of Adventure, which boasted its '3 parks in 1' uniqueness: a waterpark, an amusement park, and a wildlife animal park all included in the price of admission. Sea World executives replied that the park was sold because of the short season of the animal park, due to Ohio's cold winter months, and the fact that they were not able to secure the rights to build amusement park coasters as the other Sea World properties had been able to.

In March 2004, Six Flags, Inc. announced it had sold Six Flags Worlds of Adventure to Cedar Fair, operators of the Cedar Point theme park in Sandusky, Ohio, two hours' drive to the west. Cedar Fair renamed the park back to its original Geauga Lake name, which has a history dating back to 1888. Since Six Flags retained ownership of the animals, the majority of the animal side of the park, including all the exhibits and animal stadiums, was either empty or fenced off during the 2004 season.

After a near season-long wait, Cedar Fair announced their plans for the non-operational side of the former Sea World Ohio/Six Flags Worlds of Adventure-Wildlife Side. The entire section of land will become an immense waterpark, named 'Wildwater Kingdom', opening in 2 phases, with the first phase in 2005 followed by the second phase in 2006. This decision marked the end of the marine life park forever.

All of the animal stadiums and buildings were then torn down or converted into other venues. Surprisingly, some of the SeaWorld property remained intact, albeit hidden or modified since its original incarnation. What remained included the former pinniped area (now part of the waterpark/lounge area scenery), the Ski Stadium (to be used in a Lumberjack show in 2006), as well as the Aquarium (used for unknown purposes) and the 2 movie theater houses/simulators, now operating with new 3D/4D movies.

A Sea World exists in Australia, but has absolutely nothing to do with the SeaWorld Adventure Parks in the U.S. They can still use the name due to it being two words rather than one.

Stunt show accident

On August 17, 1996, 22 people were injured during a Baywatch-themed water ski stunt show at the now closed SeaWorld of Ohio. Andrew R. Schleis, who was driving a boat in the show, lost control after the boat allegedly experienced mechanical failure. The boat crashed five rows deep into the show's stadium resulting in 17 being taken to area hospitals and 5 treated on the scene. Of the 17, at least 4 were listed in critical condition. Of those injured, no one died as a result of the accident.

During the accident investigation, the owner of the boat, World Entertainment Services Inc. of Winter Park, Fla., was charged with three marine regulation violations unrelated to the accident.

Orcas

SeaWorld's main attraction is its Orcas (killer whales), several of which are housed in 7-million-gallon habitats that are each known as Shamu Stadium. It is important to note that there is not just one Orca named Shamu. Shamu was the name of the first Orca ever to be brought to SeaWorld San Diego in the 1960s. 'Shamu' is now used as a stage name for adult Orcas in performances at SeaWorld parks. The Orcas all have real names. Currently, Sea World houses 22 Orcas in its three parks. Seven Orcas live in the San Diego park: Corky, Kasatka, Ulises, Orkid, Sumar, Nakai, and Kalia. Nine live at SeaWorld Orlando: Katina, Kalina, Tilikum, Taima, Takara, Kayla, Trua, Nalani, and Taima's 2007 calf. SeaWorld San Antonio holds six Orcas: Taku, Kyuquot, Keet, Unna, Tuar, and Halyn.

Criticism

Organizations such as the WSPA and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society campaign against the captivity of dolphins and Orcas. SeaWorld, which owns 55% of the world's captive Orcas, is also targeted. Orcas are known to have a much shorter lifespan in captivity, though for Bottlenose Dolphins this does not appear to be the case. Further criticism is aimed at the living conditions of the animals, such as too small pools, sensory deprivation since dolphins cannot make much use of echolocation in captivity and the chlorination of the water.

Aggression in captivity is also not uncommon. One of the more infamous accidents took place August 1989 when a dominant female Orca, Kandu V, struck a newcomer Orca, Corky II, with her mouth during a live show. Corky II had been imported from Marineland California just months prior to the incident. According to reports, a loud smack was heard across the stadium. Although trainers tried to keep the show rolling, the blow severed an artery near Kandu V's jaw, and she began spouting blood. The crowd was quickly ushered out, and after a 45-minute hemorrhage, Kandu V died. Various SeaWorld trainers have also sustained serious injuries from working with the animals. The most recent incident happened in November 2006 and involved Orca Kasatka at SeaWorld San Diego, who held 39-year-old trainer Ken Peters below the surface by his foot, though the trainer managed to safely exit the pool eventually.

SeaWorld's ways of obtaining animals in the past have also been criticized. Up until 1993, SeaWorld was amongst several parks across the United States that imported dolphins from Japanese drive hunts and SeaWorld's attempt to capture several Orcas in Puget Sound in the early 1970's using powerboats, airplanes and explosives to drive the animals resulted in the capture permit being revoked. In 1995, SeaWorld announced that it would no longer capture dolphins and whales from the wild.

Gallery

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  Katina, an Orca residing in Orlando
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  Takara Performing in Believe at Shamu Stadium in Orlando, Florida
  
• Kraken roller coaster in Orlando
  Kraken roller coaster in Orlando
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  (l to r) Ikaika, Katina, and Taku perform in Orlando
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  Kasatka (middle) with offsprings Nakai (right) and Kalia (left) in California
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  The dolphin show at SeaWorld San Diego
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  Sea World San Antonio: A view of the park during the ascent on the "Steel Eel"
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  Sea World San Antonio: The Steel Eel
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  Sea World San Antonio: The Steel Eel
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  Sea World San Antonio: The Penguin encounters lighting matches the current Antarctic conditions.
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  Sea World San Antonio: Also inside the Penguin encounter is a puffin exhibit.
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  Sea World San Antonio: Penguin encounter penguins silhouetted against the low light.

External links

• Google Maps satellite view of SeaWorld San Diego
• Official SeaWorld site
• SeaWorldAdventurePark.info (photo galleries)
• SeaWorld Pictures and Information
• Shamu
• Busch Adventure Zone (unofficial fansite)
• SeaWorldOhioMemories
• Westover Link | Official Westover Hills website
• OlyBlog, Evergroove Trivia, pt. 12 The 1976 SeaWorld incident at Budd Inlet, Olympia, Wash.
• Video of "The Great White", a roller coaster in SeaWorld San Antonio.
• Seaworld's Aquatica Water Park Construction Photos