SeaWorld – Interesting Observations and Questions

[JungleBumCT]

Ok, so the thread I started recently, “A Smorgasboard of SeaWorld Questions”, didn’t really pick up a lot of steam (aside from some good insight from a couple of you), I figured I’d start anew with some interesting observations from my trip and a few more questions. As a SW fanatic, my observations are nitpicky and shouldn’t be confused as too serious a critique. We loved our day there and look forward to returning as soon as we can.

We visited SeaWorld this last Friday the 19th. Beautiful day!! We couldn’t have asked for better weather. We got there a little late so we missed the first showing of Deep Deep Trouble. We saw the dolphin show first. Observation #1: Ok, I hate the stupid “eminent H2O” song and I cringed as I knew it was about to be played. But to my pleasant surprise, it wasn’t as annoying as I remember it being for the last decade or so. Nice.

2 - Is there anybody in this world who doesn’t already know that one of the parents in the volunteer family is actually a SeaWorld trainer? Man, how long will a ruse like that last? Obviously quite a while, judging from the audience reaction. But I did notice that both the act and the audience reaction has changed since the early days. It seems to me that when they first introduced the gag years ago, the undercover trainer actually made an effort to fit into the family. This was my wife’s first viewing of this show, and the minute the family came onto the platform she nudged me and said “that’s no way that’s her mom.” The audience reaction has changed too, evolving from a surprised concern to laughter from a long-expected gag. Methinks it’s time to change up the script of that show.

3 - Shamu’s water was GREEN!?! The last time I saw it (and every time in my life before that) it was a shimmering deep blue. But Friday it was green. What’s up with that?

4 - Noticed Pete, the bald killer whale trainer, wasn’t there. I haven’t noticed him in recent trips either. What happened to Pete?

5 - Atlantis is a mediocre ride at best. The queue was decent, but inadequate. The line was miserably slow. I couldn’t believe the turnaround time for this ride. I’ve never seen such a poor job at loading/unloading passengers. Quite a disappointment.

6 – Nice touch having the stage director introduce Deep Deep Trouble. I’ve always been interested in the behind the scenes of that show. Though he stayed after the show to take audience comments/suggestions, nobody really said anything to him. I talked to him at length. He seemed to really appreciate my comments/questions.

7 – Darkbeer – were you at the Friday 3:00 showing of Deep Trouble? I thought I recognized you from your website.

Comments or answers are invited!

[xfkirsten]

Maybe I can help with a few of those...

3) I'm not sure exactly why it's green... it seemed fine at the special House of Douse on Monday night, but when I came back to do another one on Wednesday night it was greenish. Very weird. I almost wonder if it has anything to do with the construction over at Close Up, but that's just a guess.

4) I think Pete's still there. I haven't been over at Shamu as much lately, but I seem to recall seeing him there recently.

6) Glad to hear they're taking audience feedback at Deep Deep Trouble! You wouldn't believe the number of changes that show is going through. Every couple of days they give us a new memo of changes to keep up with. There's so many changes that they had to set up a core crew just to make sure that the people coming in were up-to-date, and they do tech rehearsals every morning now.

[Darkbeer]

I wasn't there, I stopped by SeaWorld last Thursday, and basically rode the Sky Tower to get some photos, and grabbed some free beer, then ran over to the Wavehouse construction at Belmont Park. Last Friday, I was at Knott's, and currently in Las Vegas, about to go ride Insanity...

[seenoevil]

"Oh, my hair!" (That's my favorite part ) I wasn't crazy about Atlantis either. The elevator thing was interesting and I liked the dolphin exhibit. It wasn't enough to get me to renew my AP.