Sea World : is "Believe" open yet?

[xfkirsten]

oh and on a side note the pre show was wrong as far as killer whale coloration goes....kiler whales don't have countershading, they have a disruptive coloration which is completely different....me and my fellow education department co-workers where shocked that they messed that one up!!!!

Erm, actually they didn't mess that up. Killer whales do indeed have countershading. They are dark on the top and light on the bottom as a way of hiding themselves from potential prey by blending in with the background. Now, killer whales do indeed show disruptive coloration as well, particularly on the anchor patch. The two are not mutually exclusive. I really hope they're not teaching you that in Education Department training - not only is it inaccurate, it also contradicts SeaWorld's own educational material!

ETA: I should add here further explanation. People seem to say that it's not countershading because it's an abrupt color change rather than gradual. It's really a matter of splitting hairs and semantics. There's a reason that killer whales are dark on the top and light on the underbelly, and that's not a trait that evolved randomly. That's essentially a countershading effect. I've also seen it referred to as countershading in killer whales in the scientific literature on adaptive coloration.

[TDLFAN]

Oh!! This is getting good!!! Lemme pull up a chair, load up on popcorn and enjoy the show!!
Carry on kiddies!!

[captsmith84]

Believe rocks!!! so much better than the shamu adventure....and as far as not enough whale time are you kidding!!!! the whales are out there far more than before, with lots more behaviors...now im not gonna lie the show is a little corny, but hey im a little biased cuz i work there.....oh and on a side note the pre show was wrong as far as killer whale coloration goes....kiler whales don't have countershading, they have a disruptive coloration which is completely different....me and my fellow education department co-workers where shocked that they messed that one up!!!! but yeah so far I have only been hearing positive remarks from guests at the parks

I'm pretty sure the guy who produced the show came from Disney. What is his name?

[chicolito02]

well obviously sea world is contradicting what they are teaching us....we teach it as disruptive coloration...plain as that

[TDLFAN]

I'm pretty sure the guy who produced the show came from Disney. What is his name?

Chik N. Ofduhsee.

(long time DL folks may remember ....)

[figment1986]

looking at Darkbeers photos....

did the leds go out in the far left LED screen the entire time??
(wa it similar to what happened with orlando's with the sea water?? of just technical glitch?)

(Looks like they had tech problems cause later in the lbum at night it is working properly)

Show looks exactly the same.. and are those new bletchers?

[migo]

Xfkirsten, I was taught the same as you. I hope they're not teaching that in the parks...in an effort not to "waste" time getting the real message across.

[figment1986]

Lisa and I had a chance to see the show twice on Saturday, and we are both very impressed. Sat by a couple of the head trainers watching the show.

I have seen EVERY version of the Shamu show that has been offered for almost 40 years, including 3 different venues. This one was great, most of the "education" is now part of the Pre-show.

The one thing we both weren't 100% happy with... the chanting of "Shamu, Shamu", seemed a bit lame and too long.

Planning to watch it again on June 11th.

Photos are starting to be uploaded, and some short video clips from Lisa will be on YouTube soon.

Someone agrees the Ahmu dance is to long... but the splashing aint bad.. esp if you sit in the right seat and get it looking head on... lol

40 years?? wow.. which venue did you not see.. ohio or San Antonio? (I'm sure you seen orlando)

[Darkbeer]

First off, Lisa and I saw two shows Saturday, 1 PM and 7:30 PM, Part of the left screen went dark about 1/2 way thru the show at 1 PM. During the 7:30 PM show, all 4 screens worked perfectly.

As for Shamu Stadiums, I have been to Ohio, Orlando and San Antonio.

My reference was the San Diego facility. The original show stadium (though it was awfully small) was next to the Cirque de la Mer facility, it was recently torn down, but after Shamu moved the first time, it held Walruses and other animals. They had a set of bleachers on the east side of the tank, and it held only one Killer Whale. The big trick at the end of the show, the trainer got on the back of Shamu while Shamu swam a few laps of the SMALL pool.

Shamu's second home at SeaWorld San Diego is the current Dolphin Stadium. Before it was built, the park eastern edge was the Sea Lion Stadium and the SkyTower. They added the extra acreage for the new stadium. This allowed multiple killer whales in the tank at the same time, and also had the backstage holding tanks. Back then, the Dolphin Stadium was located where the Cirque de la Mer stadium is today, though it looked a lot different, it was enclosed, with holding pens on the western edge. And behind the stadium was a loading dock for the ARCO Hydrofoils, which I miss. It was a fun little ride around the Bay.

Then they decided to upgrade Shamu Stadium once again, the current facilty is where the original entrance was, and part of the parking lot.

The Shamu Gift shop was the old main gift shop, and that building with the restrooms was the entrance.

Shamu Stadium was built in two main phases, the original stadium was the Main show area and the two holding areas directly behind it. A few years ago, they added Shamu Close-up to allow additional holding areas to help with breeding.

[figment1986]

Ah... now thats interesting...

I would love to see historical photos of the old stadiums and such.. Interesting how they work in that plot of land and move things around when they feel they need to for new shows...

[xfkirsten]

Xfkirsten, I was taught the same as you. I hope they're not teaching that in the parks...in an effort not to "waste" time getting the real message across.

Amen to that. It's sad to me that they're really skipping over the important messages for party trivia facts. They have a huge opportunity to get across a message of conservation. The Southern Resident population of killer whales in Washington state has been officially listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The transient (mammal-eating) killer whales of the Pacific Northwest are among the most polluted marine mammals on the planet - at drastically high levels of PCBs and other contaminants (see this famous paper by Ross et al, 2000, for the details). They have such an opporunity to make people aware of problems like that and stress why care of the environment is important to these animals. Sadly, they never do.

[migo]

When did you work there? I worked there over the summer about five years ago. I thought it thorougly informative and entertaining, however the public speaking thing alluded me and I had to quit. I was terrified in front of people, and couldn't convey to the audience what I needed to.

[xfkirsten]

I worked in Entertainment (costume character as well as stagehand) from Spring 04-Fall 05. I had an absolute blast at my job, but just couldn't keep it up anymore with school, too. I spent last summer working Cirque crew, though, and I so miss it now!

[~*~Aniko~*~]

i got a thing in the mail a few weeks ago about the "premier" of the new show would be on june 9th.

passholders and fun-card holders (being me and my bf) get reserved seats, free desert, some fancy collector cup and a picture with a character ...

so we'll be at sea world on friday ... i'll post LOTS and LOTS of pictures!!

[~*~Aniko~*~]

k , pictures are up

go here