Welcome To Screamscape!

Park News - (2/3/12) SeaWorld Texas fans can rejoice this year as the park will open for the 2012 season this Saturday, the earliest season-opening the park has had in years. The park will add a full 30 extra days to their operational calendar this year, as they slowly attempt to move the park back towards its original goal of being a year-round park once again.
    Over the past several years the park has been slowly extending the end of its season beyond Halloween to Thanksgiving at first and now through to the Christmas holiday season. Now I’m happy to see that they are extending the front end of the season as well.
    The park will host a number of special events over the next few weeks including Jack Hanna hosting Wild Days on Feb 25-26, Spring Into Night in March, PraiseWave from March 31 to April 7th and a Just For Kids 5-weekend concert series in April/May. All leading up to the grand opening of the Aquatica waterpark in May.
    (12/19/11) Starting January 1st, your beverage options at the 10 SeaWorld Entertainment parks across the country will take a sudden shift, as a new 10-year sponsor deal with Coca-Cola Co. will kick into effect, removing Pepsi products from the park. Coke and SeaWorld do have a long history together, as Coke was the official drink sponsor for the SeaWorld parks (or Sea World parks as they were spelled back then, long before they were purchased and merged with the Busch parks).
    Coke was dropped in favor of Pepsi back on Jan. 1st, 1988 by SeaWorld’s then owners, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich and the partnership was continued under the ownership of Anheuser-Busch. Pepsi was long rumored to have an edge over Coke under the Busch era because Pepsi was a major client of the Busch owned Metal Container Corporation who supplier Pepsi with a large percentage of their aluminum cans. So after a 24 year run… Coke will return at last.
    (9/21/11) Check out the crazy TV ad for Howl-O-Scream 2011 at SeaWorld Texas. Maybe it’s just me, but it looks like they were going for an Evil Dead 2 feel here with the film shooting style.
    (5/24/11) Aquatica Texas has been confirmed for 2012. Read the details below.
    (4/15/11) SeaWorld Texas sent out the official word earlier today that they are going to close down the Texas Splashdown log ride at the end of May 13th. While they say they have no official plans ready to go to build something new on the site, the sudden closing to me is a bit suspect, as they are closing it down just before the start of the busy and HOT summer season. When I asked about that, the park’s response was, “The park established a timeline to dismantle this major attraction, and we felt as though one month’s notice to close the attraction gives guests one last chance to ride Texas Splashdown before its closing.”
    Not quite the direct answer I was hoping for, but I’ll take it for what it is. I was also able to confirmed with the park that the ride will not be sold off to another park or attraction as it is “being discontinued from service.” “All ride components will be evaluated for use or repurpose at our park or other SeaWorld parks.  Where these components will be used has not been determined at this time.”
    So there you have it… and the clock is ticking fast if you want to get one last ride in on this large log flume ride before it’s too late. It’s also worth mentioning that SeaWorld Texas is actually the ride’s second home. Before it opened here as the Texas Splashdown, it ran for several years at Boardwalk & Baseball in Florida as The Grand Rapids.

2012 - Aquatica - (3/29/12) Aquatica Texas has posted a great new picture showing off the view from the inside of Stingray Falls underwater grotto.
    (3/14/12) The new official website for Aquatica Texas can be found here as they count down to the grand opening on May 19th.
    (2/21/12) SeaWorld Texas has announced that their new Aquatica waterpark will be ready to open on May 19th and has posted a new construction progress video, showing off many of the attractions.

    (2/13/12) Behind the Thrills has posted a peek at Aquatica’s new park map this week.
    (1/20/12) New construction pictures of the tower for Aquatica’s Walhalla Wave slide have been posted to Facebook.
    (1/13/12) A brief construction update video for Aquatica at SeaWorld San Antonio have been posted to YouTube and embedded below. Unfortunately it looks like it was shot with an iPhone held by someone who didn’t have the good sense to turn it horizonal to get the best screen aspect… so your view is NARROW… (Sorry… Pet Peeve of mine… I can’t stand videos like that…)

    (12/7/11) A construction picture from the new Aquatica San Antonio waterpark has been posted to Facebook this week, showing off the progress on the “under reef tunnel”.
    (11/7/11) The first slide pieces have arrived at SeaWorld Texas for Aquatica, pictures are posted to Facebook.
    (6/8/11) Construction walls for the transformation of Lost Lagoon into Aquatica Texas have begun appearing and can be seen over at Facebook.
    (5/25/11) As we were able to show last night, SeaWorld Texas has confirmed their plans to add Aquatica Texas in 2012, taking the place of the former (and free) Lost Lagoon waterpark area. You can see the new website and a ton of concept artwork at AquaticaTexas.com.
    The list of attractions on the website includes: Stingray Rapids (Family Raft w/ Underwater Grotto runout), HooRoo Run, Tassie’s Twisters (Bowl Slides), Kiwi Curl (body slides), Whanau Way (Tube Slides), Loggerhead Lane (Lazy River), Big Surf Shores (Wave Pool) and something unique called Wahalla Wave. Wahalla Wave is described as being a unique ride in North America, featuring a family raft that will send guests ‘soaring through watery waves to the top of a zero-gravity wall, giving the riders the sense of weightlessness.’ Sounds awesome to me… just not sure what it is.
    They have also released the details on how admission will work. Admission to Aquatica will work as an upgrade to a SeaWorld ticket only. Admission to SeaWorld is required to get into Aquatica. While this is a bit different than what people were expecting from this project, keep in mind that this will really limit any chance of over-crowding, and make a day at Aquatica a much more relaxing experience… much like Discovery Cove is in Florida.
    They haven’t mentioned how it will work with Passholders yet, but I’m sure there will be some kind of upgrade option for Passholders who want to get into both parks. You last chance to see Lost Lagoon will be September 5th… then construction will begin to transform and upgrade the property for it’s new grand opening in May 2012.
    (5/24/11) I’ve been sent a link to the official video preview of the new Aquatica park opening next to SeaWorld Texas in 2012. From the look of things, this version of Aquatica will not only feature a waterpark, but some of the animal interactions that Discovery Cove is also famous for, like wading into a Ray pool. Check it out below!

    (2/25/11) SeaWorld Texas is said to have confirmed on their Facebook page that while Lost Lagoon will open this season as expected, the Sky Tubin’ ride will be “dismantled to make room for more fun!”. Very appropriate that Sky Tubin’ would have to be moved as it lies right in between the current entrance to Lost Lagoon and the main entrance to the park, where they would have to make a new entrance if the Aquatica plans come to take place.
    (2/22/11) Yesterday I touched upon the idea of SeaWorld Texas building a new version of Aquatica, and as it turns out, my sources tell me that I pretty much hit the nail right on the head. An Aquatica is said to be in the works, but it apparently be built as a large scale expansion to the park’s existing small waterpark. The big kicker however is that much like the new waterpark added onto Legoland California last summer, this new waterpark expansion will no longer be free, and become an upcharge attraction to all guests.
    From what I’m told one of the working ideas right now is to repurpose the former Clydesdale stable area just inside the main entrance into serving as a new entrance area to the Aquatica park. Other than the poor and often forgotten Shark exhibit way way off in the corner by itself, that whole side of the property is pretty much ripe for expansion as a new top-tier waterpark experience, as it is mostly the overgrown remains of the former “HBJ” land, where the old map used to be.
    (2/21/11) According to this article, Blackstone could be on the verge of dropping some major capital on the SeaWorld Texas theme park over the next few years. According to the park President, SeaWorld Texas will become a multi-day experience, which to me says that they may be looking at building an Aquatica next door perhaps.

2013 - Pets Ahoy - Planning - (4/5/12) If you visit SeaWorld Texas this season, be sure to take a trip in to see the park’s 4D Theater, currently playing “Lights, Camera, Imagination” Sesame Street 4D film. Why? Because I’ve been told that the park is preparing to pull the plug on the 4D Theater concept and will transform the small Sea Star Theater into a new home for a copy of the Pets Ahoy show from SeaWorld Orlando for the 2013 season. This actually leads into a bigger rumor I had heard previously… indicating that the company was attempting to come up with all new ideas to re-purpose the 4D Theaters in place at all of their parks over the next few yeas.

2013/2014 - Themed Coaster or Thrill Ride - Rumor & Speculation - (2/23/11) With the rumors plans to make a Texas version of Aquatica outed, more whispers are coming my way of what may be planned for the rest of the park over the next few years. As always with the former Busch parks, it can be easy at time to predict their growth patterns based on what the other parks in the chain are doing, and the one clear path visible right now is a series of roller coaster rides packaged with lots of theming and animal exhibits.
    SeaWorld Florida already opened Manta last year, Busch Gardens Tampa will open Cheetah Hunt this year. In 2012 we will see two more such projects open: a new different version Manta at SeaWorld California and a new top-secret multi-launch coaster going to Busch Gardens Williamsburg. At this point, SeaWorld Texas will be the only park without one, so I’d expect to see the park add their own such project (maybe another Manta) in 2013.

2014 - Dolphin Interaction - Rumor - (6/27/11) Screamscape sources tell us that the long range plans for SeaWorld Texas may involve building some kind of new Bottlenose Dolphin facility for 2014. While this could include a new show stadium facility, other moves by the company seem to suggest that they could be looking at building a mini Discovery Cove style premium swim / interact with the Dolphins style experience as a core element of whatever they have planned for 2014.

???? - Resort Hotel - Rumor - (8/29/11) While the addition of Aquatica at SeaWorld Texas should be an interesting game changer for the park, I’ve also been told that the corporate office has quietly been looking as possible designs to add an on-site resort hotel for the park as well that may be connected to Aquatica in some fashion. Of course it’s hard to justify a resort hotel without having a year-round schedule in place for the park as well, which I know has also been a long term goal of the San Antonio park as well. Maybe the two will go hand-in-hand.
    (4/8/11) Screamscape sources claim that SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment may be doing studies and making early plans to enter the resort biz in select markets. This is something that was looked at in the past under Anheuser-Busch leadership, where they even went so far as to announce their intentions to build a heavily themed African animal safari themed hotel on backside of the Savannah at Busch Gardens Tampa. (Only to fail to be willing to fund the effort on their own without an experience hotel operator... which allowed Disney to swoop in the copy their idea a couple of years later with the Animal Kingdom Lodge hotel.)
    From what I'm told, Tampa is not being considered this time around... since the new owners will admit that the area around the park itself is not exactly the kind of place where you would put down a high-dollar resort experience. While Orlando would seem to be a good fit, Busch sold off the perfect site for such a resort next to Aquatica to an outside developer under their leadership. In addition... the Orlando market already has an over abundance of empty hotel rooms on any given night. Across the nation, San Diego is also likely be crossed off the list as the park is land locked and the park also passed up several opportunities in the past to buy up nearby property where a resort would possible succeed, in addition to a general hesitation by AB to build and operate their own resort hotel without an experienced hotel partner.
    So what's left?  Williamsburg, VA and San Antonio, TX. In a strange bit of Irony, Williamsburg was the once place where AB had their own resort for a number of years in the form of the Kingsmill property. However this resort project was not sold off to Blackstone with the parks, and I believe it remains under ownership of AB, but the Williamsburg area does seem to be a good possibility for a future resort project, especially with the expansion of the park's operating season into the Christmas season.  Texas is also a possibiliy, as there are no other theme park resort in the area, the park has lot of excess land that could be put to use in a number of ways... such as the rumored Aquatica project in Texas, which would certainly give guests a reason to spend the night at SeaWorld.