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SeaWorld Orlando
Discovery Cove and Aquatica
SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment
---- THE LATEST BUZZ ----
(5/15/22) Howl-O-Scream Returns To SeaWorld Orlando Bigger Than Ever (MORE...)
(5/7/22) Revised Antarctica Attraction Plans Rumored
(5/5/22) SeaWorld Orlando Adding "Surcharge" To Food Purchases (MORE...)
(4/24/22) Aquatica Construction and New Coaster Updates
(4/17/22) Project Penguin’s New Coaster Track Has Arrived
(3/20/22) 2023 Project Construction Update (MORE...)
 Park News - (5/5/22) Just a little something to watch for the next time you visit a theme park, especially SeaWorld Orlando. According to a picture on Twitter from a park guests on April 30th, it shows that a small line of text has been added to the bottom of one of the park’s restaurant menu boards that says, “A 5% surcharge will be added to all guests checks to cover increased operating costs.”
So in other words, the prices all listed above on the menu are actually 5% more expensive than posted. I’m not really sure why SeaWorld Orlando felt they needed to go this route rather than just increase the actual posted prices by 5%. Perhaps by adding this on as a operating surcharge, this allows the park to keep the entire 5%, whereas adding it on to the price of each item would then make the entire sum taxable, leaving the park with less than the 5% increase they desired. I’m no accountant, just taking a wild guess. Either way, this is definitely a new tactic worth keeping an eye on while everyone struggles with increased costs and supply-chain issues.
(3/6/22) OrlandoParkNews.com has posted a huge photo update from SeaWorld Orlando this week, showing off a lot of changes and updates that have taken place in the park over the past few months. This includes a look at Journey To Atlantis, which is currently closed for refurbishment and some track replacement. They managed to get some great shots of the flume/track for JTA’s big traditional drop in front being replaced at the top of page 2, so make sure you click on to the second page of this 4 page photo update. Speaking of page 4, scroll down to see the land clearing taking place now for the park’s next rumored roller coaster between the Bayside Stadium and park entrance.
(2/27/22) While we don’t know the true status of it, the SkyTower at SeaWorld Orlando has been closed for quite some time now. A post on IG however spotted the SkyTower making test runs for about an hour last night however, so perhaps the park is finally making preparations to reopen the long closed attraction. We know the sister tower at the San Diego park was closed down at the start of COVID and has since undergone extensive renovations and was listed on that park’s website as being “Closed through Spring”. So if the San Diego ride is preparing to reopen, maybe the time is right for Orlando’s version as well.
(1/25/22) The Seven Seas Food Festival is returning to SeaWorld Orlando next month, and will run on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from Feb. 4th through to May 8th, 2022. The park will offer up a huge collection of over 200 different food options during this time, over 75 craft beers, speciality cocktails and much more, all with a variety of international flavors.
Visit the official website to see the huge list of menu options that will be available along with the prices on lanyard options that work as a pre-pay option to try a large section of dishes throughout the day.
The event will also see a collection of 26 live concert events come to the park on select dates to be announced. The preview list of performers includes: Justin Moore, Flo Rida, Steve Augeri of Journey, Molly Hatchet, LOCASH, Vanilla Ice, ASIA featuring John Payne and Everclear.
(1/9/22) Permit records discovered for SeaWorld Orlando indicate that sometime in 2022 (likely in the very near future) Journey to Atlantis will close for a special bit of refurbishment. While a winter refurbishment for JTA essentially an annual event that usually takes place sometime between January and March, this year’s rehab will include some track replacement. I know many years ago JTA already replaced the enclosed track segments for the ride’s final twisted drop, so if I had to guess we may see the track for the big drop out front replaced this time around. Of course this could also involve lift hill replacement as well, so just prepare for the ride to close for a few months to make this happen.
(12/24/21) The new entrance sign outside SeaWorld Orlando is now in place, though still surrounded by some low-level barriers. As rumored, the new sign themed as a fake rock with the park logo on it, which falls right in line with the existing signage in place at the entrance to Discovery Cove and Aquatica.
(12/16/21) TheCoasterKings has posted a new update from SeaWorld Orlando, where they take a look at the repainting taking place on the park’s coasters. The painting on Manta looks pretty sweet, but as I mentioned on Screamscape’s social media the day before, Kraken has taken a horrible turn for the worse and is being painted a sickening green color. After having such an iconic and unique color on Kraken since it opened years ago, I don’t know why they would have given up the unique and well known look in exchange for becoming “green”, especially when there is really only one coaster in Orlando known for being mean and green, and that’s Hulk over at Universal.
Sorry, but Kraken’s original aqua/teal color was just sort of unique, not only in the Orlando area, but in terms of coasters anywhere in the world. To this end, I would say that it was part of the ride’s branding for years, because coaster enthusiasts everywhere could tell Kraken apart from other coasters just by the color alone. So sorry SeaWorld… but that’s a “NO’ vote for me on the new Kraken track color. And don’t get me started on the new dark paint they are putting on Kraken’s supports.
(12/1/21) According to a reader, as of Monday, they reported that both Manta and Kraken had closed down at SeaWorld Orlando. While we dont’ know the status of Manta, they were told by ride staff that Kraken was expected to be undergoing painting over the next five weeks. While I’d expect the ride to be closed for much of this, depending on how things go, I’m not sure if they might get it open again for the busy Christmas / New Years holiday season.
(11/27/21) SeaWorld has confirmed that the Sea Carousel has now been transformed and reopened as the Sunny Day Carousel.
(11/24/21) Guests entering SeaWorld Orlando may notice something is off as they pull into the entrance to the parking lot. The large statue sign featuring jumping killer whales has now been taken down as the park begins work on adding a new entrance sign that is expected to be more of a solid rock-work themed entry sign, more in line with what has been used at the California and Texas parks.
There are those who are disappointed that the sign featuring the whales is being removed as another step in the process of moving the theme of the park away from “Shamu” and the Killer Whales that made the chain famous, but as someone who worked at the park for a time and had the opportunity to walk-up to and lay hands on the sign in Orlando… honestly, I’m surprised it lasted as long as it did. While the old sign was iconic, getting up close revealed a structure that did not look like it was made to last, and one that had definitely taken a good share of abuse in the Florida weather over the years. So in this case, I’m thinking that the time had simply finally come to take that sign down, before it actually fell down on it’s own, and replace it with something far more sturdy and permanent.
An attractive rock-work structure, hopefully with some water features added, would definitely tie-in better to the overall entrance theme of the other nearby SeaWorld parks just down the road, just like the one’s already in place as guests enter Discovery Cove and Aquatica.
Howl-O-Scream 2022 - (5/15/22) Sea World Orlando has confirmed that Howl-O-Scream will return once again this fall on select nights from Sept. 9 through Oct. 31st. This year’s event promises “More Houses, More Haunts, More Shows” and you can enjoy the teaser below.
2022 - Ice Breaker - (2/20/22) So something curious happened at SeaWorld Orlando when the new Ice Breaker roller coaster opened to the public the other day. The previous 48” height restriction that was in effect for the media and passholder preview dates for the ride has now been increased, with Ice Breaker now opening with a 54” minimum height requirement. As I pondered on Twitter yesterday, I had to wonder what could have prompted that sudden change.
It is worth noting that SeaWorld Entertainment uses the exact same manufacturer and train design on Tempesto (Busch Gardens Williamsburg), Tigress (Busch Gardens Tampa) and Electric Eel (SeaWorld San Diego), and all three of those roller coasters have always had a 54” minimum height restriction. There is some speculation that the ‘comfort collar’ shoulder straps, an extra addition to the standard lap-bar only restraint system added by the SeaWorld Entertainment parks may be to blame. Those who witnessed smaller kids test riding Ice Breaker between 48” and 54” noted that the single-length straps were a bit oversized when smaller children were riding the coaster during previews.
If so, the solution would be to remove the extra collar straps, which really aren’t necessary and a constraint source of “discomfort” complaints from many adult riders, but this is unlikely to happen.
(1/29/22) SeaWorld Orlando invited Screamscape to come check out their new Ice Breaker roller coaster for a Media Day preview this week. We’ve got some video footage below to share from the day showing off the coaster running around the course from different angles, as opposed to the same Reverse POV footage everyone else is sharing this week.
As I’ve mentioned before, Ice Breaker appears set to fill the gap in the park’s list of thrill rides, providing a stepping stone for those who are well beyond riding just the kiddie coaster, but who may not quite be ready to tackle the likes of Kraken or Mako. Ice Breaker provides the thrills of a launch coaster experience while keeping the action much closer to the ground than the big coasters on the other side of the park. There are moments of airtime, even more that expected, along with some fun twists and quick changes in direction.
According to our local reviewer, while the experience was good fun, they were not quite sure who the proper audience for Ice Breaker really is. The thrills provided may still be “a little too much” for some families who rarely venture past the gates of Disney park rides, while not being quite enough for the park’s regular thrill seekers used to the likes of Manta, Mako and Kraken. As I said, this is sort of a fill-in-the-gap moment for the park’s coaster line-up, but it still leaves SeaWorld missing a coaster style to fill in the gap between Ice Breaker and the Super Grover coaster in Sesame Street Land. While we know “Project Penguin” is in the works for the land on the other side of the Nautilus Theater, the park could use something more like Wave Breaker coaster at SeaWorld San Antonio or Dollywood’s Firechaser Express to complete their lineup.
From what I’m hearing though, perhaps the biggest issues with Ice Breaker going forward are going to be the trains. These are your standard Premier Rides “Skyrocket” style trains, which means that the seats are a bit of a squeeze for most adult riders to slide in and out of, slowing down the loading times. Add in the extra “comfort collars” restraints in addition to the standard lap-bar, plus the fact that some riders are going to have some fit-issues, the load times may suffer a bit.
That said… once the train is dispatched onto the transfer track, I was surprised at just how little pause there was before the action begins. The train hits the first backwards launch within seconds of the track sliding into place, and all while this is going on the second train is sliding into the station to begin loading new guests who in theory, should be ready to go by the time the first train gets back to the station. The first few launches back and forth are said to be mild, but then around the third launch you can feel the system give the train a nice surprising punch, especially on the last launch forward the trains hits that mini hill for a surprise little pop of air before rocketing up the top-hat where the riders (especially in the front) get a great bit of ejector airtime before running off into the back half of the ride experience.
I’m glad to finally see this long overdue coaster at SeaWorld Orlando now open though, offering some fantastic new thrills for the park’s guests and a reason to return once again to the theme park capital of the world.
(1/20/22) SeaWorld Orlando released the official POV video for the new Ice Breaker roller coaster, opening Feb. 18, 2022. Check it out below.
(1/7/22) Mark your calendar, SeaWorld Orlando has confirmed that Ice Breaker will finally open to the public on Feb. 18, 2022.
(8/25/21) SeaWorld Orlando has confirmed that the park’s new Ice Breaker roller coaster will officially not open until February 2022. Keep in mind that Ice Breaker was originally intended to open in 2020 until the COVID pandemic threw the world into chaos, so this will be a nearly two year delay.
(4/26/21) It looks like SeaWorld Orlando is getting closer to opening Ice Breaker. The local news has posted pictures of the coaster now testing with human riders aboard, as Team Member previews have begun. This is likely the last step before the park is ready to open the new coaster to guests, which will likely happen sometime between now and Memorial Day weekend.
(2/4/21) Our friends at Orlando Experience have posted a new video featuring Ice Breaker at SeaWorld Orlando making full speed test runs at last. Check it out below!
(1/16/21) A new tweet from Midway Mayhem reports that work crews from Premier Rides are back on site at SeaWorld Orlando this week, which seems to indicate that testing on Ice Breaker will begin again very soon.
(1/15/21) A collection of new photos of SeaWorld’s Ice Breaker coaster have been posted to TheCoasterKings site this week, including an entire batch dedicated to some stunning sunset coaster photography. Check it out!
(1/5/21) A new current collection of photos showing off Ice Breaker at SeaWorld Orlando has been posted to TheCoasterKings this week, giving us an extensive look at the queue and the various elements on the roller coaster layout.
(12/16/20) A new collection of photos showing off crews working to finish up Ice Breaker at SeaWorld Orlando can be found this week at The Coaster Kings.
(11/22/20) It has been a long time coming, especially since the track has been entirely in place for a few months now, but SeaWorld Orlando has now posted the official Ice Breaker ANIMATED POV video of the ride’s layout. Of course they reimagined the entire background around the ride to appear as if the ride was in the a frozen arctic world and not in the true park environment, but it gives you a good idea of what the final ride experience will be like.
(6/18/20) I figured this announcement would pop up before too long. According to ClickOrlando, SeaWorld Orlando has had a $2.7 million construction lien filed against them for the Ice Breaker coaster from Premier Rides. There are also said to be dozens of other liens filed against the chain’s Orlando parks for various other construction and improvement projects.
This would be the third of the chain’s big 2020 coasters to have construction liens placed against it that should prevent the rides from opening until SeaWorld pays their bills. In the past week we’ve seen reports of liens for Emperor at SeaWorld San Diego and Iron Gwazi at Busch Gardens Tampa and now this.
SeaWorld Entertainment has yet to comment on these issues, but it also seems a bit odd after the company made arrangements back in March to increase their revolving credit facility mixed with other measures that were said to give the company “sufficient liquidity to meet its cash expenditure requirements into the fourth quarter of 2021.” So with this mind, why are they not paying their contractors before having all these liens filed against the parks? They were the first of the big Orlando/California park chains to furlough almost all of their employees, and cancel their health care benefits, and now they’re putting major ride and attraction vendors at risk by not paying them millions owed for new roller coasters, waterslides and more, all while their Florida and Texas parks are now open again.
I really hate to say it… but something “fishy” is going on at SeaWorld.
(2/23/20) Orlando Experience has posted a quick construction update for Ice Breaker this weekend, claiming that the layout is now almost complete, with the final track sections expected to be put into place sometime later this week.
(1/23/20) Special thanks to SeaWorld Orlando for inviting Screamscape reps down to go on a special hard hat Construction Tour of the new ICE BREAKER roller coaster, opening in 2020. Quite a bit has been done so far and it was great to get up close and personal with the park’s latest coaster. Check out the photos and a video below.
(9/13/19) Ice Breaker is coming to SeaWorld Orlando in 2020, a new and unique launched coaster experience from Premier Rides. Ice Breaker will be a quadruple launch coaster, featuring backwards and forwards launches as soon as the train leaves the station and slides-over onto the launch track. Ice Breaker will launch backwards up a 93 foot beyond-vertical 100º spike track before shooting forward for the last time at 52mph up and over a hill and into a series of high-speed twists and camelback hills before coming back to the station.
2022 - Reef Plunge @ Aquatica - (3/11/22) Our friends at Orlando Experience have posted a new video showing off the new Reef Plunge underwater slides at Aquatica Orlando. According to the report the slides that replaced the former Dolphin Plunge slides move sliders at a slightly slower at a slower pace, allowing more time to get a view of the underwater section of the slide.
Elsewhere in the park a new raft conveyor system has been added to Kare Kare Curl and are in the process of adding 1,000 new seats around the park for guests to relax in.
(10/16/21) Aquatica Orlando will have a new offering for the 2022 season called Reef Plunge. This is actually a refurbishment and update to the park’s existing Dolphin Plunge slides that feature clear slide tubes that pass through an aquatic environment. Instead of just passing by Commerson dolphins, “Guests will slide through eye-catching translucent cutouts and rings, and twist and turn though over 330 feet of fiberglass, zooming past a vibrant array of marine life in the new dynamic habitat. Commerson’s dolphins, leopard sharks, sardines, and a variety of other cold-water fish will call Reef Plunge home. Guests will dive into the fun of Reef Plunge launching Spring of 2022.”
In addition to this, the park will also be making an assortment of other enhancement across the popular waterpark, including a new beach-bar called Banana Beach Cookout, a new quick-service pizza place, an additional 1,000 beach chairs and loungers, extra areas of shade, and the promise of other ‘upgrades’ coming to several other park attractions and water slides.
2023 - Next Coaster / Project Penguin - Under Construction - (4/24/22) Our friends at Orlando Experience have posted a new video from SeaWorld Orlando this week that also includes a look at land prep for an expansion of the Aquatica parking lot that will allow the waterpark itself to expand to the south. Meanwhile we get a look at the latest track deliveries for the SeaWorld Orlando 2023 coaster project, ongoing land clearing along the shoreline for the new coaster.
(4/17/22) Project Penguin / aka: SeaWorld Orlando’s next Coaster, which is also supposed to be the world’s first B&M “Surf Coaster” (whatever the heck that is…) is now real, as the first truck-loads of light blue’ish track for the coaster have arrived this week. The site for the new coaster that will be placed between Bayside Stadium and the main entrance to the park has been closed off and in the process of being cleared by construction equipment for several weeks now.
Given the color of this new track, the repainting of Kraken’s track to its current green color does make a bit more sense now as the park is also home to Manta (dark blue track and light blue supports) and Mako (purple track and blue supports). Given that Kraken’s former yellowish supports were repainted a darker blue hue, I’m guessing this new coaster might feature a light colored support structure. We’ll know once the first supports arrive.
(3/20/22) New aerial photos of SeaWorld Orlando show that the pathway between SeaFire and Bayside Stadium has been removed as part of the ongoing clearing of the site for the park’s next big project.
(2/19/22) With Ice Breaker now open at SeaWorld Orlando, the latest reports from the park now show that new construction fences are going up along the pathway that leads from the front of the park over towards Bayside Stadium, the site of the park’s next proposed roller coaster (aka: Project Penguin).
(12/7/21) BGWFans has posted a rather fascinating update regarding the rumored Project Penguin coaster project for SeaWorld Orlando. As you may recall Project Penguin was rumored to be the first B&M “Surf Coaster” project… and again, I’ll stress that no one has confirmed exactly just what kind of coaster a “Surf Coaster” might be.
The project was in the works prior to the COVID outbreak to take over the space of land at SeaWorld Orlando between the SeaFire restaurant area and Bayside Stadium. While we don’t know the status of Project Penguin, as it was put on hold like so many other things when COVID happened, but they did uncover what seems to be the layout for the original version of it and have created an extensive breakdown of just what it might be. Or at least, what it might have been… even if Project Penguin returns, the scope of the layout and design could have changed between then and now. So follow the link and enjoy!
(1/31/21) A new update from TheCoasterKings digs in a little deeper on those “Project Penguin” plans for SeaWorld Orlando. The early data gathered pre-COVID was that this was to be a new B&M coaster project that could quite possibly have been B&M’s new “Surf Coaster” project. While we never confirmed exactly what the “Surf Coaster” project was, one of our own early rumors suggested that the concept may have been a new style of Wing coaster with rotating seats not unlike S&S’s 4th Dimension coasters. There were also rumors that it may also use a possible launch system as well.
In their new update a batch of new royal blue B&M coaster track was spotted at the Clermont Steel Fabricators plant in Ohio. While no one knows exactly what coaster this track is actually for, they believe that the track may be slightly narrower than your typical B&M coaster track so it could be for this new concept. I’m not so sure myself, as one might think that a variant of the Wing design might also need the same size track as the Wing since the placement of the riders may be the same. Just something to keep an eye out for.
(6/29/20) An interesting new construction lien has now been filed against SeaWorld Orlando this week. According to a great post from Behind the Thrills the new lien is actually from B&M (Bolliger & Mabillard) who says SeaWorld owes them $1.43 million for engineering design and fabrication of a “custom Launch Coaster”. This matches up with some early permits filed by the park for a “SWO Penguin” project. This also connects to rumors of a new B&M coaster design in the works called a “Surf Coaster”.
No one is entirely sure exactly what the Surf Coaster is, but Screamscape did report way back in January about a rumored design modification B&M was working on for their Wing Coaster design. If the rumors hold true, the concept was described as combining a B&M Wing Coaster style train, but with seats that would rotate and invert forwards and back while riding in much the same fashion as S&S’s 4D coasters. So essentially this could be B&M’s answer to the 4D design concept, like X2 at Six Flags Magic Mountain, but now we can add a Launch System to the rumored design as well.
Now we just need SeaWorld to pay these liens off and get these projects back in action, though at this rate the rumored 2021 coaster may be pushed back to 2022.
(2/11/20) According to the OBJ, SeaWorld Orlando has filed demolition permits to begin working on a 3-acre site near the park’s Antarctica / Penguin attraction for an unknown new attraction in the works. After focusing on new attractions near to the park’s Killer Whale stadium for the past three years (Infinity Falls in 2018, Sesame Street in 2019 and Ice Breaker in 2020) it would only make sense to try and build something on the opposite side of the park to help balance the crowds.
The timeline isn’t known right now, as the park has previously filed permits to do work between the Bayside Stadium and park Entrance plaza, so looks like two projets may be in the works for 2021 and 2022.
(1/17/20) TheCoasterKings have posted a new update from SeaWorld Orlando that shows a new work permit filed by the park for a possible 2021 attraction. The permit seems more to be focused on demolition work to take place in the area of the path between Bayside Stadium and SeaFire Grill, along with a project name listed as “SWO Penguin”.
They say the early rumors point to a possible new coaster for the park, possible a B&M Wing Coaster, which is about the only B&M design not found yet anywhere in Florida. That said… I do also have to wonder if the name dropping of “Penguin’ could also be a hint that just perhaps this could be a new B&M Dive Machine like the Emperor coaster under construction at SeaWorld San Diego. If so, this would be the only Dive Machine in Orlando, with Sheikra being the only other one in the state, having opened at Busch Gardens Tampa way back in 2005. Thinking back to the Wing Coaster rumor… Screamscape has heard early rumors that B&M was developing a new train design for the Wing Coasters that would feature seats able to invert by rotating forward and backwards, pretty much in the same fashion as the S&S 4D coasters (like X2 at Six Flags Magic Mountain). Certainly a theoretical B&M 4D coaster would be very notable and gain a lot of attention, especially when placed right at the front of the park. Stay tuned!
2023 - Aquatica 2023 Expansion Project - Rumor - (3/11/22) Big news for Aquatica Orlando is that the park is said to be expanding for the 2023 season. To allow for the park to grow, it sounds like a new exit road will be put in place to allow the park to expand across the existing exit road and onto the undeveloped property. Several years ago I did see plans for exactly such an expansion that would have involved adding a pair of unique style slides, that if memory serves, featured some kind of wall element that would then reverse the direction of the slides and drop the rafts from both slides off onto a slow moving river to send them into a cave and past some underwater animal displays.
While we don’t know exactly what the plan for the expansion is, I’m not sure if they will revisit this concept or not. One rumor being floated around claims that some kind of water coaster may actually be planned for the expansion this time instead.
2024/2025 - Revised Antarctica Attraction - Rumor - (5/7/22) According to a new rumor, SeaWorld Orlando may finally be making early plans to create some kind of replacement attraction for the closed Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin trackless dark ride.
We really have no details other than that. While this likely means opening a new attraction inside the old space, we don’t know if this means re-using the previous trackless dark ride vehicles or if they might replace the entire ride system. Either way, it would serve the park well to bring an attraction back to this space. More on this as we find out.
???? - Sesame Street Dark Ride - Rumor - (4/15/19) I heard an interesting rumor the other day regarding future Sesame Street plans for SeaWorld Orlando now that the new kiddie land is open. According to the rumor the park has drawn up concepts for a couple of different Sesame Street themed dark rides that could be added onto the area, possibly taking over part of the Wild Arctic ride building space (which again, is rumored to be leaving later this year). Given the initial popularity of the Sesame Street themed dark ride that just opened at PortAventura in Spain earlier this month, this concept may gain some traction as a possible future park addition.
???? - Flying Theater - Rumor - (4/26/19) OrlandoWeekly is hearing that the long-term plan to replace Wild Arctic at SeaWorld Orlando may be replace the attraction’s aging simulator fleet with a new modern Flying Theater style attraction at some point down the line. With the San Diego park also looking to replace their attraction sooner than later, I do have to wonder if the California park might get the Flying Theater first.
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