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SeaWorld Orlando
Discovery Cove and Aquatica
SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment
---- THE LATEST NEWS ----
(7/2/2025) Discovery Cove Turns 25 and SeaWorld Orlando New Ride Survey Details
(6/2/2025) SeaWorld Orlando To Launch New Aerial Drone Show In June
(5/23/2025) Aquatica Orlando - AquaGlow Night Parties Returning Over the Summer
(5/1/2025) Expedition Odyssey First Impressions
(4/26/2025) SeaWorld Orlando Sets Opening Date for Expedition Odyssey
Ride Rehabs - The following information is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate, refurbishments are subject to change.
Journey To Atlantis - NOW CLOSED through TBD
 Park News - (7/2/2025) We have to drop a congratulations to SeaWorld’s Discovery Cove interactive park in Orlando for the park’s 25th Anniversary celebration. As hard as it is to believe, 25 years have past since SeaWorld launched what may still be the most unique park in all of Orlando, offering a day’s worth of never-before seen close-up experiences with animals set within a lush tropical resort setting with an all-inclusive style price-scheme. Over those years they say that they have unwrapped 10 million snorkels to put into guest’s hands, offering an experience unlike any other you will find anywhere.
(6/2/2025) SeaWorld Orlando will “launch” an all new aerial drone show later in June called “Feeling Electric”. The new aerial night show will take place over the park’s central lake and serve as sort of pre-entertainment ahead of the park’s evening signature “Ignite” summer fireworks show.
(5/23/2025) The Summer season is back and so is Aquatica Orlando’s after-dark AquaGlow extra ticket night party experience. Look for AquaGlow to take place on select nights from now through to Sept. 27th, where the waterpark transforms after dark with “high-energy music, glowing installations, laser light shows, unlimited soft drinks and low wait times on attractions.” New for 2025, you can “drift through the radiant LUMINOUS Lane, twist through the lakeidoscopic colors of Tassie’s NEON Twist, or ride the neon-lit currents of Roa’s Rapids: AMPED UP”. Plus you can’t forget the Foam Party Frenzy.
Visit the official website for all information, dates and how you can purchase a ticket.
(2/20/2025) SeaWorld Orlando has added more performers to their concert series for the Seven Seas Food Festival. As previously reported, the Seven Seas Food Festival will return to SeaWorld Orlando from January 31st to May 4th, 2025. In addition to 25 different booths set up around the park (see the list here) offering tastes of new and popular dishes (and beverages) from around the world, the park will also be offering a number of free concert performances at Bayside Stadium. The latest update to the list of concerts is below!
Feb 21- LaCrae
Feb 22 - Shaggy
Mar 1 - Warrant
Mar 7 - Sharship ft. Mickey Thomas
May 8 - Grupo Mania
Mar 15 - Jordin Sparks
Mar 16 - ZZ Top
Mar 23 - Luis Fonsi
Mar 28 - Pop 2000
Mar 29 - Walker Hayes
Apr 4 - Gente de Zona
Apr 5 - Soulja Boy and a “Suprise Co-Headliner”
Apr 11 - Michael Ray
Apr 12 - The Commodores
Apr 19 - Jeremy Camp
Apr 26 - Mitchell Tenpenny
May 3 - Kansas
(2/15/2025) SeaWorld Orlando has announced the return of a “Coasters After Dark” special event in 2025 with a new twist. They call this one the Coasters After Dark: Seven Seas Edition, which is a limited-capacity extra ticket that offers guests the chance to experience the park’s famous roller coasters with minimal wait times, while also coming with a food-sample lanyard that you can redeem for five different foot tastings.
This will be offered in limited numbers from 9pm to midnight on March 14, March 28, April 4 and April 11th, with pricing starting at $69.99 right now. (I think they may have added March 21st as well, as tickets are now also offered on the website for that date.)
(2/1/2025) Aquatica Orlando has annouinced the return of “Beach Nights” at the park starting tonight. Guests can enjoy extended hours into the evening every Saturday in February, along with a movie screenings on the beach along with extra fun games and activities such as a giant Connect Four game and beach volleyball.
The films slated for this month include Frozen (Feb 1st), Zootopia (Feb. 8), Luca (Feb. 16) and Sonic (Feb 22). Learn more at the official event site.
(1/10/2025) The “Inside Look” programs will return to SeaWorld Orlando starting this weekend, as well as more next weekend (Jan. 11-12 & Jan. 18-19). These are included with park admission, and offer some limited-space tours of behind the scenes facilities at the park, including animal habitats, a trip inside the Rescue Center as well as meet & greet opportunities with park staff.
New this year will be a backstage experience with the Flamingos, as well as a chance to see what take place with the Dolphin Nursery, Rescue Center, Aquariums, Pacific Point Preserve, Wild Arctic and many others. “Due to the event's immense popularity, guests are advised to arrive early to ensure access to this extraordinary offering.”
Visit the official website for all the latest information about what is offered.
(9/3/2024) Sad news from Discovery Cove this week, as the local news reports than a 60 year old man was found unresponsive in the water at the park on August 31st. He was taken to a nearby hospital where it was announced later that he had died. An investigation by the Sheriff's Office is still taking place to follow-up as to what happened.
2025 - Expedition Odyssey / Flying Theater - (5/1/2025) SeaWorld Orlando held a media preview of the new Expedition Odyssey flying theater attraction this week, and Screamscape was able to send someone to check it out for us. While they were not allowed to shoot any footage of the ride itself in action, they did send back some pictures of pre-ride queue and the reopened animal exhibit you pass through upon exiting the ride. Meanwhile SeaWorld did also provide us with some B-Roll footage of the ride hardware in action as well.
Odd note: Your eyes are not deceiving you. For whatever reason when you first see the ride vehicle spinning around, yes… the gentleman in the far seat was riding with a WWE Championship Title Belt around his waist for some reason. LOL! Anyway… According to our test rider:
“This is a nice family ride addition to the park and the first ride that is completely indoor. This is a big deal for this park when there is bad weather. The queue is simple with some light up photos, but it’s air conditioned.
The ride seats 15 per row with 2 levels for a total 30 on one side. This gives each dome (there are 2) 120 riders on the ride system at any given time. The line is going to be long for this ride.
The ride experience is pretty simple. Think Soarin but not as elaborate. The scenes take you over the Arctic and underwater with a group of killer whales.
They have also fully reopened the Arctic animal habitat again. This is probably the best themed animal exhibit at SeaWorld. This is a win for SeaWorld, if for no other reason than it’s indoors, air conditioned and brings back the full arctic exhibit.”
(4/26/2025) It’s official, Expedition Odyssey will be ready to open to guests at SeaWorld Orlando on May 1st, 2025.
(3/20/2025) Zooder Loopers has posted a great behind the scenes tour of the new Expedition Odyssey flying theater under construction at SeaWorld Orlando. This includes a look at the actual ride seats and hardware, as well as a look in the theater dome itself. For park fans familiar with how things used to look inside here, back when it was Wild Arctic or even Misison: Bermuda Triangle, you should enjoy seeing how the insides of the building are being reworked to now contain a two level flying theater attraction.
(3/16/2025) SeaWorld Orlando has revealed more details about the planned new Flying Theater attraction opening in 2025. The new ride which will replace the former Wild Arctic simulator will be named Expedition Odyssey and unlike some other nearby flying theater attractions, they say that everything you see on Expedition Odyssey is entirely real footage and not computer animated. The all-live footage was shot by a camera crew over several different trips to the article.
From what I understand, the ride hardware will be a Mack Rides “Airific” Flying Theater attraction featuring seats on two levels, and the installation at SeaWorld will feature two entirely separate theater screens that will run independently. Inside each theater, as one group of riders is experiencing the flying theater ride-film, a second set of seats on the other side of a turntable will be loaded, so that when the ride experience is done, the turntable will rotate so the new riders will now face the screen and the other rides will now be able to exit onto the platform and leave, increasing the overall capacity for each theater. So with two such theaters in action at once, the capacity for the attraction should be quite good.
(1/27/2025) While we have still yet to see any kind of artwork from SeaWorld showing off the ride system that SeaWorld Orlando is planning on using for their new Arctic themed flying theater attraction, they did release some new details this week in a press release.
“Riders will embark on a once in a lifetime adventure to the top of the world as they are taken to the edge of the Arctic, known to be one of the world's most awe-inspiring and mysterious regions on the planet, once only accessible to the few and elite explorers. This breathtaking journey will dive down the face of majestic snow-capped mountains, weave through breathtaking fields of glaciers and plunge beneath the frigid waters teeming with marine life, coming face-to-face with humpback whales, orcas, belugas, walruses and more– all from the comfort of an immersive indoor experience that brings the incredible Arctic to life.”
The park has also confirmed that the height restriction for the yet-to-be-named-ride will be just 39 inches, making this a great family friendly attraction.
(11/20/2024) SeaWorld Orlando and Mack Rides have announced that the new Flying Theater attraction coming to SeaWorld Orlando in 2025 will be a Mack Rides AIRIFIC Flying Theater. Mack and their Tacumeon Rides division first unveiled the AIRIFIC concept three years ago, bringing their own unique twist to the Flying Theater concept.
Passengers load onto the the AIRIFIC’s Flying Theater seats on different floors within the ride building, btu helping to increase capacity far beyond what we typically see from a Flying Theater, there are actually two sets of seats on each floor. Passengers are loaded and a large turntable rotates the rows 180º into the theater dome to enjoy their ride, meanwhile the second bench of seats becomes available for unloading/loading for the next group of passengers.
To date, I believe there is one AIRIFIC in operation, opening at the VinWonders Nha Trang theme park in Vietnam in Summer 2023, so the SeaWorld Orlando attraction will be a first of its kind in North America.
(9/19/2024) As Screamscape had previously posted as a rumor, SeaWorld Orlando has now confirmed that in Spring 2025 they will open the ‘World’s First Fully Immersive Arctic Flying Theater” attraction where the former Wild Arctic attraction once stood. The new attraction is said to be a “one-of-a-kind immersive flight theater” that will take riders on a ‘dynamic adventure through the Arctic”. This will still be a family friendly attraction however, with only a 39-inch height requirement within the attraction’s two mutli-level theaters (for extra capacity).
“This new experience invites families to soar over icy landscapes, dive beneath frozen waters and come face-to-face with some of the planet’s most magnificent creatures. From majestic beluga whales to awe-inspiring orcas and walruses, this adventure puts riders right in the middle of the action. It’s also all indoors, so rain or shine, this attraction guarantees a cool, thrilling escape for the entire family all year round.” SeaWorld sent us a video clip showing off some of the amazing real-world footage their crew has captured on site in the arctic. So nice to know that this will be a real adventure and not something computer animated, so check it out below!
(10/29/2023) We’ve heard this rumor quietly mentioned a few times over the past few years, but then nothing ever happened as the park opted to focus for adding back-to-back-to-back roller coasters instead for a time. With that out of the way apparently SeaWorld Orlando is now ready to move forward again with those rumored plans to build their own Flying Theater style attraction as a replacement for the closed Wild Arctic simulator ride. While I don’t have a timeline on this yet, the park is currently very busy working on the new Penguin Trek coaster for the 2024 season. I can only assume that the Flying Theater project wouldn’t be ready until 2025 or 2026, depending on when construction starts.
In the meantime, keep an eye on this area of the park to see if any kind of survey markings can be spotted over the next few months as an indication that work may be preparing to start.
???? - Future Attraction Concepts Survey - (7/2/2025) A short time ago the United Parks were said to be sending out guest surveys to get reactions to three possible new attraction concepts. There is no guarantee that any of these will be something built, but it is a good indication about the kinds of ideas and budgets they may be looking into for future inspiration right now. It is worth keeping another thing in mind when reading these. Based on similar surveys issued by other chains in the past, Six Flags is a good example, the ideas being presented to guests for one park may actually be for an attraction proposed for an entirely different park in the chain. The idea here being to present the concept to other markers to see if it resonates with guests elsewhere or not as well. In this case, the three concepts do kind of sound like could fit into SeaWorld Orlando, so on to the ideas.
The first would be a major restoration to the park’s existing Journey To Atlantis coaster/flume attraction. It’s no secret that over the years since Journey To Atlantis opened in Orlando, the various effects along with the original storyline that was being told have decayed to the point of being virtually unrecognizable. So in this proposal the park would give the attraction a “full refresh that restores its original effects and introduces enhanced theming, music, and scenic elements” in order to give the ride “an exciting new chapter”.
Reaction - Tell Me More! : I do like this idea, but I also know SeaWorld a bit better than most as a former insider from way back in the Anheuser-Busch era. Busch had big visions for their products, and when they worked it was magic… and when things didn’t quite work as expected and attractions were later faced with potentially costly upkeep budgets… more often than not, the annual maintenance budgets were never enough to restore things back to the original vision. This isn’t to say that every project was “left to rot”, as sometimes the corporate office in St. Louis would give an ear to bigger proposals to upgrade and improve things. Sometimes the idea to push forward to make things “even better than before” did make sense, especially if they felt they could market it as something new and get a good return on the investment going forward. With Busch out of the picture and the park’s now under the United Parks & Resorts banner, things are different today than they were before, but a proposal to restore Journey To Atlantis into a top tier attraction in the Orlando market is hard to argue against, and the ride portion itself is still enjoyable.
The second concept is a bit odd, with a proposal for an “immersive journey into the enigmatic world of jellyfish and other creatures than have roamed the oceans since before the age of the dinosaurs.”
Reaction - Meh : Not much else is included here, including any kind of description about the proposed ride system they are thinking about. This doesn’t sound like a coaster, but more like a slow moving family ride, or even a dark ride. So if this brings back any flashbacks to the defunct Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin dark ride, then you are not alone. I can’t help but imagine an entire slow moving dark ride that meanders through caverns of light-up jellyfish dangling from the ceiling instead of icicles and stalactites. On the business side, it just doesn’t sound like something that would be easy to market in a way to drive new guests through the gate.
The final proposal is for a new roller “coaster experience unlike any other. This dynamic coaster will take riders through a series of extreme elements, including a vertical launch, inversions, moments of weightlessness, high speed turns, and more all in an open-feel vehicle so you experience every part of it. Additionally, riders will experience unique track elements which will build the anticipation at the beginning of the experience using special effects and motion never seen before!”
Reaction - Sounds Good To Me! : No matter the owner of the parks, once thing we’ve been able to count on from the SeaWorld and Busch Gardens theme parks over the years was the creation of dynamic and fairly unique new roller coaster experiences that rarely disappoint. In this case the artwork doesn’t help, it just shows a strange four-row, four-across vehicle as a single large car on a coaster track. While four-across seating at the parks usually goes hand-in-hand with B&M, doing so with a “vertical launch” complete with new never before seen elements and special and new “motion never seen before” definitely sounds like someone else.
Looking to other frequent suppliers of coasters and rides for the chain leads me in a few different directions. Intamin could be tapped here, though for the most part they’ve not been used by the chain in Florida as they’ve been working with Universal quite a bit lately. But Intamin does offer a unique new roller coaster with a vertical launch system that was built into a compact indoor structure in Dubai called the Storm Coaster.
Premier Rides built three copies of their popular Sky Rocket II coaster system for the company for both Busch Gardens parks and SeaWorld San Diego, before building the custom layout Ice Breaker coaster for the Orlando park. Currently Premier Rides is building their most unique ride of all time for Canada’s Wonderland, AlpenFury, that features a dive underground before launching up vertically straight out of a fake mountain structure and into an extensive layout with 7 inversions.
Lastly on my list would be Mack Rides. Mack really hasn’t done much on the ‘coaster’ side of things for the chain, but they did build all three Journey to Atlantis rides as well as the unique Cobra’s Curse spinning coaster in Tampa. However, Mack Rides is sure to be high in demand as the creator of the new Stardust Racers at Universal Epic Universe, and if that wasn’t enough they opened a ride in Europa-Park last year called Voltron that sounds exactly like it would certainly check every box what they describe in the survey.
Unique vertical launch? Check…
Extreme and unique track elements? Check and Check!
Effects and motion never seen before? Oh… Check those boxes for sure as Voltron features forwards and backwards launches, a turn-table switch track in the middle of the ride layout, and a crazy effect inside an indoor effects tunnel where the entire piece of track that the train is sitting on detaches and bounces up and down wildly while it looks like the entire tunnel is being electrified.
Oh… and trains that seat four-across in four-rows like in the survey artwork.
So while I'd love to see JTA restored to glory… I think I’d love to see a copy of Voltron dropped into SeaWorld first.
2026/2027 DELAYED - Project Starboard / Hotel Resort - (12/17/2023) SeaWorld’s Project Starboard has been revealed as a plan to build a 15-story tall, 504-room hotel on the site of a nearly 30-acre back-stage plot at the corner of Central Florida and International Drive that is normally used for employee parking, as well as landscaping and general storage. The hotel is expected to feature a parking deck as well as an elevated pathway that will lead to an exclusive park-entrance for the resort guests located between the Nautilus Theater and the former Clydesdale Barn structure (some of which will be removed to make room). I’m guessing all the employees who used to park here will be forced to move to the employee parking on the other side of the park.
From the look of things, the curved shaped building will offer a roof-top lounge that has viewing into the park, as well as be designed over a lush pool area with extensive landscaping and what appears to be a lazy river and two large pools. What is a bit odd is that some extended non-pool areas will be built over the top of what is currently a water drainage canal, with the elevated pathway going over this as well as a small backstage park road that currently runs along the perimeter that will have to remain. According to the plans, it looks like the main entrance into the new resort space will be on the International Drive side of the plot.
During a previous announcement at an earnings call, SeaWorld did mention they were working on plans to design and open their first on-property hotels (plural) with the first expected to open in 2026.
A second smaller project also seems to be in development, known as Project Canopy, which appears to be located next to the backside of Discovery Cove, in a green space that runs between the road off Central Florida that goes to OC Fire Station 54 and a back-stage road that runs around Discovery Cove.
(7/9/2023) Something new besides the new roller coaster may be in planning for SeaWorld Orlando. According to a post on IG, something called Project Starboard is planned to take over an approximately 14 acre piece of property at the corner of Central Florida Parkway and International Drive. The majority of the site highlighted for the project has been used as employee parking for those who work in departments and locations on that side of the park. The loss of this parking area may be cause for some operational disruption within the park if it goes forward.
???? - Project Canopy / Second Resort - (1/15/2024) New information has been discovered about SeaWorld Orlando’s second planned hotel project, aka: Project Canopy, which is intended to service Discovery Cove. It turns out the land earmarked behind the park isn’t for the hotel itself, but appears to be a new employee parking lot that will likely serve as a replacement for the one being lost to build Project Starboard. Meanwhile the new Project Canopy hotel is actually planned as a 6-story 250-room hotel to be built just south of the entrance of Discovery Cove, along with an expansion to the parking lot there so it can serve both the mini aquatic park as well as the hotel guests.
(12/17/2023) A second smaller project also seems to be in development, known as Project Canopy, which appears to be located next to the backside of Discovery Cove, in a green space that runs between the road off Central Florida that goes to OC Fire Station 54 and a back-stage road that runs around Discovery Cove.
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