SeaWorld Orlando is the forgotten child of the major theme parks in Orlando.
This park doesn’t get as much attention as it deserves. While this park can’t compete with the
theming of Disney or Universal, it’s still a very nice looking park with some elite attractions.
And it has a big advantage over the big 2, lines. If you’re in Orlando and hate waiting, you may
want to consider SeaWorld. Find out everything you need to know about this park in this review.
After the success of their San Diego and Ohio parks,
SeaWorld wanted to build another park in the bustling Orlando market.
Just two years after Walt Disney World opened, SeaWorld Orlando opened in 1973.
It had the traits of their other parks- lush landscaping and lots of sea creatures. The park
was mostly about the animal exhibits and shows. In 1989, Aneuser-Busch purchased the SeaWorld
parks and they began their evolution into more traditional theme parks. SeaWorld Orlando kept
the animals and shows, but they started adding mechanical rides in the 1990s.
In 2008, Anheuser-Busch was acquired by Belgian based In-Bev. This included all of Busch’s
properties, including the Busch Entertainment theme park division. InBev quickly sold the
theme park division to the Blackstone Group, who renamed Busch Entertainment as SeaWorld Parks.
After the Blackfish documentary covering the controversy of SeaWorld’s captive orcas was
released in 2013, the park’s attendance decreased. SeaWorld Orlando needed to shape its image.
Like all the SeaWorld parks, the park made some key changes. The shows were modified
to be more education and preservation based. SeaWorld Orlando also turned Shamu’s Happy
Harbor into a Sesame Street area to utilize the chain’s most lucrative intellectual property.
But most importantly, SeaWorld Orlando started adding more rides,
particularly roller coasters. And another is on the way in 2023 with Project Penguin, which
is expected to be the first B&M surf coaster. SeaWorld Orlando is right in the middle of Walt
Disney World and Universal, so it’s easy to access as part of an Orlando vacation.
Many hotels have shuttles to the park. Or you can call an Uber or drive.
If you drive, know that you’ll have to pay $30 to park…unless you have a season pass.
SeaWorld Orlando is one of the pricier parks out there, costing upwards of $120 per day
without any discounts. But if you buy in advance online, you can save $35-40. I typically visit
using a SeaWorld Platinum Pass. This grants you access to all 11 parks in the chain.
If you buy the one with SeaWorld Orlando as your home park, you’ll be paying nearly $500. However,
you can buy a Platinum Pass for a different home park for nearly half the price…as
long as you don’t have a SeaWorld park in the state where you reside. If you have a SeaWorld
park in your home state, the fine print says you need to purchase the pass for that park.
If you don’t have a SeaWorld park in your home state, the ones for Sesame Place and SeaWorld
San Antonio tend to be the cheapest. It’s also worth noting there are some benefits specific to
your home park such as the free-tickets and some of the special experiences.
I love this park’s appearance. It starts with the main entrance,
you pass this picturesque lighthouse on the water and rocks. And it continues as you get deeper in
the park. The park is bright and colorful. Rides often sport fresh and vibrant paint schemes.
The park is extremely well-landscaped as well with plenty of flowers, tropical trees, and a
giant lagoon in the center of the park. I think it’s the best landscaped park in Orlando. The
park also compliments the natural beauty with some theming. While it can’t match Disney or Universal,
it only adds to the already strong atmosphere. And several of the signature rides have musical
scores pumping through the area as well, which is a really nice touch.
SeaWorld Orlando is a large park spanning 200 acres. The park is fairly easy to navigate since
it mostly forms a giant loop around the lagoon. But there are two small downsides to the layout.
One, there are a few narrow pathways that can get clogged up on busy days, particularly the
bridge cutting across the lagoon. Two, the park is known to close off entire sections at once as
construction and repainting is taking place. Now let’s talk about the operations. Employees
here are usually friendly and dispatches are usually pretty quick. I want to callout Mako’s
crew in particular. They have some of the fastest dispatches I’ve seen on any coaster and routinely
roll trains. The one coaster that has notoriously slow operations is Manta. That ride always stacks
and the line moves at a snail’s pace. SeaWorld will usually run multiple trains
on busy days, but they will sometimes run one train on quieter days outside of peak season.
There are two downsides to this park’s operations.
First, the park no longer publishes their annual maintenance schedule in advance.
The park will update the rides page to state when an attraction is closed for a refurbishment,
but you’ll have no notice if you’re planning a trip in the future. You also need to pay
attention if a ride is being repainted. With Manta earlier this year, the ride was open on weekends,
but it was closed during the week for painting. There was no mention of this on the website.
I only knew about it from some enthusiast friends in the area.
Second, the park has staggered opening times. In past years, Mako would open an hour late. Mako now
opens with the park, but their two newest rides in Infinity Falls and Ice Breaker both open an
hour late since they’re in the back of the park. Even on days when this park is swamped, ride lines
are manageable if you have a good strategy. The shows suck a lot of people out of ride queues.
Most people head to Manta first since it’s at the front of the park.
This is the coaster that routinely gets the longest line and it spikes early in the day.
If you want to get a ride on Manta with no wait, you need to be one of the first people
in the park. Otherwise, it’s smarter to return in the afternoon when the line dies down.
I would then make a loop hitting Journey to Atlantis and Kraken.
Kraken has a manageable wait most days because of its capacity,
but Journey to Atlantis can generate a lengthy wait on a warm day.
I would then hit the Antarctica penguin exhibit since that is the one animal exhibit that can
and often builds a line. Once done, head towards Mako. If the back section hasn’t opened yet,
ride Mako until it does. If the back section is open, I’d come back to Mako later since it
usually has one of the shortest waits in the park because it’s a people-eater.
Once the back section opens- again it’s usually 1 hour after the rest of the park-
I strongly recommend riding Infinity Falls as soon as possible.
This rapids ride routinely has the longest line in the park and it is prone to downtime.
This line can often hit the hour mark if it’s a hot day, so this is
your best time to ride it with a minimal wait. Lastly, you can then hit Ice Breaker. Despite
being the new coaster, it has had manageable waits in my visits since it almost always has run
two trains to this point even on quiet days. You can then leisurely enjoy the rest of the
day enjoying the shows, exhibits, and reriding your favorites.
If lines are an issue, you can purchase a Quick Queue skip-the-line pass.
Prices fluctuate wildly. They can be as low as $15 or as high as $100 depending on crowds. And if you
have a Platinum Pass, you can get 50% off. Just note if your home park isn’t SeaWorld Orlando,
you need to buy the Quick Queue in-person or over-the-phone to get the discount. But if
you’re pressed for time or visit on a busy day, this will get you onto most rides in a flash.
Now let’s talk about that ride lineup. SeaWorld is about quality over quantity. There are barely any
flat rides here. You won’t find any spinning or pendulum rides here. The only adult flat is the
40 story tall Sky Tower. This ride tends to be closed for me, but it has stunning views of the
park and surrounding area when it’s open. Nearly half the park’s rides are located in
one area, the Sesame Street kid’s area. This area has plenty to keep kid’s busy. The entire
area is colorful and it’s home to a collection of small rides, playgrounds, themed facades,
and all the famous characters. You have standard meet and greets plus an energetic parade.
The focal point of this park’s ride lineup are the roller coasters. However, there are limited
options if you’re not 54 inches tall. You must be at least 54 inches tall to ride four of the park’s
six coasters, including the trio of B&Ms. Mako is the park’s best attractions and one
of the top rides in Florida. This Bolliger & Mabillard hyper coaster is the park’s tallest,
fastest, and longest attraction. The lift hill looms large over the park and I love how
the camelbacks run along the water. The first half is one of the best sequences on any B&M.
The first drop and camelbacks deliver some very strong and sustained floater airtime. It’s some
of the best airtime on any coaster. The second half is considerably tamer, but the swooping turns
are visually pleasing both on-and-off-ride going above the pathways and water. I have a separate
review on this coaster, but it’s extremely reridable between its quality and smoothness.
Manta is the B&M flying coaster. I love this coaster’s placement over the midways and water.
The visuals elevate an already strong layout. The four inversions are fantastic.
The pretzel loop has some insane positive Gs.
Then the remaining 3 inversions are graceful and floaty, which is magical in the flying position.
Make sure to ride this one in the back if you want the most forceful ride.
Kraken is the recently repainted B&M floorless. This ride has a solid initial drop followed
by 7 giant inversions. I particularly love the snappy zero-G roll and the second vertical loop,
which is buried in a trench. This is one of the best floorless coasters out there,
primarily because of the inversions, which I cover in a review. One note on this coaster is
that it can have a shimmy if the trains aren’t fully loaded. Otherwise, it’s usually smooth.
Ice Breaker is the newest coaster. It was supposed to fill the void as the park’s family coaster,
but the height restriction was raised to 54” shortly after it opened.
The ride is also more intense than it looks. This ride has modest stats, but it has some aggressive
ejector airtime. The small bunny hills and top hat really launch riders out of their seat.
This ride really surprised me and it may be the best coaster Premier Rides has ever
constructed, which I detail in a review. Super Grover’s Box Car Derby is the park’s
junior coaster. This Zierer creation is bigger than most kids coasters, so adults can ride it
without any issue. However, I recall it having a noticeable rattle the one time I rode it.
The final coaster also combines elements of a water ride and dark ride.
Journey to Atlantis was the prototype Mack water coaster and it may be the best of its kind. The
ride has a gorgeous themed facade and the initial dark ride section has some great physical sets.
Then you also have some thrills with the main drop having a little airtime and zip.
Most seats get riders comfortably refreshed, but avoid the front unless you want to get drenched
head to toe. Watch my review to find out why. The other water ride is Infinity Falls
and this one will almost certainly soak you. This is one of the best rapids rides in the world.
It’s a masterpiece between the landscaping and powerful rapids.
There are quite a few rapids that will send massive walls of water into the boat.
Then you also have that unique elevator lift and large drop at the end of the ride.
SeaWorld Orlando also has a water park next door in Aquatica.
It’s a separate ticket, but it’s a really nice water park. I have an entire review on Aquatica,
but it has a relaxing atmosphere combined with some solid slides,
including arguably the most intense speed slides in the world in Ihu’s Breakaway Falls.
Back to SeaWorld, the park has one gap in their ride lineup. And it’s painful to say
this since it never used to be an issue. Dark rides. SeaWorld Orlando currently has none.
They used to have the Wild Arctic simulator and Antarctica trackless dark ride,
but both have been standing but not operating for years and may be permanently retired.
These were excellent options in summer to escape the heat or frequent thunderstorms.
Beyond the rides, you also have all the animal encounters. You have three options- shows, tours,
and exhibits. If you have a favorite sea creature, there’s a good chance you’ll find them here.
The exhibits are scattered throughout the park, but there are three that standout most for me.
My favorite exhibit is Antarctica with the penguins.
The cold air feels amazing and you can see nearly a hundred penguins waddling and swimming about.
I also love the Dolphin Nursery towards the front of the park.
Those animals always seem to know when a camera is out and they’ll swim right up against the glass.
Then there’s the Shark Encounter, which is an indoor aquarium that includes a 360
degree shark tunnel with some cool views. And this is only the tip of the iceberg. You
have several other exhibits, sometimes in the queue line or exit of an attraction.
If you want to get even closer to the animals, the park offers paid tours.
I’ve done a few of these over the years and I highly recommend them.
They’re short, but the trainers are highly knowledgeable, you can get super close to
the animals, and sometimes even touch them. My favorite of the bunch was the penguin tour.
Finally, you have the animal shows. These are the main reason a lot of people visit SeaWorld.
The older shows had more comedy and theatrics, but the newer ones are more education based.
I’m not the biggest fan of these and focus more on the exhibits and rides when I’m at SeaWorld.
Moving onto the food, SeaWorld Orlando is very underrated in this department.
The best food in the park is Shark’s Underwater Grill. It’s a pricey and upscale meal,
but the food quality is exceptional and it’s surreal dining next to a shark tank.
Dine with Shamu is an all-you-can eat buffet. I know this was understandably paused during covid,
but it’s a great option to stuff your face with solid food.
And you also get a Q&A with a trainer and also get to see the whales perform a trick or two.
For quick service, I love the pretzel kitchen. A fresh pretzel from this place
is one of my favorite snacks at any theme park. The pretzels are doughy and buttery.
SeaWorld Orlando is open year-round and they have several special events through the year.
They’ve recently added a food festival that seems to have been well-received. And last year,
they added Howl-O-Scream. I didn’t attend this, but those who did said the haunts were decent
and it was awesome getting Mako night rides. So do I recommend SeaWorld Orlando? Absolutely!
While I put Islands of Adventure and Magic Kingdom ahead of this park,
I think it’s the third best theme park in Orlando. This is a really well-rounded park. I love how the
park offers a strong roller coaster lineup with a top notch appearance and all those
animal exhibits. This park is set-up in such a way that you can either come for a few hours to
binge all the coaster credits or spend an entire day soaking up the exhibits at your leisure.
While this park doesn’t have as many rides as some of the other top parks out there,
this park is all about the quality over quantity. So those are my thoughts on SeaWorld Orlando,
arguably the most underrated park in the Orlando theme park market. What are your thoughts
about this aquatic themed park? Do you like the park’s focus towards rides and roller coasters?
Let me know your thoughts down in the comments. If you enjoyed this review, I’d appreciate it
if you gave this video a like and you considered subscribing since there will be a lot more roller
coaster and amusement park videos here at Canobie Coaster. Thanks for watching!