5 Ways to Improve SeaWorld

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5 Ways to Improve SeaWorld

#1 Add more rides

I wont go into too many details here because I recently layout a plan for new rides to the park.


#2 Add an entrance shopping/Dining area with a parking garage

Once you enter the park you are greeted by the highly themed well put together Ports of Call area. The problem is there is only one giftshop outside the main entrance. There are no restaurants and no post-closing entertainment at SeaWorld. What they do have is a massive parking lot. A large parking garage with a themed shopping dining/ entertainment complex would bring more people to the area and keep them longer, ultimately a parking garage would also help with the horrific post-closing traffic flow that SeaWorld currently has and they would be able to have more parking. Aquatica, SeaWorld’s water park, is very small with little expansion room. By adding a parking garage at SeaWorld they could take away the Aqautica parking lot and expand the park there. The same is true for Discovery Cove.

With a theme park, a water park, and a high-end limited number park, a large corporate and conference venue that’s often used from local proms and in conjunction with the Orange County Convention Center that’s near by and two third-party on site hotels

SeaWorld Orlando could easily become a full service complex. The thing that is missing is restaurants, shops, and entertainment. These would all be leased out to third-parties, such as is done with Downtown Disney and CityWalk. I would move the luau to this area from its current location inside the park. I would also have live dolphin exhibits here to help add that extra touch. With the parking garage being built there could possibly be enough room for a third small hotel on site also.

With this new complex being the focus of the SeaWorld complex the next logical step would be to add a light rail system connecting the hotels, the water park, Discovery Cove and SeaWorld. If I was SeaWorld I would work with other area hotels, the Orlando Wheel that’s being built and the Convention Center to see if they also wanted to be added to this lightrail system, such as what happened in Vegas.

I would then try to add evening entertainment to this complex. The Pirate Dinner Theater has outgrown its very old theater and that would be a perfect fit for here. The Orlando Titanic museum would also fit perfectly here though they are currently locked into a 25 year lease.

#3 Not have extra fee rides or events

One of my biggest pet peeves is when theme parks charge extra for a certain ride or activity. In Orlando theme park tickets go for $75 a person plus $12 to park at most locations. A family of four will spend on average well over $400 in a day at a theme park. With that type of money being dropped I just don’t feel it is right to charge an extra $3 to ride on the tower observation wheel or to access the rock climbing wall. Either up the admission cost or do away with these rides.


#4 Add more televisions

SeaWorld has very few rides so thus the lines on the rides is long, the problem is that most of these rides have little entertainment. When you stand in line for an upwards of an hour, longer in the summer months, some entertainment would be nice. Sure they have videos looping scenes from the artic or telling you how to board the ride but they need televisions with longer videos and of better quality. The restaurants could also use televisions. To my knowledge none of the restaurants have them, this seems to be a problem when little kids finish before their parents. Adding a few at the entrance gates would also be nice since the line can be quite big here in the mornings or when there are security concerns.

These televisions could loop SeaWorld videos and commercials thus paying for themselves in a short amount of time.

#5 Add more kids play areas

Kids love SeaWorld but sometimes with the large amount of shows and walk through exhibits it can quickly get boring for them. Shamu’s Happy Harbor is nice but is in one small corner of the park. The park should add small themed play areas in other places around the park. One in Key West would go great, a play area inside the Penguin exhibit would fit well with the theme and be fun, one in the Ports of Call area would be nice. SeaWorld needs to provide small play areas that allow their youngest visitors to burn off some of the energy built from the shows.