If Sea World ever evolves as you mention in your pull quote, I would very fully support them.
-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
Beluga death at Sea World
- Thread starter BuddyThomas
- Start date
919Florida
Well-Known Member
No you wouldnt
SeaWorld is not a theme park and if they just kept the rides etc it does not make the place unique or special in anyway. Its just another Disney and Universal. SeaWorld is called SEAworld people. Its the animals that make SeaWorld special and thats what people come to SeaWorld for. People coming to the parks now know that SeaWorld is not a ride based park and they still come by the millions. They come for the dolphins, sealions and whales etc. They come to be taught they come to be inspired. Not everyone but a lot do.
While this sounds good in theory would it actually work. Doesn't all the money for the animal rehab come from the profits the parks make. Take away the parks and where would they get their funding from.
I think at this point that SeaWorld would be better off closing the shows down and using the the space from the stadiums to expand the animal tanks. I think if you change the the orca and dolphin exhibits into a shark encounter type of attraction that it would be just as popular as the shows if not more. They could have the trainers located throughout the attractions to answer any questions that the public may have. I think this would be a good compromise between the 2 sides.
919Florida
Well-Known Member
I really like what you say here. You have excellent ideas. I for one dont need the shows. While I do enjoy them they are not needed. When One Ocean was down for several months last year and SeaWorld did Shamu Up Close that was just as fun and so much more informative for the average guest. I would love to see what Seaworld could create with habitats like that for all hte animals.
michmousefan
Well-Known Member
If Sea World was *only* rides, you might be right. But if they enhance their ride assortment, and kept most of the animals, like the animals at Busch Gardens Tampa -- maintain the Sealife theme, just get rid of the degrading shows and enhance and enlarge the habitats for the animals. Raze the stadiums and use the space for larger tanks and habitats. As @matt78 mentioned, create enhanced walkthrough exhibits where people would be able to see more natural behavior, not the silly shows with animals jumping through hoops or honking horns to please guests.
919Florida
Well-Known Member
Like I said I love what @matt78 proposed. Its great ideas. But the animal activists and peta people will never be pleased and accept that as an answer. There answers are no animals at SeaWorld period. They want Seaworld to be strictly ride based etc. You also have to remember that shows at the Seaworld parks are enrichments for the animals and it keeps them thinking etc.
michmousefan
Well-Known Member
If the animals need the shows to be enriched or stimulated, and if enlarged and enhanced living environments won't fulfill that need, then they shouldn't be in captivity.
919Florida
Well-Known Member
You got me wrong. I would love to see the enhanced and enlarged living environments. I was just responding to the comment of you calling them degrading shows which they are not degrading. The shows have a lot of beneifts to the animals. But just like with Shamu Up close they did 15 mins presentations with the animals several times a day. So please dont get me wrong. I am open to changes but I am not open to getting rid of the animals at all.
BuzzKillington
Active Member
LOL. China, India and Russia are building aquariums right and left and if you radicals don't watch your step, your cherished SW orcas will end up in one of these countries where animal rights are low on the totem pole. Not good!!
Last edited:
Which ones are the radicals again? Because the last Dreamfinder thread is a few pages back. In another forum....
The problem is they don't belong in the wild either. They tried that with Keiko and he died within 2 or 3 years. I think the best thing they can do is do away with the shows and have the trainers do any animal interactions the animals need after park hours. I still think that if they built an enlarged tank for the orcas and dolphins and then ran one of the shark encounter tubes through them that they would be more popular than the shows.
BuzzKillington
Active Member
It is called the Blue World Project and "the first of the new environments will be built at SeaWorld San Diego where the killer whale habitat is planned to have a total water volume of 10 million gallons, nearly double that of the existing facility. With a planned maximum depth of 50 feet, surface area of nearly 1.5 acres and spanning more than 350 feet in length, the new environment will also have views exceeding 40 feet in height, providing guests with the world’s largest underwater viewing experience of killer whales."
It is called the Blue World Project and "the first of the new environments will be built at SeaWorld San Diego where the killer whale habitat is planned to have a total water volume of 10 million gallons, nearly double that of the existing facility. With a planned maximum depth of 50 feet, surface area of nearly 1.5 acres and spanning more than 350 feet in length, the new environment will also have views exceeding 40 feet in height, providing guests with the world’s largest underwater viewing experience of killer whales."
This will be great as long as it turns out the way the pictures look and they don't cheap out on it while building it. Still think it would be better if they incorporated the stadium seating area into the new tanks as well to give them as much space as possible. They should do something similar for the dolphins and sea lions too.
michmousefan
Well-Known Member
Agree that the animals currently in captivity probably can't be released into the wild, sadly. But stop the breeding of in-captivity animals, and let the Orcas they have now live out their lives in as large an environment as possible, get rid of the shows and stadiums. The concept of a shark encounter like tube is great.
michmousefan
Well-Known Member
The plans I saw have this as an add-on to the existing stadium area, which leads me to believe that the shows are still going to continue, sadly.
I know that it is a add on. I just think if Sea World was smart they should include the stadium area in the plans. I think a shark encounter type attraction would be more popular than the shows.
Mickey81
Well-Known Member
http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/28/news/jane-goodall-seaworld/index.html
Can't wait to hear the spin that those who blindly defend Sea World put on this.
Can't wait to hear the spin that those who blindly defend Sea World put on this.
unkadug
Follower of "Saget"The Cult
Apples and oranges.
Mickey81
Well-Known Member
I agree with that, she has little to no knowledge of large Marine species...but the point is the continuing negative plublicity that Sea World gets. They have got to try and get ahead of this, and turn things around.
919Florida
Well-Known Member
First of we don't blindly defend SeaWorld. We are people who frequent the parks and see firsthand with our own eyes and own knowledge. We know what goes on in the parks then the activist out there.
Second, Jane is a chimp expert. She is not a whale, dolphin marine animal expert. She has not visited SeaWorld. She does not know what goes on behind the scenes at SeaWorld. Jane has been against Seaworld for a while so no idea why this is news to you now. She was quoted as saying negative things as far back at 2011. So nothing new with her. She only has limited access to information on SeaWorld so her thoughts are classified as such.
The negative publicity will always be out there. Its been there for the first 50 years of SeaWorld and will be there for the second 50 years of SeaWorld. Nothing SeaWorld ever says or does will be good enough for these people.
The fact is even with attendance slightly down 22.4 million people still visited SeaWorld parks last year and thats a huge impact. And evidence is suggesting that in the quarter one filing coming May 7. Attendance is going to show its going up again.