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SeaWorld Orlando (SWO) Discussion Thread

P. 276: Penguin Trek construction update!

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Isn't Sesame Street at risk for getting cancelled under Donald Trump's plans? Since PBS is supposed to be getting defunded. If so, it seems feasible that the next generation of children won't know these characters at all.

I wouldn't be too worried about that having any impact on the Seaworld parks. By 2022 we should know what kind of effect defunding PBS may have on Seasame Street and I'm sure Seaworld will reconsider if something happens.

Edited by RollerManic
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I would weigh in on this one, but I honestly have no idea if this is a smart business move or simply a diversion from greater issues at hand with the core animal parks. I do trust Joel Manby and hope that this turns out well for them as they certainly deserve some success for all of the effort they have been putting into trying to turn the company around.

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My cousin is overweight with a size 40 waist. He could not fit on nitro or el toro at GA due to his large thighs. I plan on going to sea world orlando and universal with him sometime during the summer, are there any coasters that he will have complications with?

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^It's hard to tell, I'm a size 40 waist and have never had any trouble fitting on anything at either park, or anywhere for that matter. Seems like with most B&M's with OTSR's it has more to do with your chest/gut than your thighs but Mako and Rockit might be a squeeze.

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^^Mako's restraints are basically like Nitro's. I know some people can fit in some of the B&M hypers, but not others. It's weird. It's really body shape and not waist size that determines whether someone will fit or not. Kraken has "big boy" seats on certain rows and Manta should be fine.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Passholder preview was today. I've never done a VR coaster before (or any VR really) so I wasn't sure what to expect.

 

The entry area has been rethemed to the tentacle style and the queue has a more modern "science-y" paint job but very little else was changed. There are now monitors throughout the queue instructing on how to do the VR.

 

As for the ride itself I thought the VR was well done. It flowed with the ride pretty well and there were no issues with syncing that I could tell. On the other hand it all went by very quick while there was too much to see. You are bombarded by encounters with 5 or 6 different sea monsters but you only really catch a few glimpses of them before you hit the loop or cobra roll. For the finale you meet the Kraken but he too is only seen for a little bit as you whip around.

 

Overall I think it was a well produced VR experience but doesn't make Kraken a better ride (it was already great as a normal floorless).

 

The main problem is operations. They were only running one train for the preview but I don't see how they could ever get up to 3. It took about 10 minutes to unload and load. They had one team member for each row. When the train came in they would keep the restraints locked and the team member would make sure everyone's headset was off, then clean it with wipes, then put it back in the box attached to the harness. Only when that was finished would your row be released so you could leave. Then they would get the next riders on and help get the harnesses down, seatbelts fastened and then headsets adjusted. I don't see how they can really speed this up without really rushing the guests.

 

My rating: 5/10... wouldn't wait more than 30 minutes for it... and that's just 3 cycles now.

 

0D615827-E4AD-45AA-9E0F-E6F9CB9A27DC.thumb.JPG.1f5302e769515fc52c16a5a698f84518.JPG

New sign

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New TV

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New paint

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Plaza

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VR instructions (don't ride with open head wounds... ewwww)

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More new paint and TVs

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The setup

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No more eel

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Nice little report. It's a shame to hear about 10-minute dispatches. I would expect something like that from Six Flags (who has consistently proven themselves), but when this was announced, I was hoping SeaWorld would have a different take on it that would allow better operations. I guess not, for now. Of course, they could improve as employees and operators get used to the cycle.

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Sorry guys, VR Kraken has already been deemed irrelevant before it has even opened. A BABY WALRUS WAS BORN! Walruses have always been my favorite animal and this is the first one born at Seaworld Orlando. I cannot wait to see him/her in person.

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The googles in the bags is a nice touch to hopefully speed things up but I still don't get why you would VR such a stunning B&M that has interesting inversions, tunnels and goes over water.

 

I wish they would do AR (augmented reality) instead where the googles add things to make the ride more interesting, consider a dashboard with speed, height, Gs, you could even add the Kraken but everything is imposed over the real world.

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That's definitely a great idea, though if there's anything I don't love about Sea World (and there's not much I don't love about Sea World) it's how incredibly structured your day has to be and this seems like this has the potential to add to that.

 

When we were there the other day there was a lot of planning involved to figure out how to fit in Dine with Shamu, One Ocean, Clyde & Seamore and Dolphin Days and eventually we just decided to skip the last 2. Since Sea World is such a show heavy park you really have to plan everything out at the beginning the day to make it all fit since you have to plan everything around the daily show schedule. This is further compounded by the fact that the 3 best shows are outside and thunderstorms are a daily occurrence this time of year so you need to have contingency plans also.

 

I love the idea in theory but I'm interested to see how it's plays out. I could see this being anything from incredibly annoying to incredibly awesome depending on how it's implemented. If you go on your phone or the kiosk and reserve Kraken and it spits out a random "next available" return time then that's really annoying if it happens to be in the middle of a show you want to see. If you can choose from a list of available times and figure out how to work it in between shows then that's awesome.

 

I love the idea in theory and I'm optimistic but I'm really curious as to how they're planning to do this because that's going to have a big impact on how it's received. Hopefully it's more like FastPass+ and less like Tapu Tapu.

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The VR looks very solid and fun up until the end part of the ride, at that point im not sure what its doing. However I'm still interested to try it, I know I liked VR on Iron Dragon a lot and my only other experience was on Galatica and that one made me nauseous. So yeah I think VR has a place on smaller family ride coasters but interested to try it on a bigger coaster again.

 

Plus how will the virtual queue work with their Quick Queue option?

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When we were there the other day there was a lot of planning involved to figure out how to fit in Dine with Shamu, One Ocean, Clyde & Seamore and Dolphin Days and eventually we just decided to skip the last 2. Since Sea World is such a show heavy park you really have to plan everything out at the beginning the day to make it all fit since you have to plan everything around the daily show schedule.

 

Are you a platinum pass member? One of the benefits is the reserved seating for the shows, we showed up for the shows 10 mins before and got seats dead center every time. That feature alone was worth the passes.

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