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SeaWorld Orlando (SWO) Discussion Thread

P. 277: Arctic-themed flying theater announced for 2025!

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I myself fear that it will be hard for Sea World to recover. Mainly because those acts (especially Willie Nelson) drew a huge crowd to the park. I also feel that this issue will stay on people's mind forever because Sea World is not like McDonalds, they do not have a park everywhere. When people see a Sea World they will stay away from it because they will remember black fish, a movie that was emotionally controversial and thus they must heed to the "cause". I love seeing what the animals do at Sea World, it is such an amazing thing how we humans can "domesticate" animals to do what we ask them to do. I for one do not see anything wrong with that. Instead of going after Sea World they should be going after circuses. I just hope that it only hurts them in the short run and that two years from now Sea World will be bringing in more guests to their parks. I do not think this would be such a big deal if they were still owned by Busch.

Whatever happens, they will always have my support.

Thinking the same thing. It's not going to be the 21st century's Jungle or History of Standard Oil, but I think it will have more weight than Super Size Me had.

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I myself fear that it will be hard for Sea World to recover. Mainly because those acts (especially Willie Nelson) drew a huge crowd to the park. I also feel that this issue will stay on people's mind forever because Sea World is not like McDonalds, they do not have a park everywhere. When people see a Sea World they will stay away from it because they will remember black fish, a movie that was emotionally controversial and thus they must heed to the "cause". I love seeing what the animals do at Sea World, it is such an amazing thing how we humans can "domesticate" animals to do what we ask them to do. I for one do not see anything wrong with that. Instead of going after Sea World they should be going after circuses. I just hope that it only hurts them in the short run and that two years from now Sea World will be bringing in more guests to their parks. I do not think this would be such a big deal if they were still owned by Busch.

Whatever happens, they will always have my support.

 

I do not think this will lead to the end of all Sea World parks, but I agree this will probably have a lasting effect on Sea World. People have been talking about animals in captivity forever, and Blackfish has encouraged them to become louder and more outspoken about it. People seem to put animals ahead of humans these days. I mean, human rights are being violated all over the world, yet all people care about is stirring up rumors about Sea World. They refuse to actually see proof that Sea World are the "good guys" in this situation.

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I do not think this would be such a big deal if they were still owned by Busch.

 

I disagree. People in general are stupid. Honestly, if Anheuser Busch still owned SeaWorld, there would probably be a petition to have Busch get rid of them. For this situation, it will pass just like everything else. I hope it will result in an even better SeaWorld.

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I think it will have more weight than Super Size Me had.

Only because Supersize me came out in 2004 and the internet wasn't quite as stupid 10 years ago as it is now. Social media has made people dumber and thanks to that is the reason why the SeaWorld issue will carry more weight. Not because it's any different or people are less of sheep.

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I myself fear that it will be hard for Sea World to recover. Mainly because those acts (especially Willie Nelson) drew a huge crowd to the park.

 

I don't think the concerts bring that many extra people to the park. I worked at the park during the 2013 event and most of the crowds were British tourists and spring breakers rather than concert fans. Of course, I worked on the other side of the park, so my perspective might be misguided.

Edited by Inukaza
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I think it will have more weight than Super Size Me had.

Only because Supersize me came out in 2004 and the internet wasn't quite as stupid 10 years ago as it is now. Social media has made people dumber and thanks to that is the reason why the SeaWorld issue will carry more weight. Not because it's any different or people are less of sheep.

This definitely, should have included the weight of social media with my original post. Curse my brevity!

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It's not just Blackfish that may have caused issues, there's other reasons for attendance drops.

Have there been attendance drops? I've been a few times since Blackfish came out and I haven't noticed a difference in attendance during this same period in previous years. If anything would contribute to lighter attendance right now it's that there is ALWAYS lighter attendance at the parks this time of year.

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It's not just Blackfish that may have caused issues, there's other reasons for attendance drops.

Have there been attendance drops? I've been a few times since Blackfish came out and I haven't noticed a difference in attendance during this same period in previous years. If anything would contribute to lighter attendance right now it's that there is ALWAYS lighter attendance at the parks this time of year.

 

Yea, they announced it during the quarter calls, Sea World announced lower attendance than normal. However, they also announce higher profit than normal. To be fair, this is a chain-wide statistic, not just the Orlando parks. I don't think it's enough of a decrease to visually impact how crowds look, though.

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-13/seaworld-s-profit-beats-estimates-as-drop-in-attendance-slows.html

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^ Right. I saw that. But I thought that report or at least the time period in the report was before the movie came out. I'd be curious to see how things are during the current period.

 

Ah. Well, my mistake. I'm curious to see as well when the next quarter results are posted. I don't think it will be anywhere as bad as Blackfish supports want it to be at.

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As someone who grew up loving Seaworld and Shamu I felt like animal activists needed to shut up. Aren't there more important things in the world to rally against? Of course there is. Without Seaworld would we value marine mammals as much as we do? I certainly don't think we would. I supported Seaworld, but I wanted to do some research to back up my claims for its existence. Unfortunately what I researched made me change my mind. Orcas are extremely intelligent and social mammals. Their vocalizations are unique to each pod, they stay with their mothers for life, and there is evidence that they are capable of abstract thought. Seaworld often states that their whales live longer under their care, which is a total falsehood. Orca lifespan is similar to that of humans. You can argue all you want about those points but there is one thing you can not argue and that is that an orca has never been recorded of killing a human in the wild, Tilikum however has killed three. I will leave the activism to others as I think there are many more important human crises that need to be addressed before we talk about orcas, but I will not visit Seaworld again. I don't mean to stir the pot but it seems to me that many of you are unwilling to even consider the arguments made against Seaworld. Blackfish and the book of the same name it is based on, for me at least, rely too much on emotion and not enough on science, but they do make valid points.

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Does anybody else think it's weird that these are the same acts that do the County Fair circuit? You know, those places where people show off their genetically mutated prize winning animals?

 

That's actually a remarkably good point. I've seen much worse things from the hicks at fairs. The Allentown Fair has a dolphin show there every year that is run by people who actually make the dolphins travel with them, and the pool they perform in is literally smaller than the pool my parents had when I was a kid - deeper, but much smaller square footage - and I didn't grow up with a family with money with a pool the size of a Publix.

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Heart is another band that is dropping out of the concert line up, but I think the marketing department will recover with adding other performances or promotions to attract attendance to its current line up.

I also think all of this will all blow over in time. Will attendance drop? Sure-it is starting the slow part of the season, but I don't think the park is in jeopardy as these so-called 'experts' predict SW parks demise. The kids eat up the Shamu shows and the timing may be good that SW is doing major overhaul/maintenance on the Shamu tank area. By the time it reopens, the crowds will return.

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Does anybody else think it's weird that these are the same acts that do the County Fair circuit? You know, those places where people show off their genetically mutated prize winning animals?

 

you're wrong, and just because you don't care for a classic band, doesn't mean they aren't popular in places.

 

Willie Nelson could sell out WEEKS in a row here in Texas, if he so chose to play shows.

 

Barenaked Ladies sold out multiple nights in Vancouver when I was last there.

 

Heart is currently a nostalgia band, but all it takes is one new hit to make them arena draws again (see: Aerosmith back in 1980's), or KISS pre 1996 reunion.

 

so no, I don't think this is "weird". .but I do think it's unfair that folks are pressuring bands to pull out of a contracted appearance because they are too blinded by a film's propaganda to properly research the truth behind the claims.

(and that's not a liberal/conservative statement either. . Micheal Moore stretches the facts to make his points too, sometimes).

 

all this to simply say -- if *I* don't go to SeaWorld, it's not because of some one-sided film about the supposed mistreatment of the animals. It's because I think the admission charge is too high.

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To be honest, I don't even know who Heart is. And, I am not one who subscribes to "All publicity is good publicity."

 

really? Classic 70's rock band. (tho they had a huge resurgence in the late 80's with a change to a more Power-Pop sound).

 

this is an album that should be in EVERYONE's collection:

 

Dreamboat Annie, Crazy on You, Magic Man

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTke98kWavjjDhRlmVaJtn3SmuDcr6wRYtph7Tt9bjzor7_vvKp

 

as should this:

 

Barracuda, Kick it Out, Little Queen

 

and this:

 

Heartless, I've got the music In me, Just the wine.

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I myself fear that it will be hard for Sea World to recover. Mainly because those acts (especially Willie Nelson) drew a huge crowd to the park.

 

I don't think the concerts bring that many extra people to the park. I worked at the park during the 2013 event and most of the crowds were British tourists and spring breakers rather than concert fans. Of course, I worked on the other side of the park, so my perspective might be misguided.

 

Perhaps they could get some British bands to take the place of the bands that are cancelling their shows?

 

Bring in Motorhead, Black Sabbath or some other metal bands from Europe that aren't as aren't as afraid of a little negative press as their North American counterparts.

 

Anyone think Lemmy from Motorhead would give a crap about a CNN movie or a killer whale? Give the dude a bottle of Jack Daniels and a few hookers and he might just play for free!

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I fundamentally disagree that it's bad press. The only people that seem offended by this are people who can't be bothered to look at the whole issue and just want to jump on a bandwagon. I would hope (maybe naively) that the majority of people would take a more measured approach and not think negatively of performers who choose to do shows at the parks.

 

But yes, that would be an epic gig. I'd try and fly out for it

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