SeaWorld Orlando (SWO) Discussion Thread

[Garet]

Saying you're going to call the founder of a company over a ride might be one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen. You'd think an enthusiast club would also know what brakes are.

[Ed Farmer]

"we offered to call Walter of B&M"

 

So much cringe.

[Hilltopper39]

That's ridiculous, everyone know's you gotta call Claude to get anything done.....

[SharkTums]

Oh man...that is very cringe. Like Walter or Claude would even know what to do or have permission to touch the ride!?!?!?

[jedimaster1227]

This kind of behavior is why I don't associate with hardcore coaster clubs... Line-level ride ops don't need to be berated for technical difficulties, especially by coaster fanatics who if they had any knowledge about theme parks should understand that these are pieces of machinery that don't turn on a dime.

 

One more reason (of the many, many, many) that TPR has been the home for the casual fans, many of whom work in the industry and simply *get it*, for so many years.

[jarmor]

*Brakes*, some enthusiast they are . . . lol lol

[boldikus]

 

[coasterbill]

Good lord...

[Canobie Coaster]

At first I thought this was a parody account.

[Satans Hockey]

I wasn't sure if I should post this here or Williamsburg but I really feel like SeaWorld/Busch made the season passes way too confusing when they switched everything from Platinum to Premier back to Platinum for the highest tiers.

 

We had the Platinum passes for Williamsburg that got us access and benefits at all of the parks and upgraded when they changed everything over a few years ago to Premier being the highest tier since it was only $1 more a month for us at the time, $19 to $20. The year after they switched back to Platinum being the highest and have Premier is now a lower tier though technically our passes are still platinum.

 

Our benefits still work at the other parks, including SeaWorld so there's no problems there but when it comes to reserved seating at shows and the stay on a ride for an extra lap pass I've run into issues with employees thinking we have a lower tier pass.

 

They also really need to do an overhaul of their app so it just isn't basically a link to their website. When it comes to benefits we are only supposed to get bigger perks at Williamsburg but when we purchased an item today in the store the employee asked if we wanted to redeem our ornament voucher, something I thought we could only do in Williamsburg. We redeemed it and the ornament is very nice, mainly redeemed it because even though Williamsburg is our "home" park we don't live very close to there and won't be making it down there before the Xmas town ends.

 

All that being said I absolutely love SeaWorld Orlando. The Xmas stuff was fantastic, especially all the holiday versions of the shows. The figure skating show at the end of the night was very well done too. Sesame Street land seems to be a huge too and is really done well, the huge nutcracker character statues outside the land entrances were really nice. The lights everywhere in the park were really beautiful, including the tree show.

 

Mako is still an absolutely blast of a ride and we finally got on Infinity Falls and I don't think we would make that an every trip ride because we got absolutely soaked lol I really wish these rides were in a water park. The elevator to the drop was really cool and the drop itself was so much fun.

 

They got a lot of construction done on the new coaster since I had been there last too.

 

Overall it was an amazing time, I just wish they would make an app that's actually useful and not have made the tiers more confusing for employees and pass holders than they ever needed to be.

[A.J.]

I didn't find the change confusing at all, in fact, I actually get more value for the same price under the new tiers. I used to only get the two Florida dry parks for my $240 but now I get the water parks too.

[Satans Hockey]

I didn't find the change confusing at all, in fact, I actually get more value for the same price under the new tiers. I used to only get the two Florida dry parks for my $240 but now I get the water parks too.

 

I had the two water parks as part of my plan under the old platinum plan and under the premium plan for Williamsburg so that aspect never changed for me.

 

My issue is that since my pass says premium, which was the highest tier at that time but I'm grandfathered into a lot of current platinum perks, that it confuses some of the employees since premium is no longer the highest tier. I have trouble at reserved seating / re-ride privileges sometimes because of it.

 

It's not a deal breaker or anything crazy to me. They just should have left premium as the highest tier and named the other new tiers whatever else.

[Hilltopper39]

 

They also really need to do an overhaul of their app so it just isn't basically a link to their website.

.

 

I did have some issues with the app my last visit, nothing major but I noticed there wasn't a back button on some of the pages so when I was looking at restaurant menus for example I couldn't go "back" to look at the next restaurant but instead had to go to the menu and start the navigation from the main page. It's a pretty easy park to navigate without the app so it's not a big deal, but a little annoying.

[AmyUD06]

I didn't find the change confusing at all, in fact, I actually get more value for the same price under the new tiers. I used to only get the two Florida dry parks for my $240 but now I get the water parks too.

 

I had the two water parks as part of my plan under the old platinum plan and under the premium plan for Williamsburg so that aspect never changed for me.

 

My issue is that since my pass says premium, which was the highest tier at that time but I'm grandfathered into a lot of current platinum perks, that it confuses some of the employees since premium is no longer the highest tier. I have trouble at reserved seating / re-ride privileges sometimes because of it.

 

It's not a deal breaker or anything crazy to me. They just should have left premium as the highest tier and named the other new tiers whatever else.

 

Or you could just go to guest services, explain the situation, and have them print you a new card?

[BintamiM]

I didn't find the change confusing at all, in fact, I actually get more value for the same price under the new tiers. I used to only get the two Florida dry parks for my $240 but now I get the water parks too.

 

I think what he was referring to was the Platinum pass from Busch Gardens Williamsburg. When the new pass launched they called it premier and then they changed it again and considered the old Premier as Platinum. Only BGW did this. The other parks did not do this so it creates a lot of confusion at the other SeaWorld Parks.

[BintamiM]

I didn't find the change confusing at all, in fact, I actually get more value for the same price under the new tiers. I used to only get the two Florida dry parks for my $240 but now I get the water parks too.

 

I think what he was referring to was the Platinum pass from Busch Gardens Williamsburg. When the new pass launched they called it premier and then they changed it again and considered the old Premier as Platinum. Only BGW did this. The other parks did not do this so it creates a lot of confusion at the other SeaWorld Parks.

[bgtlover]

I wasn't sure if I should post this here or Williamsburg but I really feel like SeaWorld/Busch made the season passes way too confusing when they switched everything from Platinum to Premier back to Platinum for the highest tiers.

 

We had the Platinum passes for Williamsburg that got us access and benefits at all of the parks and upgraded when they changed everything over a few years ago to Premier being the highest tier since it was only $1 more a month for us at the time, $19 to $20. The year after they switched back to Platinum being the highest and have Premier is now a lower tier though technically our passes are still platinum.

 

Our benefits still work at the other parks, including SeaWorld so there's no problems there but when it comes to reserved seating at shows and the stay on a ride for an extra lap pass I've run into issues with employees thinking we have a lower tier pass.

 

 

Overall it was an amazing time, I just wish they would make an app that's actually useful and not have made the tiers more confusing for employees and pass holders than they ever needed to be.

 

When the passes changed October 4, 2018, certain benefits became home state specific, including preferred parking, preferred seating, and re-ride privileges, specifically. Also other benefits like free and discount tickets and park specific perks are only supposed to go to those with an annual pass for that specific park, or Platinum that was purchased from a park in that state. Basically, if you have a BGW Platinum (or equivalent), you're only guaranteed most benefits at that park, and not those at any parks out of state. It's the same with someone having a FL parks Platinum trying to use certain benefits at BGW or other out of state parks. You're only guaranteed admission and general parking at parks that are out of state, and still get in-park discounts on most things food, merch, tours, upgrades). If you read the benefits online (current benefits, not when you signed up as they are subject to change without notice), it states what's available to use where.

 

With that said, I do know they sometimes honor preferred parking when available, and maybe seating and re-ride privileges depending on who's working that position at that moment.

[Satans Hockey]

I didn't find the change confusing at all, in fact, I actually get more value for the same price under the new tiers. I used to only get the two Florida dry parks for my $240 but now I get the water parks too.

 

I think what he was referring to was the Platinum pass from Busch Gardens Williamsburg. When the new pass launched they called it premier and then they changed it again and considered the old Premier as Platinum. Only BGW did this. The other parks did not do this so it creates a lot of confusion at the other SeaWorld Parks.

 

Yes I was.

 

When the passes changed October 4, 2018, certain benefits became home state specific, including preferred parking, preferred seating, and re-ride privileges, specifically. Also other benefits like free and discount tickets and park specific perks are only supposed to go to those with an annual pass for that specific park, or Platinum that was purchased from a park in that state. Basically, if you have a BGW Platinum (or equivalent), you're only guaranteed most benefits at that park, and not those at any parks out of state. It's the same with someone having a FL parks Platinum trying to use certain benefits at BGW or other out of state parks. You're only guaranteed admission and general parking at parks that are out of state, and still get in-park discounts on most things food, merch, tours, upgrades). If you read the benefits online (current benefits, not when you signed up as they are subject to change without notice), it states what's available to use where.

 

With that said, I do know they sometimes honor preferred parking when available, and maybe seating and re-ride privileges depending on who's working that position at that moment.

 

I think that's where things become more vague and confusing. I think they grandfather claused us into being able to get certain perks, I've always gotten preferred parking unless it was filled for the day already. The reserved seating it depends on the employee but I don't always bother with it anyway if seats are available elsewhere. The re-rides we only use when the queue is empty simply so we don't have to walk all the way around again. I'm not a big fan of that system so when there's a full queue we don't bother.

 

Maybe we were able to get the free SeaWorld ornament because our account showed we never picked up the one at Williamsburg. We hadn't asked about it, the lady at the register asked if we wanted to redeem it after scanning the pass for a discount for an item we were purchasing.

 

Like I said I just wish they had an app and membership portal that were better than they are and made things easier to know what I'm supposed to be getting. We love all the parks and this small issue is the only bad thing I have to say about the parks.

[boldikus]

I have a BGW Platinum pass I bought in November 2017 (I just doublechecked the email they sent me when I bought it to be sure) and I still get all the extras (preferred parking, 10% discount on everything, etc) at every other park I've used it at (BGT, SWO, Discovery Cove and Sesame). Just saying.

[coasterbill]

^ Same

[sfkk]

Orca Encounter has officially replaced One Ocean on the daily show schedule beginning on January 1.

[coasterbill]

I'll try to reserve judgement but uh... yeah...

[SharkTums]

Getting rid of the show is dumb on many levels. I'm so mad at humanity.

[coasterbill]

Yeah, like I said in the group I guess we’ll wait and see but my gut says that nobody who doesn’t like SeaWorld will suddenly be okay with SeaWorld because they have an orca show with less music and nobody that likes SeaWorld will be happy about a less interesting Shamu show.

 

You're also losing Miracles and Shamu's Celebration: Light Up The Night which have been a big draw to keep crowds in the park later through dinner on the few days where they were actually open late.

 

This seems like a lose-lose proposition. The only thing that should make these new shows more interesting than One Ocean is that since they're still promising splashing and they're now adding fish in the tank it's only a matter of time before Shamu accidentally hurls a flying sea bass at a spectator.

[Satans Hockey]

I'm glad we saw the show again a few weeks ago since I completely forgot they were doing this soon. I'm curious to see what exactly the Orca Encounter show is going to be.