SeaWorld San Diego (SWSD) Discussion Thread

[arby]

^It was a ton of fun! I'm glad Sea World is getting the word out they do so much good (that I think people either don't realize or take for granted) for the animals and the environment!

 

Thank you for the report, I really enjoyed reading it. We are big fans of SeaWorld and all that they do for Marine conservation. It is great to have it reinforced with all the information that you gave us from the slides.

[Jew]

^I agree. Ultimately, I think the whole Blackfish "controversy" is going to end up benefiting Sea World in the long run, as it really forces them to increase the awareness of all the good they do!

 

One of the staff members on the panel said it best, "We don't care if you are anti-captivity, that's your choice and we respect it. We only wish they'd see the good we do as well."

[arby]

^Yep. I have no doubt they'll come out stronger in the end. While I think we'll still hill a bit more of Blackfish, it is on a downward trend and soon this all should be behind us.

[Jew]

http://seaworldparks.com/en/seaworld-sandiego/pages/sweepstakesrules/

 

Check it out…if you have kids, you can make a video for a chance to win a trip to Sea World for the opening of their new Explorers Reef!

[jray21]

Just caught up on a few pages. I really need to head down there soon and give Manta a ride. It looks like a lot of fun!

[cfc]

^Manta is one the better B&M flyers, and the queue is very well done.

[gerstlaueringvar]

^Manta is one the better B&M flyers, and the queue is very well done.

The San Diego one is a Mack launch coaster.

[cfc]

^D'oh! Posted from my phone and didn't realize I was in the San Diego thread.

 

San Diego's looks like fun, too.

[arby]

^At least you were talking about SeaWorld.

[KBrylczyk]

Chuck, don't you wish, for the first time in your life, that SeaWorld went the Six Flags route and just built clones with the same name?

[cfc]

^It would certainly simplify things.

[jedimaster1227]

^You just mastered the Six Flags business strategy in one statement.

[Meteornotes]

^Six Flags has a business strategy?!?

 

dt

[disney4me2001]

^Six Flags has a business strategy?!?

 

dt

 

That's exactly what I was thinking!

[disney4me2001]

Just caught up on a few pages. I really need to head down there soon and give Manta a ride. It looks like a lot of fun!

 

You really do need to go! It's one of my favorite coasters. But then again, my opinion is probably not valid since I've ridden very few coasters outside of SoCal.

[XYZ]

Just caught up on a few pages. I really need to head down there soon and give Manta a ride. It looks like a lot of fun!

 

You really do need to go! It's one of my favorite coasters. But then again, my opinion is probably not valid since I've ridden very few coasters outside of SoCal.

 

Your opinion is valid, it really is a great coaster.

[Someotherguyuser]

Just caught up on a few pages. I really need to head down there soon and give Manta a ride. It looks like a lot of fun!

 

You really do need to go! It's one of my favorite coasters. But then again, my opinion is probably not valid since I've ridden very few coasters outside of SoCal.

 

Your opinion is valid, it really is a great coaster.

If me and XYZ rode it twelve times in one day...its a good ride.

[Jew]

It's up there with YOLOCoaster...no one who is a seasoned coaster rider is going to put it in their top 25, but it's still a fun little ride that they won't say anything bad about either.

[KBrylczyk]

^ With some of the scariest airtime I've ever felt in the back row. Those two twisting camelbacks after the second launch had me white knuckling every time I rode.

[Jew]

I didn't think the airtime was anything crazy, though to be fair my definition of airtime might be different after riding rides like Kawasemi, T-express, Balder, and Dodonpa.

[KBrylczyk]

There was a huge difference from front to back seat. I really think it's a thing I have with the Mack Blue Fire trains. I've been on Blue Fire and Manta and both have scared the hell out of me when the airtime hits (I'm kinda terrified of Helix this summer). I don't feel secure in them at all with airtime, even though I'm definitely not going anywhere. I don't really know how else to describe it.

 

I've been on plenty of other coasters with more intense airtime but I've always felt safe. The Blue Fire trains just do me in. In a good way, of course, haha.

[coasterbill]

The "Stand with SeaWorld" Facebook page is asking for people to vote "no" in this poll. I figured I'd pass it along, not that internet polls mean anything.

 

Link

[raptor6]

Blackfish strikes again:

 

SeaWorld’s Worst Nightmare: Calif. Lawmaker to Propose Ban on Orcas in Captivity

 

If passed, the bill would be the most comprehensive protection law for captive orcas in the United States in over 40 years.

 

In a surprising move that is sure to send shock waves across the entire captive whale and dolphin industry, a California lawmaker will propose legislation to outlaw Shamu shows at SeaWorld San Diego.

 

State Assembly member Richard Bloom, D–Santa Monica, will introduce Friday the Orca Welfare and Safety Act, which would make it illegal to “hold in captivity, or use, a wild-caught or captive-bred orca for performance or entertainment purposes.” The bill would also ban artificial insemination of captive killer whales in California and block the import of orcas or orca semen from other states.

 

Violators would face a fine up to $100,000 and/or six months in a county jail.

 

“There is no justification for the continued captive display of orcas for entertainment purposes,” Bloom declared in a written statement prior to a press conference to be held at the Santa Monica Pier. “These beautiful creatures are much too large and far too intelligent to be confined in small, concrete pens for their entire lives. It is time to end the practice of keeping orcas captive for human amusement.”

 

According to Bloom, the law would be “the most comprehensive protection law for captive orcas in the United States in over 40 years.”

 

Under the terms of the bill, all 10 orcas held in tanks at SeaWorld San Diego, the only California facility that has whales, “shall be rehabilitated and returned to the wild where possible.” If that is not possible, then the whales must be “transferred and held in a sea pen that is open to the public and not used for performance or entertainment purposes.”

 

Exempt from the legislation are any orcas held for rehabilitation after a rescue or stranding, or for research purposes. But even these animals would have to be returned to the ocean or sent to a sea pen.

 

It is not the first time state lawmakers have tried to outlaw the captivity of killer whales, the world’s largest dolphin. South Carolina passed a bill in 1992 against captivity for dolphins and porpoises following efforts by the South Carolina Humane Society to stop a proposed dolphin park in Myrtle Beach. Just last month, New York state Sen. Greg Ball, R-Carmel, introduced a bill to ban orca captivity in that state.

 

Of course, there are no captive orcas in South Carolina or New York, making the California bill far more than a symbolic gesture.

 

At least five countries—India, Croatia, Hungary, Chile, and Costa Rica—have also outlawed all cetacean captivity, while Switzerland has banned captivity for dolphins.

 

Dr. Naomi Rose, marine mammal scientist at the Animal Welfare Institute, said the bill was inspired by the orcas-in-captivity documentary Blackfish.

 

“The Blackfish effect has never been in greater evidence—everything has led to this, the first serious legislative proposal to prohibit the captive display of this highly intelligent and social species,” Rose wrote in an email. “SeaWorld should join with this effort rather than continue to fight it. They can be on the right side of history.”

 

Assembly member Bloom reached out to Gabriela Cowperthwaite, the director of Blackfish, for help with the bill, who in turn consulted with Rose.

 

“We did not initiate this proposal,” Rose wrote. “But once they reached out to us, we dove in wholeheartedly and assisted in every way we could—helping with the bill language, information, and fact-gathering, and getting support from various sectors of the public, including the scientific community.”

 

Rose also gave credit to former SeaWorld trainers featured in the documentary for supporting the legislation. Rose, Cowperthwaite, and former SeaWorld trainers Carol Ray and John Hargrove were scheduled to appear with Bloom at the Friday press conference.

 

Should the bill become law, SeaWorld might want to look at other highly successful aquariums that do not keep cetaceans in swimming pools. The Monterey Aquarium in northern California, for example, is routinely packed with visitors, without a single whale or dolphin in sight.

 

In South Carolina, where orcas will likely never entertain people, staffers at the South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston routinely direct visitors to local waterways if they want to see dolphins.

 

The Charleston Post and Courier reported in 2010 that when tourists ask to see the dolphins at the aquarium, the facility’s CEO, Kevin Mills, “smiles and answers, ‘Just walk out on our observation deck and you're bound to see them, swimming freely in the harbor.’ ”

 

www.takepart.com/article/2014/03/06/seaworlds-worst-nightmare-calif-lawmaker-propose-ban-orcas-captivity

[SharkTums]

Ugh, first off, Stupid California!

 

Secondly, I don't understand why the Killer Whales are all of a sudden so important and smart to everyone. How about all of the Gorillas and Chimpanzees that are in zoos in California? Are they dumber and less important than the killer whales??? What about the Elephants, Cheetahs, Parrots, and all kinds of other very intelligent animals that demand big space? What is it about the whales that has everyone's panties in a twist!?!? Is it because they are in tanks and we can't understand volume and water as opposed to looking at a land space?

 

I just don't understand why one animal is so much more important than all the others. Like I've said before, I respect non-crazy animal rights people that have a position and rationale and have had it since before the movie Blackfish came out. I don't respect or care an ounce about all of these fly by night animal activists that are now marine mammal experts from watching a piece of fiction.

[Diamondbacker27]

Wow. That sent chills up my spine. The animals are already in captivity. They don't know how to hunt for food, they more than likely won't find their pod. Stupid move by California Lawmaker.