Snowleopard's 2011 Road Trip
- Thread starter snowleopard
- Start date
At this point in the road trip my family has toured 6 zoos and 6 aquariums for a total of 12 California establishments in 13 days, and there has only been one true dud. I’ve posted extensive reviews of all 12 facilities, but here is an ultra-brief recap:
CuriOdyssey – small but with a big heart.
California Academy of Sciences – terrific, informative and a classic.
Aquarium of the Bay – wonderful walk-through tunnels, but that’s it.
Oakland Zoo – some excellent exhibits but I was expecting more.
Happy Hollow Zoo – not many animals but a pleasant, new surprise.
Monterey Bay Aquarium – brilliant and North America’s #3 aquarium.
Charles Paddock Zoo – pure junk.
Santa Barbara Zoo – nice location but an average zoo.
Aquarium of the Pacific – fantastic and North America’s #6 aquarium.
Cabrillo Marine Aquarium – small, community based and worthwhile.
Santa Ana Zoo – monkeys galore but hit-and-miss exhibitry.
Birch Aquarium – rock solid and an underrated gem.
Yesterday we visited Birch Aquarium but we were the first ones in the door and done at 11 a.m. after a full 2 hour tour. Then it became a day of chores: finding a bicycle shop to repair a flat inner tube in our stroller; my wife cleaning mountains of bottles as with two little kids the milk-drinking is endless; me doing 3 monstrous loads of laundry at our motel; pulling up and running into 3 different motels before finding one that was not sold out due to San Diego’s many conventions, tourist destination status and “Comic-Con” event; and spending at least an hour (as we do every night) hauling all of our stuff inside our motel and sorting it all out while simultaneously feeding and bathing the kids. Before we had kids my wife and I would grab a suitcase each and stroll into a motel and be done but now it is a multi-hour procedure just to get to bed.
Tomorrow the fun really begins, and I’m excited to be reaching the halfway point in the road trip. I specifically designed the trip to ensure that we hit the mega parks in San Diego on weekdays instead of weekends, just as we have also avoided the high-profile aquariums on weekends. Every little bit of planning helps! Due to the high cost of motels in the downtown San Diego area, our plans have changed ever so slightly. Monday will be SeaWorld and we’ll buy a 5-day pass that includes unlimited trips to the three mega-parks for 5 full days; Tuesday will be the zoo by myself, as my wife and two kids are already stocked up with edible goodies, games, coloring books and other things while I’ll tour the zoo all day alone – that way I’ll get one day on this trip to savor a great zoo without battling with a stroller and kids and it also gives my family a break from all of the overwhelming daily stimulus; Wednesday will be the zoo for a second time but with all of us along for the ride and then we’ll drive out towards Escondido in the late afternoon; Thursday will be the Safari Park; and Friday is the wild card. Either we’ll spend a second straight day at the Safari Park as we’ll already be in Escondido, or we’ll drive the 30 miles back to SeaWorld for a second day there. We might as well use all 5 days on our passes as we are paying for it, plus all 3 of the parks are amazing, and so it all depends on how much we get to see or whichever attraction we wish to repeat again. If we choose SeaWorld then driving 30 miles is peanuts for us, and it all depends on how the days go.
Monday – San Diego SeaWorld
Tuesday – San Diego Zoo (just me!)
Wednesday – San Diego Zoo
Thursday – San Diego Zoo Safari Park
Friday – Safari Park OR SeaWorld
Saturday – Drive to Arizona!!!!
CuriOdyssey – small but with a big heart.
California Academy of Sciences – terrific, informative and a classic.
Aquarium of the Bay – wonderful walk-through tunnels, but that’s it.
Oakland Zoo – some excellent exhibits but I was expecting more.
Happy Hollow Zoo – not many animals but a pleasant, new surprise.
Monterey Bay Aquarium – brilliant and North America’s #3 aquarium.
Charles Paddock Zoo – pure junk.
Santa Barbara Zoo – nice location but an average zoo.
Aquarium of the Pacific – fantastic and North America’s #6 aquarium.
Cabrillo Marine Aquarium – small, community based and worthwhile.
Santa Ana Zoo – monkeys galore but hit-and-miss exhibitry.
Birch Aquarium – rock solid and an underrated gem.
Yesterday we visited Birch Aquarium but we were the first ones in the door and done at 11 a.m. after a full 2 hour tour. Then it became a day of chores: finding a bicycle shop to repair a flat inner tube in our stroller; my wife cleaning mountains of bottles as with two little kids the milk-drinking is endless; me doing 3 monstrous loads of laundry at our motel; pulling up and running into 3 different motels before finding one that was not sold out due to San Diego’s many conventions, tourist destination status and “Comic-Con” event; and spending at least an hour (as we do every night) hauling all of our stuff inside our motel and sorting it all out while simultaneously feeding and bathing the kids. Before we had kids my wife and I would grab a suitcase each and stroll into a motel and be done but now it is a multi-hour procedure just to get to bed.
Tomorrow the fun really begins, and I’m excited to be reaching the halfway point in the road trip. I specifically designed the trip to ensure that we hit the mega parks in San Diego on weekdays instead of weekends, just as we have also avoided the high-profile aquariums on weekends. Every little bit of planning helps! Due to the high cost of motels in the downtown San Diego area, our plans have changed ever so slightly. Monday will be SeaWorld and we’ll buy a 5-day pass that includes unlimited trips to the three mega-parks for 5 full days; Tuesday will be the zoo by myself, as my wife and two kids are already stocked up with edible goodies, games, coloring books and other things while I’ll tour the zoo all day alone – that way I’ll get one day on this trip to savor a great zoo without battling with a stroller and kids and it also gives my family a break from all of the overwhelming daily stimulus; Wednesday will be the zoo for a second time but with all of us along for the ride and then we’ll drive out towards Escondido in the late afternoon; Thursday will be the Safari Park; and Friday is the wild card. Either we’ll spend a second straight day at the Safari Park as we’ll already be in Escondido, or we’ll drive the 30 miles back to SeaWorld for a second day there. We might as well use all 5 days on our passes as we are paying for it, plus all 3 of the parks are amazing, and so it all depends on how much we get to see or whichever attraction we wish to repeat again. If we choose SeaWorld then driving 30 miles is peanuts for us, and it all depends on how the days go.
Monday – San Diego SeaWorld
Tuesday – San Diego Zoo (just me!)
Wednesday – San Diego Zoo
Thursday – San Diego Zoo Safari Park
Friday – Safari Park OR SeaWorld
Saturday – Drive to Arizona!!!!
karoocheetah
Well-Known Member
Go Snowleopard :O) I'm seriously impressed, I thought it was a personal quirk that after a well planned Holiday I need a rest to recover from the hectic scedule.
Great to read your reviews too. Tremendous work and I hope the kids enjoy the total zoo immersion they are getting at such a young age - that's how it all started with me!!
Looking forward to the San Deigo Installment.....
Great to read your reviews too. Tremendous work and I hope the kids enjoy the total zoo immersion they are getting at such a young age - that's how it all started with me!!
Looking forward to the San Deigo Installment.....
Snowleopard, I am thoroughly enjoying your posts. I was impressed that you were embarking on this journey with 2 little ones. I love how you have altered your expectations and itinerary to meet the needs of your entire family. I took my children to the San Diego Zoo 30 years ago. Then I started bringing my grandchildren 3 years ago. Then I discovered that if I didn't bring kids I could stand at any exhibit for as long as I liked! I thought that there might be a day when your wife and kids would need a day to rest. So glad you will be able to have an "alone day" and a "family day" at the zoo. Funny as you have been traveling south I traveled north to Vancouver. I spent a wonderful day at the aquarium.
Going to San Diego in mid summer without a hotel reservation is a real gamble - you were lucky to find anything at all. Southern Arizona, on the other hand, is wide open in the summer and you will get a super cheap deal.
And after the traffic of Los Angeles and San Diego freeways, I think you will enjoy your Saturday drive on Interstate 8 across the California and Arizona desert - you will have the road all to yourself for much of the journey. (I just hope your car has air conditioning).
And after the traffic of Los Angeles and San Diego freeways, I think you will enjoy your Saturday drive on Interstate 8 across the California and Arizona desert - you will have the road all to yourself for much of the journey. (I just hope your car has air conditioning).
DAY 14: Monday, July 25th
Zoo/Aquarium Review # 13: San Diego SeaWorld
SeaWorld’s website:
SeaWorld San Diego - Theme Park, California Attractions
SeaWorld Map:
http://seaworld.com/assetrepo/documents/sandiego/SWC_ParkMap.pdf
San Diego SeaWorld can be an exhausting experience if one does not plan a tentative route ahead and avoid doubling back too often. Many people discuss the fact that San Diego Zoo is a major struggle to tour in a single day, but that zoo is around 100 acres in size while SeaWorld is double that total (198 acres to be exact). The only way around is to walk, and I’d be intrigued as to how many kilometers I logged today. Sometimes I’d be pushing a baby/stroller combination that weighs around 40 pounds, and at other times I’d be carrying my 25-pound daughter beneath the scorching sun.
The park regularly receives around 4 million visitors each year, although in the past couple of years there has been an overall 9% decline in attendance. That is a major hit for such an enormous theme park, and thus a new exhibit named Turtle Reef opened this summer and a new rollercoaster will debut in summer 2012. The new attraction will be called “Manta”, it will use a specific powering system that is only in use at one other rollercoaster in the world, and the Forbidden Reef animal exhibit will be incorporated into the ride. This will include a 100,000 gallon tank with 65 bat rays, 10 guitarfish and more than 400 other fish. At the moment this area is a construction zone, but the high fences mean that it is difficult to peek inside and SeaWorld is so large that the closed-off area barely impacted our visit.
THE BEST:
Turtle Reef – This massive 300,000 coral reef gallon tank is colorful, packed with turtles and a beauty to behold. I’m not sure what was on exhibit before, but this is the big new attraction for the summer of 2011. There are green sea turtles, black sea turtles (what is the meaning of that name? – a true species?) and hawksbill turtles in the exhibit, and a sign announces that there are over 60 in the tank. The turtles range in age from 2 years old to over 50. There is a separate pair of turtle exhibits near the Aquarium de la Mer, but they are nondescript and partly hidden away.
Penguin Encounter – There are 5 species of penguin (emperor, king, adelie, macaroni and gentoo) in a fairly accurate recreation of an Antarctic region that features over 300 of the birds. The long viewing windows are great to see from the top level, but not so cool on the bottom by the glass as there is a conveyor belt that hurries visitors along. Outdoors is a grassy magellanic penguin exhibit, and I’d read before that the park also had Humboldt penguins but unless I missed them they are not there anymore. There certainly was not any signage up anywhere.
Adjacent to the indoor penguin enclosure is an even better habitat, and it features 3 species of alcids ( tufted puffin, common murre, rhinoceros auklet) in a very long exhibit with steep cliffs and a deep pool that has underwater viewing opportunities. I thought that this enclosure, with glass that was far cleaner, was the highlight of Penguin Encounter. Naturally there was a gift shop to exit through, much like all of the SeaWorld exhibit complexes.
Sesame Street Bay of Play – If you don’t have kids you probably would not spend a single minute here, but with a toddler we enjoyed this new (2008) 2-acre addition to the park immensely. The area would be heaven to a child that was about 6 years old, as there are all sorts of climbing ropes, a small waterpark, Sesame Street characters, a giant trampoline, a sand pit, a musical stage and a wealth of games for kids to engage in. Many of the aquariums that I have visited on this trip have children play areas that include fun games on conservation of the world’s oceans but SeaWorld is all about playtime and there is no message contained with this area.
THE AVERAGE:
Shark Encounter – This is a crowded area where visitors pass through an underwater tunnel via a conveyor belt and view sharks swimming all around them. Species include blacktip reef sharks, white-tipped reef sharks, sand tiger sharks and Australian leopard sharks, but the conveyor belt means that the tunnel experience lasts about 25 seconds. SeaWorld has no choice but to have the belt for transporting people through or the crowds would be insane, but it is still disappointing to have only 25 seconds to view sharks. The animals can also be seen from above via a series of pools but underwater viewing is really the only true way to view sharks.
Rocky Point Preserve – The many dolphins interact with visitors for exorbitant fees (and at least 3 different interactive price levels) in an exhibit that is too shallow and allows for no resting zones for the mammals. The sea otters fare much better in a nice exhibit with an extremely deep tank.
Pacific Point – This is a pair of pinniped exhibits, one with California sea lions and the other with sea lions and a few harbor seals. The exhibits are average and the sea lions are huge crowd pleasers with their barking and slapping of flippers, but the only downside is that the public is allowed to purchase fish to feed the animals and this means that some of the sea lions beg for food. At one point there were 4 sea lions leaning dangerously close to outstretched visitor hands in a quest for some fish, and it reminded me of the old habit of feeding bears in pits many decades ago.
Wild Arctic – This area is superb for visitors as the amount of detail in the presentation of the 3 exhibits is startling. Millions of dollars must have been spent on the immersive environment of the Arctic, with chilly temperatures, camping gear strewn everywhere, crates of supplies in a large garage that also contains a helicopter, and the hull of a massive ship. Stunning! However, the beluga whale, polar bear and walrus exhibits feature practically zero natural substrate and they are all too small for the occupants. The underwater viewing windows are amazing, the polar bear den with sound effects is wildly popular, the entire experience leaves the crowds squealing with delight…but sadly the backdrop and land areas are obviously fake and disappointing, and the exhibits should have been created as twice the size as what they are.
THE WORST:
Crowds – I deliberately planned our road trip itinerary so that the three mega-parks in San Diego could be seen on weekdays, but even on a Monday SeaWorld was packed to the rafters. At 8:45 in the morning, before the place had even opened, there were lineups just to pay $14 for parking and locate a decent spot in the enormous lot. By 9:30 there was already a lengthy line at the main rollercoaster, we had to wait before entering Wild Arctic, and the hordes of people came with their wallets open and their bank accounts quivering in excitement.
Visitors squeezed onto the conveyor belt beneath Shark Encounter, packed the 10 gift shops (and that does not include at least 10 more gift shacks/huts), managed to jam themselves into the countless restaurants, and every single show of the day in every single stadium was always sold out. Announcements would air and hundreds of people would turn away in disappointment, and to think that this was all on a Monday! It is the middle of summer but I can scarcely imagine what SeaWorld looks like on a hectic long weekend. To be honest the overwhelming crowds taint the experience, as whenever I stopped for 5 seconds to consult the map then I was quickly told to move out of the way by the souvenir-wielding hordes coming up behind me.
Random Aviaries – There are a series of randomly placed aviaries dotting the grounds, with tiny, half-hidden signs that offer a few lines of information. Species include: East African crowned crane, chestnut-mandibled toucan, chestnut-breasted malkoha, crested wood-partridge, green woodhoopoe, black vulture and various macaws that are used in the dolphin/pilot whale show. What is the point of the aviaries? To fill up space and make the lawns prettier? If that is the case then the plan has backfired as every single one of the aviaries are black metal cages. I think that the park would look better if all of the aviaries were actually removed, as they are eyesores more than anything else and barely anyone stops to see what is in the cages.
Trio of Small Aquariums – There are 3 small, enclosed aquariums at the park that absolutely do not fit in with the overall theme of the establishment. All 3 facilities feature traditional glass tanks set in the walls, and they are studious, dark, dingy and drab. There are not any gift shops, there are no SeaWorld characters for kids to cuddle with, and there is the sense that those buildings have been around a long time and are awaiting demolition.
Aquarium de la Mer features an assortment of sea creatures in a long gallery of tanks that are almost all about 3 feet wide and maybe 3-4 feet deep. They are standard exhibits that do not excite anyone, and it is almost as if SeaWorld is attempting to maintain the fact that the park is more than just stadiums, shows and large-scale rollercoasters. Freshwater Aquarium is a series of small rooms that have everything from fish, frogs and turtles, and while some of the exhibits are nice the building is so tiny that the crowds blot out the view of the tanks. World of the Sea Aquarium is easily the best of the trio, and worthy of being in a different category in my review. There is a long entrance with no live animals and only ocean artifacts, and then 4 huge tanks. Coral Reef Community, Rocky Reef and Kelp Forest, Gamefishes and a Green Sea Turtle Tank are all quite nice but nothing that cannot be seen at California’s other great aquatic institutions.
Tidepool – Hands down the worst of this trip, as there was nothing but sea stars to touch. The huge bat ray touch tank is closed due to construction on the rollercoaster “Manta” and so the current tide pool area is boring and unnecessary.
Shamu Stadium – The killer whale show was the major disappointment of the day, as the brand new show “One Ocean” was sorely lacking in quality. The struggle to wade through the mass of sweaty people in order to sit and bake in the sun was understandable considering the circumstances, and the hundreds of strollers lined up outside the stadium had to be seen to be believed. I think that 5,000 people can fit into the orca stadium, and as it was completely full and if one considers that there might well be one stroller for every 10 people then there could have been 500 strollers lined up down the long walkway!
The show began with a series of video images and then a brief introduction by a trainer. Then 5 minutes went by with nothing but more video images, a killer whale came out and splashed the crowd and finally things began to get in motion. Then the show fizzled. There was no narration whatsoever, no comments on the behavior of the whales or how to stop climate change, no one talking at all for the duration of the show. There was nothing but crappy piped-in music from some elevator music store from hell, and never at any time did a trainer enter the water with an orca. I can remember seeing multiple humans swimming with the whales on my visit in 2006, and my wife and I can both recall trainers shooting up into the air via the aid of the whales. Does anyone know if SeaWorld now has a policy of not entering the water with the orcas?
I have always been conflicted with the idea of having whales in captivity, as they are mammals that have often struggled in the past to adapt to a small, captive environment. Seeing the whales at SeaWorld led me to once again question the tactics of a facility that has belugas in a tank that is far too small and is actually aesthetically painful to look at; killer whales with zero signs up or zero announcements from trainers about anything whatsoever about the whales from mating to eating to size or even where the animals are located in the world. Then what is the point? Having no useful information on large mammals swimming around in fish bowls all of their lives is somewhat depressing to think about.
RIDES: My wife and I have gone on a few rollercoasters and funky rides many years ago, but neither of us enjoys them and we are most definitely not rides people. With two kids along then there was no way we could go on a ride even if we wanted to, unless we went separately and thus alone. We did not go on the Journey to Atlantis rollercoaster, the Bayside Skyride, the Skytower Ride, Shipwreck Rapids, Riptide Rescue or any of the 3 kiddie rides in the Sesame Street Bay of Play zone. We might have taken our daughter on one of those rides if by the afternoon the lineups were not intensely long.
STADIUMS: There is Shamu Stadium (orca), Dolphin Stadium (dolphin, pilot whale, macaw), Sea Lion and Otter Stadium (California sea lion, river otter), Pets Stadium (mainly dogs) and Cirque Stadium (human acrobats) and so a visitor could possibly spend all day going from show to show at the 5 huge stadiums. In 2006 my wife and I saw 3 different shows on our all-day tour of SeaWorld but this time around with two young kids (and one being a tiny baby) we were limited to the subpar killer whale show.
OVERALL:
San Diego SeaWorld is an entity that is all-powerful, all-persuasive and all-consuming. The reek of commercialism is everywhere, from the multitude of gift shops to the lack of any kind of substantial conservation message in any of the exhibit complexes. The theme park is all about entertainment, and for that it succeeds grandly and brilliantly. It was easily our longest day of the trip as we spent 7 full hours at the park, and this review is the longest as I’m on my 11th page in my word document! I’ve re-read my review twice already, which I always do as I fine-tune it, and it seems as if there is a negative slant to much of my experience. It’s just that perhaps I expect more out of SeaWorld than what is on offer. With 4 million visitors streaming through the gates each and every year would it be too hard for the establishment to erect more signs about the conservation of animal species, or climate change, or anything substantial in terms of information?
Maybe I’m being too harsh here as my family and I had a lot of fun in our 7 hours of touring SeaWorld. My daughter had arguably the best day of the entire trip, we saw all of the animal attractions, we had a terrific lunch of BBQ ribs at the Calypso Bay Smoke House restaurant, and there were many highlights. We didn’t even go on a single ride and we only saw one show so it is easy to believe that some families spend many days at the 198-acre park. SeaWorld is all about fun, fun, fun in the San Diego sun, and my only wish is that they would aim a little higher in their goals rather than be concerned solely with entertaining the masses.
Zoo/Aquarium Review # 13: San Diego SeaWorld
SeaWorld’s website:
SeaWorld San Diego - Theme Park, California Attractions
SeaWorld Map:
http://seaworld.com/assetrepo/documents/sandiego/SWC_ParkMap.pdf
San Diego SeaWorld can be an exhausting experience if one does not plan a tentative route ahead and avoid doubling back too often. Many people discuss the fact that San Diego Zoo is a major struggle to tour in a single day, but that zoo is around 100 acres in size while SeaWorld is double that total (198 acres to be exact). The only way around is to walk, and I’d be intrigued as to how many kilometers I logged today. Sometimes I’d be pushing a baby/stroller combination that weighs around 40 pounds, and at other times I’d be carrying my 25-pound daughter beneath the scorching sun.
The park regularly receives around 4 million visitors each year, although in the past couple of years there has been an overall 9% decline in attendance. That is a major hit for such an enormous theme park, and thus a new exhibit named Turtle Reef opened this summer and a new rollercoaster will debut in summer 2012. The new attraction will be called “Manta”, it will use a specific powering system that is only in use at one other rollercoaster in the world, and the Forbidden Reef animal exhibit will be incorporated into the ride. This will include a 100,000 gallon tank with 65 bat rays, 10 guitarfish and more than 400 other fish. At the moment this area is a construction zone, but the high fences mean that it is difficult to peek inside and SeaWorld is so large that the closed-off area barely impacted our visit.
THE BEST:
Turtle Reef – This massive 300,000 coral reef gallon tank is colorful, packed with turtles and a beauty to behold. I’m not sure what was on exhibit before, but this is the big new attraction for the summer of 2011. There are green sea turtles, black sea turtles (what is the meaning of that name? – a true species?) and hawksbill turtles in the exhibit, and a sign announces that there are over 60 in the tank. The turtles range in age from 2 years old to over 50. There is a separate pair of turtle exhibits near the Aquarium de la Mer, but they are nondescript and partly hidden away.
Penguin Encounter – There are 5 species of penguin (emperor, king, adelie, macaroni and gentoo) in a fairly accurate recreation of an Antarctic region that features over 300 of the birds. The long viewing windows are great to see from the top level, but not so cool on the bottom by the glass as there is a conveyor belt that hurries visitors along. Outdoors is a grassy magellanic penguin exhibit, and I’d read before that the park also had Humboldt penguins but unless I missed them they are not there anymore. There certainly was not any signage up anywhere.
Adjacent to the indoor penguin enclosure is an even better habitat, and it features 3 species of alcids ( tufted puffin, common murre, rhinoceros auklet) in a very long exhibit with steep cliffs and a deep pool that has underwater viewing opportunities. I thought that this enclosure, with glass that was far cleaner, was the highlight of Penguin Encounter. Naturally there was a gift shop to exit through, much like all of the SeaWorld exhibit complexes.
Sesame Street Bay of Play – If you don’t have kids you probably would not spend a single minute here, but with a toddler we enjoyed this new (2008) 2-acre addition to the park immensely. The area would be heaven to a child that was about 6 years old, as there are all sorts of climbing ropes, a small waterpark, Sesame Street characters, a giant trampoline, a sand pit, a musical stage and a wealth of games for kids to engage in. Many of the aquariums that I have visited on this trip have children play areas that include fun games on conservation of the world’s oceans but SeaWorld is all about playtime and there is no message contained with this area.
THE AVERAGE:
Shark Encounter – This is a crowded area where visitors pass through an underwater tunnel via a conveyor belt and view sharks swimming all around them. Species include blacktip reef sharks, white-tipped reef sharks, sand tiger sharks and Australian leopard sharks, but the conveyor belt means that the tunnel experience lasts about 25 seconds. SeaWorld has no choice but to have the belt for transporting people through or the crowds would be insane, but it is still disappointing to have only 25 seconds to view sharks. The animals can also be seen from above via a series of pools but underwater viewing is really the only true way to view sharks.
Rocky Point Preserve – The many dolphins interact with visitors for exorbitant fees (and at least 3 different interactive price levels) in an exhibit that is too shallow and allows for no resting zones for the mammals. The sea otters fare much better in a nice exhibit with an extremely deep tank.
Pacific Point – This is a pair of pinniped exhibits, one with California sea lions and the other with sea lions and a few harbor seals. The exhibits are average and the sea lions are huge crowd pleasers with their barking and slapping of flippers, but the only downside is that the public is allowed to purchase fish to feed the animals and this means that some of the sea lions beg for food. At one point there were 4 sea lions leaning dangerously close to outstretched visitor hands in a quest for some fish, and it reminded me of the old habit of feeding bears in pits many decades ago.
Wild Arctic – This area is superb for visitors as the amount of detail in the presentation of the 3 exhibits is startling. Millions of dollars must have been spent on the immersive environment of the Arctic, with chilly temperatures, camping gear strewn everywhere, crates of supplies in a large garage that also contains a helicopter, and the hull of a massive ship. Stunning! However, the beluga whale, polar bear and walrus exhibits feature practically zero natural substrate and they are all too small for the occupants. The underwater viewing windows are amazing, the polar bear den with sound effects is wildly popular, the entire experience leaves the crowds squealing with delight…but sadly the backdrop and land areas are obviously fake and disappointing, and the exhibits should have been created as twice the size as what they are.
THE WORST:
Crowds – I deliberately planned our road trip itinerary so that the three mega-parks in San Diego could be seen on weekdays, but even on a Monday SeaWorld was packed to the rafters. At 8:45 in the morning, before the place had even opened, there were lineups just to pay $14 for parking and locate a decent spot in the enormous lot. By 9:30 there was already a lengthy line at the main rollercoaster, we had to wait before entering Wild Arctic, and the hordes of people came with their wallets open and their bank accounts quivering in excitement.
Visitors squeezed onto the conveyor belt beneath Shark Encounter, packed the 10 gift shops (and that does not include at least 10 more gift shacks/huts), managed to jam themselves into the countless restaurants, and every single show of the day in every single stadium was always sold out. Announcements would air and hundreds of people would turn away in disappointment, and to think that this was all on a Monday! It is the middle of summer but I can scarcely imagine what SeaWorld looks like on a hectic long weekend. To be honest the overwhelming crowds taint the experience, as whenever I stopped for 5 seconds to consult the map then I was quickly told to move out of the way by the souvenir-wielding hordes coming up behind me.
Random Aviaries – There are a series of randomly placed aviaries dotting the grounds, with tiny, half-hidden signs that offer a few lines of information. Species include: East African crowned crane, chestnut-mandibled toucan, chestnut-breasted malkoha, crested wood-partridge, green woodhoopoe, black vulture and various macaws that are used in the dolphin/pilot whale show. What is the point of the aviaries? To fill up space and make the lawns prettier? If that is the case then the plan has backfired as every single one of the aviaries are black metal cages. I think that the park would look better if all of the aviaries were actually removed, as they are eyesores more than anything else and barely anyone stops to see what is in the cages.
Trio of Small Aquariums – There are 3 small, enclosed aquariums at the park that absolutely do not fit in with the overall theme of the establishment. All 3 facilities feature traditional glass tanks set in the walls, and they are studious, dark, dingy and drab. There are not any gift shops, there are no SeaWorld characters for kids to cuddle with, and there is the sense that those buildings have been around a long time and are awaiting demolition.
Aquarium de la Mer features an assortment of sea creatures in a long gallery of tanks that are almost all about 3 feet wide and maybe 3-4 feet deep. They are standard exhibits that do not excite anyone, and it is almost as if SeaWorld is attempting to maintain the fact that the park is more than just stadiums, shows and large-scale rollercoasters. Freshwater Aquarium is a series of small rooms that have everything from fish, frogs and turtles, and while some of the exhibits are nice the building is so tiny that the crowds blot out the view of the tanks. World of the Sea Aquarium is easily the best of the trio, and worthy of being in a different category in my review. There is a long entrance with no live animals and only ocean artifacts, and then 4 huge tanks. Coral Reef Community, Rocky Reef and Kelp Forest, Gamefishes and a Green Sea Turtle Tank are all quite nice but nothing that cannot be seen at California’s other great aquatic institutions.
Tidepool – Hands down the worst of this trip, as there was nothing but sea stars to touch. The huge bat ray touch tank is closed due to construction on the rollercoaster “Manta” and so the current tide pool area is boring and unnecessary.
Shamu Stadium – The killer whale show was the major disappointment of the day, as the brand new show “One Ocean” was sorely lacking in quality. The struggle to wade through the mass of sweaty people in order to sit and bake in the sun was understandable considering the circumstances, and the hundreds of strollers lined up outside the stadium had to be seen to be believed. I think that 5,000 people can fit into the orca stadium, and as it was completely full and if one considers that there might well be one stroller for every 10 people then there could have been 500 strollers lined up down the long walkway!
The show began with a series of video images and then a brief introduction by a trainer. Then 5 minutes went by with nothing but more video images, a killer whale came out and splashed the crowd and finally things began to get in motion. Then the show fizzled. There was no narration whatsoever, no comments on the behavior of the whales or how to stop climate change, no one talking at all for the duration of the show. There was nothing but crappy piped-in music from some elevator music store from hell, and never at any time did a trainer enter the water with an orca. I can remember seeing multiple humans swimming with the whales on my visit in 2006, and my wife and I can both recall trainers shooting up into the air via the aid of the whales. Does anyone know if SeaWorld now has a policy of not entering the water with the orcas?
I have always been conflicted with the idea of having whales in captivity, as they are mammals that have often struggled in the past to adapt to a small, captive environment. Seeing the whales at SeaWorld led me to once again question the tactics of a facility that has belugas in a tank that is far too small and is actually aesthetically painful to look at; killer whales with zero signs up or zero announcements from trainers about anything whatsoever about the whales from mating to eating to size or even where the animals are located in the world. Then what is the point? Having no useful information on large mammals swimming around in fish bowls all of their lives is somewhat depressing to think about.
RIDES: My wife and I have gone on a few rollercoasters and funky rides many years ago, but neither of us enjoys them and we are most definitely not rides people. With two kids along then there was no way we could go on a ride even if we wanted to, unless we went separately and thus alone. We did not go on the Journey to Atlantis rollercoaster, the Bayside Skyride, the Skytower Ride, Shipwreck Rapids, Riptide Rescue or any of the 3 kiddie rides in the Sesame Street Bay of Play zone. We might have taken our daughter on one of those rides if by the afternoon the lineups were not intensely long.
STADIUMS: There is Shamu Stadium (orca), Dolphin Stadium (dolphin, pilot whale, macaw), Sea Lion and Otter Stadium (California sea lion, river otter), Pets Stadium (mainly dogs) and Cirque Stadium (human acrobats) and so a visitor could possibly spend all day going from show to show at the 5 huge stadiums. In 2006 my wife and I saw 3 different shows on our all-day tour of SeaWorld but this time around with two young kids (and one being a tiny baby) we were limited to the subpar killer whale show.
OVERALL:
San Diego SeaWorld is an entity that is all-powerful, all-persuasive and all-consuming. The reek of commercialism is everywhere, from the multitude of gift shops to the lack of any kind of substantial conservation message in any of the exhibit complexes. The theme park is all about entertainment, and for that it succeeds grandly and brilliantly. It was easily our longest day of the trip as we spent 7 full hours at the park, and this review is the longest as I’m on my 11th page in my word document! I’ve re-read my review twice already, which I always do as I fine-tune it, and it seems as if there is a negative slant to much of my experience. It’s just that perhaps I expect more out of SeaWorld than what is on offer. With 4 million visitors streaming through the gates each and every year would it be too hard for the establishment to erect more signs about the conservation of animal species, or climate change, or anything substantial in terms of information?
Maybe I’m being too harsh here as my family and I had a lot of fun in our 7 hours of touring SeaWorld. My daughter had arguably the best day of the entire trip, we saw all of the animal attractions, we had a terrific lunch of BBQ ribs at the Calypso Bay Smoke House restaurant, and there were many highlights. We didn’t even go on a single ride and we only saw one show so it is easy to believe that some families spend many days at the 198-acre park. SeaWorld is all about fun, fun, fun in the San Diego sun, and my only wish is that they would aim a little higher in their goals rather than be concerned solely with entertaining the masses.
ANyhuis
Well-Known Member
SeaWorld San Diego review
I'm glad you added that last paragraph, SnowLeopard, as without it, it sounded like you had a truly miserable day. A few comments:
1. Your description of the Shamu killer whale show is truly disappointing, as that was always a real highlight for my family on our many visits to SeaWorld's 4 parks around the country. (Yes, I said 4, as they used to have one in Ohio -- where we visited the most!) I am guessing that SeaWorld is still reeling from their keeper death a couple years ago, which is probably the reason you saw no keepers in the water with the orcas. I've recently returned from visiting many zoos in Europe, and they clearly had keepers in the water with the dolphins in their shows, with the dolphins pushing keepers high into the air in exciting moves. So this is certainly NOT an industry-wide trend.
2. It's too bad you didn't at least go to the Sea Lion and Otter Show. My kids completely loved that show, as it had them in stitches with the comedy of the sea lions, otters, keepers, other animals, and even the mime at the beginning. I'm sure your Kylie would have loved the show, especially if you could have nabbed a near-the-front seat. But I can understand the struggles you were having with crowds.
3. While you were skipping all the rides, did you possibly wander into the Journey to Atlantis queue area? That is the only way to see SeaWorld's rare commerson's dolphins. It's truly disappointing (to me) that they don't better publicize these amazing little dolphins (the world's smallest dolphins, I believe) -- a real highlight for me.
4. Wow, you REALLY want to see that climate change info! You only mentioned it a number of times.
5. When considering the commercialization of Sea World, one must remember what they are competing with for attention and visitor dollars. They are up against not only the San Diego Zoo, SDZ Wild Animal Park, Scripps Aquarium, LegoLand (with its SeaLife Aquarium), Knotts Berry Farm, Universal Studios, and even Disneyland!
I'm glad you added that last paragraph, SnowLeopard, as without it, it sounded like you had a truly miserable day. A few comments:
1. Your description of the Shamu killer whale show is truly disappointing, as that was always a real highlight for my family on our many visits to SeaWorld's 4 parks around the country. (Yes, I said 4, as they used to have one in Ohio -- where we visited the most!) I am guessing that SeaWorld is still reeling from their keeper death a couple years ago, which is probably the reason you saw no keepers in the water with the orcas. I've recently returned from visiting many zoos in Europe, and they clearly had keepers in the water with the dolphins in their shows, with the dolphins pushing keepers high into the air in exciting moves. So this is certainly NOT an industry-wide trend.
2. It's too bad you didn't at least go to the Sea Lion and Otter Show. My kids completely loved that show, as it had them in stitches with the comedy of the sea lions, otters, keepers, other animals, and even the mime at the beginning. I'm sure your Kylie would have loved the show, especially if you could have nabbed a near-the-front seat. But I can understand the struggles you were having with crowds.
3. While you were skipping all the rides, did you possibly wander into the Journey to Atlantis queue area? That is the only way to see SeaWorld's rare commerson's dolphins. It's truly disappointing (to me) that they don't better publicize these amazing little dolphins (the world's smallest dolphins, I believe) -- a real highlight for me.
4. Wow, you REALLY want to see that climate change info! You only mentioned it a number of times.
5. When considering the commercialization of Sea World, one must remember what they are competing with for attention and visitor dollars. They are up against not only the San Diego Zoo, SDZ Wild Animal Park, Scripps Aquarium, LegoLand (with its SeaLife Aquarium), Knotts Berry Farm, Universal Studios, and even Disneyland!
The last time I was at Sea World San Diego (and the only time as an adult) was around 1991 I think. I went with my new wife at the time (now ex) and we only stayed half a day and then left because we were bored. Biggest ripoff in the captive animal world IMO and I would never step foot in another Sea World park again for the rest of my life. And I for one cannot justify keeping killer whales in tiny tanks - I just do not think it is possible to build a tank big enough for them.
Ironically, I really like Busch Gardens which was (until the recent buyout) a sister park of Sea World.
Ironically, I really like Busch Gardens which was (until the recent buyout) a sister park of Sea World.
devilfish
Well-Known Member
With that schedule it sounds like San Diego's going to be a lot of fun. 'Black sea turtle' is used as another name for the green sea turtle. It's most commonly used to refer to the Pacific subpopulation, which was previously considered a subspecies (and even a species) in its own right.
A few notes on your sea world trip.
-The Black Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas agassisi) is a subspecies of the Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas). WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Chelonia mydas agassizii (Bocourt, 1868)
-The Humboldt Penguins are still there. They are now and have always been off-exhibit.
-SeaWorld has temporarily halted having trainers in the water with orcas since the untimely death of one of their trainers by one of the animals. There is hope that the "One Ocean" show will someday include trainer interaction after certain safety improvements are made. Killer whale trainers won't be in water for new SeaWorld show - Orlando Sentinel
- Also, I understand the Commerson's dolphins are currently living in Wild Arctic due to the construction of Manta (the Calfiornia Bat Rays are currently in the Commerson's dolphin tank by Journey to Atlantis), but you didn't mention them in your review, were they not there on your visit?
-The Black Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas agassisi) is a subspecies of the Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas). WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Chelonia mydas agassizii (Bocourt, 1868)
-The Humboldt Penguins are still there. They are now and have always been off-exhibit.
-SeaWorld has temporarily halted having trainers in the water with orcas since the untimely death of one of their trainers by one of the animals. There is hope that the "One Ocean" show will someday include trainer interaction after certain safety improvements are made. Killer whale trainers won't be in water for new SeaWorld show - Orlando Sentinel
- Also, I understand the Commerson's dolphins are currently living in Wild Arctic due to the construction of Manta (the Calfiornia Bat Rays are currently in the Commerson's dolphin tank by Journey to Atlantis), but you didn't mention them in your review, were they not there on your visit?
I'm glad that my 11 pages of a word document (SeaWorld review) generated so much buzz, as I had 5 comments and 2 private messages...the most of any review yet! I'll address all questions and concerns:
@Arizona Docent - if you hated SeaWorld and only stayed for half a day you must have paid a lot of money for not much of anything. I wonder how much the entrance fee was 20 years ago?
@devilfish & Ituri - thanks for the information on the black sea turtles, as I looked them up on Wikipedia and I was shocked to see the sign at SeaWorld. I'm not surprised that there is no mention of them being a subspecies of the green sea turtle because the informational signs at SeaWorld are very weak. I thought that there was an entirely new species discovered!
- the Commerson's dolphins are nowhere to be seen, and I can remember taking photos of them in 2006 in their tank by Journey to Atlantis. Now that same exhibit has bat rays as the feature attraction and I wandered over to check them out. I saw nothing but belugas, polar bears and walruses in Wild Arctic.
- it is a shame that there is no trainer interaction with the orcas in the show, but perhaps that is for the best. I just wish that the show had something besides crappy music and a few killer whales breaching for their dinner. Compared to the 2006 show the brand-new "One Ocean" is terrible.
@ANyhuis - we tried to get into the dolphin show but the stadium was full about 20 minutes before the show started. It would have been tough with 2 kids after a 7 hour day anyway. Interestingly enough with my estimation of a minimum of 500 strollers in the park nothing is very stroller-friendly. None of the 5 stadiums allow strollers, and Turtle Reef, Shark Encounter, Wild Arctic and Penguin Encounter all do not allow strollers as well. So we had to put our 10 week-old son Jeffrey in a baby carrier and cart him in and out of the stroller all day long, and when he slept we didn't want to wake him so then my wife took Kylie in to see an exhibit complex, came out and then I went in with Kylie as well. At every single aquarium on the trip we left the stroller behind and just put Jeffrey in a baby carrier, but for SeaWorld a stroller is a necessity due to the length of the day.
Finally, SeaWorld was a really fun day but as I already pointed out in my review if one analyzes the park on an exhibit-by-exhibit basis then there are a number of really poor areas. The orca show, the random metal cages with birds, the half-empty tide pool habitat, the 3 subpar aquariums and the begging sea lions are all negatives that I mentioned in my review, but there are some terrific visitor amenities as well. My main complaint is that this single SeaWorld location has 4 million people touring it every year and so there could be vast improvements made to the animal enclosures (especially in terms of size as almost every exhibit in the park is barely large enough for its inhabitants) and there could be more educational graphics and information during shows. Someone could visit for days and not really learn anything! Is just being "fun" enough?
@Arizona Docent - if you hated SeaWorld and only stayed for half a day you must have paid a lot of money for not much of anything. I wonder how much the entrance fee was 20 years ago?
@devilfish & Ituri - thanks for the information on the black sea turtles, as I looked them up on Wikipedia and I was shocked to see the sign at SeaWorld. I'm not surprised that there is no mention of them being a subspecies of the green sea turtle because the informational signs at SeaWorld are very weak. I thought that there was an entirely new species discovered!
- the Commerson's dolphins are nowhere to be seen, and I can remember taking photos of them in 2006 in their tank by Journey to Atlantis. Now that same exhibit has bat rays as the feature attraction and I wandered over to check them out. I saw nothing but belugas, polar bears and walruses in Wild Arctic.
- it is a shame that there is no trainer interaction with the orcas in the show, but perhaps that is for the best. I just wish that the show had something besides crappy music and a few killer whales breaching for their dinner. Compared to the 2006 show the brand-new "One Ocean" is terrible.
@ANyhuis - we tried to get into the dolphin show but the stadium was full about 20 minutes before the show started. It would have been tough with 2 kids after a 7 hour day anyway. Interestingly enough with my estimation of a minimum of 500 strollers in the park nothing is very stroller-friendly. None of the 5 stadiums allow strollers, and Turtle Reef, Shark Encounter, Wild Arctic and Penguin Encounter all do not allow strollers as well. So we had to put our 10 week-old son Jeffrey in a baby carrier and cart him in and out of the stroller all day long, and when he slept we didn't want to wake him so then my wife took Kylie in to see an exhibit complex, came out and then I went in with Kylie as well. At every single aquarium on the trip we left the stroller behind and just put Jeffrey in a baby carrier, but for SeaWorld a stroller is a necessity due to the length of the day.
Finally, SeaWorld was a really fun day but as I already pointed out in my review if one analyzes the park on an exhibit-by-exhibit basis then there are a number of really poor areas. The orca show, the random metal cages with birds, the half-empty tide pool habitat, the 3 subpar aquariums and the begging sea lions are all negatives that I mentioned in my review, but there are some terrific visitor amenities as well. My main complaint is that this single SeaWorld location has 4 million people touring it every year and so there could be vast improvements made to the animal enclosures (especially in terms of size as almost every exhibit in the park is barely large enough for its inhabitants) and there could be more educational graphics and information during shows. Someone could visit for days and not really learn anything! Is just being "fun" enough?
ANyhuis
Well-Known Member
Sorry, but for 95% of the paying public, yes it is enough.
Without getting too off-topic, just because 95% of the public are happy with 'just fun' it doesn't mean we shouldn't aspire to some carefully packaged and contextualised educational messages. What's the point of having real animals? They may as well have animatronic whales in that case.
Without education it's just a circus.
ANyhuis
Well-Known Member
First, the people are coming (and paying) to see real, live animals -- not animatronic whales. So that's not an option.
I'm not saying we shouldn't have educational messages, just don't go overboard with them. I believe strongly in the Walt Disney model for such things:
"I'd rather entertain and hope that people learn, than teach and hope that people are entertained."
>> It's worked pretty well for Disney, don't you think? If you've been to Disney's parks -- particularly the Animal Kingdom and Epcot Center, they have a strong educational aspect, yet very few are turned off by it. They come to have fun, and by osmosis, they learn.
Out of curiosity how would you define "overboard" with the educational messages? Walt Disney may be a good role model as you suggest, but he and his organization spent a lot of time and effort to create meaningful entertainment (as they still do with Animal Kingdom). He was a very thoughtful guy.
It doesn't sound like what is going on at Sea World in terms of the conservation work and messages described is very meaningful. It seems like the captive dolphin and killer whale welfare debate is potentially a bigger powder keg for the zoo-aquarium community than the ongoing elephant welfare debate. If Sea World finds themselves without any meaningful contribution to dolphin conservation (i.e., delivering some conservation value in their shows and exhibits) they are likely to find themselves where the circus world is now with elephants, and in the long term they will likely lose.
I agree. How can you justify keeping animals like orcas in captivity if the only message visitors will come away with is that they are big, black and white and wet and can do a few tricks?
I haven't been to Sea World and am basing this solely on what I have read in this thread.
ANyhuis
Well-Known Member
"Overboard" would be emphasizing the education instead of the entertainment. They should do the education IN ADDITION TO the entertainment -- like Disney does.
To be honest, in my many visits to the 4 SeaWorld parks, I've always heard a strong conservation message, as well as lots of education. But they may be going through a down time right now, after the recent tragedy. I can imagine that lots of things are in flux right now.
I seriously doubt the SeaWorld parks will have any problems with the animal rights wacko movement. They've been around and successful for a long time.
Agreed, but there do seem to be larger mainstream shifts in how people think about captive animal welfare. The zoo world seems to be winning the argument that the elephants there are conservation ambassadors for wild elephants. The circus world seems to be losing traction with the argument that having performing elephants because people thought it was fun for hundreds of years is a good thing. This is not the work of the "animal rights whacko movement" (which I think we probably agree is mostly a counter-productive fringe), but of mainstream people (the same folks who are the majority of zoogoers) deciding that they don't want to see elephants performing tricks.
If people decide that there is no societal value in watching dolphins and orcas doing tricks without any accompanying educational value then Sea World may find itself in the circus predicament. I think that you are also right that Sea World has done a lot of good conservation work, and hopefully their current situation is an anomaly and not a trend.
There has been a great discussion today in regards to my SeaWorld review, and I think that David brought up a terrific point in regards to keeping elephants in captivity. More than a dozen American zoos have either phased out elephants or are planning to phase them out in the future, and yet just as many zoos have spent millions expanding their elephant habitats into multi-acre exhibits that are wonderful and are supported by zoo visitors. The new exhibits appear to have won over a sceptical public.
Keeping cetaceans in captivity is perhaps an even more divisive issue, and I can distinctly recall the many protests and letters to the editors ten years ago when the Vancouver Aquarium was deciding what to do with its 40 year-old orca program. Eventually the aquarium relented and decided to no longer exhibit killer whales, and there was a press release to the general public declaring that the aquarium would never again capture live whales or dolphins and put them on show. Only captive-bred or unreleasable dolphins would be maintained, and many folks support such decisions. Also, the shows featuring dolphins at the aquarium are not filled with tricks but instead are packed with themes about conservation and education.
The SeaWorld parks are almost the only institutions still maintaining killer whales in captivity and so I would not be at all surprised to see that eventually end. Who would have predicted that so many zoos would end elephant rides, end elephant shows, and then end the exhibiting of elephants altogether? The SeaWorld parks are just about the last places where large-scale exotic animals still do tricks to entertain the public and the show that I saw on Monday was terrible. As I wrote in my review, after a brief introduction via a female trainer on the main stage there was nothing but video images for several minutes. Then a few whales came out and splashed around for their dinner in their fish bowl and the entire time there was no narration whatsoever. No one in the stadium of 5,000 people learnt anything other than the fact that there are black-and-white marine mammals that can leap out of the water while music is blared from huge speakers. The show was a HUGE difference from what I witnessed in 2006, and I seriously question the purpose of keeping orcas if this is the way that SeaWorld has decided to go. With a 9% decline in attendance (which I found out is the largest decline of any major theme park on the entire continent) the decison has been made to open a massive rollercoaster in 2012. Hmmm...
Switching topics:
I just spent two long days at San Diego Zoo, and I'm thrilled to say that when I toured the zoo alone on Tuesday I took hundreds of photos that are great because of the lack of visitors in the frame. I have loads of exhibit photos (and an animal might have snuck into a picture or two
) to eventually post on ZooChat, and I saw very young animals such as a river hippo, bontebok, a two-week old takin and a Malayan tiger cub. The new North Chinese leopard exhibit is open and I managed to get a bunch of photos of the exhibit, and Panda Trek is well on its way to its August opening date. The red pandas and Sichuan takins will get new exhibits in that lead-up to the giant panda enclosures. Hopefully I'll get my monstrously long review posted by tomorrow, but I'm attempting to be as detailed as possible.
If you check out the San Diego Zoo map on the zoo's website I would declare that the left-hand side of the zoo is FAR superior to the right-hand side. Using old names for now (I'll use the new place names in my review) on the left-hand side there is Gorilla Tropics, Bonobos, Absolutely Apes, Ituri Forest, Tiger Valley, Reptile House, Reptile Mesa, Polar Bear Plunge right at the top of the zoo, Monkey Trails & Forest Tales, etc). All of those areas range from excellent to brilliant! The right-hand side of the zoo has Elephant Odyssey (which will be in my "average" category), Panda Canyon, Cat Canyon, Bear Canyon, rows of ugly wire cages, an average Outback section, awful Elephant Mesa, etc. I'd estimate that 80% of the right-hand side of the zoo ranges from average to mediocre. To see the 1920's grottoes and 1916-era wire cages (the original cages) still being utilized is frustrating! San Diego is still North America's best zoo (and I feel as if I've seen all of them in the past 5 years) but it is a close call with Bronx and Omaha not too far behind. The collection in San Diego is amazing, many exhibits are terrific, but there are a lot of grottoes and wire cages that desperately need to be demolished.
While there is not yet a new guidebook (the last was issued in 2007 with a giant panda on the cover) there is a brand-new, 2011 guidebook specifically for Elephant Odyssey. The book is large, glossy, in a similar style to the regular guidebooks, is packed with loads of information and is 50 pages in length and sells for around $17.
Keeping cetaceans in captivity is perhaps an even more divisive issue, and I can distinctly recall the many protests and letters to the editors ten years ago when the Vancouver Aquarium was deciding what to do with its 40 year-old orca program. Eventually the aquarium relented and decided to no longer exhibit killer whales, and there was a press release to the general public declaring that the aquarium would never again capture live whales or dolphins and put them on show. Only captive-bred or unreleasable dolphins would be maintained, and many folks support such decisions. Also, the shows featuring dolphins at the aquarium are not filled with tricks but instead are packed with themes about conservation and education.
The SeaWorld parks are almost the only institutions still maintaining killer whales in captivity and so I would not be at all surprised to see that eventually end. Who would have predicted that so many zoos would end elephant rides, end elephant shows, and then end the exhibiting of elephants altogether? The SeaWorld parks are just about the last places where large-scale exotic animals still do tricks to entertain the public and the show that I saw on Monday was terrible. As I wrote in my review, after a brief introduction via a female trainer on the main stage there was nothing but video images for several minutes. Then a few whales came out and splashed around for their dinner in their fish bowl and the entire time there was no narration whatsoever. No one in the stadium of 5,000 people learnt anything other than the fact that there are black-and-white marine mammals that can leap out of the water while music is blared from huge speakers. The show was a HUGE difference from what I witnessed in 2006, and I seriously question the purpose of keeping orcas if this is the way that SeaWorld has decided to go. With a 9% decline in attendance (which I found out is the largest decline of any major theme park on the entire continent) the decison has been made to open a massive rollercoaster in 2012. Hmmm...
Switching topics:
I just spent two long days at San Diego Zoo, and I'm thrilled to say that when I toured the zoo alone on Tuesday I took hundreds of photos that are great because of the lack of visitors in the frame. I have loads of exhibit photos (and an animal might have snuck into a picture or two
) to eventually post on ZooChat, and I saw very young animals such as a river hippo, bontebok, a two-week old takin and a Malayan tiger cub. The new North Chinese leopard exhibit is open and I managed to get a bunch of photos of the exhibit, and Panda Trek is well on its way to its August opening date. The red pandas and Sichuan takins will get new exhibits in that lead-up to the giant panda enclosures. Hopefully I'll get my monstrously long review posted by tomorrow, but I'm attempting to be as detailed as possible.If you check out the San Diego Zoo map on the zoo's website I would declare that the left-hand side of the zoo is FAR superior to the right-hand side. Using old names for now (I'll use the new place names in my review) on the left-hand side there is Gorilla Tropics, Bonobos, Absolutely Apes, Ituri Forest, Tiger Valley, Reptile House, Reptile Mesa, Polar Bear Plunge right at the top of the zoo, Monkey Trails & Forest Tales, etc). All of those areas range from excellent to brilliant! The right-hand side of the zoo has Elephant Odyssey (which will be in my "average" category), Panda Canyon, Cat Canyon, Bear Canyon, rows of ugly wire cages, an average Outback section, awful Elephant Mesa, etc. I'd estimate that 80% of the right-hand side of the zoo ranges from average to mediocre. To see the 1920's grottoes and 1916-era wire cages (the original cages) still being utilized is frustrating! San Diego is still North America's best zoo (and I feel as if I've seen all of them in the past 5 years) but it is a close call with Bronx and Omaha not too far behind. The collection in San Diego is amazing, many exhibits are terrific, but there are a lot of grottoes and wire cages that desperately need to be demolished.
While there is not yet a new guidebook (the last was issued in 2007 with a giant panda on the cover) there is a brand-new, 2011 guidebook specifically for Elephant Odyssey. The book is large, glossy, in a similar style to the regular guidebooks, is packed with loads of information and is 50 pages in length and sells for around $17.