SeaWorld Orlando this morning unveiled plans for two new attractions next year and an entire,
Antarctica-themed "land" to open in 2013.
Terry Prather, president of SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment's three Orlando parks, called it the biggest expansion in the resort's history.
"It's time to really make a statement," Prather told a gathering of media, public leaders and company officials. "Only SeaWorld can bring the natural world to our guests and millions and millions of people each year."
In an elaborate presentation using a pair of indoor theaters and 10 big screens, SeaWorld unveiled the first concrete details of the additions.
One of those scheduled to open next year is TurtleTrek, an attraction SeaWorld said will take guests on the life journey of a sea turtle. Guests will first pass through a pair of aquariums, one with manatees and the other with sea turtles, and then enter a first-of-its-kind, domed, 3D theater. Images of sea turtles, created in what SeaWorld called "hyper-real" CGI, will appear to swim around and above guests.
The film will follow the life of a female turtle, starting from the next, said creative director Brian Murrow.
"We transform the theater into the egg of a baby sea turtle," he said. "The first thing you see is this egg hatching as the theater cracks open and we start to crawl out of our egg onto the beach to make our way to the ocean."
Along the way, guests will encounter several oceans, animals, shipwrecks and danger — both natural and man-made, Murrow said.
TurtleTrek is under construction at the previous site of the Manatee Rescue attraction.
"You won't recognize it when you see it," Prather said.
The second additon will be Freshwater Oasis, a new environment in SeaWorld's limited-admission park
Discovery Cove. Guests will wade through a rainforest spring as small marmoset monkeys play in the canopy around them. They will then enter a faux sinkhole and wind up swimming alongside Asian river otters. The area will include secluded, private beaches and what appeared to be a swim-up lounge dubbed Flooded Terrace.
Both attractions will debut in the spring.
The following spring, SeaWorld will open an entire new area of the park themed around the icy continent Antarctica. It will take the place of the current Penguin Plaza section of the park.
Most details remain under wraps for the ride, although SeaWorld says it will be the "coldest theme-park attraction in the word."
The sit-down ride will also chronicle the journey of a young animal, this time a tiny penguin.
"We're going to be seeing this experience through his eyes – how he sees the ice, which isn't how we see the ice," Murrow said.
Exact temperature of the attraction was not shared.
"We can't dump people into the cold for enormous amounts of time. They'll be in shorts, and it is Florida," Murrow said. He said there will be a series of temperature changes, leading up to the record low.
The project is well into its planning. "We are riding prototypes," Murrow said. Expect construction walls for Antarctica to go up in January 2012.
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