SeaWorld orca show to focus on education
SAN DIEGO — A symphonic score filled the former Shamu Stadium at SeaWorld, the tempo building suspense as footage of an icy landscape in Antarctica moved across a 40-metre-wide screen.
A little off cue, an 8,000-pound orca named Keet appeared, speeding along the perimetre of the pool as waves crashed over where a crowd of SeaWorld visitors would be sitting when the San Diego park’s Orca Encounter debuted last weekend. On the wide screen above, killer whales in the wild worked in tandem to manufacture waves, dislodging their prey — a lone seal perched on an ice floe.
“Keet is demonstrating this wave-making technique,” a trainer explains, “showing the complex and impressive hunting abilities killer whales have developed around the world.”
The hunting demo was one of many whale behaviours seen in the wild that was being re-enacted as the San Diego marine park rehearsed its much anticipated Orca Encounter.
Call it the Blackfish effect — the fallout from the repeated airing on CNN of the 2013 anti-captivity documentary.
Blackfish accused the company’s parks of mistreating killer whales and used as its centrepiece the now deceased killer whale, Tilikum, responsible for the 2010 death of a SeaWorld Orlando trainer and the death of a trainer in 1991 at Sealand of the Pacific in Victoria.
SeaWorld denounced the film as propaganda, inaccurate and unfair. But public backlash persuaded the company that consumer attitudes toward animal entertainment were changing.
SeaWorld Entertainment Chief Executive Joel Manby said in 2015 that the Orlando, Florida company would phase out theatrical killer whale shows, then followed up in March 2016 by announcing the end of all captive breeding of orcas.
With its debut on Saturday, Orca Encounter marked a milestone in the reinvention of SeaWorld the brand.
The company boasts that this year it is opening $175 million worth of new attractions at a number of its 12 U.S. theme parks, representing one of the heftiest capital investments in more than 50 years.
In addition to Orca Encounter, which will educate its audiences on how killer whales communicate, socialize, hunt and contribute to scientific research projects, the San Diego park will unveil a new area, Ocean Explorer, themed around underwater exploration.
The centrepiece of the family-oriented attraction will be Submarine Quest, a three-minute ride that transports riders in six-seat mini subs outfitted with interactive screens that rely on “smart play” technology developed just for SeaWorld.
SeaWorld wants to prove that it genuinely cares about the ocean and the animals that populate it while once again enticing sizable crowds with the help of cool rides showcasing cutting-edge technology.
“We’ve always had experiences that matter, but admittedly, we marketed ourselves primarily as animal theatrical shows, leading with Shamu, even though we were always a great rescue organization. But that’s how people perceived us,” said Manby, who arrived at SeaWorld a little more than two years ago to help engineer a comeback after the previous CEO stepped down.
As SeaWorld prepares for the day when orcas no longer inhabit the parks, it will gradually become more theme park than a zoological enterprise, predicts theme park analyst Bob Boyd of Pacific Management Group.
“Two years ago, I would have said SeaWorld was in a negative spiral and would have a difficult time navigating their way out of it,” Boyd said.