Antarctica - Empire of the Penguin

[Brian G.]

What is the loose articles policy for the ride?

Small purses and articles are fine to bring on. Anything like backpacks will have to go in a locker.

 

[snoman]

Well I had some high expectations for this one but reading the last few pages I think I'm gonna have to downgrade those a bit. Will be there tomorrow to check it out so I guess I'll withold any review until we actually see/ride it. I love Sea World but as of late it feels like new attractions are kind of being half assed. Turtle Trek is ok but they hyped it up so much and I expected so much when I actually went through it was kind of a "meh" let down. Sounds like this will be similar. They need a big splash to keep up with the Joneses-like another coaster or major attraction/animal exhibit.

 

[Legolas813]

As of 7 p.m. there is a 3 hour wait, down from 5 earlier. The entire sea lion habitat is being used as a queue. There is hardly anyone entering the queue, but the wait time is so long, it seems, because of extremely low capacity. I have only moved about five steps in the 10 minutes typing this up. The rest of the park is surprisingly slow. Expedition Cafe is nearly deserted and Manta is only 10 minutes. BTW, no strollers are allowed in the entire Antarctica land. You are directed to park them right inside the entrance.

 

[Legolas813]

A team member said 6 hours is the longest the line has gotten, which happened on Friday.

 

[quickfire609]

A team member said 6 hours is the longest the line has gotten, which happened on Friday.

That is absolutely absurd.

 

[Legolas813]

There have only been about 2-3 dozen people enter the queue the last hour. That is how slow the line is moving to still have such a long wait. They do have umbrellas, free water cooler stations, and mister fans in great abundance along the route. A team member said there is only about 20 minutes worth of queue indoors. Kind of crazy if true.

 

[Octobers Fade]

Went and rode it again today, park opened early, who knew.
This time I wated about 15minutes and everything worked! What we got yesterday was an absolute travisty for that length of wait time. Still nothing to it and wild is in no way wild.

 

[EPCOTcenter]

Small purses and articles are fine to bring on. Anything like backpacks will have to go in a locker.

I had a backpack (with a jacket in it), and I was allowed to ride with it. I was actually alone in my row, so the backpack was "riding" next to me, on the seat

 

[Legolas813]

You can take pictures on the ride (no flash). Many people had their cameras and cell phones out. I can see this policy ending soon, though, with the extent of the spinning.

 

[Brian G.]

I had a backpack (with a jacket in it), and I was allowed to ride with it. I was actually alone in my row,so the backpack was "riding" next to me, on the seat

That's probably why, but our Media Guide and several other people confirmed that it normally is not the case.

 

[April]

That's probably why, but our Media Guide and several other people confirmed that it normally is not the case.

Really? I have a big-ish purse and no issues...unless they're going to change it. In which case, is there even any lockers over there?

 

[Brian G.]

Really? I have a big-ish purse and no issues...unless they're going to change it. In which case, is there even any lockers over there?

Yes, right near the exit. They are quite large compared to the other lockers around the park.

 

[April]

Yes, right near the exit. They are quite large compared to the other lockers around the park.

Ah, okay. I wasn't paying attention when I exited on Friday. It seems weird to need lockers since I really didn't think Wild was "wild" enough for lockers to be necessary.

 

[justinrocks58]

That's probably why, but our Media Guide and several other people confirmed that it normally is not the case.

My Friend and I had backpacks and we had two other people with us in the same row and they had no issues with us having our backpacks on the ride.

 

[Octobers Fade]

Rode it day on one with my camera bag, only thing said to me was I had to put it on the foor, and Spook had his back pack Satuday.

 

[Cruiseshipfan]

They really should of used a franchise to make this attraction instead of just using just nature. There are two perfect movies for it, Madagascar and Happy Feet. Both would of made the ride all that much easier to make a story (or even to have a story), and would of made it all the more exciting, instead of being a sleeping ride. I watched the video and couldn't tell what on earth was even going on, it just seems like the ride was spinning randomly with the other RVs then stopping to watch a video.

 

[Nitro_230]

They really should of used a franchise to make this attraction instead of just using just nature. There are two perfect movies for it, Madagascar and Happy Feet. Both would of made the ride all that much easier to make a story (or even to have a story), and would of made it all the more exciting, instead of being a sleeping ride. I watched the video and couldn't tell what on earth was even going on, it just seems like the ride was spinning randomly with the other RVs then stopping to watch a video.

Two things:
1. Sea world is an animal park, but basing things on nature is a bad idea?
2. Madagascar......... I'm aware your going for the movie reference but you are aware Madagascar is a physical place that is not Antarctica. In fact at no time in any of the Madagascar movies do they go anywhere you would find penguins in nature.

 

[ReelJustice]

They really should of used a franchise to make this attraction instead of just using just nature. There are two perfect movies for it, Madagascar and Happy Feet. Both would of made the ride all that much easier to make a story (or even to have a story), and would of made it all the more exciting, instead of being a sleeping ride. I watched the video and couldn't tell what on earth was even going on, it just seems like the ride was spinning randomly with the other RVs then stopping to watch a video.

The attraction has many problems, this is not one of them.

 

[Nick]

My problem with it is Sea World lead us all to believe it was going to be some sort of ground breaking attraction. As the ride proves, just because you have the trackless tech, doesn't mean it will transfer to a great ride. The trackless tech likely ate up a big part of the budget, and for what? Everything they use it for pretty much could've been done on a track and would've allowed more money to be spent on the actual ride. I just feel they were looking to do something no one else had done yet in Central Florida... and failed BIG TIME.

 

[Legolas813]

I really like the cave part (kind of like ET). Playful and colorful. The problem is it is way too short and the rooms with the screens are very disappointing. Although to be fair, it is hard to concentrate on them as it gets colder and colder each room. I just sat there shivering.

The penguin area is almost unbearably cold if you are wearing summer clothes. The exhibit is pretty well done and close-up (if team members were not there, you could pet the penguins), but like the ride, the exhibit is way too small. I feel sorry for the penguins being in such a small enclosure. The faults of the ride could be overlooked if the animal exhibit was larger (this is no Shark Encounter or Wild Arctic).

As for the interior queue, there really is none. When you walk through the doors to the building you walk directly into the pre-show. After the pre-show, the queue is pretty similar to the Simpsons ride.