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Antarctica - Empire of the Penguin

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No softs today at all. There getting ready for a private party for corporate partners and VIPs. I'm leaving now and I'll do a short review on my way home. Brian is heading over to Universal for potential TF softs.
 
Quick Review from me,

I love the land, while on the smaller side it has top notch theming. Easily the best themed land at any Busch or SeaWorld park. The facade is beautiful and the preshow sets the tone very nicely. It's cute and innocent with a twist of danger is what I'm thinking right out of the gate. The interior queue is rather small and will probably hold a 30 min wait inside. I think the queue is also just phenomenal. Once you reach the split of wild or mild you then get ushered into a small preshow room. After this the doors open and you enter the load platform and onto the RV's. My favorite aspect of this entire expansion is the RV's, there just amazing.

Once we depart the RV's rotate, spin, and essentially dance with others as they group up to prepare to leave the platform as one. The ride itself is very colorful and will be popular with small kids. The ride is very short though, roughly 2:30 minutes with 4 scenes unless you count the load platform and exit, then it's six. The other downfall is we lose the story and I mean quickly. It's like this; greeting, formal introduction, dancing, dancing, dancing, danger, more dancing, singing with dancing, over. Its just like why was my RV just twirling about for 90 seconds, where is Puck?, is he dead?, just no info at all. I mean No explanation at all just done. But the ride overall is cute.

The penguin exhibit is top notch though and is instantly the best animal exhibit on site. SeaWorld has really thrown you into the animals habitats. Oh did I mention its freezing! It's 30 degrees year round in the exhibit and not something many will be able to stand for more than 5-6 mins. The overall land of Antarctica is a solid addition to SeaWorld and gives families another reason to visit this Summer.
 
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Yeah, my only thoughts going through my head were how short it was, the animations (they don't look good to me), the jumbled story and the horrible song at the end... Classic SeaWorld cheesiness.

I do think the actual sets looked nice. The whole thing was very colorful and entrancing. Too bad it was too short...
 
hatetofly said:
Oh did I mention its freezing! It's 30 degrees year round in the exhibit and not something many will be able to stand for more than 5-6 mins. The overall land of Antarctica is a solid addition to SeaWorld and gives families another reason to visit this Summer.
Click to expand...

So the actual ride is 30 degrees too? That explains how they can keep the after-ride area smell to a minimum.

When I saw the vehicles spin in two separate scenes, I thought, "someone didn't have a clue what to do with the ride at this point so they fell back on 'they spin really well, let's do that... again!'".
 
Felipe said:
HTF / BriMan, did you guys do wild or mild? or both? And can you elaborate on that part of the experience? :thumbs:
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TPI has done both. He said its just a matter of gratuitous spinning and more gratuitous spinning. You see more details on mild because there is less gratuitous spinning.
 
hatetofly said:
The penguin exhibit is top notch though and is instantly the best animal exhibit on site. SeaWorld has really thrown you into the animals habitats. Oh did I mention its freezing! It's 30 degrees year round in the exhibit and not something many will be able to stand for more than 5-6 mins. The overall land of Antarctica is a solid addition to SeaWorld and gives families another reason to visit this Summer.
Click to expand...

That would explain how they are getting away with staff members in full winter gear including coats, caps, and gloves. Otherwise, I would have thought they would be sweating bullets having to wear that in Central Florida.
 
ReelJustice said:
TPI has done both. He said its just a matter of gratuitous spinning and more gratuitous spinning. You see more details on mild because there is less gratuitous spinning.
Click to expand...

Geez... sounds like the first attraction ever in which most of us here would find the mild version better, that is, if there is actually something worth seeing during those times.

The ride vehicles do spark ones imagination however; how they could be used to greater effect in a completely different presentation.
 
Teebs I'd say most show scenes are at the 55-65 degree mark with the final two dropping in temps rather quick. The unloading platform is at 30 degrees and its like that until you get to underwater viewing.
 
Does the RV still do the Spider-Man like rocking back-and-forth movements as seen in the preview video released a while back?
 
BJCool said:
Does the RV still do the Spider-Man like rocking back-and-forth movements as seen in the preview video released a while back?
Click to expand...

Yes it does but only on Wild if I'm not mistaken.
 
Orlando Attractions video gives you a good view of the other cars motion

[video=youtube;DDrJOHUKMjE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDrJOHUKMjE&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/video]
 
My thoughts

Positive
-Amazing set's
-Good Musical score (Until the penguin reveal)
-Use of Trackless
-Decent Animation
-Good for the kids

Negatives
-Way too short
-Terrible Story
-Terrible Finale

Overall, looks like a very good ride for the young ones and should be a welcome addition to Seaworld. Though I doubt I'm going to see it for at least a year since it's not that impressive or a game changer IMO.
 
If I remember correctly you have to be 42" to ride the wild side and then anyone under 42" can ride mild with a parent or guardian. I think you have to be 48" to ride without an adult on either.
 
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