A reader brought it to my attention that the Antarctica ride at SeaWorld Orlando seems to have been closed ever since the park reopened from the COVID-19 shutdown. It isn’t alone, as the park has also kept the Skytower and Wild Arctic attractions closed as well. Extended closures are nothing new for the Skytower, but the tight enclosed nature of the cabin does make sense if they are keeping it closed for that reason. Wild Arctic being closed is also timely, as just before the COVID-shutdowns the California park closed their version of Wild Arctic for good in mid January 2020, meaning that the Florida version (which is older) was also quicking racing toward its own inevitable EOL date.
But Antarctica is still a fairly new attraction, having just opened in 2013, and with a heavy duty air conditioning system running non-stop in the building to keep things chilled to frigid temperatures for the Penguins inside, you know that the air inside is constantly being cycled and cleaned by filtration units. So the question is, why is Antarctica still closed? Even worse, our reader said nothing was posted outside when they visited the other day to even tell guests that the ride is down… so guests are waiting in a long queue and even going through the ride’s pre-show experience, only to be taken through a backstage door and directly into the exhibit experience that normally comes at the end of the ride.
So if anyone has any insight as to what is going on. I’d love to hear more about it. After all, this is the same company that gave up on the fun Curse of DarKastle dark ride experience at the Williamsburg park because it was getting too expensive to maintain. I’d hate to see them go the same route here and just hope guests forget there ever was a ride inside the Antarctica building.