SeaWorld Orlando's Future Plans

[UNIrd]

I actually saw a commercial for SeaWorld last night that highlighted their 60th anniversary, new parade, re-opening of Antarctica area, Penguin Trek coming soon, some new dance show they have, and the Ignite fireworks. I was like wow... what world are we living in where SeaWorld has a better Summer campaign than any of the majors?

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I actually saw a commercial for SeaWorld last night that highlighted their 60th anniversary, new parade, re-opening of Antarctica area, Penguin Trek coming soon, some new dance show they have, and the Ignite fireworks. I was like wow... what world are we living in where SeaWorld has a better Summer campaign than any of the majors?

SeaWorld has been able to survive off those events, mind you I wouldn't compare quality to Universal/Disney... but at least they try something. Holidays at SeaWorld are the best.

Ignite is a spectacular firework show with an original soundtrack that's better than anything Universal has done pyro-wise.

 

[IzzyB]

SeaWorld has been able to survive off those events, mind you I wouldn't compare quality to Universal/Disney... but at least they try something. Holidays at SeaWorld are the best.

Ignite is a spectacular firework show with an original soundtrack that's better than anything Universal has done pyro-wise.

Summer/Christmas shows they beat Universal for sure. They struggle to survive which is a shame because honestly it is a really good park and has a lot of great offerings. Just no splashy IPs and their theming for rides is well, not the best. But their shows are fantastic and I wish Universal would pull from that and do more at Christmas time for sure, but use more of those empty theaters. SW doesn't let theaters sit empty during peak times allow it to be a really good park in peak season when you don't want to wait 2 hours for a roller coaster.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Summer/Christmas shows they beat Universal for sure. They struggle to survive which is a shame because honestly it is a really good park and has a lot of great offerings. Just no splashy IPs and their theming for rides is well, not the best. But their shows are fantastic and I wish Universal would pull from that and do more at Christmas time for sure, but use more of those empty theaters. SW doesn't let theaters sit empty during peak times allow it to be a really good park in peak season when you don't want to wait 2 hours for a roller coaster.

SeaWorld is a good park, they just have so many operational issues (along with pricing) that really drive down the experience. Best coaster collection in Orlando, but their ride ops are just not where they should be.

SeaWorld definitely transforms overnight during the holidays and becomes a more pleasurable experience dramatically. Only thing keeping me from cancelling my AP lol

 

[IzzyB]

SeaWorld is a good park, they just have so many operational issues (along with pricing) that really drive down the experience. Best coaster collection in Orlando, but their ride ops are just not where they should be.

SeaWorld definitely transforms overnight during the holidays and becomes a more pleasurable experience dramatically. Only thing keeping me from cancelling my AP lol

100% agreed. The ops are terrible. Drives me bonkers how horrible they are at loading a coaster.

 

[GAcoaster]

When they only are pay ~$12 an hour you rarely get motivated employees.

 

[ParkRumors]

While at the Panera next to SeaWorld the other day I noticed there's a lot of excavation going on on their vacant land next to Aquatica which had been listed as a potential hotel site. I assume this is probably the relocation of some of the retention ponds on the SeaWorld side of I-Drive to accommodate the new hotel site next to the park.

That work is for the Aquatica parking lot expansion.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

When they only are pay ~$12 an hour you rarely get motivated employees.

Yup - I don't know how SeaWorld will be able to staff up their park at this starting rate when UOR goes on a hiring spree later this year and onto next year for Epic Universe.

Somehow they've managed thus far, but what happens when all of a sudden there's 5K+ positions open with higher starting rates and better benefits?

 

[HandsomePete]

Yup - I don't know how SeaWorld will be able to staff up their park at this starting rate when UOR goes on a hiring spree later this year and onto next year for Epic Universe.

Somehow they've managed thus far, but what happens when all of a sudden there's 5K+ positions open with higher starting rates and better benefits?

It means that some of the good people move from USF/IOA to Epic, and USF/IOA get to split up the SeaWorld/Taco Bell/Walmart transfers. That will probably go well.

 

[SeventyOne]

It means that some of the good people move from USF/IOA to Epic, and USF/IOA get to split up the SeaWorld/Taco Bell/Walmart transfers. That will probably go well.

Every time I visit that Sea World Taco Bell, there's only one person working. If they ever transfer elsewhere, they better lock the door as they leave.

 

[HandsomePete]

Every time I visit that Sea World Taco Bell, there's only one person working. If they ever transfer elsewhere, they better lock the door as they leave.

Yeah, nobody has ever operated a third theme park in Orlando without a massive out-of-market job scheme like Disney's college program. All of the money they've invested in making it easier to commute from Winter Garden/fake Windermere isn't a fluke.

Adding thousands of jobs right in the middle of a traffic disaster and your front-line workers can't afford to live within a 45 minute drive - it's a bold strategy, let's see how it works out for them.

But back on SeaWorld... I'm genuinely concerned about their ability to run the place in 12-18 months. I mean, concerned-ish, because I'd camp out to be the first in line to laugh at Scott Ross if it all fell in on itself.

 

[Disneyhead]

Yeah, Staffing is going to be an issue.

 

[HandsomePete]

I perpetually cringe at all of these articles about "upskilling workers" and whatnot in the Orlando market, when the reality is that Orlando is bumping up against serious geographic challenges to sustain the level of tourism that exists today. Between the Butler Chain of Lakes and Shingle/Bonnet/Reedy Creeks, the only decent way to solve it all was to massively overbuild the throughput of I-4 from Davenport/Lakeland but that's a minimum of a decade away.

 

[SeventyOne]

I perpetually cringe at all of these articles about "upskilling workers" and whatnot in the Orlando market, when the reality is that Orlando is bumping up against serious geographic challenges to sustain the level of tourism that exists today. Between the Butler Chain of Lakes and Shingle/Bonnet/Reedy Creeks, the only decent way to solve it all was to massively overbuild the throughput of I-4 from Davenport/Lakeland but that's a minimum of a decade away.

This,. You mentioned easy access to Winter Garden in an earlier post, that's hardly "affordable" at the moment. Minneola and whatever is south of Haines City used to be the styx in the early 00s, now even they don't exactly qualify as affordable either. You can't build an outer ring of housing for minimum wage jobs 90 minutes away, but the theme park industry doesn't seem to grasp that.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Yeah, nobody has ever operated a third theme park in Orlando without a massive out-of-market job scheme like Disney's college program. All of the money they've invested in making it easier to commute from Winter Garden/fake Windermere isn't a fluke.

Adding thousands of jobs right in the middle of a traffic disaster and your front-line workers can't afford to live within a 45 minute drive - it's a bold strategy, let's see how it works out for them.

But back on SeaWorld... I'm genuinely concerned about their ability to run the place in 12-18 months. I mean, concerned-ish, because I'd camp out to be the first in line to laugh at Scott Ross if it all fell in on itself.

Excited to see analyze Epic's impact in Orlando next year. We're all focused on the WDW v Disney battle, but SWO is in the most danger of not just losing attendance, but also staffing.

Yeah, Staffing is going to be an issue.

Already is lol, can't imagine how worse it can get. Just a few notes on how bad it is:

• Parking tends to get backed up quite easily when they don't have the staff to properly staff each booth.
• Virtually never anybody in the parking lot itself directing traffic, the new redesign of the parking lot seems to take that into account as it's pretty much a free for all. (Really no point in paying for Preferred anymore)
• Park turnstiles... 1 or 2 people most of the time
• Security? Laughable - based on what happened at Aquatica yesterday, this is one thing that needs to change.
• Ride ops... just horrible with no "rush" to get you onto the ride as quickly as possible (understandable)

All of these complaints are targeted at management, not SeaWorld front line employees.

I perpetually cringe at all of these articles about "upskilling workers" and whatnot in the Orlando market, when the reality is that Orlando is bumping up against serious geographic challenges to sustain the level of tourism that exists today. Between the Butler Chain of Lakes and Shingle/Bonnet/Reedy Creeks, the only decent way to solve it all was to massively overbuild the throughput of I-4 from Davenport/Lakeland but that's a minimum of a decade away.

This,. You mentioned easy access to Winter Garden in an earlier post, that's hardly "affordable" at the moment. Minneola and whatever is south of Haines City used to be the styx in the early 00s, now even they don't exactly qualify as affordable either. You can't build an outer ring of housing for minimum wage jobs 90 minutes away, but the theme park industry doesn't seem to grasp that.

No idea how people manage to work at SWO for $12/hour and live in Orlando nowadays. Just about all of the affordable areas are 30-45+ minutes away, and that's by using toll roads like the Turnpike, 417 or the 528.

 

[Thatguyoverwhere]

This,. You mentioned easy access to Winter Garden in an earlier post, that's hardly "affordable" at the moment. Minneola and whatever is south of Haines City used to be the styx in the early 00s, now even they don't exactly qualify as affordable either. You can't build an outer ring of housing for minimum wage jobs 90 minutes away, but the theme park industry doesn't seem to grasp that.

Orlando as a city doesn't seem to grasp infrastructure or city planning and at this point the runaway suburban sprawl is starting to come back to haunt them. Not much opportunity for densification because almost all the land is built out as single-family housing, and the only real transportation option is driving your own car through an exceptionally bad network of clogged stroads and toll highways, with little prospect of meaningful change anytime soon. I moved away just before the housing prices really spiked, but I can definitely commiserate on the frustration of trying to commute in that city, especially commuting to the I-Drive area. But that's a separate rant lol.

SeaWorld seems to be trying to get in front of (or contribute to?) the lack of staffing with more and more automation, like the self-service parking booths, guest service kiosks, gates, and checkout counters. But the skeletal staffing on attractions is definitely already a problem. Even after reconfiguring rides to load and unload in the same place, they're still sticking to the bare minimum number of staff legally/physically required to operate the ride, even on peak days. I suspect the added pull from Epic Universe may ultimately force the park to start offering more competitive wages and benefits; either that or they'll start closing attractions, restaurants, bathrooms, etc. seasonally.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Orlando as a city doesn't seem to grasp infrastructure or city planning and at this point the runaway suburban sprawl is starting to come back to haunt them. Not much opportunity for densification because almost all the land is built out as single-family housing, and the only real transportation option is driving your own car through an exceptionally bad network of clogged stroads and toll highways, with little prospect of meaningful change anytime soon. I moved away just before the housing prices really spiked, but I can definitely commiserate on the frustration of trying to commute in that city, especially commuting to the I-Drive area. But that's a separate rant lol.

SeaWorld seems to be trying to get in front of (or contribute to?) the lack of staffing with more and more automation, like the self-service parking booths, guest service kiosks, gates, and checkout counters. But the skeletal staffing on attractions is definitely already a problem. Even after reconfiguring rides to load and unload in the same place, they're still sticking to the bare minimum number of staff legally/physically required to operate the ride, even on peak days. I suspect the added pull from Epic Universe may ultimately force the park to start offering more competitive wages and benefits; either that or they'll start closing attractions, restaurants, bathrooms, etc. seasonally.

Ironic you mention some of those automation opportunities... because they've all failed or have been pulled back. The automated parking gates have been removed, no automated turnstiles yet (I'd have to imagine that's coming at some point), and all of their automated ticketing machines tend to break. They just replaced them a few days ago, so I'd imagine that'll at least help a bit. The new pizza restaurant has an automated register... but so far it hasn't been expanded yet.

The park is doing well attendance-wise on the weekends thanks to heavy promotion/free tickets... but what happens next year when there's one more (better) park to visit.

 

[OrlLover]

Orlando as a city doesn't seem to grasp infrastructure or city planning and at this point the runaway suburban sprawl is starting to come back to haunt them

Orlando is not that big and can’t control what other cities do.

Plenty of multi family and apartment development has been happening over the years.

It’s just a fast growing place and that comes with many issues.

 

[SeventyOne]

Orlando is not that big and can’t control what other cities do.

Plenty of multi family and apartment development has been happening over the years.

It’s just a fast growing place and that comes with many issues.

This a huge part of it. What we consider "Orlando" is mostly made up of unincorporated county land from different counties, much of it nowhere near the county seat and population center of voters. For example, parts of "Clermont" (not in the actual city limits) where you can see Disney fireworks are technically governed by Tavares on the other side of the state.

 

[IzzyB]

Excited to see analyze Epic's impact in Orlando next year. We're all focused on the WDW v Disney battle, but SWO is in the most danger of not just losing attendance, but also staffing.


Already is lol, can't imagine how worse it can get. Just a few notes on how bad it is:

• Parking tends to get backed up quite easily when they don't have the staff to properly staff each booth.
• Virtually never anybody in the parking lot itself directing traffic, the new redesign of the parking lot seems to take that into account as it's pretty much a free for all. (Really no point in paying for Preferred anymore)
• Park turnstiles... 1 or 2 people most of the time
• Security? Laughable - based on what happened at Aquatica yesterday, this is one thing that needs to change.
• Ride ops... just horrible with no "rush" to get you onto the ride as quickly as possible (understandable)

All of these complaints are targeted at management, not SeaWorld front line employees.

I was at Sea World for summer camps last week and all of the parking booths were staffed in morning and most staffed around 3PM. I actually haven't seen low staffing in booths going to Sea World, other than one person in a booth sometimes.

Ironic you mention some of those automation opportunities... because they've all failed or have been pulled back. The automated parking gates have been removed, no automated turnstiles yet (I'd have to imagine that's coming at some point), and all of their automated ticketing machines tend to break. They just replaced them a few days ago, so I'd imagine that'll at least help a bit. The new pizza restaurant has an automated register... but so far it hasn't been expanded yet.

The park is doing well attendance-wise on the weekends thanks to heavy promotion/free tickets... but what happens next year when there's one more (better) park to visit.

I actually think Epic helps SW. More people will want to make a full trip without Disney and just do Universal and Sea World. I was surprised my friends who have always been into Disney are talking about next trip being Sea World and Universal. She mentioned Sea World first actually and Discovery Cove.