In the wake of Blackfish and growing social consciousness of the dangers of keeping large, predatory animals in captivity, SeaWorld has had to rethink and retool their image to better align with this new direction. Over the years, they’ve successfully decreased the emphasis on their killer whale population, and, as you probably know, even announced the cessation of their breeding program. I’ve also noticed that the polar bears have disappeared from the Wild Arctic habitat. I can’t say for sure that it’s related, but my theory is that SeaWorld didn’t want to risk another social backlash over a captive, large predator and proactively replaced the bears with seals.
Enter the rise of the animal/conservation themed attraction. While I don’t personally believe that Sea World will completely rid itself of its animal population, the focus is definitely moving to more attractions and rides. Last month, SeaWorld officially announced its plans for 2020 with a teaser video uploaded to its YouTube account. You can see the video below:
The video doesn’t tell us much. We know it will be a polar theme, and it will include “predatory heights” and “plunging thrills.” Well, most coasters include heights and plunges. However, based on the theme we can infer that it will be located near Wild Arctic, tying together that area of the park and creating a kind of “land,” much like the Antarctica section of the park.
I visited SeaWorld on July 5, 2019, to check out the progress on this construction. The majority of the construction is located between the Mango Joe’s restaurant building and Shamu Stadium. The most surprising aspect of the construction site is just how close the construction walls are located to the stadium. As you can see from the pictures, the construction wall is literally up against Shamu Stadium’s walkway. The walls also run next to Bayside Stadium.
In March 2019, through a public records request, thecoasterkings.com released permits filed with Orange County government showing track and location plans for the coaster. By interpreting what they can from the plans, The Coaster Kings have put together the below outline of the track. For their full analysis of the launches and flow of the ride, click on the photo or the linked text to see their post.
As for the current state of the construction, we’re still a long way from seeing any track or potential show buildings. However, you can see plenty of digging activity and maybe even some foundations being laid.
I’m excited about the possibilities this new coaster holds! Since the virtual reality headsets did not work out as an add-on to the Kraken coaster, I’m hoping that the technology is built in and planned for this one. It would be awesome to “fly” through an Arctic landscape while on the ride. This is just my wish, however. I have no indication or reason to think that this might actually happen.
