Current State of Sea World

[Zanstabar]

Sea World used to be one of my favourite parks on the Gold Coast. It has a beautiful location and was home to many of my childhood favourite attractions. A recent trip to the park had me in disbelief as to what had happened to it. A janky carnival ride sits in the middle of the park, the shows just aren't as engaging and entertaining as they once were, and any form of atmosphere has gone. Has Sea World only recently become a mess? Or am I just blinded by nostalgia?

[Gazza]

@joz

 

[New display name]

18 minutes ago, Zanstabar said:

Sea World used to be one of my favourite parks on the Gold Coast. It has a beautiful location and was home to many of my childhood favourite attractions. A recent trip to the park had me in disbelief as to what had happened to it. A janky carnival ride sits in the middle of the park, the shows just aren't as engaging and entertaining as they once were, and any form of atmosphere has gone. Has Sea World only recently become a mess? Or am I just blinded by nostalgia?

Bikash happened to SW and now he has control of it all.

Edited January 30, 2020 by Skeeta

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I've drafted three different replies here. there's so much to say about what Sea World was, what it is, and what it should be.

I'll just say 'everything Joz said below is right' and leave it at that.

[joz]

Ah now I feel like I'm duty bound to explain what's wrong with the place lol

 

Honestly where to do even start with what's happened to Sea World? Since the moment they broke ground on Jet Rescue the park has been in a very sharp decline, and that comes on the back of about 10 years of stagnation. What strikes me is how almost all of it isn't stuff that was beyond their control, but its 12 years of every time a decision had to be made, very reliably the wrong decision was made until we eventually get to the point where the park is as it is now. 

 

Let's go through what I mean:

 

- Jet Rescue breaks ground. As part of construction, the train closes, and will never reopen. Bermuda's gas line is ruptured, the decision is made to not repair it, killing off one of the main things that made that ride so special

- Carnival games are added to the plaza

- Sea World's Water park is given over to the resort. No new capital expenditure accompanies this move, and the Water Park becomes a $5 upcharge for park guests. The Resort is rebranded 'Sea World Resort & Water Park'

- Corkscrew, probably the most iconic theme park attraction on the Gold Coast, is painted orange, and is renamed 'Sea Viper' as part of an upgrade that includes new Kumbak trains. The trains (which are heavier and will eventually cause stress on the track that will see the ride closed) are ugly, uncomfortable, and cause the ramp to the station to have steps put in it for clearance making the ride less wheelchair and stroller friendly than it used to be (even if they're not riding, people in wheelchairs and strollers want to not be in the sun, ya know?), the new colour scheme is unneeded, and renders all the thousands of photos of the Corkscrew used to promote the Gold Coast as a whole, obsolete. The retheme comes with no new themeing.

- Sea World's ski show, one if it's most iconic shows, closes to make way for a high dive show. While some work is done on the stage area, the main set for this show is a repurposed endeavor replica to keep costs down.

- Management experiment with opening all rides at 10:30, for a parkwide saving of maybe a few hundred dollars a day.

- An upcharge peddle boat attraction is added to the Ski Lake

- The park's only traditional restaurant, Paradise Room, closes.

- Dugong Discovery is replaced with a display about Shark attacks, the tone of which is different to Sea World's general message that the dangers of sharks are over stated and they need to be protected.

- Stage 1 of Castaway Bay opens, which includes a battle boats attraction, large play structure, and an (Upcharge) sky climb attraction. The kids pool and Plunge Water slide, are not reintegrated to the park despite a natural fit with the Battle Boats attraction, and geographical distance between them and the Sea World Resort which they technically remain a part of, and remain an upcharge.

- Planet SOS, a decent 3D movie with decent in theatre effects, is replaced with Happy Feet 3D, which is basically Happy Feet with 7/8ths of the film removed, and no in theatre effects.

- Pirates Unleashed high dive show is replaced with Jet Stunt Extreme, a 90's era extreme sports style show, which is at the very least uses the lake better than the smaller high dive show. As part of this change the Endeavor replica which had sat in a dolphin pool where it was an iconic scenery piece, is moved to the back of the lake where it is left for several years, before being demolished.

- After limping along with little to no maintenance for many years, (which includes another of the rides iconic features, the disappearing UFO, being inoperable for many years) , Bermuda Triangle closes suddenly as serious structural issues are identified with the tunnels throughout the ride, and the cost of repair is deemed too high. It's eventual replacement is still 3 and a half years away, for the bulk of that time the ride sits decaying behind a temporary fence

- Penguin Encounter replaces the short lived Shark Attack display. It repurposes a lot of the pre existing World of the Sea theatre, which limits the size of the exhibit. As part of the attraction opening, the small aquarium which was under the guest services building is closed boarded up.

- The Pirate Ship, one of the parks few rides (even back then) is deemed to costly to repair and is removed. It is purchased by a park in Victoria where it still runs around 10 years later.

- SpongeBob Parade opens. It works as a show more successfully than it does a parade, as Sea World has no parade route. As part of the parade, inflatable replicas of SpongeBob's house are installed on the Island, and one of the Monorails is decommissioned, and it's PLC is used to control fountains installed for the show. The remaining trains become wrapped in promotional material for the parade, which obscures the view for people in the monorails, and the wraps remain on the train for at least 12 months after the parade's eventual closure. As part of the Nick License, the park installs SpongeBob 3D into the 3D theatre. The 5min film is designed to be played as part of a motion base ride, and underwhelms in a 450 seat theatre with no 4D effects.

- Seal Harbour opens. It is basically an area which was already used to house Seals which was made accessible to the public. While nice enough, the design brief seems to be 'Really nice bus stop' and it lacks any real charm. It is also a dead end and tucked out of the way and attracts few visitors, but is a nice enough addition to the park.

- Dinosaur Island, a display featuring model dinosaurs opens in 2 unconnected locations; on the peninsula leading to the light house, and the long closed Broadwater Café, a small restaurant which features stunning views of the Broadwater. It's out of theme at Sea World, and guests entering the park now see random Dinosaurs across the lake as their first impression upon walking into the park.

-Storm Coaster, Bermuda Triangle's replacement opens. Continuing in the tradition of the ride system to be less than the sum of it's parts, Storm is much less than the sum of it's parts. The Roller Coaster section is intimidating for small kids and not thrilling enough for adults, the most exciting visual element, the splashdown takes place inside. The very short dark ride element takes place after what is the natural finale for the ride type - the splashdown, as such is garners little to no interest from riders and instead makes for a weak and rushed finale. While the ride does succeed in bringing some much needed life to the middle of the park, it requires the shortening of the Flume Ride, and the theme is for a Storm ripping through a shipping yard, as such the theme is for the ride to look ugly and messy.

- Sea Viper succumbs to it's new Kumbak train and age and is decommissioned as the track becomes too expensive to maintain.

- Dolphin Cove is renamed Dolphin Beach in response to the negative connotations of the word 'Cove' after the release of the anti marine parks documentary about the Taji dolphin massacres, and the long running Imagine Dolphin Show is replaced with a new show called 'Affinity'. In the backdrop of an increasing animal rights movement, Affinity is a great angle of attack to start a pro SW response talking about the Affinity and care SW has for it's animals, how the show you're watching is great exercise and enrichment for the animals, and calling on guests to have affinity for the ocean as a whole. Unfortunately though Affinity is written like someone took 50 goes at writing the opening line, and decided not to waste the effort and reused them for every line in the show. It does nothing to further the park's message and comes off as a weak follow up to its predecessor. Further to this and as part of the change from 'Cove' to 'Beach' tacky changing pavilions are added around the venue which further dilutes the potential message that SW takes the care of the animals seriously (Which it absolutely does)

- Sea World gets a new kids land as Sesame Street land is replaced by Nickelodeon Land. Only the Carousel and Plane Ride remain from the land's former incarnation, and 4 new kids rides are installed. They include inspired choices such as custom Rockin' Tug and Tea Cups, along with less inspired choices like the second most generic kiddie coaster on the market (behind the Wacky Worm), and the extremely low capacity peddle powered flat ride.

The Skyway, one of the park's genuine family rides closes. It had been running at a greatly reduced speed for many years prior to it's closure. This puts more pressure on the parks one remaining transport ride, the Monorail, which now routinely only runs one train at a reduced speed due to the constant need for maintenance to trains and having no slack in the system after the decommissioning of the third train years earlier.

- Following the 2016 tragedy at Dreamworld, the Viking's Revenge Flume ride never reopens from scheduled maintenance. Some half hearted attempts are made to investigate an Intamin retrofit, however plans to bring the ride come with a plan to make the ride shorter by removing the castle portion of the ride and replacing it with an aviary. in the end, no decision is ever made, and 4 years later, the ride continues to rot in full view of the public with no replacement in sight.

- Dinosaur Island is replaced by the 'Creatures of the Deep' display. While on theme and an improvement on it's predecessor, it still comes off as a fairly phoned in attraction which is visually unappealing when viewed from the entrance of the park.

- The remains of the old Sea World water park stop being an upcharge as the Plunge Slide and kiddie pool closes. It's eventual replacement is 2 years away. In response to the declining park, the upcharge Sky Fortress is now included in park admission

- Sea World embarks on two big renovation projects, one is the revamp of Dockside Tavern. The renovation includes removing the bar, and replacing it was a place to queue as the capacity of the venue is massively reduced as there is no longer a large bar. The Verandah is also expanded towards Nick Land and the exterior is suited to match that land. It also includes a photo of Sea World in the 80s. There are more rides in that photo than there are in the current park. The Plaza is also given a make over. The train station is demolished, and a new path is added to funnel people through the newly renovated area. The area is nice, but lacks anything to make it special; the buildings are bland and have no character and the tacky carnival games remain causing a bottleneck. The improved flow of guests and general newness do add some much needed and welcome freshness to the park though.

- Sea World's mediocre Fish Detectives show is replaced by the laughably bad Seal Guardians show. While their are many problems with the show, ultimately the biggest problem is it skews stupidly young, and anyone over the age of 10 would struggle to enjoy it, despite the fact this is a show that contains actual real life trained seals.

- Sea Jellies Illuminated takes over the indoor section of the Creatures of the Deep attraction. It is based off a popular attraction over seas where jelly fish are displayed with various lighting effects. A research lab upstairs is included upstairs as an attempt to give it a little credibility. The lighting in the attraction is very dim to give the Jellies more prominence, and many people blinded by the outside sun often cram into the small area at the same time which causes some issues. Ultimately, the good outweighs the bad and it is a decent addition to the park

- The remains of the Water Park are replaced by a water splash area for kids which would be right at home next door as part of the resort. Here it's a nice enough area for small kids to play. While it is themed, it's not intended to be immersive, as large cartoon style fish decorate the area. A 'Volcano' on stilts is built (presumably at some decent cost) to hide some pipes which are used as part of Shark Bay's filtration system, Overall, it's a nice addition which goes well with the Splash Battle next door and the play structure.

- The Lighthouse is demolished to make way for Sky Flyer, a traveling carnival ride previously called 'Space Jam' which is brought in to bolster a decimated ride lineup. It's questionable placement next to Dolphin Pools again slightly undermines the parks credibility when talking about how much it cares for it's animals. While nothing about it's placement it cruel, screams of riders now echo over dolphin pools. This isn't cruel for the animals, but is noticeable for people who may be on the fence about the park

- MW's Carnivale event is moved to Sea World for it's third year. During the peak season at Sea World now, the park is a mess of old parade floats and decorations that are meant to be viewed not by you daytime visitor who makes up the bulk of the trade, but by the people who buy a ticket to an upcharge event which is basically a night market with entertainment. In it's first year at Sea World, it runs without a headline show as the parade designed for Movie World can't be brought over. In later years, that glaring omission (which I called out the second the event was announced in it's first year) was corrected with the addition of Aquacolour. A decent show which had no tie in to Carnivale, but had a decent scale and was watchable enough to entertain for it's 20min run time. Most recently the show has been given a link to Carnivale, but was also scaled down as part of that change. Despite the fact that a nighttime show like this would be a slam dunk running every night from Dec 26 to late Jan, it remains something that is only for Carnivale guests. Realistically, most guests leave Sea World long before closing anyway, so extending closing time to 7.30 might be a step to far.

- Jet Stunt Extreme is replaced with a Ski Show. But not just any Ski Show, a hip 90's Extreme Sports show! With totally bogus BMX Riding and a radical Monster Truck boat, brought to life by the cool team at Showtime FMX! Perhaps a little harsh a review, it is a deeply flawed show, but a baby step in the right direction which now boasts 3 deeply flawed shows as it's biggest attractions.

- Sea World announces it's new Atlantis precinct (because themed lands are sooooo not how we do theme parks any more). The plans include a Top Spin, Permanent Star Flyer, and a Traditional Wooden Coaster. One of the considerations for the traditional wooden coaster over something like an RMC coaster is that the new wooden coaster will have a lower height requirement. The first ride to open will be Vortex, a Top Spin ride which traditionally has a 140cm height restriction, putting it out of reach for many guests. In a tone deaf move given the animal rights movement, this high energy thrill ride will be placed on the edge of a dolphin pool, and ultimately, the ride seems more about sticking it to Dreamworld rather than adding a ride which is best fit for the park. The themeing of the new land promises to be wholey abstract and in no way immersive according to concept art. It remains to be seen if any attempt will be made to theme the back of the sets for Thunderlake which from the back looks like an unappealing shed, (and from the front looks like an unappealing warehouse).

- Sea World sells it's helicopter business to a new company who continue to fly using the Sea World Helicopters name. A new facility is built in the Sea World car park. It is described as 'World Class' yet the tarmac from the old carpark is not even resurfaced, and the lines from the carparks remain visible.

- As part of construction for the new area which contains no family rides, Sea World will close the Monorail, it's last proper family ride. Rumors are swirling that much like the train when Jet Rescue was built, the Monorail may never reopen.

 

So yeah, want to know why the park feels like a pale imitation of it's former self? THAT is why. That's what happened to the park. 12 years of poor decisions one after the other over and over again. It's NOT your imagination, the park has gone massively down hill. By the time Leviathan opens it'll be nearly 5 years since Viking's closed and it's still there rotting. The park will have a total of zero family rides. The shows are all objectively worse than they used to be. Village takes no pride in the park, and that filters down to the staff in their corporate Village Roadshow branded uniforms who couldn't give less of a shit if they were constipated.

 

Moreover Nothing special has happened at the park since 2004 when Shark Bay opened. Everything feels phoned in, on the cheap or poorly executed, mostly involving repurposing stuff that was already there rather than building anything new or innovative. I know I've gone more into the past than the current state of play, but really if you just look at every decision they've made in the recent past which has shaped the park, you'll understand exactly the current state of the park, that it's not your imagination, it is a mess, and that even if you take nostalgia out of it, the park is objectively bad.

Edited January 31, 2020 by joz

[westical]

👏👏👏

And don’t forget Wild, coming soon. 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Just a reminder -

15 hours ago, AlexB said:

'everything Joz said below is right'

 

7 hours ago, joz said:

Ah now I feel like I'm duty bound to explain what's wrong with the place lol

Probably would have been quicker to explain what was right...

 

[themagician]

2 hours ago, westical said:

👏👏👏

And don’t forget Wild, coming soon. 

And they ruined the front entrance to the park 

[Zanstabar]

Dr @joz, I wasn't expecting you to come through with that dissertation on the fall on Sea World. When I visited last I started to wonder whether the park has always felt poorly executed and that my childhood memories clouded that view. Your post puts everything into perspective, especially things I didn't even consider. 

So I guess the next question is "What will bring the magic back to Sea World?" and "Does management want to bring the old Sea World back?"

[RobMac]

Stood outside SW about a year ago...a few weeks before they announced  the coming new attractions and to be honest, the entrance was looking very sad.....GC Parks need serious global partners for $$$ and skill sets they just don't have....exception being Movieworld, overall it still scrubs-up pretty well and hasn't butchered itself.....yet! SW, I think [hope] can and probably will find its way back...as for DW......touch-n-go......let's hope so, a much improved reopen Log Ride would be a start....we'll soon know.

[troll under the coaster]

7 hours ago, Zanstabar said:

"What will bring the magic back to Sea World?

an act of god?

[rappa]

You spelt Clark wrong 

[A.H]

Great/Sad read @joz. Sea world just looks like the 30% it used to be.

[Whombex]

21 hours ago, Zanstabar said:

Dr @joz, I wasn't expecting you to come through with that dissertation on the fall on Sea World. When I visited last I started to wonder whether the park has always felt poorly executed and that my childhood memories clouded that view. Your post puts everything into perspective, especially things I didn't even consider. 

So I guess the next question is "What will bring the magic back to Sea World?" and "Does management want to bring the old Sea World back?"

...employ @joz

[joz]

My resume is attached 

 

You'll note that my version includes 2 genuine family attractions as well as an intermediate thrill ride and a large thrill ride. I've also designed it so there is a very gentle family ride next to the dolphin pools which provides peaceful views rather than screams. The main thrill ride also has a different theme to the rest because it's station is in a different part of the park, and long term the opportunity exists to make a new land themed to all those cool myths and legends of the sea.

 

OK so fun and games and armchair imagineering aside, it's simple. Everytime there's a choice between making the park better or worse, choose the thing that makes it better. Do that for 10 years and there's a decent park there again.

 

So, would getting rid of the monorail make the park better or worse? Worse, so don't do that.

 

Would reopening the Flume ride make the park better or worse? Better, so do that.

 

Would a rewrite of the dolphin shows make the park better or worse? Would having less space because you've given a heap of land over to a 2nd gate or resort make the park better or worse?

 

Really it's just those questions all the way down. Do things over and over that make the park better. Even better if there's some vision of what the better park is they're working towards. Oh and when setting out a vision, ask if the vision is better or worse than what it used to be.

 

'Our vision is for a park which appeals almost exclusively to infants. Is that better or worse than what the park used to be?' Worse. So don't do that.

[themagician]

A wheel would have been perfect for where Vortex is going. It might not have suited that theme, but it works for that area. Hopefully they pull the Vortex off. And I would love to see a spinning coaster, which could be a perfect family attraction. Something likes Crush’s Coaster at Disney Studio Park Paris.

[coasterdude44]

I'm just happy to be seeing the vortex go up at last and with the Leviathan coaster going up later this year, sea world is set to win back the crowds again

[joz]

TIL that Sea World Resort is still branded as 'Sea World Resort & Water Park' despite the water park being demolished several years ago and only a small (very small) water play structure and standard resort pool remaining.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

But with every council in Australia installing a splashpad in their downtown area and calling it a waterpark, you kinda have to give them a pass on that one, right?

Edited February 2, 2020 by AlexB

[themagician]

They now aren’t even showing the full version of the Seal Guardians show

 

[Brad2912]

2 hours ago, themagician said:

They now aren’t even showing the full version of the Seal Guardians show

What does a “Behind The Scenes” version of that show looks like? There isn’t any crazy effects, intricate sets to elaborate on etc. What exactly as they showing you that is “behind the scenes?”
 

who asked for a behind the scenes version of what was already rubbish? 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I'd suggest they probably couldn't run their storyline including the crowd participation element, so its easier to just run 'seal guardians lite'

[Naazon]

I saw this, its essentially a training run. They showcase different elements of the show and how they train the seals to do those parts.

I think the one I saw, they were literally training a seal as it was refusing to do some parts and wasn't doing other parts correctly.

I found this more interesting and there was enough 'Seal Tricks' to keep my 6 year old entertained.

 

They also did some extra tricks that aren't in the show which was cool.

[AheadMatthewawsome]

Oh boy, first was Wonderland, then Dreamworld, and now Sea World. What’s next, Movie World? I don’t know! Something needs to be done soon to fix this. Or the theme park industry will go in the way of the car industry.

[Brad2912]

4 hours ago, AheadMatthewawsome said:

Or the theme park industry will go in the way of the car industry.

One is manufacturing. One is an entertainment service provider. 

worlds of difference.

We lost the car manufacturing industry because our wage structures preclude the ability to provide a competitive priced alternative to the Asian imports.