SeaWorld San Diego

SeaWorld San Diego is a theme park in Mission Bay Park in San Diego, California. It is a marine mammal park, oceanarium, public aquarium, and marine animal rehabilitation center. It opened in 1964 as the first theme park in the SeaWorld chain. Both the park and the chain are owned and operated by United Parks & Resorts. SeaWorld San Diego is a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). Adjacent to the property is the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute, which conducts marine biology research and provides educational and outreach programs on marine issues to the general public. History SeaWorld was founded in 1964 by Milton Shedd, Ken Norris, David Demott and George Millay. The four graduates of UCLA originally set out to build an underwater restaurant and marine life show. When the underwater restaurant concept was deemed unfeasible, they scrapped those plans and decided to build a park instead, and SeaWorld San Diego was opened on March 21, 1964. With only a few dolphins, sea lions, 6 attractions and 22 acres (8.9 ha), the park proved to be a success and more than 400,000 guests visited in the first 12 months. The second SeaWorld location, SeaWorld Ohio, opened in 1970, followed by SeaWorld Orlando in 1973. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. (HBJ) purchased the company in 1976 and SeaWorld San Antonio later opened in 1988. The Anheuser-Busch Company then purchased the SeaWorld parks in 1989 and put them into its Busch Entertainment division. In 2008, Anheuser-Busch was purchased by Belgian-Brazilian brewer InBev. InBev had a reputation as a cost-cutting company that was not interested in holding non-beverage businesses, and the Busch Entertainment division was later sold to the Blackstone Group in 2009. The company was renamed SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment in December 2009. In 2013, Blackstone shortened the company's name to SeaWorld Entertainment and sold 37% of it in an initial public offering. In 2024, SeaWorld Entertainment changed its name to United Parks and Resorts. Attractions Shows Shows operate with seasonal changes and include: Orca Encounter: a live show highlighting the park's killer whales and various aspects of their lives, biology, and adaptations. Post-2015, the show focuses less on physical entertainment with the trainers and more on showcasing the animals themselves. Dolphin Adventures (previously named "Dolphin Days"): explaining the whale and dolphin family. Sea Lion and Otter Spotlight (previously named "Sea Lions Live"): a new educational presentation featuring California sea lions and Asian small-clawed otters. Rides Bayside Skyride The Bayside Skyride is a gondola ride that first opened in 1967. The ride travels along a stretch of wire over Mission Bay. Ocean Explorer Ocean Explorer, designed for children, launched on May 27, 2017. It comprises three attractions: Octarock, a swinging experience, Sea Dragon Drop, a scaled-down drop tower, and Tentacle Twirl, a wave swing ride with a jellyfish theme. The realm originally featured Submarine Quest, an outdoor people mover-like ride with indoor segments, themed around deep sea exploration. The attraction would receive negative reviews due to lackluster theming. Due to this, it quietly closed indefinitely in 2019. SeaWorld staff initially indicated that Submarine Quest had been temporarily closed for maintenance, but by May 2019, references to the ride had been removed from SeaWorld's maps and website. When the park re-opened on April 13, 2021, demolition of the ride track and show buildings began, leaving the animal enclosures intact. Riptide Rescue Riptide Rescue is a Huss Airboat ride, featuring 12 gondolas themed as rescue boats. Rescue Jr. Rescue Jr. is an interactive children's play area, which originally opened in 2008 as Sesame Street's Bay of Play and closed in April 2023. The re-themed area focuses on Sea Rescue and aquatic sea-life. It includes three rides: Tidepool Twist, a spinning teacup attraction; Rescue Riders, an attraction in the style of Dumbo the Flying Elephant; and Rescue Rafter, a raft themed Tug Boat ride. Shipwreck Rapids Shipwreck Rapids is an Intamin river rapids ride themed as a shipwreck on a deserted island. Skytower Skytower is a 320-foot (98 m) gyro tower that was built in 1968 by Sansei Yusoki. The ride gives passengers a six-minute view of SeaWorld and San Diego via rising at a rate of 150 feet per minute (46 m/min) while spinning slowly (1.02 rpm). Tentacle Twirl Tentacle Twirl, opened on May 31, 2017, is a Wave Swinger built by German manufacturer Zierer. Roller coasters Arctic Rescue Arctic Rescue is an Intamin launched coaster that opened on June 2, 2023. This family coaster features arctic theming, as well as the fastest and longest straddle roller coaster on the west coast of the United States. This new attraction replaced the Wild Arctic simulator ride, which closed on January 11, 2020. Arctic Rescue has 3 launches, reaching a high speed of 40 mph (64 km/h), and has a track length of 2,800 ft (850 m), and its straddle seating imitates the feeling of riding a snowmobile. Electric Eel Opened on May 10, 2018, Electric Eel is a Sky Rocket II model by Premier Rides. Electric Eel stands at 150 ft (46 m) tall, with a track length of 853 feet (260 m) and speeds of up to 62 mph (100 km/h). Journey to Atlantis Journey to Atlantis is a Mack Rides water coaster that was built in 2004. The ride stands at a height of 95 ft (29 m) and hits a max speed of 42 mph (68 km/h). Emperor Emperor is a Dive Coaster manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard. With a height of 153 ft (47 m), Emperor is the tallest, fastest, and longest dive coaster in California. The ride contains 2,411 ft (735 m) of track, an Immelmann loop that stands at a height of 143 ft (44 m) and has a 90 degree drop that reaches speeds of over 60 mph (97 km/h). The ride opened on March 12, 2022. Manta On May 26, 2012, SeaWorld San Diego opened a new mega-attraction called Manta, a Mack launched roller coaster featuring two launches LSM of up to 43 mph (69 km/h) accompanied by a bat ray aquarium and shallow touch pool for touching bat rays, white sturgeons, and shovelnose guitarfish. The two-minute, 2,800 ft (850 m) long ride stands at a height of 30 ft (9.1 m) and features a drop of 54 ft (16 m). Tidal Twister Tidal Twister, opened on May 24, 2019, was a Skywarp Horizon model by Skyline Attractions. The ride reached a top speed of 30 mph (48 km/h), with a height of 22 ft (6.7 m) and a track length of 320 ft (98 m). In late 2023, the ride was shut down and removed a few months later. Animal exhibits Orcas SeaWorld's main attraction is its collection of orcas, eight of which are housed in SeaWorld San Diego in a 7,000,000 U.S. gal (26,000,000 L) pool. Shamu was the name of the first orca brought to SeaWorld San Diego in 1965. Shamu is now used as the character name for the costume character at the park entrance. SeaWorld San Diego ended their theatrical orca shows in San Diego in January 2017. San Diego was the first of the three SeaWorld parks to premiere Orca Encounter an educational presentation that gives insight into various aspects of an orca's life. Wild Arctic SeaWorld's Wild Arctic is home to various species of cold water animals, including beluga whales, walruses, harbor seals, and southern sea otters. Polar bears were formerly featured. Seals & Sea Lions SeaWorld San Diego's pinniped attractions house California sea lions, harbor seals, and Guadalupe fur seals. Aquariums SeaWorld San Diego features multiple fresh and saltwater aquariums of varying sizes, each housing different types of aquatic animals. The Ocean Voyager aquarium is home to marine animals including Moray eels, octopuses, and Japanese spider crabs. The Ray Aquarium beneath the Manta coaster contains local Californian rays and fishes. In summer 2025, the Bayside Aquarium opened behind the Bayside Amphitheater, featuring multiple endangered or threatened species for which SeaWorld maintains conservation efforts. Explorer's Reef Opened on March 21, 2014, Explorer's Reef is an attraction that contains animal attractions and structures. Featuring four different touch pools, Explorer's Reef gives guests the opportunity to interact with a variety of fishes, including 400 brownbanded bamboo sharks and white-spotted bamboo sharks, and more than 4,000 cleaner fishes and horseshoe crabs. Dolphins There are three species of dolphins at SeaWorld San Diego: common dolphins, as well as a hybrid common and bottlenose female named Bullet; Atlantic and Pacific bottlenose dolphins; and Pacific and Atlantic short-finned pilot whales. The two current common dolphins were both rescued locally in 2024, bringing the species back to the park on a permanent basis as they were deemed unreleasable due to their young age and the severity of their injuries. They have since been named Cardiff (after the beach where he was found) and Chance, and are the only non-hybrid members of their species on exhibit in North America. Attendance Sesame Place San Diego SeaWorld Entertainment purchased one of the Cedar Fair-owned "Knott's Soak City" water parks in late 2012. In 2013, the water park was opened as Aquatica San Diego. The park is located approximately 23 mi (37 km) southeast of its sister SeaWorld park, in Chula Vista, California. The park features 26 slides. On October 21, 2019, SeaWorld Entertainment announced that Aquatica San Diego would be converted into Sesame Place San Diego, the first Sesame Place theme park on the West Coast. Aquatica San Diego closed its final season in September 2021, and was re-opened as Sesame Place San Diego on March 26, 2022. The new park retained the water park attractions from Aquatica San Diego. Gallery In popular culture SeaWorld San Diego was a filming location for the films The Big Mouth (1967) and Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013). See also SeaWorld Incidents at SeaWorld parks Aquarium Water park Amusement park References External links Official website SeaWorld San Diego at the Roller Coaster DataBase