Today we are planning to go to SeaWorld here in San Diego. We’ve now lived here more than six years and owned this hilltop for fourteen years, which means we have been here long enough to have tried almost every attraction in the area. That said, I have not been to SeaWorld since I came here in 1990 for a father/son roadtrip with my oldest son Roger. I had recently separated from Roger’s mother and I wanted to have a bonding trip, doing all the things that a seven-year-old kid might like to do. I started by renting a red convertible in Las Vegas, stopping there to most with his grandmother and one set of cousins. It was hot in Vegas and we bought cowboy hats to cover our heads in a fun way and still stay out of the heat of the desert sun. Our first stop on this roadtrip was San Diego where my sister and her family lived. At the time the fun place to go in San Diego was SeaWorld.
SeaWorld San Diego opened in 1964, making it the first SeaWorld park ever built. It was founded by four UCLA fraternity friends — Milton Shedd, Ken Norris, David Demott, and George Millay — who originally envisioned an underwater restaurant, but pivoted to a marine zoological park. The park opened on Mission Bay with just a handful of attractions, including dolphins, sea lions, and a small aquarium. The park expanded rapidly through the 60s and 70s, adding the famous Shamu, the first killer whale at SeaWorld, acquired in 1965. Shamu became the iconic mascot of the entire SeaWorld brand. There were also dolphin and sea lion shows that drew huge crowds and the addition of new rides and exhibits throughout the early 1970s. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (HBJ), a publishing company, acquired SeaWorld in 1976 and invested heavily in expansion. Then came the Busch Entertainment Era (1989–2009) wherein Anheuser-Busch purchased SeaWorld from HBJ in 1989. Under their ownership, the park saw major investments in new roller coasters like Journey to Atlantis (1998) and Manta (2012). They also expanded animal exhibits and themed areas and included a Cirque de la Mer and other live entertainment.
But then came the Blackfish Era and attendant corporate turmoil that began in 2010….just about the same time as we came to this hilltop. The 2013 documentary, Blackfish, dramatically changed SeaWorld’s public image. It focused on the death of trainer Dawn Brancheau in 2010 (killed by orca, Tilikum) and raised serious questions about the ethics of keeping killer whales in captivity. The fallout for the park as an attraction was severe. Attendance and stock prices plummeted. SeaWorld became the Kennedy Center of its day with musical acts cancelling performances at SeaWorld events. In 2016, SeaWorld announced it would end theatrical orca shows and phase out its captive orca breeding program, a seismic shift in the company’s identity. The last “Shamu”-style shows ended at San Diego in 2017, replaced by a more educational “Orca Encounter” presentation.
In recent years, COVID-19 forced a lengthy closure in 2020, devastating the finances of the attraction. That resonates with me because I spent the years leading up to COVID building The New York Wheel, which would have been equally destroyed financially by the pandemic. United Parks & Resorts (formerly SeaWorld Entertainment) continues to operate the park and the park has leaned more into thrill rides and festivals (like Seven Seas Food Festival, Electric Ocean) to diversify beyond marine mammals. Ongoing debate continues about the ethics of cetacean captivity and its hard to have a SeaWorld without that, right?
By the numbers, SeaWorld San Diego is located in Mission Bay, San Diego on 189 acres. The annual attendance has historically been in the range of 4–5 million visitors (pre-Blackfish era). That too resonates with me because that would have been what we were looking for at The New York Wheel. The attraction is now 60+ years old, making it one of the longest-running marine parks in the world. SeaWorld San Diego remains a significant San Diego institution, though it operates in a fundamentally different way than it did in its Shamu-era heyday. We will spend the day rediscovering the site and figuring out how it all plays for us.
To be honest, I am not much of a theme park guy and for one reason or another, SeaWorld sticks out in my mind as a place I prefer to avoid. I would probably have never suggested it as a day trip, which is strange on several levels. First of all, I did spend six years trying to build a major NYC attraction, which while not involving killer whales, did involve gathering hordes of people to amuse themselves in some unnatural way (in that case, riding a 630 foot overbearing wheel overlooking New York Harbor). I am not a fan of fish (as in eating it), fishing as a pastime, or marine biology in general. Some people are drawn to the sea and the life that exists in it. I am not one of those people. So, while I was well aware of the whole Blackfish controversy, I would be hard-pressed to say that I was traumatized by the inhumane treatment of cetacean life. Before I wrote this story, I doubt if the word “cetacean” even existed in my vocabulary. I cannot imagine what would compel someone to get so close to a killer whale, much less getting down to training it every day…only to get killed by it deciding that it really didn’t like what you were doing to it. I cannot understand people who keep chimpanzees and then get shocked when they attack them and try to rip their faces off. Getting close to grizzly bears fits right into those nightmares. Why do people feel the need to commune with big nature in this way? Why swim with a whale shark and risk getting swallowed up, on purpose or accidentally, as though you are a piece of plankton?
So, today I will go and see how the marine nature-loving world has transformed SeaWorld for the better. I will do my share of walking and bench-sitting while the younger set ride the rides, which are only one step less inexplicable to me from putting your head in the mouth of a killer whale. I can get behind the Free Willy movement for one reason only…it will be one less reason for me to have to go spend another day at SeaWorld.