SeaWorld Orlando, Discovery Cove and Aquatica
Busch Entertainment Corp.
 Park News - (5/9/08) SeaWorld has confirmed that the Sesame Street characters will be returning to the park this summer. There will be a new Breakfast With Elmo and Friends offered daily at 8:30am and 10:30am that will include appearances by Elmo, Big Bird, Grover, Zoe, Ernie and Cookie Monster. A new Elmo & Abby’s Treasure Hunt musical show will also run from May 24th to September 1st.
For those looking for more “wild” entertainment options, then check out the Seafire Inn’s Wild Things show, a lunch-time 20-minute stage show that will feature interesting food and a revolving cast of wild exotic animals brought out on stage.
For those looking for more adult entertainment, the park will offer as 21+ “Night Adventure Tour” that will last five hours and take you to the front of Kraken, Journey To Atlantis, reserved seating at two shows (including Shamu Rocks) and includes dinner and a visit to the Brewmasters Club to sample a
wide variety of Anheuser-Busch products.
Elsewhere in the park, some SeaWorld guests may notice some early rehearsals taking place on the lake for the new nighttime Bayside Ski Jam show (formerly known as Hydro) as seen in the photos sent in by one of our readers.
(4/28/08) A sad accident occurred at Discovery Cove over the weekend as a pair of dolphins were sent off to perform a “jump” and accidentally collided in mid air. Sharky, a 30 year old female dolphin, was fatally injured.
(4/24/08) There will be a few changes around SeaWorld this summer, especially during the new SeaWorld After Dark hours. In addition to the typical summer long night shows like Shamu Rocks and Sea Lions Tonight, the park will also be adding some kind of evening ski show called Hydro that will feature kites being pulled across the water. There will also be a new Sesame Street themed show going into the Pet’s Ahoy theater, but not replacing it. It seems the new Sesame Street show will perform in the theater for the first half of the day and Pet’s Ahoy will return for the second half of the day. I’ve also heard about some kind of new exotic species animal show performance that will be taking place in the Seafire Theater periodically.
(4/2/08) A local reader pointed out something worth noting for anyone planning on going to one of the Busch parks in Florida. When you go to purchase tickets in advance online you can enter the promo-code “ronaldorlando” to get to the discount prices. While this discount prices are the same as the regular online only discount prices, if you enter the promo code a portion of the ticket price goes to the Ronald McDonald House Charities.
(2/28/08) I’ve finally found a link confirming that two 200 room Marriott branded hotels will be built on a 9.2 acre site south of Aquatica on Central Florida Parkway. A six-story tall Fairfield Inn & Suites and a slightly larger six-story Springhill Suites will be built by Grove Street Partners.
(2/26/08) According to a local news broadcast yesterday I’ve been told that Busch has signed some kind of deal with Marriott to build two new hotels on the leftover open land between Aquatica and Central-Florida Parkway. I don’t have the details of the deal right now but it seems a sure thing that these two hotels will serve as the official hotels for the SeaWorld, Discovery Cove and Aquatica parks. The only problem however is that this will limit just how far Aquatica will ever be able to expand in the future.
 2008 - Aquatica - (4/14/08) Coaster Dimension has posted their own photo update from Aquatica.
(4/8/08 - Updated) I’ve posted a complete review and a ton of photos all about the Grand Opening of Aquatica. Check it out here!! I’ve also uploaded a video of footage shot at the park on opening day for everyone to enjoy.
2009 - Manta / New Coaster - Confirmed - (5/14/08) Johnny Upsidedown has posted a huge photo update from the Manta construction site. Make the jump and you can see the serious digging work has begun all over the site as they set up the forms for the footers and what looks to either be a building structure or a new pool of some kind.
(5/9/08) I’ve held off on showing the three various pieces of Manta concept artwork floating around the web long enough. At
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