Attraction Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin

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pandorazboxx

pandorazboxx

Mar 30, 2010
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Missed this one a couple weeks ago. Looks like they got American Idol talent Lauren Alaina to perform the song for the ride. She was partially inspired by Pete the penguin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsZhD55H4M0

You can download the song for free here.

Also some dining info on Expedition Cafe.

http://www.insideseaworld.com/sampling-amazing-food-antarctica-empire-penguin

Looks like pretty basic fare. Three stations, American, Asian, and Italian. They do have some GLUTEN-FREE Teriyaki chicken for Nora's next visit to SeaWorld.

Antarctica opens friday. I wish I was going to be able to get down there this year.
 
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDrJOHUKMjE

The first Antarctica POV was released recently. Looks like an okay ride. I love the trackless ride system and the beautiful interior scenes. Just too bad the ride itself is a bit short.

The ride itself has both "mild" and "wild" settings which means that you can choose the tamer side or the more intense side with more movement and spinning.
 
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^I like how that penguin exhibit at the end of the video isn't fully enclosed like the old one.
 
To be completely honest, I'm horrendously disappointed. There's about 2 1/2 scenes and the animation in all of them is terrible. Someone at Universal is sitting back in their armchair laughing to themselves about SeaWorld's mediocre attempt at a darkride right about now.
 
Zachary said:
To be completely honest, I'm horrendously disappointed. There's about 2 1/2 scenes and the animation in all of them is terrible. Someone at Universal is sitting back in their armchair laughing to themselves about SeaWorld's mediocre attempt at a darkride right about now.
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I like it. I mean it's what I expected from it, especially after seeing what they did with Turtle Trek this new attraction is more along the lines of what is expected from the park. To compare them to Universal is unfair because the majority of their dark rides have more of a thrill factor to them. And considering what they had with the original penguin exhibit, this is a VAST improvement.

Here's a more complete video from Inside The Magic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRo6HV4oQm0
 
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I would just like to point out that this ride is currently one of only two dark rides in the SEAS chain(WIld Arctic has been closed for "maintenance" for months now) Also, I think if you look at the whole land as a whole(a lot easier to do with all-season dining) it's actually pretty cool!
 
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It seems I never posted this video here. This is Antarctica at night, with no people. Not a soul. I’m sorry YouTube compressed it so much, but it’s such a rare sight that I had to share it with you all.
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Admins: can we add “Antarctica“ to the title of this thread, to match the full name of the attraction? I almost couldn’t find it. Of course, the area itself is simply called “Antarctica,“ if I’m not mistaken, and the ride is called “Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin.“ Maybe this calls for two separate threads?
 
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Mushroom said:
Just for fun, I’ll disagree with your disagreement. I thought Empire of the Penguin was a mediocre dark ride despite its cool ride system. Not only did it rely too heavily on screens, but the screens were generally too small to create any sense of immersion. It felt almost like riding from room to room to watch a different TV. The ride also had lots of pockets of emptiness where it relied too much on the novelty of the trackless ride system, wasting a large amount of time maneuvering through empty spaces.

I also don’t think that “amazing amount of detail for a regional theme park” is a reasonable standard for a SWO attraction. SWO isn’t a regional theme park. Orlando is the #1 theme park destination on the planet, SWO is one of the world’s most visited theme parks, and the park competes directly with Disney and Universal. Look at Journey to Atlantis, which (at least in its original form) shows how SWO was once capable of creating a dark ride-style attraction with a level of detail and storytelling more on par with the competition. Guests visiting SWO are primed for Disney and Universal quality, so a dark ride that’s good by “regional park standards” doesn’t cut it at SWO.

And that aside, I wouldn’t even say Empire of the Penguin was that good by regional park standards. BGW, Dollywood, SDC, Knott’s, even a handful of Six Flags parks (with the Justice League rides) all have or once had dark rides that I’d argue offer much more theming and immersion.

I’m firmly in the camp that SWO, and SEAS/PRKS overall, is making a grave mistake by focusing on coasters at the expense of any diversity in their lineup. Some other sort of indoor family attraction, or a better dark ride, would’ve been my preferred choice. But I certainly won’t be missing Empire of the Penguin itself.
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I know my opinion is very unpopular, but I loved Empire of the Penguin.

I think people focus too much on the attraction as an amusement ride, ignoring its primary function as an animal exhibit. My understanding was that part of the intent was to acclimate people (often in shorts and t-shirts) to the temperatures in the penguin area. That allowed them to create an open space where guests were in the same room as the penguins and separated by nothing more than a glass wall (sometimes less than that, depending on the penguin). So, each room was colder than the previous.

The ride itself was beautiful and the movement was fun and swirly. Do I wish that the “Wild” side had been more intense or interesting? Sure. But I think they did a pretty good job of targeting their primary demographic: families with small children and grandparents who want a fun way to see the penguins.

It may not have had animatronics or whatever people feel they need to enjoy a dark ride. But it had actual, real, live penguins. It also had original IP with an educational but fun story. I miss Puck; he was adorable.

Was Empire of the Penguin the next Spiderman/Forbidden Journey/etc? No. But I would argue that wasn’t its primary mission, and I enjoyed what it did offer: amazing aesthetics, fun movements, original IP, and tons of adorable penguins.
 
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Nicole said:
I know my opinion is very unpopular, but I loved Empire of the Penguin.

I think people focus too much on the attraction as an amusement ride, ignoring its primary function as an animal exhibit. My understanding was that part of the intent was to acclimate people (often in shirts and t-shirts) to the temperatures in the penguin area. That allowed them to create an open space where guests were in the same room as the penguins and separated by nothing more than a glass wall (sometimes less than that, depending on the penguin). So, each room was colder than the previous.

The ride itself was beautiful and the movement was fun and swirly. Do I wish that the “Wild” side had been more intense or interesting?” Sure. But I think they did a pretty good job of targeting their primary demographic: families with small children and grandparents who want a fun way to see the penguins.

It may not have had animatronics or whatever people feel they need to enjoy a dark ride. But it had actual, real, live penguins. It also had original IP with an educational but fun story. I miss Puck; he was adorable.

Was Empire of the Penguin the next Spiderman/Forbidden Journey/etc? No. But I would argue that wasn’t its primary mission, and I enjoyed what it did offer: amazing aesthetics, fun movements, original IP, and tons of adorable penguins.
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I liked it too, and I think it was more popular among the non-thoosie crowd than we give it credit for on these forums. I know it had its shortcomings as a dark ride, but at least there was a dark ride in the park which the whole family could ride, and it provided a complete experience that had a pre-show, immersive theming, a storyline, original soundtrack, and a very well integrated animal habitat. The closest SeaWorld has come to creating something that hits all those points since then is Sesame Street, but that doesn’t have the broad appeal, animal encounter, or anything remotely attempting an immersive e-ticket ride experience.
My call would’ve been to try to improve upon the existing Empire of the Penguin ride with additional show elements and a more structured story-driven ride experience prior to the final scenes, instead of giving up and doing the typical SEAS “eh, just replace it with another coaster”. But I’m guessing the latter won out because the board thought another coaster would be cheaper to maintain. I’m excited to see how Penguin Trek turns out and hope that it succeeds in being a partially-themed ride that entire families can and will experience, but it’s inherently not going to fill the hole in the park’s offerings created by the loss of Empire of the Penguin.
 
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