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Attraction Type
Dark Ride
Attraction Status
Existing
Attraction Manufacturer
Mack Rides
Attraction Model
Airific
Recent insider info has told me a majority of the former Wild artic attraction building is slated to be removed đź‘€
Walls are supposed to go up soon and there are stanchions with “no trespassing and danger” and “Balfour realty” signs on them at the ramp entrances to the former attraction building for the time being.
 
Wild artic attraction building is slated to be removed đź‘€
Walls are supposed to go up soon...
Will they extend the building toward sesame street and the picnic area? Or are they just re-profiling the building in the same confines? Or just demolition entirely?
 
Recent insider info has told me a majority of the former Wild artic attraction building is slated to be removed đź‘€
Walls are supposed to go up soon and there are stanchions with “no trespassing and danger” and “Balfour realty” signs on them at the ramp entrances to the former attraction building for the time being.

That is correct! The signs and barricades have been there for a few weeks now. I started posting videos in the Penguin Trek thread that also include 2025 project information in it. I will begin posting them here as well when the videos have important 2025 project information!

Just to bring everyone quickly up to date about what has been happening over at the construction site in the past few weeks. They closed off the hallway right after the animal exhibit entrance with a barricade and a taped sign that states no trespassing. The sign says "DNAGER, NO TRESPASSING, Balfour Beatty Construction."

Not much was visible except for the sign and the scaffolding on the side of the building behind the Seven Seas Festival booths leading up to all levels of the roof. An additional no trespassing sign was added about a week or so later to the outside of the ride building near the seating area blocking the area off. Soon after this sign arrived, major roof work began allowing tons of sunlight to enter into the old simulator bay areas and exposing them to the elements. All three simulators bays are no longer fully enclosed and seem to be just one large area as sunlight can be seen under all three bays.


Update as of 5-1-24:

The Wild Arctic gift show and exhibit were closed for a good chunk of the day with ambassadors not knowing if or when the exhibit would reopen that day. When speaking to the ambassadors, banging could be heard inside the building, but it was hard to pinpoint where exactly it was coming from. This closure was likely due to crews needing to bring in new equipment or removal of material which would need crews to use the emergency exit doors that are at the start of the animal exhibit. But that's just my speculation.

Thankfully Wild Arctic did reopen and there was a brand new work wall replacing the barricade and tape. This work wall is a little further back but it is still very new as sections of it were still unpainted. One other thing a friend and I saw was when a ambassador was exiting through the emergency exit, there was a red tapped off section preventing people from going further into the outdoor construction area. It didn't seem like much work has started outdoors yet but it seems like they are setting up for it!

The roof scaffolding has also extended all the way across the very top of the building and the walls of the upper roof structure have been completely removed.

You can check out the full video here!

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The two most popular rumors I'm still hearing are flying theater and a coaster. As of now there (to my knowledge) doesn't seem like there is anything to prove either project. The more prominent rumor I'm hearing is still a coaster but I guess time will tell!
 
GCI? 👀 we know SEAS loves GCI for their woodies and I don’t think they wanna go back to gravity group since wacky taxi seems to be constantly going down.
 
A wooden coaster in Florida would be a disaster. Look at what happened to Gwazi
(Warning: armchair engineer time)
I imagine Florida's heat & humidity took a toll on Gwazi'a wooden supports as well as its track. Uneven/unreliable supports would have exacerbated stress placed on the track. Steel supports, ala Texas Stingray, would ameliorate many of those problems. At least, that makes sense to me.
 
I'll honestly be really irritated if they're flattening the Wild Arctic buildings for another outdoor coaster.

Obviously SeaWorld doesn't need another coaster in the immediate term, obviously SeaWorld is in desperate need of more attraction type variety (read: flat rides, dark rides), obviously SeaWorld needs more indoor attractions, and obviously SeaWorld needs more things to experience for non-coaster-riders.

Does anyone disagree with any of that? I feel like those are universally-held, "truths" right now.

So if SeaWorld, on the heals of converting one of their old dark ride buildings into an intro for an outdoor coaster, is now bulldozing their other former darkride building to build another outdoor coaster, I won't understand it at all. These buildings are an asset that, in the right hands, could and should have been capitalized on in ways that would have fulfilled some of those obvious needs highlighted before. Retrofitting buildings isn't cheap or easy, but it's a hell of a lot cheaper and easier than building new ones from the ground-up. SeaWorld will still have to fulfill those needs listed above in the years ahead—but now they're going to have to do it from scratch. Just seems like a waste. You can shove a coaster in all sorts of places at SeaWorld. Large, empty buildings are far less common inside SWO.
 
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I'll honestly be really irritated if they're flattening the Wild Arctic buildings for another outdoor coaster.
Unfortunately everything I’ve heard so far points to the leveling of that building plus the building behind the exhibit for the new attraction.

However I do wish they would see that indoor attractions keep people at the park—especially in Florida when there’s a daily afternoon thunderstorm that will shut down outdoor attractions for partially or even the rest of the day. They also need literally any flatride at all. Their only flatrides are Sesame Street Land and the skytower. Oh, and the skytower is an upcharge.

Having flatrides would also set them apart from universal in Disney in that sense, because Disney features a lot of family oriented flats, universal has a couple but not many. Seaworld has an opportunity here to get a flatride package maybe from zamperla, something like the giant discovery, an endeavor, and a NebulaZ. They could get another package to get some more family oriented flats, like their smaller jump around, their demolition derby model, and their bumper cars. Nearest park with bumper cars is BGT. You do that, boom, you’ve added 6 new rides for what would probably be the cost of a new coaster.

Then, for a darkride, expand the Sesame Street section and give a Sesame Street darkride, something like Abby Cadabby’s Adventure or something. While doing that add a Sesame Street eatery and a couple new kids rides.

For a new darkride more tailored to thrills, utilize some area by Seaworld rescue center—that would drive traffic over to that area of the park and put something new over there. This could be a darkride simulating an animal rescue, but along the way it goes awry, where the ride vehicle starts to buck you around. For good measure, you could put in one of the flats I mentioned above—maybe one of the smaller ones so it’s not going to disturb as many of the animals.
 
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