This past weekend audiences got a sneak peek of “Azul.” Here are some photos from the first performances. This Friday, March 12, Azul officially opens.
Come join me and experience the lure of the sea…….
Archive for the ‘Around the Park’ Category
Sneak Peek of Azul…
March 10, 2010 by ChrisJordan • 7 Comments »
Posted in Around the Park, Shows, animals
New Arrivals for 2010 at Sharks/The Coral Reef
February 8, 2010 by NickIreland • No Comments »
Posted in Around the Park, animals
This year has begun, like many others, for all of us here at SeaWorld. With opening day just around the corner, it often prompts the question: What does everyone do when there are no guests to interact with, or shows to perform in, or rides to operate? Well, even though many of our usual activities are not in full swing, we have been hard at work preparing for opening day of the 2010 season, Saturday, Feb. 27.
In the aquarium department, preparing includes fixing up our animal displays, acquiring new animals, moving other animals to different aquariums, moving animals around in the exhibits and even overhauling some of our exhibits to prepare for the arrival of the new animals.
Red Sea Golden Butterflyfish
Some of our new additions can be seen right when you walk in the door to our Sharks/The Coral Reef building. Our first aquarium now houses some new fish species including many pink, orange and yellow Anthias, or Fairy Basslets. You’ll recognize them by their brilliant colors and their tendency to stay together in groups of about a dozen fish. The biggest and most brilliantly colored one in each group is a male and all of the others are females or juveniles.
Longfin Fairy Wrasse (left), Bartlett's Anthias (center and right)
We’ve also added some small fairy wrasses. There are many different types, with brilliant shades of orange, green, blue and red. You can always spot a wrasse by the way they swim. Wrasses swim by simultaneously flapping their pectoral fins (these are the fins on each side that are like the arms of the fish) and hardly ever use their tail to propel themselves.
Also, if you look close to the reef, you may be able to spot a Trunkfish. These look like a small swimming pyramid.
Big changes are also on the way for some of our smaller aquariums, such as a new type of jellyfish and another surprise that’s on it’s way in the coming months. I can’t let the cat out of the bag just yet, but we will have an entirely new exhibit opening soon. We’ve spent many hours overhauling one of our exhibits to house some new animals I think you are going to love.
Asian Otter Exhibit Upgrade: Part 1
February 3, 2010 by KelseyMiller • 3 Comments »
Posted in Around the Park, animals
Tien, one of the park's Asian small-clawed otters.
The Asian small-clawed otter, Amblonyx cinerea , is small and deceptively cute. Don’t be fooled by their looks though, the otters that we have at SeaWorld average 6.5 pounds and can be very destructive in their exhibits. Some male otters like to scent everything in the exhibit. This means stomping all over the plants. They also rip the plants apart to use them for bedding. This is the benefit of having naturalized exhibits for the otters because we can observe some of these behaviors.
We like that the otters find their exhibits reinforcing, but we also want the exhibit to look presentable. Plants have to be hardy to survive the attentions of an Asian small-clawed otter. This year we are beginning the first stages of prepping one of the two otter exhibits for opening day at the park, Saturday, Feb. 27.
In the smaller exhibit, not much made it through last year between the heat and attentions of the otters.
This is something we do every year, but the amount of work needed can vary. This year the first steps will be getting some spots on the wall repainted and filling in areas with new dirt and some new rock work. Fortunately, the second otter exhibit has plants that have taken really well, so little work needs to be done this year.
Both otter exhibits were originally concrete deck and pools,
This is what the smaller otter exhibit looked like before our staff naturalized it.
but the Animal Care staff built waterfalls and added dirt, rocks and plants in the early 1990’s.
Smaller exhibit after its original redesign.
Be sure to check back in a few weeks for part two of the exhibit upgrade! That’s the fun part that involves picking and placing plants in the exhibit.
Goodbye, “VIVA!” Hello, ???
February 2, 2010 by ChuckCureau • 12 Comments »
Posted in Around the Park, Uncategorized
After nine years, on October 30, 2009 we performed the very last VIVA! show. We shut down our stadium and began the monumental task of creating a new show. After almost three months of construction and painting, rehearsals for our new beluga whale and Pacific white-sided dolphin show are in full swing. It’s a very exciting time for us!
Our animal training team has been busy working with our animals on many projects, not just the show. We received two new beluga whales from another zoological facility and we’re acclimating them to their new home. Bolt, the Pacific white-sided dolphin born this summer, is doing well and beginning to learn new behaviors. Don’t think he’ll be quite ready for shows this year, but he sure is cute!
The new show will be cool. We’ve been playing the new music (composed exclusively for our show) in our stadium in an effort to learn the musical beats, crescendos and transitions that will serve as cues for animal behaviors. It’s a lot of work and timing can be tricky. We’re working on the animal choreography, trying to put into practice what we, along with our creative consultants, have been planning. Sometimes what looks great on paper doesn’t translate well when you put it into the pool. It’s a fun process though and the team is doing a great job. Kudos to them for donning wetsuits and getting in the water even on the cold days!
Mark, Slade and Robyn practicing the timing of a beluga behavior with Sikku.
About two weeks ago, our non-animal performers came back and began practicing. Many of them had left town to visit family. Some went on a backpack tour of Europe. (Lucky!) Others remained in town and took other jobs. Regardless, all of them are excited to begin rehearsing the new show.
Practicing the Russian swing at the ski lake.
Synchronized swimmers doing "land drills".
We are thrilled to welcome four new faces to the cast. Synchronized swimmers Georgia and Maggie, and divers Mike and Brandon bring years of experience in their crafts as well as high levels of enthusiasm. They’re an interesting bunch… Georgia recently legally changed her name, Maggie once rescued and raised baby sloths, Brandon is an expert juggler, and Mike was actually struck by lightening once which resulted in his eyebrow turning white! I know they’re going to have a great time and we’re going to be a stronger team with them . They are terrific and I’m excited to get to know them better.
Meet Georgia, Mike, Brandon and Maggie, the newest members of the cast.
Many folks have been asking about the name of the new show. I even tweeted about it (www.Twitter.com/ChuckCureau) and offered hints recently. Some followers thought that we would follow suit with the other SeaWorld parks and call it “Blue Horizons.” Nope! There were some hilarious guesses (“Greens n’ Chitlins” ?!?) but after much brainstorming we’re pleased to announce that the new name is (…drum roll please…) “Azul.” Be sure to come see it when it premieres March 12. I’ll be there. I hope you will be too!
Continued success and blessings to you and yours,
Chuck
What Happens at SeaWorld During the Winter?
January 21, 2010 by KellyMorales • 1 Comment »
Posted in Adventure Camp, Around the Park, animals
SeaWorld San Antonio becomes such a different place when we’re not open to the public. At first glance it seems peaceful and serene, but once you look a little closer, it is still a bustle of activity!
During winter months, our Aquarium Department has the opportunity to refurbish, enhance and maybe even change the smaller aquariums in our Sharks/The Coral Reef habitat. They also are working on expanding their facilities to propagate and grow very fragile live coral species and build a space to raise frogs.
Even though we are closed and there are not any shows or guests at the community pools, the animal trainers and keepers stay busy as well. They still work with, feed and care for the animals, work on animal behaviors for shows in 2010, welcome guests on the Sea Lion and Beluga Interaction Programs, and now they are busier than ever after the arrival of the killer whale calf on January 7. As the calf swims alongside its mother, the trainers observe and record behaviors such as nursing, breathing, swimming patterns and bonding.
Did you know that it is the middle of summer for our penguins? Since penguins are naturally found in the Southern Hemisphere, they are on an “austral” season cycle, which is the opposite of what we experience. If you visited the park in July, you may have noticed that it was dark inside the Penguin Encounter. This is because July is the middle of winter in the Sub-Antarctic, where our species are naturally found. Now that we are in January, the penguins are experiencing their summertime, and are busy caring for their eggs and raising chicks recently born in the habitat.
The Education and Conservation Department is busy as well. Not only are we preparing for camp, tours and school programs for the coming year, but we recently hosted a special Adventure Camp for students from Texas A&M University at Galveston.
We also offer a special tour called Seafari, which gives our guests an opportunity to see the park when it’s not open to the public. If you have ever been curious about seeing what it would be like to visit SeaWorld and have the park to yourself, feed dolphins and sea lions away from the crowds, and get a behind-the-scenes peek at what it is like to care for the animals during our winter months, then click here to begin planning your SeaWorld experience.
The Nitty Gritty: Detail Cleaning for Opening Day
January 19, 2010 by GeoffBaldwin • 1 Comment »
Posted in Around the Park
SeaWorld is a seasonal theme park. We closed January 3 and open again on February 27. This allows for the perception that we don’t have much to do while the park is closed. Nothing could be further from the truth. The reality is that for many of us this time period is almost busier than daily operation. Even when we are closed there are special tours, educational programs, resident campers, and a team of employees that are working 24/7 preparing to welcome back guests when regular operation resumes.
Consider the restrooms. There are 32 for our guests (16 mens & 16 womens). That’s hundreds of fixtures, dispensers and thousands of square feet of flooring. Every single bit gets what we call “detail cleaned.” This involves steam cleaning and power scrubbing the floors. If it can be taken apart, it is; then cleaned and put back together. One team works on this five days a week, and when done, they move on to the team member restrooms. Another team begins the same process with every building, exhibit, restaurant and gift shop, to bring back the sparkle.
We also use special equipment (lifts of various kinds) to clean roofs, light fixtures and support structures throughout the park. But our largest challenge is the millions of square feet of asphalt and concrete in our stadiums, plazas and pathways that must be cleaned as well. We hose and pressure wash using 4,000 psi. steam units, scrub and scrape to get everything looking brand new again. As much water as possible used during this process is reclaimed, filtered and reused. Of course other departments are working just as hard to ready their areas for the coming season.
I am lucky to have a very dedicated team that has been with me for many years. They make it look easy. So, if anyone wonders aloud what goes on at SeaWorld when the park is closed, feel free to share our secret.
Well, got to go….
Burning daylight….
Geoff Baldwin
SeaWorld Knows How to Keep It Cool
January 6, 2010 by JackHarvey • 4 Comments »
Posted in Around the Park, conservation
The view from one end of the bagging machine.
It’s in our soda and lemonade, keeps the beer in the canoes cold and tops off every bucket of fish for our animals. Some of the animals even like to play with it and we use it as a reinforcer for them. What is it? Ice.
Ice is used everywhere at SeaWorld and instead of having 30 little ice machines everywhere from restaurants to show stadiums, we have one really big one. Well, actually it’s two machines that can each produce 2,400 lbs of ice in 24 hours. And there’s a dedicated group of team members that bag it into 40 lb bags and deliver it to over 30 stops around the park.
They start around 5:00 a.m., and on a normal operating day, deliver 40-50 pallets of ice throughout the park. Each pallet is made of 25 bags (remember each bag is 40 lbs). So that’s close to 50,000 lbs of ice used at SeaWorld San Antonio each day!
96 palates of ice can be stored in this freezer kept at 32º F.
After the four and a half hours it takes to deliver ice to everyone from Shamu to the water park, they spend the rest of their day, bagging ice. The team can bag about 12 pallets per hour – that’s 1 bag every 12 seconds. Once bagged and stacked on palates, the ice is stored in a walk in freezer the size of my apartment. It can hold 96 palates of ice, which is usually good for a day or two, unless we’re super busy.
July 4 is usually our busiest day of the year with thousands of people visiting the park. Well, it’s busy for the ice plant crew, too. On July 4, 2009, they delivered 100 super-palates (30 bags, instead of 25) that day. That’s 120,000 lbs of ice!
Now, why do we use so much? Besides the fact that thousands of people come to SeaWorld each day, it melts. The Ice Plant’s freezer is kept right at 32º F to prevent the ice from forming rocks, which isn’t good for the stacking process. With temperatures that close to freezing, a lot of it melts during the process of storing and bagging, but it doesn’t go to waste. We collect that water, similar to how we collect air conditioning run-off and it is piped to the cooling towers of the chillers that keep the animal pools water cold. So far this year, we’ve saved over 1 million gallons of water from going down those drains.
So next time you have a Pepsi, pull that aluminum bottle of Bud Light out of the canoe, or see a trainer dump a bucket of ice in Shamu’s mouth (trust me, a few of them love that), take a second to think about all the hard work that went into getting that ice there.
Thanks and Gig ‘em,
Jack
Beluga Stadium Gets a Face Lift
December 28, 2009 by ChuckCureau • 8 Comments »
Posted in Around the Park
Okay, so I'm not really doing the actual painting... but it shows how huge the pool is!
I’ve been in this pool a million times before, but this time, it’s different. Maybe it’s because nearly one million gallons of water are missing! In my 21 years at the stadium only a handful of times has it been empty of water. Seems at lot bigger from this vantage point.
In preparation for a spectacular new show in 2010, Beluga Stadium is getting an overhaul. We are applying a refresh coat of paint and making some minor repairs. In addition to the paint job we have refreshed the back wall and will install new scenery. After all, it’s been 10 years since the premiere of VIVA! and it’s about time for a face lift. And we have a good one planned for our guests!
Aside from the physical changes to the stadium, we are currently in the creative stage of producing a new show. It has been fun listening to newly composed music and brainstorming the choreography of the beluga whales and Pacific white-sided dolphins. There’s a lot to think about. Behaviors are timed down to the second with the music. Logistics of animals and people must be thought out so that the show flows. The bulk of the work has yet to be done. Once the pool is again full of water, we can start rehearsing. We plan to use the month of January to concentrate on rehearsing with the animals and then in February our human acrobats (including the return of the ever-popular “Chad, the funny guy”) will be added to the rehearsals. I’m looking forward to seeing what evolves.
No VIVA! shows this holiday but be sure to check out the holiday themed shows "Shamu's Christmas Miracles" and "Deck the Halls with Clyde and Seamore."
Be sure to stop by and see the new show in 2010. It’s gonna be great!
Continued success and blessings,
Chuck Cureau
Need Christmas Cash? Think SeaWorld Pass!
December 22, 2009 by JenniferBailey • 5 Comments »
Posted in Around the Park, Our Town, Uncategorized
With money tight and Christmas right around the corner, I wanted to share a few ways that you can stretch the average dollar and still be able to take a visit to SeaWorld San Antonio during the holidays.
One thing I have noticed, is most of our pass members are only purchasing annual passes to our park for a couple of their family members and then getting Fun Cards for the rest of the family. This is more than $30 in savings for each Fun Card purchased. Usually the adults have the annual pass and the kids have the Fun Cards.
The annual pass includes parking and gets you 10% off food and merchandise. This is great especially if the family chooses to eat “family style,” meaning everyone doesn’t have to buy their own hamburger and fries. For example, if you have a family of 3 – 5 people you could just order a couple of meals or items from one of our restaurants, vending carts or concessions and then share. This really works out great at the park, since SeaWorld always offers healthy portions.
As a matter of fact, many of our pass members have been taking advantage of the $.99 refill on any SeaWorld mug offer. They share the refilled drink with other family members by pouring some of the drink into the other SeaWorld mugs they brought with them to the park.
You could do all this and top it off with that special SeaWorld dessert you’ve always wanted, all while having a great time at the park and still having money left over for your Christmas shopping. Don’t forget the key is to share!
Your Personal Pass Representative,
Jennifer
You have to FantaSea it to believe it!
December 18, 2009 by BenDuval • Comments Off
Posted in Around the Park, Children, Events
Ever wanted to enter a magical underwater world where everyone’s favorite SeaWorld costumed characters are getting ready for Christmas – the SeaWorld way? Imagine holiday calypso music, twinkling lights, decorations, and snow, all of which transform FantaSea into an enchanting walkthrough and holiday picture opportunity.
Curious to see who is at FantaSea? Check out our amazing line-up that includes Shamu, Dolly Dolphin, Sydney Shark, Pete and Penny Penguin, and of course our two favorite sea lions Clyde and Seamore.
Sporting his own custom made Santa Claus costume and throne; Shamu Claus eagerly takes center stage while he awaits a photo opportunity with all of his guests in FantaSea.
Dolly Dolphin adorns her lovely Mrs. Claus ensemble, in front of the SeaWorld sunken ship. This makes for a great photo opportunity with the most adorable Mrs. Claus you’ve ever seen!
Visiting his SeaWorld family all the way from the outback and decked out in his holiday vest and hat, Sydney Shark is excited to show everyone his beautifully decorated Coral Christmas Tree.
Pete and Penny Penguin enjoy the warmer weather here in Texas, while wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Holiday fun and merriment is never complete without a visit from everyone’s favorite SeaWorld pranksters, Clyde and Seamore Sea Lion!
Bring the old and the young, strollers are welcome and pictures are encouraged. So if you haven’t been to FantaSea, you should come and FantaSea it and let SeaWorld become a family tradition for years to come.
