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SeaWorld doing a whale of a makeover

Get set in May for Shamu pirouetting, an original score, and action shots from the trainer and whales' view.

By MARK ALBRIGHT
Published December 3, 2005

SeaWorld is completely overhauling its signature Shamu show, teaching 52 new behaviors and performance tricks to the Orlando park's collection of nine adult killer whales.

The changes, the first update of the show in seven years, are being touted as the biggest entertainment project in the park's 41-year history.

"We're making it more of an inspirational story-telling experience than a straight-forward presentation," said Laura Curovik, the Orlando theme park's assistant whale curator. "Teaching killer whales to do things they've never done keeps them active and strengthens their bond with the trainers."

The new behaviors, which include complex multiple interactions by two trainers in the water and several whales at the same time, will increase the total number of learned behaviors in a typical show to 152.

Enlarging the series of large saltwater pools that the collection of mostly captive-bred whales call home is not part of the program.

SeaWorld marketers are characterizing the new show as more of a water ballet that at one point will have two trainers shaking hands while perched on the noses of two pirouetting whales .

The huge marine mammals also will learn to play multiple roles in the show (there are currently three whales cast as Shamu) so their daily routine is less boring and predictable. Tillicum, a 6-ton behemoth that does a bellyflop that drenches patrons several rows high in the stadium, will see his role change only slightly. This time the audience won't be able to see him barreling around the bottom before his monumental leap.

"His appearance out of the water will be a surprise element," said Dave Goodman, vice president of entertainment for SeaWorld Adventure Parks.

SeaWorld will continue its daily whale show schedule after construction begins on the sets in January. But the new sets and equipment, which will be installed around the show schedule, are substantial enough that the new show will not premiere until May.

Busch Entertainment Corp. is pouring millions into the rewrite. Busch commissioned a symphony orchestra to record an original score by film and Broadway music composer Chris Ward and songwriter John Stothers. Designers created a new set in the shape of a three-story whale fluke that will be flanked by fountains and waterfalls. A dozen tiny video cameras - both underwater and above the pool - are being installed to give the audience views of the action from the trainer and whales' perspective.

SeaWorld ordered a new 800-square-foot high-definition projection screen that's much larger than the current 300-square-foot one. The projectio n is actually shown on four separate screens that can be manipulated to create video images 80 feet, 40 feet or 20 feet long.

Most theme parks, including Walt Disney World and Universal Studios, have resorted to cloning multiple versions of their attractions for their collection of parks to cut costs. Busch, for the first time, will offer the same killer whale show at all three of its SeaWorld parks: Orlando, San Diego and San Antonio, Texas.

In another departure, Busch is rebuilding its kids play area at SeaWorld. The 3-acre kids area - now dominated by a cargo net climbing maze - will be outfitted with its first themed rides for families: a tea-cup ride, a kid coaster and a tame so-called samba tower ride. Along with new adult coaster and flume thrill rides added in the late 1990s, the new children's rides extend Busch's effort to jazz up a previously passive park experience.

--Mark Albright can be reached at albright@sptimes.com or 727 893-8252.

[Last modified December 3, 2005, 01:21:14]