Next SeaWorld Park Could Be Indoors

Future SeaWorld parks could be indoors following the success of SeaWorld Abu Dhabi

MSM

Marine life park operator SeaWorld could develop more indoor parks following the model set by its first international outpost in Abu Dhabi which has made waves since it swung open its doors in 2023.

Earlier this month Marc Swanson, chief executive of United Parks & Resorts, which owns the SeaWorld brand, revealed that the company expects to sign deals for two additional international parks by the end of 2025.

“On our international opportunities, we are in active discussions with multiple potential partners and expect to have two signed [memorandums of understanding] by the end of the year,” he said during the United Parks & Resorts second-quarter earnings call. He added that the deal structure is expected to be “in line with how we did Abu Dhabi from a capital-light standpoint”.

This refers to the fact that SeaWorld Abu Dhabi was funded, built and operated by government-backed Miral which pays licensing fees to United Parks & Resorts and contracted themed entertainment experts PGAV Destinations to handle everything from the master plan, media production and interior design right down to brand development and graphic design.

The Abu Dhabi park breaks ground in two areas as it is the first SeaWorld with no killer whales and is also the brand’s first indoor outpost. There is good reason for this.

SeaWorld’s parks in the United States tend to have a more rustic appearance than their rivals from Disney or Universal Studios. There’s no gleaming globe at the entrance, just a street which looks like it would be at home in the Florida Keys. Stores are set inside quaint-looking houses with porticoes and pastel-colored clapboard sidings. Instead of being neatly cropped, trees hang over many of the twisting paths in the parks making it seem like they have been carved out of the countryside.

That model would have sunk without a trace in Abu Dhabi as the temperature regularly soars past 110 degrees there in the summer. Being under cover shields guests from this intense heat and enables the eight areas of the park to be decorated with intricately-detailed scenery as they aren’t open to the elements.

As a result of this, even the exteriors of the attractions in the park have a similar standard of theming to that which you usually find on the interior of a Disney or Universal ride.

This formula has been a smash hit with 1.4 million guests streaming through the turnstiles in its first 12 months alone. Other locations could soon share in this success.

When Miral’s trailblazing chief executive Mohamed Al Zaabi was asked in 2023 if SeaWorld could replicate the model of the park in other parts of the world he told this author “I think so. We are learning, SeaWorld is learning. SeaWorld US are improving and developing and I think there will be always learning opportunity. We learn from them, they learn from us.”

It would be no surprise if other locations were to follow Abu Dhabi’s lead. Under the expert guidance of chairman Mike Konzen, one of the theme park industry’s most skilled managers, PGAV has carried out some of the most momentous theming that the industry has ever seen. It has revitalised the SeaWorld brand and shown potential in it that previously no one knew existed.

The attention to detail starts before you even set foot in the park itself as the indoor area surrounding the ticket counters is designed to look like a traditional Middle Eastern town from days gone by. A beached wooden sailing ship stands in the middle of palm trees, piles of crates and artificially-rusted oil barrels. The ticket counters themselves are set inside a cream-colored fort featuring arched battlements, oil lanterns hanging from the walls and ornate stone urns standing outside.

Camel hoof prints are carved into the sandy floor and the palm trees even look faded from decades of being blasted by sandstorms. Mountain vistas visible in the distance on banners covering the walls invite guests to head towards them. As this report explained, the main hub of the park makes even more of a splash as the walls of the circular room are lined with one of the world’s largest LED screens. The pin-sharp 8K display shows dizzying scenes of schools of fish, waves and water currents rushing around the room.

From the hub, guests can access the different areas of the park which are largely themed to bodies of water around the world. The Tropical Ocean looks like a Caribbean hideaway with huts which are built from bamboo and have thatched roofs. Colorful plants fill the rockwork lining the walls and waterfalls rush down beside them. Traditional baskets woven from multi-colored beads stand by bamboo fences and trees hang over the stone paths. Bark appears to be peeling off some of the branches whilst others seem to be sprouting new shoots. It makes the trees look so real that it’s hard to resist tapping them and it’s only then that you discover they are actually artificial.

In the middle of it all is a vast pool which looks like a large lake as it is seamlessly set into the ground and laps onto a sandy beach where pink flamingos gather. A buoy bobs on the water in the distance and dolphins can sometimes be seen leaping through the air. Fittingly, the air is hot and humid.

It’s a different story when you head through a stone doorway into the polar ocean area next door. The atmosphere is considerably chillier and the path seems to have been cut through a mini mountain range of snow-capped rocks. It soars so high that when you zoom in on photos you can see snow mobiles on the peaks and wooden walkways leading up to them. Pine trees are dotted around the landscape stretching right down to ground level where ice floes seem to float on the water just outside touching distance. They form part of an ingeniously-camouflaged tank for otters, sea lions and walruses.

The water winds past rustic huts which look like they have come straight out of Frozen but are far from Mickey Mouse. Icicles hang from the eaves, their walls are lined with wooden decking and window boxes full of colorful flowers are attached to them. The guest pathways are equally ornate as they pass by a full-size ice-breaker ship with cargo hanging in nets above. It gives guests the impression they are walking through an old-fashioned port in Canada and adding to the realism, there are multiple routes to take. Few of them are signposted so there’s a wonderful sense of discovery from seeing where they lead to.

One path eventually takes you several stories up into the mountain range where you can look down on the land below. Following the decking on the pier in another direction takes you into the ship where you can even get into the intricately-detailed control room for a photo-opp at the wheel. Then comes the main event.

The highlight of SeaWorld Abu Dhabi is Endless Ocean, the world’s largest single-tank multi-species marine life aquarium, which is home to more than 68,000 creatures and 25 million liters of water. Endless Ocean is meant to be themed to a deep-sea exploration station on the sea bed but actually resembles the set of a space station with sleek grey walls and touch screen consoles showing information about marine life.

The area is made for Instagram with breathtaking windows onto the watery world. One is a soaring circular aperture that looks like a huge lens. There are also perspex tubes through the tank, bubbles you can step into inside the tank, transparent walls and mock submarines lined with domed viewports. The tank itself is so spacious that you can’t see the sides. In fact, the water immerses visitors in so many ways that it gives the impression the fish are on the outside looking in at the guests rather than the reverse.

There could be more to come and not just in other international locations. When asked whether the park can be expanded, despite being indoors, Al Zaabi revealed that “whenever you design any theme park, you always keep provision for expansion, for more either in or out, and that’s always an opportunity.” It could set an even higher barrier for future versions of the park to meet.