SEAWORLD

At seaworld Orlando you can admire most of the species in the marine world: dolphins, sharks, elephants, penguins, penguins and polar bears. And you can also watch spectacular wildlife shows that make the park's day of sightseeing. The park also features miniature representations of very specific ecosystems, both the tropical world of Key West and a polar ice research station in a polar climate…

The park is a little less gigantic than the Universal and Disney parks, which makes it possible to make almost every attraction in a day without finishing on the rotules.

Business advice. The park consists of attractions that operate continuously during opening hours, permanent discovery sites and scheduled arena shows.

If you do not want to end up exhausted at the end of the day, we advise you to arrive early and follow some logic in your visit. The simplest strategy is to choose the senses of a watch (or the reverse direction). Start with Manta, the recent attraction attracts many people. Then, park plan in hand, alternate shows and continuous attractions by making small chip jumps around the park. It is likely that the journey to Atlantis and Kraken will be a little long.

Do not hesitate to drop one or two attractions to come back later, when the crowd has dispersed. Don't be impressed by queues because arenas have a strong capacity.

Also think of taking with you a raincoat if you go to the park from June to October because loud and sudden showers are frequent… This will prevent you from ending up to the bone…

Blackfish (2013) the shock documentary. Starting from a tragic fact that took place at the Orlando seaworld, this documentary by Gabriela Cowperthwaite (aired on Arte in July 2016) denounces the poor conditions of captivity of orcas and their danger to trainers.

In February 2010, during a show at seaworld, Tilikum, a six-ton orca, attacked Dawn Brancheau, a confirmed trainer, under the eyes of spectators. We'll find out later that the orca scalped him and swallowed her arm… For fear of the scandal and ruin, the park attributes the accident to the victim and quickly classifies the case but we discover in the documentary that Tilikum was not at his first attack! Caught at the age of 2 years near the Icelandic coast in 1983, this male orca spent his entire life captive. It is established in Canada before being purchased by the Orlando seaworld in 1992. And we discovered, through documentary images and various testimonies, that this orca had already killed two people. The absolute horror. This film had such an impact on the public and the media that the law now prohibits trainers from diving with the orcas. The film is available on Netflix.

A declining attendance. However, seaworld has always minimized the impact of Blackfish that it described as a film of "propaganda." But as a result of the global success of the documentary documentary, and then broadcast on CNN with a audience of 21 million spectators, the group accused the coup with a sharp drop in attendance.

Seaworld repositions in favor of animal protection. Following this controversy, Seaworld had to reposition himself to convince visitors of his good intentions with regard to marine animals. Therefore, the park now returns some of the gains from some of its attractions to environmental protection and many animal species in the marine world. In Seaworld, for example, there is an area entirely dedicated to animals in rehabilitation following rescuing. While the park remains a commercial leisure park, one can only appreciate the shift in common sense and awareness.