Huffington Post — SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment bets big on Aquatica San Diego

Jim Hill

11 years ago

It's Texas Hold 'em time among Southern
California's top tier tourist attractions.

Disneyland Park kicked off the latest round of theme park
poker earlier this year when it opened Fantasy Faire (a mini-land which
celebrates the Disney Princesses) as well as by premiering its new "Mickey
and the Magical Map" stage show. Then Knott's Berry Farm upped the ante by
expanding its Boardwalk area with three new rides in addition to unveiling its
newly enhanced Timber Mountain Log Ride.

Of course, Universal Studios Hollywood didn't want to be
left out of this summer's high stakes game for Southern Californian tourism
dollars. Which is why this movie-based theme park announced that it would be
putting 8 of the original prop cars that were used in the making of Universal
Pictures' super-popular "Fast and the Furious" film series out on
display. Which is when the LEGOLAND California Resort responded by saying
"I'll see your 8 muscle cars and then raise them with the world's largest
LEGO model. Which is of a full-sized Star Wars X-wing Starfighter. Oh,
and did you notice our brand-new LEGOLAND Hotel?"

That's when SeaWorld Parks
and Entertainment (which knows a little something about Texas Hold 'em. Given
that this company owns & operates a theme park in San Antonio) went all in with
Aquatica San Diego, that 32-acre water park which officially opened to the
public this past Saturday in Chula Vista, CA.

Mind you, Aquatica San Diego isn't exactly a new water park.
SeaWorld purchased this property from Cedar Fair Parks back in November of last
year for $15 million. But given the multimillion dollar makeover that this 16
year-old water park has received over the past 7 months (with all traces of Knott's
Soak City's previous surfing-community-of-the-1950s theming then being erased to
make way for a new South Seas-inspired design motif), Aquatica San Diego now might
as well as be considered a brand-new Southern California tourism destination.

Of course, what helped speed this transformation along is
that Aquatica San Diego isn't the first water park SeaWorld
Parks and Entertainment has ever built.
The original Aquatica opened at SeaWorld Orlando back in March of 2008. And
that 59-acre, stand-alone water park proved to be such a hit with Central
Florida tourists that SeaWorld management then decided to expand
the brand. Which is why — just last year — they took the water park that was
operating inside of their Texas
theme park and then rebranded that as Aquatica San Antonio.

Concept art for Aquatica San Diego. Copyright SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment.
All rights reserved

"And the Texas version of Aquatica quickly grew to be so popular with our
Guests that we just knew that we had to bring this same concept to San
Diego," explained David Cromwell, Vice President of Aquatica San Diego.
"Which is why we then began looking for opportunities in the Southern
California area. Someplace that we could — using SeaWorld's
unique mix of highly detailed theming, top quality attractions, live entertainment,
great culinary offerings as well as our exotic animal displays — then change
into something truly special."

Speaking of animals: SeaWorld's unique collection of
creatures plays an important part in helping to rebrand this Chula
Vista water park as an official SeaWorld property. In
fact, those animals may be the first very change that tourists notice as they
arrive at Aquatica San Diego.

"Our new Caribbean flamingos habitat
is right out front. You'll also be able
to see that as you float along in our lazy river known as Loggerhead
Lane," Cromwell continued. "And as you
approach the wave pool, you'll be able to see our freshwater turtles habitat.
These live animal displays give Aquatica San Diego the sort of educational
component that you just won't find at any of Southern California's
other water parks."

But once visitors make it past that flamingo habitat, that's when all of the
other really big changes which have recently been made to this Chula
Vista water park will then immediately become
apparent. From the thousands of newly planted trees & shrubs to that 43,000
square feet of white sand SeaWorld had trucked in to those private cabanas with
their mini fridges, no expense was spared when it came to this company's
efforts to make Aquatica San Diego look like a lush, tropical paradise.

"Over the past few months, we have had hundreds on
contractors here on site working off a very thoughtful plan that our design
team initially put together," David stated. "Every department at
SeaWorld — from landscaping to human resources to finance — touched this
project. But in the end, I think that we wound up with the new high quality, Southern
Californian tourism destination that we were all hoping for."

That said, there is a certain amount of risk involved with
this particular round of Southern California theme park
Texas Hold 'em. You see, Aquatica San Diego isn't located right next door to
SeaWorld San Diego. But — rather — 20 miles down the road in Chula
Vista, CA. But even so, Cromwell seems confident that
this newly revamped water park will be able to overcome that geographic
challenge. That SeaWorld will have no trouble convincing San
Diego locals as well as Southern Californian tourist
to come buy joint ticket product for their two area properties.

"Look, SeaWorld started in San Diego
nearly 50 years ago. And our brand is so well known and so well regarded these
days, I honestly don't think that we're going to have a problem convincing
people to go sample that quality, family-oriented property which SeaWorld is running
just down the road, a few miles away from our San Diego theme park," David
enthused. "If anything, I think that a visit to Aquatica San Diego will wind
up being the perfect compliment to a visit to SeaWorld San Diego. You can go
from watching creatures in water to being in the water yourself. Which sounds
like a really fun way to spend some time on your next Southern
California vacation."

So will SeaWorld Parks
and Entertainment's big bet on Aquatica San Diego area ultimately pay off?
We'll have to wait 'til Labor Day for this particular round of theme park Texas
Hold 'em wraps up. That's when the summer attendance figures will come in. And we'll
then know for sure which of Southern California's top
tier tourism attractions really did come out on top this time around.