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Seaworld San Diego, San Diego

April 16, 2012 by · Comments Off on Seaworld San Diego, San Diego 

Seaworld San Diego, San Diego, SeaWorld was founded in 1964 by four graduates of the University of California, Los Angeles. Although their original idea of an underwater restaurant was not feasible at the time, the idea was expanded into a 22-acre (8.9 ha) marine zoological park along the shore of Mission Bay in San Diego. After an investment of about $1.5 million, the park opened with 45 employees, several dolphins, sea lions, and two seawater aquariums, and hosted more than 400,000 visitors in its first year of operation.

Initially held as a private partnership, SeaWorld offered its stock publicly in 1968 in order to obtain money to grow. SeaWorld Ohio was built in 1970, followed by SeaWorld Orlando in 1973 and SeaWorld San Antonio (the largest of the parks) in 1988. The parks were owned and operated by Harcourt Bace Jovanovich, Inc. (HBJ) between 1976 and 1989, when they were purchased by Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. SeaWorld Ohio was sold to Six Flags in January 2001. After Anheuser-Busch was acquired by InBev, SeaWorld San Diego and the rest of the company’s theme parks were sold to the Blackstone Group in December 2009, which operates the park through its SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment division.

Bayside Skyride is a 1967 VonRoll type 101 gondola ride that travels over Mission bay for a 6-minute ride-the only VonRoll Skyride that travels over a body of salt water. It starts in the Northwest corner of the park, travels over part of Mission Bay on two 80-foot (24 m) towers, and lands on the other side. Then an attendant has to push your gondola around to catch the wire to take you back to the other side. This ride provides a great view of the backstage of Cirque de la Mer. The Sea World Skyride has the longest span between towers out of any VonRoll Skyride ever built-925 feet (282 m). From 1967 to 1988, the skyride was known as the Sea World Atlantis Skyride.

Journey to Atlantis is a joint flume and rollercoaster. The boat leaves the station and climbs the first lift hill, once at the top of the lift the boat takes a small decline to pick up a little speed and then travels around a right-hand turn that leads to the first tower building. The boat then enters the tower and plunges down a flume drop into a small man-made lake of water below.

During the next section of ride the boat slowly travels along a flume of water, makes a left-hand turnaround and approaches the second tower. Speakers placed along the side of the flume reveal the story behind Atlantis. The second tower contains a brief flood before entering a duel-elevator style lift. This contains two boats which are see through the “glass” (a projection) Commerson’s dolphins, then a whale which comes in and “breaks” the “glass” and “causes” the elevator to rise. The boat slowly rocks side-to-side as it climbs to the top. Inside the tower there is more Atlantis style theme and spiel.

Once at the top of the lift the boat leaves the tower and comes to a sign warning you to hold on and prepare for the sudden slow-down at the end of the drop. The boat then travels down a right-hand twisting drop that turns about 270 degrees, then rises back up onto a flat section of track containing some block brakes. From here the boat descends down another drop that banks to the right, and then climbs up slightly and makes a banked left-hand turn before descending down a small drop into another pool of water. The boat then slowly travels along a flume of water before making a left-hand turnaround and then heading back towards the station.

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