Are you ready for a brand-new theme park experience? While we’re big fans of the Disney and Universal theme parks all around the world, one major player in the theme park industry has successfully expanded with even more on the horizon.
©SeaWorld
Disney made waves this summer with its latest theme park expansion, Universal gave us details on its Kids Resort in Texas, and Bluey’s World is set to open later this year in Australia — but one other theme park juggernaut is about to continue expansion in the Lone Star State and we’ve got all the details!
Per the Orlando Business Journal, SeaWorld San Antonio’s parent company, United Parks & Resorts, is in the process of developing a theme park expansion in Texas.
©SeaWorld Orlando
The Orlando-based United Parks & Resorts plans to enhance SeaWorld San Antonio with a roughly 150 thousand square foot expanded area dedicated to attractions and animal rescue efforts.
Filed as a “confidential project”, the proposed expansion doesn’t have specifics at this time other than new construction and renovation. However, the previous title of the filing was Rescue Jr. — which just happens to be the name of SeaWorld San Diego’s 2023 expansion.
©SeaWorld
Rescue Jr. at SeaWorld San Diego includes “rides, water features, climbing structures, and other features tied to SeaWorld’s ongoing commitment to animal rescue and rehabilitation,” according to the Orlando Business Journal. The park’s addition even includes authentic rescue vehicles, interactive activities, and other features that emphasize animal rescue and rehabilitation — principles the theme parks were initially founded on. This Texas expansion may borrow heavily from what we saw in San Diego and it’s something we’ll monitor as development continues.
It appears that the filing indicates SeaWorld San Antonio plans on construction beginning in the fall of 2024 with completion by spring 2025. The estimated cost of the project is $6 million.
©SeaWorld
Texas has embraced the theme park expansion trope for a while now, already housing several prominent theme park properties all over the state in addition to the Universal Kids Resort coming to Frisco. This theme park, in particular, is tailoring the experience specifically to young kids, opting for a smaller scale that encourages creativity and imagination through play and discovery.
The park has been billed as something wildly different from other Universal theme parks and will be packed with loads of family-friendly lands, rides, shows, and more.
©Universal (initial concept art)
We’re excited to see these new theme park experiences debut soon! In the meantime, stay tuned right here at DFB for all kinds of theme park updates!
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Have you visited SeaWorld San Antonio? Share your experiences in the comments below!
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Bring it.
Disney needs more competition of the caliber that will prompt them to incent customers instead of contiuing the ‘How much can we roll these marks for and still fill parks with them?’ game.