SeaWorld San Diego is an animal theme park, oceanarium, outside aquarium, and marine mammal park in San Diego, California, United States, inside Mission Bay Park. It is owned and operated by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment. SeaWorld San Diego is a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). Adjacent to the property is the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute, which conducts research on marine biology and provides education and outreach on maritime issues to the general public, including information in park exhibits.
SeaWorld was founded on March 21, 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, enabling it to expand and open additional parks. The second SeaWorld location, SeaWorld Ohio, opened in 1970, followed by SeaWorld Orlando in 1973 and SeaWorld San Antonio (the most extensive park’s gardens) in 1988. The partnership later sold SeaWorld Ohio to Six Flags in January 2001. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich owned the gardens between 1976 and 1989 when Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. purchased them. After InBev acquired Anheuser-Busch, it sold SeaWorld San Diego and the rest of its theme parks to the Blackstone Group in December 2009, which operates the park through its SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment division. EZ San Diego Junk Removal
Bayside Skyride
Bayside Skyride is a 1967 VonRoll type 101 gondola ride located in the park’s northwest corner behind the Bayside Amphitheater. It travels over Perez Cove for a 6-minute ride on two 80-foot (24 m) towers and lands on the other side before returning for a complete loop. Bayside 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 and took riders to the Sea World Atlantis Restaurant located on the opposite end of the ride across the lagoon. After the restaurant closed, the ride remained after the restaurant closed but took riders on a complete loop, passing through the second station instead of stopping.
Sesame Street’s Bay of Play
Sesame Street’s Bay of Play is an interactive children’s play area that opened in 2008 and is based on the long-running Sesame Street children’s television series. The site includes three rides: Abby’s Seastar Spin, a spinning “teacup” attraction, Elmo’s Flying Fish, an interest in the style of Dumbo the Flying Elephant” and Oscar’s Rockin’ Eel, an eel themed “Tug Boat” ride.
Address: 500 Sea World Dr., San Diego, CA
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