SATURDAY SIX Presents: Soarin’ Over SEAWORLD ORLANDO with Bioreconstruct (including Aquatica and Discovery Cove!)

It’s time for another edition of Soarin’ Over… with Bioreconstruct, the article series where we get a bird’s eye view of our favorite Florida theme parks courtesy of the blogger-in-sky himself. Today we’re going to get an in-depth look above a beautiful park that combines exciting thrill rides with amazing animal experiences, SeaWorld Orlando.

# 6 – Coasters!

SeaWorld Orlando gets a lot of attention and well deserved praise for it’s strong conservation message and commitment to wildlife not just in the park, but across the state of Florida. However, they also just may have the greatest collection of roller coasters in all of Florida as well. SeaWorld’s arsenal is headlined by the powerful and visually striking combination of the floorless coaster Kraken and the hypercoaster Mako (which just so happens to be the tallest and fastest coater in Orlando.)

Mako trains can hit speeds of 73!

Kraken has been operating since 2000 and features multiple inversions.

I’m a big fan of going through tunnels when on a coaster, and Kraken delivers on that in a very memorable way.

This stunning shot below features four of SeaWorld’s coasters including (from back to front) Mako, Kraken, Penguin Trek, and Manta.

Manta is one of my personal all-time favorite coasters because it’s what is known as a Flying Roller Caster, giving guests the sensation of “flight.”

Guests are loaded onto the Manta ride vehicle, and then the seats adjust so that your spines are parallel to the coaster track above. The gimmick is that you are underneath the wing of a Manta Ray swimming around the ocean and it’s awesome.

Next to Manta is Penguin Trek, a family coaster which includes dark ride elements inside a show building.

I’m not a huge expert on roller coasters, but my favorites at every park are the ones that launch you to get fast speeds, like Cheetah Hunt in Busch Gardens Tampa, the VelociCoater at Islands of Adventure and Star Dust Racers in Epic Universe. Icebreaker has four launches!

Pipeline is a first-of-its-kind “Surf Coaster” where not only are riders standing up for the experience, the ride vehicles themselves feature elements that give the sensation that you are catching a wave.

If you like roller coasters, you need to run, not walk, to SeaWorld Orlando.

# 5 – Attractions

SeaWorld has more than just coasters, including the next-level-bonkers boat ride known as Journey to Atlantis. What I like about several of the rides like Journey to Atlantis and Manta is that their queues incorporate aquarium exhibits which is something you don’t really see at Disney or Universal.

Infinity Falls is SeaWorld’s river rapids ride that includes the biggest drop of any ride like this in a theme park.

I’ve been a fan of the iconic Sky Tower ever since I was a kid.

Only Bio can get great Sky Tower shots like this.

Which of course Bio then tops with this stunner. Wow!!

# 4 – Shows

For my family, the best thing at SeaWorld hands-down are shows, including the Orca Encounter at Shamu Stadium.

This zoom into Orca Theater by Bio showing whales and their trainers should win a Pulitzer. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!!

Another favorite of ours is the Dolphin Adventures show held at the appropriately named Dolphin Theater.

A more direct view straight down of the Dolphin Theater gives a better look at the nearby areas for dolphins and manatees.

Speaking of dolphins, at Key West Dolphin Cove I bet you can figure out what specific type of dolphins you can interact with.

Sea Lion and Otter Stadium is home to my personal Must Do at SeaWorld Orlando, Sea Lion and Otter Spotlight featuring Clyde and Seymour. If you like Animal Actors on Location at Universal Studios Florida, you’ll enjoy this charming show.

Bayside Stadium is mainly used for seasonal events, such as the concerts for the upcoming Seven Seas Food Festival.

The indoor Nautilus Theater is also used for seasonal events.

# 3 – Sesame Street

Universal Orlando scored a major coup when they got the rights to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and I’d say SeaWorld Orlando got a similar win when they created a full scale Sesame Street inside the park. As a person who grew up on the Cookie Monster, Big Bird, and Oscar the Grouch, seeing Sesame Street come to life inside a theme park is something truly special. We did an entire article dedicated to this land when it opened which you can read by CLICKING HERE.

Sesame Street is filled with interactive elements and attractions for kids.

Of course Bio is just getting world class aerials of SeaWorld, he’s also inside the park taking photos as well.

I remember a while back I was inside Hogsmeade Village at Islands of Adventure and a family was walking into the land when a 10 year old girl stopped in her tracks and excitedly exclaimed “I’ve been dreaming about this my whole life!” I knew exactly how she felt because that’s how I felt when walking into Sesame Street at Sea World for the first time. Sesame Street was my comfort food as I came home from school each day and seeing it in “real life” was magical.

 

# 2 – SeaQuest Legends of the Deep

Bio is well known for his “bell to bell” photo coverage of the construction of Universal’s Epic Universe along with his current photo essays following the current development of Piston Peak at Disney’s Magic Kingdom, Tropical Americas at Animal Kingdom, and the Fast and Furious – Hollywood Drift coaster at Universal Studios Florida. Well, he also covers all the recent projects at SeaWorld Orlando, including the current construction of SeaQuest: Legends of the Deep. Let’s step into the wayback machine and go to September of 2025 as Bio’s aerial coverage showed SeaWorld preparing the land for their recently announced attraction.

Now let’s jump ahead to November 7th, where we can see things starting to get in place.

A couple weeks later, on November 27th, Bio’s aerials shows work was progressing on site. If November 27th sounds family, that’s because it was THANKSGIVING DAY. That’s right, while we were all stuffing our faces with mashed potatoes  and cranberry sauce, Bio was up in the air getting us the photos we wanted. Bio isn’t the hero we deserve, but he’s the one we need. No truer statement has ever been said.

If you zoom in on this aerial photo taken on December 12th, you’ll see a construction team at center to give the scale of the attraction.

On January 1st, as we were all recovering from our partying the night before, Bio got this shot and explained that “guest access to the attraction will be at left, while the show building will be located at the top center.”

Bio also showed that the footers had been cast, and wooden boxes were over the connecting bolts for supports.

Cranes had started to appear on site.

By January 1st, multiple cranes were in use constructing the massive show building.

We’ll finish up with some photos taken this past week, showing the structural frame of the show building almost at completion.

I love seeing buildings like this take shape. Such a fascinating look at the process behind what it takes to bring our favorite attractions to life.

We’ll be following Bio’s SEAQuest: Legends of the Deep construction photos in our monthly Theme Park Enjoyment Index series which comes out on the last Saturday of every month.

SEAQuest: Legends of the Deep will be an attraction that takes guests deep into the sea in a submarine-like gimmick.

The ride vehicle for SEAQuest looks really cool. It gives me Haunted Mansion doom buggy vibes, so I’m looking forward to this attraction opening later this year.

# 1 – Aquatica and Discovery Cove

One important thing to know about the SeaWorld of today is that it’s not just one theme park, as SeaWorld Orlando also encompasses their water park, Aquatica.

Tons of slides, a great lazy river, and huge wave pools. Aquatica checks off all the boxes for a great day at a water park.

SeaWorld Orlando is also the home to Discovery Cove, the all-inclusive full day experience where guests can interact with many forms of wildlife, including dolphins.

This has been on my personal bucket list for YEARS as I have heard nothing but raves from people who have gone. This upcoming March I’m finally heading to Discovery Cove and you’ll get a full write up of the experience in the blog.

Bio doesn’t just get photos of dolphins swimming in the water at Discovery Cove. Nay Nay. He gets photos of the dolphins JUMPING OUT OF THE WATER.

How incredible does Discovery Cove look in these photos? These look like the photos you’ll see to try and get you to visit exact locales in the Pacific like Bora Bora or Fiji.

So there you have it: SATURDAY SIX Presents: Soarin’ Over  SEAWORLD ORLANDO with Bioreconstruct! See you next weekend for the latest installment of the SATURDAY SIX, where we’ll look at something fun from the world of Disney and Universal. If you enjoyed yourself, be sure to check out the THEME PARK ENJOYMENT INDEX, giving a monthly recap of all the theme park news you need to know (and a lot more you don’t need to know, but we’re gonna tell you anyway). You can also follow Your Humble Author on BlueSky (@derekburgan).

If you enjoyed this article, you will surely like the following: 

Theme Park Turkeys of the Year Archives

The SATURDAY SIX Celebrates 10 Years of @bioreconstruct

SATURDAY SIX Tribute to Josh easyWDW

SATURDAY SIX Tribute to Ian Barritt

TPEI Tribute to Bret Taggart (AKA @Schmoofy)

Special Thanks to The Elite Brandon Glover, Digital Maestro Scott Walker, the bio-est of all reconstructs @bioreconstruct, Captain Cruiseline Scott Sanders of the world famous Disney Cruise Line Blog, my personal protege Hunter “Elvey” Underwood, artist @SonderQuest, the mighty maven of merchandise Hedgehog’s Corner, the SAT SIX Fun Squad of Parkscope Joe and “the Dadalorian” Nick, hot shot Michael Carelli, charter member of the Universal Four @Nitro230, the permit princess Alicia Stella, master cartographer Tommy Hawkins, and Hermione Granger’s tutor Megan Thickey for their invaluable assistance with this article. Absolutely no help was added by SeaWorld Influencer @SuperWeenieHtJr. The SAT SIX is inspired each week by goofballs Aengus Mackenzie and LitemAndHide and you Potterheads will enjoy Meg’s other blog work over at the Central Florida Slug Club.