On March 19, 2015, it was announced that Joel
Manby would become the new CEO of SeaWorld Entertainment. Manby was previously the CEO of Herschend
Enterprises, the largest family-owned amusement park company in the United States. The charismatic Manby had a proven track record
in the theme park industry and was even somewhat of a public figure after appearing on the
CBS reality show Undercover Boss. Manby faced a great challenge when he took
the helm at SeaWorld. The corporation’s portfolio comprised of
six parks, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Busch Gardens Tampa, Sesame Place in Pennsylvania,
and three Sea World branded amusement parks, the original, SeaWorld San Diego which opened
in 1964, SeaWorld Orlando which opened in 1973, and SeaWorld San Antonio, which opened
in 1988. It was no secret why the position of CEO was
vacant, as for the past two years, SeaWorld had been in crisis mode. In 2013, the documentary Blackfish premiered. The film was a scathing look at the treatment
of captive orcas, specifically those held and bred at SeaWorld amusement parks. By the end of 2013, the documentary was airing
regularly on CNN, and activists, government officials, and the general public as a whole
were putting overwhelming pressure on SeaWorld to end their signature Orca program. Manby assumed the position of CEO at the height
of this crisis. Up to this point, SeaWorld’s main response
to the outcry had been to attack the documentary, the filmmakers, and the interviewees, but
after this only made matters worse, so the company pivoted to improving the living conditions
of its orcas. In August of 2014, SeaWorld had announced
an initiative titled the Blue World Project, that if approved would almost double the size
of the orca tanks at SeaWorld SanDiego and subsequently in San Antonio and Orlando. When Manby joined the company, this project
was still awaiting approval by the California Coastal Commission, which had jurisdiction
over construction projects in the California coastal zone, which included SeaWorld San
Diego, which sits in San Diego’s Mission Bay. Just over six months after Manby joined SeaWorld,
the commission approved the Blue World Project, but only on the condition that SeaWorld stop
breeding and transferring orcas, effectively forcing them to end their Orca program entirely
once the park’s current orcas passed. SeaWorld planned to sue the Coastal Commision
to have the conditions removed, but Manby was already taking SeaWorld in a new direction. The month after the Commission's conditional
approval, Manby held a conference call with investors in which he outlined a new vision
for the company. Manby’s plan was to shift focus away from
animal shows and put resources into more traditional amusement park attractions with a nautical
theme. In the call, Manby announced three new attractions,
all themed after a single television show named Sea Rescue. Sea Rescue was a documentary series that followed
a group of veterinarians and experts attempting to rescue and rehabilitate marine life. The first attraction based off of the show
was a unique roller coaster named SeaWorld Rescue The Ride, which would be constructed
for SeaWorld San Antonio. Another was tentatively titled Sea World:
Rescue, and concept art depicted guests boarding a rescue truck and receiving unique views
of an aquarium. This attraction was earmarked for SeaWorld
Orlando. Finally, the third attraction would be a submarine
ride named Ocean Explorer to be built at SeaWorld San Diego. The Sea Rescue rides were multi-million dollar
attractions, and in order to pay for them, Manby explained that he was diverting money
away from the Blue World Project. Four months later, in March of 2016, Manby
made the bold decision to end SeaWorld’s orca breeding program, despite continuing
to sue the Coastal Commission for trying to force them to do it. The following month, SeaWorld announced that
the Blue World project had officially been cancelled, and as Manby had outlined, the
money was instead invested in new attractions for SeaWorld’s three parks. While the Sea Rescue truck ride for Orlando
would be scrapped, Sea World San Antonio would receive its Sea Rescue attraction, a double
launch coaster now titled Wave Breaker: The Rescue Coaster. SeaWorld San Diego would also receive its
submarine ride, but the company promised much more. In February of 2016, SeaWorld announced that
a new 3-area section, or a new realm as it was officially called, would be added to SeaWorld
San Diego named Ocean Explorer. The children’s area would feature aquariums,
rides, and digital technologies, all focused on exploration and adventure, with a theme
of ocean conservation. On top of some small flat-top rides, the area
would feature a flagship attraction, named Submarine Quest. This was the realization of the attraction
that Manby had announced months early in his conference call. The press release for the ride explained that
“guests will be adventurers on a global expedition of scientific exploration, traveling
aboard submarines to see Ocean Explorer’s remarkable undersea animals.” Concept art of the area showed some of the
marine life children would be able to interact with and torment incessantly with new creative
glass placement. This concept art was either hastily made or
sloppily made or both, with some really poor compositing, as seen by this piece of concept
art for Submarine Quest. While these seem to just be stock photos quickly
placed inside a rendering of the submarine, the inclusion of this kid is perfect foreshadowing. Construction began in the summer of 2016,
and the realm was scheduled to open in late spring of 2017. Ocean Explorer would be built just to the
right of the park’s entrance, on a relatively empty parcel next to one of the park’s cafes. A flag display and a small animal viewing
area would be removed to make way for the new realm. Concept art for the land was circulated as
construction began, and it appeared that the area’s signature attraction, despite the
name Submarine Quest, would actually be an elevated dark ride with outdoor sections,
similar to Disney’s PeopleMover attraction and The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train
Ride! at Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure. Both of these attractions were gentle trips
around their respective lands, providing guests a relaxing outdoor ride with some short dark
ride portions. With Submarine Quest, it was assumed that
these dark ride portions would be more elaborate, providing guests with special views of the
new aquarium during their adventure. In a statement, SeaWorld assured the public
that Submarine Quest would not be a “shoot-em-up style dark ride,” even though no one considered
that this was a possibility. Instead, the press release explained that
by “using digital touchscreens mounted in the ride vehicles, riders will play games
and score points as they spot ocean creatures during the indoor and outdoor journey.” The company launched a significant media campaign
to coincide with the release of the new realm. SeaWorld SanDiego published a video series
on YouTube titled Meet the Deep, in which hosts Mike and Jenna chronicled the area and
specifically Submarine Quest’s development and construction. The Meet the Deep series is quite possibly
the most in depth documentation of a ride’s construction by a theme park. The web series explores almost every aspect
of construction. In the third episode, Mike and Jenna introduce
Brian Morrow vice president of theme park experience design. Brian shows off the model ride vehicle for
Submarine Quest and explains the interactive elements that were being installed in the
ride, noting the touch screen game that would be the attraction’s signature feature. Days after this Meet the Deep episode was
published, the final ride vehicle model was revealed at The International Association
of Amusement Parks and Attractions expo in 2016 and it was revealed in epic fashion. (mild cheering ) A trailer was also released during the expo
with a new opening date of summer 2017. "Punch in your coordinates.
Set a course for discovery. Dive into Ocean Explorer.
A whole new realm at SeaWorld!" In January of 2017, a Meet the Deep episode
was published in which Brian gave a tour of Chance Rides in Wichita, Kansas, which was
the manufacturer for the attraction. They gave the first glimpse of the full-scale
sub still in production, complete with lighting and the touch screen game. The next episode featured Mike and Jenna actually
playing this game. It was explained that the in-ride game would
feature difficulty resistance, so that it was challenging for players of all ages. It was also revealed that there would be different
levels of awards depending on how well the riders played. Also during this time, SeaWorld announced
that a new roller coaster named Electric Eel would debut at SeaWorld SanDiego in 2018. This coaster would be part of a Phase 2 expansion
to the Ocean Explorer realm. Throughout the spring of 2017, as construction
crews were putting the finishing touches on the new land, Meet the Deep walked the site
multiple times. In April, SeaWorld held a ceremony to unveil
the final submarine to park guests. "3. 2. 1. Whooo!" The submarine remained on display as construction
neared completion. Ocean Explorer and Submarine Quest had an
impressive turnaround time. Despite being delayed from Spring to Summer
of 2017, the new land was still set to debut just 16 months after being announced. No one seemed more excited for the land to
open than those internally at SeaWorld, executives and the ride’s designers hoped
that enthusiasm would spread to guests. Tempting fate, SeaWorld San Diego President
John Reilly said “Our guests’ response to new attractions has always been tremendously
positive.” On June 1, 2017, Ocean Explorer held its grand
opening ceremony. Sea World pulled out all of the stops for
the event. There were ribbon wavers, confetti,
flares, the eel from a discontinued ice show at Busch Gardens Tampa, and they even got
a bubble guy. With the land now open, dozens of guests who
had waited minutes for the land’s opening casually walked inside the new world of exploration,
discovery, and conservation, by apparently immediately trampling the plants due to lack
of fencing. Ocean explorer featured four new kiddie rides,
Sea Dragon Drop, the Octarock, Aqua Scout, and the most well-received, Tentacle Twirl. The aquariums throughout Ocean Explorer were
quite small, but they did feature the unique viewing angles as promised. There was also an interactive attraction,
the Skill Training Pod, as well as the Explorer’s Cafe, whose signage choices were a bit confusing
as everything else in the land is designed for small children, except for the craft beer
apparently. The signature attraction was of course, Submarine
Quest. The ride vehicles could be seen as guests
entered the land, making their way around the ride track. After hearing a year’s worth of press describing
the ride as an immersive and interactive experience, many guests were excited and curious about
what the ride had in store. Guests entered the attraction through an outdoor
queue, with television screens featuring a host named sub commander Sparks giving the
ride’s safety spiel and introducing his companion Link, the ride’s star and the
land’s mascot. "That's Link. The R.O.V." "Remotely Operated Vehicle of Exploration and Research. Or Supercomputer of the Sea" "Just Link will do" A figure of Link could also be found at the
realm’s entrance. After entering the show building for the loading
station, guests passed by a few simple art pieces and immediately boarded their subs. There were seven subs, each with a special
name, with no clear direction or pattern. Two of them are named after parts of a ship,
Axel and Rudder, one of them is a fish with a first name, Maci Mackerel, and another is
just a first name with a nautical adjective, Bubbly Bailey. As guests sat in their ride vehicle, Sub Commander
Sparks returned to instruct riders to pull down on their lap bar, before Link joined
him for the voyage. Sub Commander Sparks told riders to tap the
screen in order to release the air lock, and guests began their expedition into the majesty
of the deep blue, blinding sunlight. After passing by some trees and some concrete,
guests entered the first show scene of Submarine Quest, which was that of a deep sea coral
reef. This scene is supposed to be in the twilight
zone, a zone that is so deep below the surface that sunlight cannot reach it. Of course, the ride represents this in broad
daylight with two screens that briefly display an octopus. “Whoa that octopus was totally camouflaged” After the twilight zone was the sunlight zone,
where guests saw eeeeelllllsss. "Whooaa. Eeeeellllsss" "Click faster." Sub Commander Sparks detects a large animal
ahead and the guests begin a pursuit. Riders are able to see Link in front of them. This static figure featured a digital face
that never quite synced up with the audio from the ride vehicle. The two decide to send out the beacon buddies
on a mission. "Wow. Look at this genuinely amazing
experience that totally cannot be replicated." The beacon buddies find huge jellyfish and
something even bigger ahead, as guests escape to the old sea pod to take a look. Riders are instructed to open another hatch, despite
the hatch always opening before the instruction audio is finished. "Press the blue button to open the hatch." The sub then enters a sea pod full of screens
that display a giant CGI squid. After a brief stop in the sea pod, riders
open the escape hatch and reenter the ocean, just as the squid breaks the glass on the
sea pod and releases ink. As guests exit the sea pod, water sprays at
riders. The water effect was incredibly inconsistent,
and it is not clear whether the water was triggered by a game mechanism and only appeared
sometimes or if it was simply an unreliable effect. It was shot from the left of the ride vehicles,
and instead of giving all of the riders a light mist it just hosed the rider in the
front left seat. After this scene, the subs take a final turn
back into the loading station. During this short segment, guests found out
what type of explorer they were. There were three options, Junior Explorer,
Super Explorer, and Master Explorer, even though in play testing Mike scored "Marine
Veterinarian" which did not seem to be an option that made it into the final game. Guests then reentered the loading station
and exited their vehicles. Incredibly, Submarine Quest was not a hit
with guests, and this is putting it lightly. In general, guests were shocked to find out
that Submarine Quest was neither sub nor marine as it took place fifteen feet above the ground
in the open air. The outdoor show scenes were sparse, and the
one dark ride scene was a disappointment. The ride did look better at night, as there
was at least a chance of the illusion of being in the deep ocean, but sunset in the summer
in San Diego is around 8:00 PM, and most nights, SeaWorld closed at 9. The creative decisions made for
the ride were quite confusing. Many guests speculated that the ride had
its budget cut late in development, which could be possible but concept art for the
land did display the ride almost exactly how it was built. Supposedly, the initial plans called for the ride
track to be longer and mostly enclosed in a tube. However, it seemed that a significant portion
of the budget was put into research and development for the unique ride vehicle rather than
putting that money towards show scenes The designers clearly took a lot of pride
in their work, and it seems as though this part of the experience was built from more
or less the ground up, which is theoretically impressive. However, in practice, all that is noticeable
is the inherent and consistent flaws in the mechanics of the game, most obvious in the
consistent confusion during the beacon buddies section, which was present all the way back
during playtesting. "Tap the screen to deploy the beacon buddies." Other criticisms included the screens being
difficult to see in the sunlight, and that the voice of Link was obnoxious. "Excitement overload!" To add insult to injury, the entire realm
had a branding problem, as seemingly everyone believed that Ocean Explorer was the name
of the ride and not the name of the realm. "What... what the heck is this
Ocean Explorer ride car?" "So, Ocean Explorer is actually the name of the whole land." On June 3rd, two days after the ride's debut, the San Diego Union Tribune
released a scathing review of the ride. saying quote "The biggest disappointment is
the heavily promoted Submarine Quest. SeaWorld is touting it as high-tech trip
through the ocean ecosystem, but it turns out to be a slow-moving track ride
past a few animated animals on video screens." Brady MacDonald of the Orlando Sentinel said
“The new land's centerpiece ride is basically a slow-moving transportation system that doesn't
take you anywhere and encourages you to ignore your surroundings.” On August 8th 2017, during Sea World’s Quarter
2 Earnings Call, Manby stated that Ocean Explorer had been a disappointment. He said, quote, “I think the one thing that I'm
not satisfied with is Ocean Explorer. We did not market this as well as I wanted to. It's completely designed for young children
and we need to make sure that's the case.” A sign was quickly placed outside the attraction
clarifying that the ride was intended for smaller guests, despite initial marketing claiming
it was for all ages. However, poor marketing and bad reviews would
not be Submarine Quests only problem, as technical issues plagued the attraction as well. The ride often had a significant wait, as
only two to three subs were run at a time, rather than the seven the ride was capable of. This was only a problem when the ride was
operating, which it frequently was not. Throughout the ride’s debut summer, Submarine
Quest was constantly closed for maintenance. By September, frequent guests noticed that
the ride was barely ever open. One visitor noted that they had been four
times since the ride debuted and the attraction had been closed all four times. The ride operated intermittently throughout
the summer of 2017, but was closed for most of the fall. It did reopen in December, and on December
30, 2017 during the busy winter holiday, it accumulated a 130 minute wait time, baffling
those that had already ridden the attraction. This was one of the last days of operation
for Submarine Quest. It is unclear if the ride operated in early
January or when its true final day of operation was, but by mid-January 2018, a mere seven
months after opening, the doors to Submarine Quest were blocked off, leaving guests speculating
on the future of the ride. On February 28, 2018, SeaWorld CEO Joel Manby
resigned from his position at the company after less than three years as the chief executive. Falling attendance and steep quarterly losses
were cited as the main reason for Manby’s exit, but multiple publications were quick to mention
the recent failure of the Submarine Quest attraction. While clearly not the main reason for his
departure, the realm’s failure could have been a contributing factor. Just four days later, it was announced that
Chief Creative Officer, Anthony Esparza, and Vice President of Theme Park Experience Design,
Brian Morrow, were resigning from their roles as well. Many online again wondered if the resignations
were related to the poor reception of the Ocean Explorer realm, but this is merely speculation. Other rumors circulated attempting to make
sense of the ride’s closure. Some believed that an injury had occured on
the ride or that SeaWorld was suing either the designers or the manufacturers over technical
issues. Currently, there is no evidence to support
these claims. Without explanation, Submarine Quest remained
close throughout the spring of 2018. In May, The San Diego Union Tribune ran a
piece on the attraction. SeaWorld San Diego’s official statement
on the ride was, quote, Theme park consultant Dennis Speigel believed
that the maintenance issues were not so severe that the ride needed to be shut down, but
rather the public’s response to the ride was so overwhelmingly negative that it was
best to keep it closed. Despite the open-ended response on the ride’s
status, SeaWorld removed all mention of the ride from the park’s website. The attraction’s name was soon removed from
the park’s maps as well, with the illustration being modified to remove the ride cars. On May 10, 2018, Electric Eel debuted at SeaWorld
SanDiego. Billed as an addition to the Ocean Explorer
area despite being fairly disconnected from it geographically, the short coaster was received
well, and it effectively distracted guests from Submarine Quest’s continued closure. In the summer of 2018, leftover Submarine
Quest toys could be found at Sea World Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa, despite the ride
remaining closed and also being on the other side of the country. On July 2, 2018, Legoland California, a theme
park just 30 miles north of SeaWorld San Diego, debuted their own Submarine Ride, named Lego
City Deep Sea Adventure. The attraction actually placed guests under
the water to view real sea creatures, which also featured more story and more show scenes. With a longer ride time and an actual feeling
of discovery and exploration, Lego’s submarine ride was everything that guests wanted and
expected from Submarine Quest, and audiences were quick to notice the juxtaposition. In October of 2018, 16 months after its opening
and 10 months after its closure, the sign for Submarine Quest was taken down. The ride sat dormant for over a year while
the rest of Ocean Explorer continued to operate. On March 16, 2020, SeaWorld announced the
closure of all its theme parks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. SeaWorld SanDiego was the last of the SeaWorld
parks to reopen, not opening its gates until April 12, 2021. When it did, it was revealed that work walls
had been constructed around Submarine Quest. One guest noted that around 20% of the ride
track has been removed, including the building for the only dark ride portion, confirming that
Submarine Quest is now officially defunct. Submarine Quest is a perplexing story. Most tales of ride failures have an obvious
contributing factor, such as a budget cut, a mechanical flaw, a rush to market, or a
world-shattering news event that suddenly makes the initial concept taboo halfway through
development. However, Submarine Quest did not have an obvious hurdle. While budget, time constraints, and mechanics
certainly could have contributed to the attraction’s failure, based on available information, it
seems just as likely that it was simply a bad idea with bad execution. The design team clearly put a lot of energy
and thought into the attraction, but in all of the wrong areas, and the heavy marketing
efforts and enthusiasm from SeaWorld staff could not distract from the ride’s glaring
and overwhelming creative failures. Submarine Quest is not only a result of the
precarious position SeaWorld was in at the time of its construction. It’s also a perfect representation of it. Submarine Quest, like Sea World, had a huge identity problem. It did not know what it should be, and it certainly
did not know what audiences wanted from it. As SeaWorld continues to rebrand and evolve,
the company can only hope that their parks as a whole meet a different fate than that
of Submarine Quest.
I worked on this ride, specifically the “interactive onboard experience.” I’m going to laugh myself to sleep this makes me so fucking happy.
Good episode! Terrible design for this ride. For a ride and realm that opened just four years ago, everything looked very cheap and certainly not up to standards of a theme park company of the caliber of Busch Gardens/SeaWorld (which is arguably a distant third behind Disney and Universal).
The LegoLand people had to know what they were doing when they designed their submarine ride. I’m curious what their timeline was. Did they know how bad the SeaWorld ride was when they started designing or did they design their ride based on SeaWorld’s promotional hype? Like, did the idea of SeaWorld’s ride end up pushing their competitor to make a better ride than they otherwise would’ve.
I was laughing so hard at the idea it it's on the OCEAN FLOOR, never having seen light---and it's not even INDOORS! HOW!?
When Legoland makes a better ride
The unfortunate outcome of this is that I suspect the lesson learned by Sea World is the wrong one. They'll view themed attractions as costly and not worth the effort. I expect that as they transition away from whales and animal shows (because of Blackfish), they'll continue to double down on lightly themed coasters... a market they won't be able to compete in against Six Flags and Cedar Fair. If Sea World views itself as a destination park rather than a regional park (and it still seems to), themed attractions are crucial (as IOA has shown). Submarine Quest will likely be the sort of failure that prevents this, however.
When the opening graphic had the sweeping radius of a radar display instead of the expanding concentric circles of sonar, my first thought was "Hmm, that's not very submarine like."
Then I watched the episode, and I'm convinced Kevin absolutely did that on purpose.
is this still season 3 or season 4?
I can't believe this was a recent attraction and not some relic of the early 2000s lol