SeaWorld San Antonio is a

marine mammal park A marine mammal park (also known as marine animal park and sometimes oceanarium) is a commercial theme park or aquarium where marine mammals such as dolphins, beluga whales and sea lions are kept within water tanks and displayed to the public in ...

oceanarium An oceanarium can be either a marine mammal park, such as Marineland of Canada, or a large-scale Public aquarium, aquarium, such as the Lisbon Oceanarium, presenting an ocean habitat with marine (ocean), marine animals, especially large ocean dwe ...

and

animal theme park An animal theme park, also known as a zoological theme park, is a combination of an amusement park and a zoo, mainly for entertainment, amusement, and commercial purposes. Many animal theme parks combine classic theme park elements, such as themed ...

in the Westover Hills District of

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, on the city's west side. It is the largest of the three parks in the SeaWorld chain owned and operated by United Parks & Resorts. As North America's largest marine-life theme park, and one of the world's largest marine-life theme parks, it is focused on conservation, education and animal rescue. It is a member of the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums (AMMPA) and is accredited by the

Association of Zoos and Aquariums The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), originally the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums (AAZPA), is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1924 and dedicated to the advancement of zoos and public aqu ...

(AZA).

History

The park, initially called Sea World of

, was developed by Harcourt, Brace and Jovanovich (now

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Company ( ; HMH) is an American publisher of textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, and reference works. The company is based in the Financial District, Boston, Boston Financial District. It was fo ...

). Built for $170 million, it opened on May 27, 1988, and 75,000 people attended the opening. It had 3.3 million visitors in its first 12 months of operation, placing it among the Top 10 attractions in Texas. At the time of its debut, it was billed as "the largest educational, marine-life theme park in the world." On November 26, 1988, Kayla (stage named "Baby Shamu") was the first

orca The orca (''Orcinus orca''), or killer whale, is a toothed whale and the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family. The only extant species in the genus '' Orcinus'', it is recognizable by its black-and-white-patterned body. A cosmopol ...

born at the park. At the time of her death on January 28, 2019, she resided at

SeaWorld Orlando SeaWorld Orlando is an animal theme park located in Orlando, Florida. Although separately gated, it is often promoted with neighboring parks Discovery Cove and Aquatica as well as Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, all of which are owned and operated ...

. In 1989, Harcourt, Brace and Jovanovich (heavy in debt and fighting a hostile takeover) sold its SeaWorld and Boardwalk and Baseball theme parks to

Anheuser-Busch Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC ( ) is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple ...

, Inc. Plans to build a second Boardwalk and Baseball park adjacent to Sea World San Antonio were abandoned. Under

ownership, the park closed less popular attractions consisting of the Texas Walk, Cypress Gardens West, Joplin Square, U.S. Map Plaza, and the Garden of Flags and added its Budweiser Clydesdales to the park. In 2008, Anheuser-Busch merged with

InBev InBev () was a brewing company that resulted from the merger between Belgium-based company Interbrew and Brazilian brewer AmBev which took place in 2004. It existed independently until the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch in 2008, which formed Anheu ...

; soon after, in 2009, the newly merged company sold the SeaWorld parks to the

Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. It was founded in 1985 as a mergers and acquisitions firm by Peter Peterson and Stephen Schwarzman, who had previously worked together at Lehman ...

. In 2017, Blackstone sold its stake to China's Zhonghong Group. In March 2016, SeaWorld Entertainment announced that the current generation of orcas at it parks would be the last. SeaWorld San Antonio currently houses 5 orcas. It was also announced that the theatrical orca shows would be phased out and replaced with more naturalistic Orca Encounters. SeaWorld San Antonio's Orca Encounter opened on February 22, 2020. In 2024, Catapult Falls, the world's first launched flume ride, opened to the public. In the fall of 2024, SeaWorld San Antonio announced that they would retheme their

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...

Bay of Play area to SeaWorld Rescue Jr., a similar concept to the one at

SeaWorld San Diego SeaWorld San Diego is a theme park in Mission Bay Park in San Diego, California. It is a marine mammal park, oceanarium, public aquarium, and marine animal rehabilitation center. SeaWorld, the theme park's proprietor, is owned and operated by Un ...

. On March 8th, 2025, SeaWorld Rescue Jr. area opened to guest, with new and rethemed rides such as Beach Rescue Racers, Ocean Quest Express, Tide Pool Tumble, Seabird Swing, and Ocean Rescue Carousel.

Attractions

Roller coasters and rides

Live entertainment and animal presentations

Animal inventory

Orcas

SeaWorld's

s are housed in Shamu Theater, most of whom were born at SeaWorld except ''Kyuquot'' who was born at the defunct Sealand of the Pacific in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. There are currently 5 orcas, ''Takara'' (F; matriarch), ''Sakari'' (F), ''Kamea'' (F), ''Tuar'' (M) and ''Kyuquot'' (M).

Beluga whales

SeaWorld San Antonio has one of the most prolific

beluga Beluga may refer to: Animals *Beluga (sturgeon) * Beluga whale Vehicles * Airbus Beluga, a large transport airplane * Airbus BelugaXL, a larger transport airplane * Beluga-class submarine, a class of Russian SSA diesel-electric submarine * U ...

breeding programs in any zoological facility in the United States. Half of the belugas currently at the facility were born at the park and several belugas at other US facilities were originally born here. This park has also been selected the permanent home of a rescued Cook Inlet beluga named Tyonek who was deemed unreleasable due to his young age and lack of survival skills. They were chosen due to their diverse beluga population of experienced mothers and younger belugas close to his age, but surprisingly he ended up bonding with Betty, one of the park's Pacific white-sided dolphins. As of 2024, SeaWorld San Antonio has 10 belugas.

Dolphins

SeaWorld has 16

bottlenose dolphin The bottlenose dolphin is a toothed whale in the genus ''Tursiops''. They are common, cosmopolitan members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins. Molecular studies show the genus contains three species: the common bot ...

s that live in two different areas of the park. Discovery Point is where most of the park's dolphins live (11 of them), where they do interaction programs and are also on display via above water and underwater viewing areas. Zoological Support is a backstage area where five other dolphins live and where other animals could go for breeding purposes, specialized veterinary care, etc. Zoological Support is also the main rescue hub of the park and currently houses three rescued bottlenose dolphins. While most dolphins were born within the SeaWorld parks except Notchfin, 3 of these dolphins are also rescued dolphins that were deemed nonreleasable by the National Marine Fisheries Service. The park also has seven

Pacific white-sided dolphin The Pacific white-sided dolphin (''Lagenorhynchus obliquidens''), also known as the hookfin porpoise, is an active dolphin found in the cool or temperate waters of the North Pacific Ocean. Taxonomy The Pacific white-sided dolphin was named by Sm ...

s that live at Beluga Stadium. SeaWorld San Antonio is one of two zoological facilities in the United States that cares for Pacific white-sided dolphins.

Sea Lions, Seals, and Otters

In addition to the performing sea lions and otters, there is a large population of California sea lions and harbor seals living at this open air exhibit. Pinniped feeding opportunities are available for an additional fee. Unique to this SeaWorld is an exhibit for the park's Asian small-clawed and African spot-necked otters, while the other parks' freshwater otters can only be seen during shows.

Sea Turtles

The newest animal exhibit in the park which opened in May 2019 featuring rescued loggerhead and

green sea turtle The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia''. Its range exte ...

s that live with schools of marine fish. It also has a natural biofiltration system consisting of an adjacent salt marsh with bacteria in the plant roots that feed on animal waste. Penguins SeaWorld San Antonio has about 250 penguins in their collection, and there are four total species, the

king penguin The king penguin (''Aptenodytes patagonicus'') is the second largest species of penguin, smaller than but somewhat similar in appearance to the emperor penguin. King penguins mainly eat lanternfish, squid, and krill. On foraging trips, king pen ...

, gentoo, chinstrap and the southern rockhopper. The penguin exhibit is a recreation of the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and from Cape Dub ...

as all of the species cared for in the exhibit are found above Antarctica.

Aquatica San Antonio

Aquatica is a

water park A water park (also waterpark, water world, or aquapark) is an amusement park that features water play areas such as swimming pools, water slides, splash pads, water playgrounds, and lazy rivers, as well as areas for floating, bathing, swimming ...

that was formerly a section of the park under the name, Lost Lagoon, which opened in 1993 and closed on September 5, 2011, to be replaced by Aquatica San Antonio, a separate gated water park based on the original

Aquatica Orlando Aquatica is a chain of water parks owned and operated by United Parks & Resorts. Aquatica parks are operating in Orlando, Florida and San Antonio, Texas. History SeaWorld Orlando originally announced plans to build a water park on July 15, 20 ...

. Known as "Texas' Best Waterpark", the new park opened on Memorial Day weekend May 2012.

Attendance

Gallery

Kyuquot and Tuar perform.jpg, Kyuquot (back) and Tuar (front) perform at Shamu Theater during "One Ocean" Seaworld-SanAntonio-Shamu-5217.jpg, An orca named Kyuquot Ocean Discovery Sea World San Antonio IMG 1612 (2).JPG, Ocean Discovery Dine With Shamu backstage.jpg, Dine with Shamu dining area Penguin House, Sea World San Antonio IMG 1626 (2).JPG, The Penguin House has some 250 birds. Flamingos Sea World San Antonio IMG 1614 (2).JPG, Flamingoes in an exhibit. Seaworld-SanAntonio-5266 (cropped).jpg, Walrus. (No Longer in the park) Feeding Stingray - San Antonio Sea World.jpg, Stingrays being fed. Alligators 1.jpg, Alligators.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Seaworld San Antonio 1988 establishments in Texas Amusement parks in Texas Buildings and structures in San Antonio Oceanaria in the United States United Parks & Resorts Tourist attractions in San Antonio Zoos in Texas Zoos established in 1988