Being honest here, I wasn’t sure if I should write a blog post on my experience visiting Seaworld in Orlando, Florida because I know the terrible and unnatural conditions the animals are kept in. Please don’t give me hate for this but I did go and visit Seaworld and despite everyone feeling very sorry for the animals lots of people do still go and visit places like Seaworld.

I will start off with why I decided to go, and I did think about it a lot but truthfully I live in England and the UK laws on keeping sea animals is so strict (for example the size of the tank) that it is nearly impossible to actually follow them and so people don’t. Because of this I have never actually seen any whales, killer whales, dolphins or mantas in person and despite hearing all the issues surrounding their living conditions and treatment I still couldn’t fully understand myself what it was like and how bad they are. Since visiting Seaworld and seeing it myself I have a much better understanding of why people oppose these establishments so much and I will not be supporting or visiting them again as it was truly sad to see.

Another main reason why I went was also for the rides, my trip to Orlando also included Disneyworld and Universal; and I knew that Seaworld had some of the largest rides. I now know that this wasn’t worth supporting the treatment the animals receive, but as I previously said I wasn’t fully aware of them myself before going.

The bad side

Seaworld puts on amazing shows to make you look past the terrible treatment the animals receive. The most noticeable is the killer whales, they are kept in small tanks and are made to perform several shows a day with tricks which are unnatural. What I didn’t like the most that was with all the animals a ‘clicker’ was used to signal them to do something, this just emphasised the treatment they receive and how they must hate that sound. The tanks, despite looking huge to humans are actually extremely small in comparison to the size of the animals and weren’t deep at all.

The good side

Despite all these negative points I have made there are actually some good things from Seaworld. Firstly, they help rehabilitate injured animals and release them back into the ocean. They had a pool of four Manta’s which had all been brought in after being injured in the sea, they provide surgeries, medication and support to help these animals and eventually they are taken back into the ocean. The people who work at Seaworld do appear to truly love these animals and all the animals I saw didn’t seem distressed or unhappy with the workers. I do know that most of these animals have lived like this all their lives and don’t know any different but if they truly weren’t happy they could make their feelings very known. The staff are all very educated on the animals and I learn’t a lot from visitng.

The rides

The rides at Seaworld are huge! They are all really fun and the biggest rides I went on, on the whole holiday. There were some smaller rides which were also really good. We did go on the Kraken Unleashed but unfortunately the virtual reality wasn’t working at the time.

Overall, I have mixed opinions on Seaworld I do know that I will not be visiting again just because of the conditions and treatment of most of the animals. I do think it is great that they help and re-home injured animals, and educated people on the animals and how to help them. I am, in a way, glad I visited because I got to see animals that I have never seen before and I have much more respect for the animals. I also have a better opinion on my thoughts of these establishments and I now support the rights of these animals much more than I did before.

Justaddgloss x