Antarctica - Empire of the Penguin

[Parkscope Joe]

Bumping because of the other thread.

Why would anyone want to watch a ride video on a brand new ride without riding it first? Talk about spoiling the fun. Unless of course you have no anciptation of riding it. But who doesn't want to ride Antarctica? This is THE premier theme park attraction of 2013!

Aged like fine wine.

I hate dragging topics down into personal tit for tat, but on this occasion you have twice chosen to target me by posting snarkily rather than in a polite way, so I don't have much of a choice

I need to refine my thoughts here, your user name is MakoMania and you're insinuating what is widely praised as the best dark ride in the world is actually worse than what is highly regarded as one of the worst dark rides in the world. Either I can believe all my trusted friends and others that Symbolica is a fantastic ride or you, MakoMania. I will 1000% of the time chose my friends and others on that assertion of quality. Enjoy what you like, you do you, but you're not fooling anyone as some bastion of impartiality.

Also unlike then now I've been on Antarctica and OMG this ride is a dumpster fire.

 

[UK-Trigg]

Antarctica is a waste of a good ride system

 

[Disneyhead]

While I think Antarctica underutilizes the ride system, I enjoy it more than F&F. And it is very popular with the under 6 crowd. I mean penguins, seriously, that alone trumps F&F. I also think it is a similar but better attraction than The Seas with Nemo and Friends in EPCOT.

 

[GAcoaster]

It suffered from being over-hyped. It's an OK attraction as long as the wait time is under 20 minutes.

 

[Mad Dog]

While I think Antarctica underutilizes the ride system, I enjoy it more than F&F. And it is very popular with the under 6 crowd. I mean penguins, seriously, that alone trumps F&F. I also think it is a similar but better attraction than The Seas with Nemo and Friends in EPCOT.

and....the Penguins are much more talented and better actors than the F&F actors showed in their ride scenes.

 

[SeventyOne]

So after moving to town, my g/f had ridden both Antarctica and F&F for the first time in the past year. She hated both, but I asked her opinion on which is better:

"Penguins ride at Sea World makes no claims to be anything but penguins. F&F gives you the idea it will be fast & furious ... and it's neither."'

One fairly unbiased opinion (well, she's a Disney girl, does the other two just to humor me, so equally biased).

 

[Thatguyoverwhere]

I think the hate on this ride from enthusiasts is a bit unwarranted. Sure, the ride itself isn't as long as some dark rides, but it's also not the shortest; remember that Peter Pan's Flight is a thing. It doesn't have a ton of props, but it's still leagues better than F&F. And it's definitely more fun than the snooze fests that are any of the ocean-related omnimover dark rides at Disney. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it's more fun than most of the dark rides at Disney World, period. It's fun, it's immersive, and people do enjoy it, even if it's not the most intense thrill ride ever built. And the queue imo is top-notch. You're basically "experiencing" the attraction from the time you get in the building to the time you leave, and the overall experience is about 15-20 minutes. If SeaWorld would put this much effort into future projects and simply use an already-developed ride system (like something from Sally Corporation), I think the results would be as good as anything in Orlando, and people would start making the park a must-visit during their Orlando vacations.

 

[WillQ92]

And the queue imo is top-notch. You're basically "experiencing" the attraction from the time you get in the building to the time you leave, and the overall experience is about 15-20 minutes

Queue is only top notch from inside the building. The 60-80 minute wait this thing gets during summers is unbearable if you're in the outside portion. It's basically a white-hot echo chamber for heat and light.

 

[Mr. EPCOT]

I think the hate on this ride from enthusiasts is a bit unwarranted. Sure, the ride itself isn't as long as some dark rides, but it's also not the shortest; remember that Peter Pan's Flight is a thing. It doesn't have a ton of props, but it's still leagues better than F&F. And it's definitely more fun than the snooze fests that are any of the ocean-related omnimover dark rides at Disney. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it's more fun than most of the dark rides at Disney World, period. It's fun, it's immersive, and people do enjoy it, even if it's not the most intense thrill ride ever built. And the queue imo is top-notch. You're basically "experiencing" the attraction from the time you get in the building to the time you leave, and the overall experience is about 15-20 minutes. If SeaWorld would put this much effort into future projects and simply use an already-developed ride system (like something from Sally Corporation), I think the results would be as good as anything in Orlando, and people would start making the park a must-visit during their Orlando vacations.

Antarctica is the second worst ride in Orlando, sucking slightly less than Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

 

[Ryan]

It doesn't have a ton of props, but it's still leagues better than F&F. And it's definitely more fun than the snooze fests that are any of the ocean-related omnimover dark rides at Disney. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it's more fun than most of the dark rides at Disney World, period.

I can't... I just can't...

 

[Disneyhead]

Antarctica is the second worst ride in Orlando, sucking slightly less than Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

Shrek 4D says "Hold my beer".

 

[Mr. EPCOT]

Shrek 4D says "Hold my beer".

I would entertain the notion of Shrek as third worst.

 

[TheGentTrent]

Personally, I always make a point of riding Antarctica each time I visit SeaWorld because I love it and could care less what y'all think of me. ¯\_.(ツ)._/¯

For all the smack it gets online, it still posts some of the higher waits in the park even 6+ years later, so clearly there's a bit of a disconnect. And yes, I'm familiar that it's pretty much the only attraction that families are willing to ride together, but if it really puts off people that much, they wouldn't be willing to wait the 60+ min it usually has.

 

[WAJAS]

Antarctica suffered from being overhyped, but it is a fine dark ride that is better than the worst rides at both Disney and Universal. Plus, within the context of SeaWorld, it is a nice escape from the thrills and heat.

 

[JoeCamel]

Antarctica suffered from being overhyped, but it is a fine dark ride that is better than the worst rides at both Disney and Universal. Plus, within the context of SeaWorld, it is a nice escape from the thrills and heat.

I'd rather walk in and look at the birds than wait for this and I was there on opening day (I did things like that back then) Just my opinion

 

[WillQ92]

I'd rather walk in and look at the birds than wait for this and I was there on opening day (I did things like that back then) Just my opinion

Not advocating this, but for Antarctica and Wild Arctic I walk through the exits to get to the animal attractions. Sometimes ya just wanna see the animals, y'know?

 

[shiekra38]

Guys, what if Antarctica is good and you just don't understand it?

 

[WillQ92]

Guys, what if Antarctica is good and you just don't understand it?

Schrödinger's ride. It's both good and terrible at the same time.

 

[Dead2009]

SeaWorld Florida

screamscape.com

A reader brought it to my attention that the Antarctica ride at SeaWorld Orlando seems to have been closed ever since the park reopened from the COVID-19 shutdown. It isn’t alone, as the park has also kept the Skytower and Wild Arctic attractions closed as well. Extended closures are nothing new for the Skytower, but the tight enclosed nature of the cabin does make sense if they are keeping it closed for that reason. Wild Arctic being closed is also timely, as just before the COVID-shutdowns the California park closed their version of Wild Arctic for good in mid January 2020, meaning that the Florida version (which is older) was also quicking racing toward its own inevitable EOL date.

But Antarctica is still a fairly new attraction, having just opened in 2013, and with a heavy duty air conditioning system running non-stop in the building to keep things chilled to frigid temperatures for the Penguins inside, you know that the air inside is constantly being cycled and cleaned by filtration units. So the question is, why is Antarctica still closed? Even worse, our reader said nothing was posted outside when they visited the other day to even tell guests that the ride is down… so guests are waiting in a long queue and even going through the ride’s pre-show experience, only to be taken through a backstage door and directly into the exhibit experience that normally comes at the end of the ride.

So if anyone has any insight as to what is going on. I’d love to hear more about it. After all, this is the same company that gave up on the fun Curse of DarKastle dark ride experience at the Williamsburg park because it was getting too expensive to maintain. I’d hate to see them go the same route here and just hope guests forget there ever was a ride inside the Antarctica building.

 

[HandsomePete]

Now that I read that, I knew something was off a few weeks ago - I never pay any mind to it because it’s honestly one of my least favorite attractions on earth, but noticed that there was a big, permanent looking sign that just said Penguin Exhibit with some penguins on it.

Just went to find a picture of what the front used to look like - “Penguin Exhibit” has replaced the rider requirements sign in this that I found on Google 360.

That’s ominous.