In Today’s Kim’s Adventure we’re at Seaworld Christmas Celebration San Diego. Opened in 1964, Sea World was originally a 21-acre park with a sea lion and dolphin exhibit. Fortunately, 1964 was a great year to open a theme park with dolphins, as the television show Flipper debuted that fall. Sea World became a publicly traded company in 1968 which allowed the park to invest in expansion. They opened a second and third location in Ohio and Orlando in the 1970’s.

Shamu, the third orca ever captured, came to the park in December 1965. Shamu died in 1971, but her name continues to be used as the stage name for all of the theme park chain’s orcas around the country.

In 1989 Anheuser-Busch purchased the Sea World Parks. Under Busch, SeaWorld San Diego continued to grow, adding rides and updating the animals exhibits every few years. They also owned the theme park rights to Sesame Street which allowed SeaWorld to open its Sesame Street Bay of Play in 2008. It changed hands one final time to the Blackstone Group which Made SeaWorld a publicly traded company once again.

Address: 500 Sea World Dr., San Diego, CA 92109
Website: https://seaworld.com/san-diego/