Sea World Makes a Big Splash Locally

San Diego Business Journal, May 22, 2000 by Ted Owen

May is national tourism month across the nation, but here in San Diego we celebrate tourism every month, as it's our third largest industry at nearly $4.5 billion.

One of our big-hitter attractions is SeaWorld San Diego. It is one of the linchpins to drawing millions of visitors to our region each year. Soon there will be more SeaWorld than ever, with new rides and attractions planned over the next four or five years.

The first of the new additions will be the spectacular Pirates 4-D movie in a brand-new 750-seat theater, which will debut May 26 during the Memorial Day weekend. The film, which showcases 4-D viewing, stars Leslie Nielsen and Eric Idle as crewmen on a pirate ate ship.

The fourth "D" is adding special technology features such as space-age sound effects, water spraying and air blasters to heighten the viewing experience. In addition to the theater, four other special additions are in the planning stages.

* An education complex similar to the space camp facility in Huntsville, Ala., it will offer classrooms, laboratories and dormitories to house students in camp programs. The 45-foot-tall complex will be located near guest parking, allowing children to enter the complex without actually entering the park.

* The Special Events Center will be a complement to the meeting and convention space market in San Diego, offering a 1,000-seat center in 25,000 feet of space near the current bus parking lot. The site offers a completely different venue for meetings and special events.

* A new entrance to the park will also be constructed to strengthen their marine life theme.

* The biggest change that will occur is the building of thc new Splash Down ride patterned after the Journey to Atlantis ride in Orlando. The ride takes visitors on an action-packed water ride featuring an aquarium with rare and exotic fish to help teach the riders about rare species. The 95-foot-tall ride will be well under the park's 130-foot height limit. In addition, it will be landscaped to blend the ride into the theme of the park.

This 36-year-old icon of fun and education is going through public hearings as I am writing about these upcoming changes. It has been a fairly rough sea for the park as it has attempted to seek approvals for its projects.

Admittedly, the request for a height-limit exemption without stipulating what was to be built at the park led many to fear a very tall, ugly building would be constructed. The question is why can't the park state its goals and future projects? The answer is simple: competition.

In the theme and entertainment park business the competition is as keen as in the telecommunications and computer business. The company that debuts the earliest, wins the race to the consumers' checkbook. In the entertainment business it's the same way.

Bill Davis kept saying in public testimony he couldn't disclose the projects because at the time perhaps he didn't know. However, it was certain he was trying to protect his advantage in the entertainment race.

I think I should remind the readership what SeaWorld means to San Diego:

* Responsible for 10,000 jobs.

* Single largest employer of youth in the county.

* Hosted more than 6 million education participants since opening the park.

* Produces $1 billion in annual impact to the local economy.

* Generates $6 million in transient occupancy tax revenue to the city.

* Pays $6 million in annual rent to the city.

* Collects $4 million in sales taxes.

* Recognized as the top recycler by the city of San Diego and the state of California.

* Has placed more than 300 welfare-to-work participants in jobs since 1996.

* Has provided job training for more than 500 people with disabilities.

In addition to all that I have mentioned, they have garnered dozens of awards, from the president of the United States to dozens of state and local jurisdictions and organizations. It has, for instance, been the employer of the year and recycler of the year on numerous occasions.

When it is all said and done, SeaWorld is a community treasure, a community contributor, a major donor to fundraising campaigns, the provider of college scholarships and, perhaps most importantly, it plays a major role in making San Diego's third largest industry a multibillion-dollar industry.

When the millions of visitors each year stream into the region, more than 3 million agree with me that without SeaWorld the trip to San Diego would not be nearly as much fun.

To the balance sheet.

Credit: To Irwin Jacobs and his team at Qualcomm Inc. for the $3 million gift to the San Diego State College of Business Administration's Entrepreneurial Management Center. The gift will be spread over three years and follows closely behind the EMC winning the Nasdaq Center of Entrepreneurial Excellence Award. The gift will allow an expansion of the entrepreneurial programs to a wider base of students in the county. Thanks, Irwin, for once again setting a high corporate bar for giving in San Diego.

Credit: To the top brass at Amtrak for including San Diego in its new multibillion-dollar upgrade program. The company will increase the number of trains running between here and Los Angeles from 11 to 14 in the next five years, and to 16 by 2010. This will provide hourly service from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Amtrak will also upgrade the tracks and install double tracks in many areas to allow for the increased traffic. Who knows; will a high-speed train be too far off? San Diego is really starting to be recognized as a great city of the future, and rail transportation is finally picking up speed.