[10 min to wdw]

SeaWorld set to Mistify its guests at end of day

By Greg Groeller | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted April 21, 2004

SeaWorld Orlando, hoping to generate extra business by ending each day with a bang, is going to test a nighttime display of fireworks and lasers around its central lagoon this summer.

The nightly Mistify show at the park's new Waterfront area is SeaWorld's most ambitious attempt yet at a day-ending finale, meant to rival similar displays at rival theme parks.

The 20-minute show -- which park officials said Tuesday will feature proprietary pyrotechnics, laser projections and other special effects -- will open in early July and continue nightly through Labor Day. SeaWorld officials will then evaluate the show and decide whether to make it permanent.

A daily finale is one way for a theme park to attract more visitors and to keep them in the park longer into the evening, eating and shopping. SeaWorld has been searching for the right nighttime show for the past three years, said Dave Goodman, the park's vice president of entertainment.

"I can't tell you how many concepts we went through before we finally landed on an idea that we were all comfortable with," Goodman said.

Also new this summer: a restaurant called the Spice Mill and a retail outlet called the Pearl Diving Lagoon and Shop. Both are additions to the Waterfront complex of eateries and stores, which opened last May. The pearl-diving shop will include an above-ground "lagoon" with a glass wall.

SeaWorld is also bringing back daily daytime entertainment to its Bayside Stadium, which has gone mostly unused since the park canceled its longtime water-skiing show in 2002. The new show, "Fusion," will be an updated version of the old water show, with watercraft, wake boarding and high-dive stunts, Goodman said.

SeaWorld is also adding a nighttime comedy show at its Sea Lion and Otter Stadium featuring its popular Clyde and Seamore team of sea lions.

But Mistify will be the park's main new attraction. The show will tell the story of a young child as he imagines life under the sea. Part of the show's inspiration came from SeaWorld trainers' memories of visiting the park as children, Goodman said.

The show will be visible from any location around the park's large, central lake, including outdoor tables at the Spice Mill. Special effects will include fireworks, 100-foot-high fountains of water, a laser show displayed on an 80-by-80-foot backdrop of mist, and a new type of effect that Goodman referred to as "underwater fireworks."

Nighttime finales are daily staples at some Orlando theme parks but have come and gone from others.

Walt Disney World's Epcot features a nightly laser-and-fireworks show over its central lagoon called Illuminations: Reflections of the Earth. And Disney's Magic Kingdom has a musical fireworks display called Wishes Nighttime Spectacular.

Universal Studios closed its long-running Dynamite Nights Stunt Spectacular, an evening water show on its central lagoon, in February 2000. But both Universal Studios and its sister park, Islands of Adventure, end the day with fireworks displays at various times during the year or stage nighttime events such as Halloween Horror Nights and Mardi Gras.

SeaWorld has offered evening entertainment in the past, including fireworks and at least one show that projected images on a small screen of water. But park officials said those events pale in comparison with the technology planned for Mistify.

"This is really the first time in our 30-year history that we have a nighttime finale," Goodman said.

Greg Groeller can be reached
at ggroeller@orlandosentinel.com
or 407-420-5471.

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[Mickey Crazy]

Thanks for that update Greg. It does sound like a great finish to the days events. I've been wondering what those underwater fireworks will look like.

[Shadow Jedi Rhy]

Ok two quick questions for people who have visited Sea World that are about the article. A few years ago does anyone remember a nighttime show that used a huge waterscreen that projected different underwater creatures such as an eel and the god Poseidon? I always thought that was where Disney got the idea for the water screens for Fantasmic as that was the first major use I'd ever seen of them. Also and this is just a silly question: Does anyone else remember the show in the Atlantis Waterski Stadium called Baywatch at Seaworld? That show was pretty funny and a great version of Baywatch. Just thought I'd throw in some musings I guess.

[Capt-N-Nemo]

I remember the show with the waterscreen, it was pretty cool. I don't know if that is where Disney got their idea from though, I think it is a common special effect.

[10 min to wdw]

I have to admit I haven't been to seworld since I was like 5 years old.

[CaptainTony]

Hey, 10 min....

Does this mean they are going to stop the "Shamu - Night Magic" show? I always thought that was a great way to end the day out there, watching the trainers actually go off-script with the whales and just have fun for a while....

[Shadow Jedi Rhy]

In the past I know they've had the two at the same time. They used to do Shamu Night Magic and then everyone would move over to the ski stadium next door to see the fireworks. I'd bet they'd do them both again. Yeah I'm probably off key on the waterscreen idea for Disney although it's the first time I had ever seen them used and I think the first time in Orlando.