University Daily Kansan / Friday, April 29, 1988
11B
Sea World of Texas preparing for debut
The Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Shamu, Namu and Kandu are readying a killer of a sea show that organizers hope will fishtail with the Alamo and the city's River Walk.
While the killer whales swim around in a 7-million gallon tank, gardeners are putting the final landscaping touches on Sea World of Texas. A $140-million, 250-acre facility with a 200-foot's largest master park map.
The park's "Big Splash" opening is set for May 28, but workers, animals and trainers are already rehearsing for visitors.
Sea World, 13 miles northwest of downtown San Antonio, will be open year-round. It is expected to employ 2,000 people during its peak summer season, generate a $25 million annual payroll and attract a large number of bearing another $300 million yearly for parks and south Texas' economies.
City and tourist industry officials have looked at Sea World as a magnet for tourists to help the state diversify from its dependency on petroleum, but Sea World chairman Matt O'Neill is against expecting too much too soon.
"I've cautioned a few people that we'll do the very best that we can but not to rest on their laurels and expect us to be the end-all and the answer to
all of their business problems."
Visitors can expect to see the park's star, Shamu, a two-ton killer whale that was an important attraction in from three other Sea World parks around the country.
Shamu will perform in a 4,500-seat stadium. At other, smaller stadiums, dolphins, seals, sea lions, walruses and other animals will show their
Skiers will perform acrobatics in a 12-acre lake, and visitors can walk across the United States on a 1-acre map of the country.
There are restaurants, lounges, a disco for teen-agers and a playground for children. There also is Cypress Gardens West, a botanical center where a variety of flowers will bloom year-round.
San Antonio tourism already generates more than $1 billion annually, with lures like the Alamo and the River Walk.
Texas is home to Six Flags of Texas in Arlington and to AstroWorld in Houston, both of which attract about 1.7 million visitors a year each.
Tourist industry officials believe Sea World will help, not hurt, those amusement parks.
"It's actually going to help them because it completes the triangle of from San Antonio, Houston and the Dallas-Fort Worth area," said Larry Todd, director of the Texas Tourist Agency.
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