SeaWorld San Antonio is a marine mammal park, oceanarium and animal theme park in the Westover Hills District of San Antonio, Texas, on the city's west side. It is the largest of the three parks in the SeaWorld chain owned and operated by United Parks & Resorts. As North America's largest marine-life theme park, and one of the world's largest marine-life theme parks, it is focused on conservation, education and animal rescue. It is a member of the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums (AMMPA) and is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).

History

The park, initially called Sea World of Texas, was developed by Harcourt, Brace and Jovanovich (now Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). Built for $170 million, it opened on May 27, 1988, and 75,000 people attended the opening. It had 3.3 million visitors in its first 12 months of operation, placing it among the Top 10 attractions in Texas. At the time of its debut, it was billed as "the largest educational, marine-life theme park in the world."

On November 26, 1988, Kayla (stage named "Baby Shamu") was the first orca born at the park. At the time of her death on January 28, 2019, she resided at SeaWorld Orlando.

In 1989, Harcourt, Brace and Jovanovich (heavy in debt and fighting a hostile takeover) sold its SeaWorld and Boardwalk and Baseball theme parks to Anheuser-Busch, Inc. Plans to build a second Boardwalk and Baseball park adjacent to Sea World San Antonio were abandoned.

Under Anheuser-Busch ownership, the park closed less popular attractions consisting of the Texas Walk, Cypress Gardens West, Joplin Square, U.S. Map Plaza, and the Garden of Flags and added its Budweiser Clydesdales to the park.

In 2008, Anheuser-Busch merged with InBev; soon after, in 2009, the newly merged company sold the SeaWorld parks to the Blackstone Group. In 2017, Blackstone sold its stake to China's Zhonghong Group.

In March 2016, SeaWorld Entertainment announced that the current generation of orcas at it parks would be the last. SeaWorld San Antonio currently houses 4 orcas. It was also announced that the theatrical orca shows would be phased out and replaced with more naturalistic Orca Encounters. SeaWorld San Antonio's Orca Encounter opened on February 22, 2020.

In 2024, Catapult Falls, the world's first launched flume ride, opened to the public. In the fall of 2024, SeaWorld San Antonio announced that they would retheme their Sesame Street Bay of Play area to SeaWorld Rescue Jr., a similar concept to the one at SeaWorld San Diego. On March 8th, 2025, SeaWorld Rescue Jr. area opened to guests, with new and rethemed rides such as Beach Rescue Racers, Ocean Quest Express, Tide Pool Tumble, Seabird Swing, and Ocean Rescue Carousel.

On March 7, 2026, the park opened Barracuda Strike, a new inverted family coaster.

Attractions

Roller coasters and rides

Live entertainment and animal presentations

Former attractions

Animal inventory

Orcas

SeaWorld's orcas are housed in Shamu Theater, a geodesic dome, most of whom were born at SeaWorld except Kyuquot who was born at the defunct Sealand of the Pacific in Canada. There are currently 4 orcas, Takara (F; matriarch), Sakari (F), Tuar (M) and Kyuquot (M).

Beluga whales

SeaWorld San Antonio maintains a population of beluga whales at Beluga Bay. The park has operated a beluga breeding program and has also received rescued and transferred whales from other facilities.

The park is the permanent home of Tyonek, a male Cook Inlet beluga that stranded in Alaska as a calf in 2017 and was deemed non-releasable because of his young age and lack of survival skills. He was placed at San Antonio because of the park's population of experienced adult belugas and younger animals. Tyonek subsequently developed a social bond with Betty, one of the park's Pacific white-sided dolphins.

In 2026, SeaWorld San Antonio became one of several U.S. aquariums participating in the relocation of the remaining belugas from the closed Marineland of Canada in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The first two, male belugas Bertie Botts and Frankie, arrived on July 21 after travelling more than 1,500 miles by truck and aircraft. They were initially housed separately while acclimating before being gradually introduced to the park's existing beluga population.

Seven female Marineland belugas—Xena, Gemini, Skyla, Meeka, Eve, Neva and Calypso—arrived on August 4. The transfer was the largest single movement of belugas completed during the relocation effort up to that point and increased the number of Marineland whales transferred to San Antonio to nine.

The final four Marineland belugas assigned to SeaWorld San Antonio—Tank, Odin, Orion and Tofino—left Canada on August 31 and arrived safely in San Antonio on September 1, 2026. They were part of the final six belugas removed from Marineland, whose departure ended the keeping of captive whales in Canada.

In total, SeaWorld San Antonio received thirteen belugas from Marineland during the 2026 relocation: Bertie Botts, Frankie, Xena, Gemini, Skyla, Meeka, Eve, Neva, Calypso, Tank, Odin, Orion and Tofino.

Dolphins

SeaWorld has 16 bottlenose dolphins that live in two different areas of the park. Discovery Point is where most of the park's dolphins live (11 of them), where they do interaction programs and are also on display via above water and underwater viewing areas. Zoological Support is a backstage area where five other dolphins live and where other animals could go for breeding purposes, specialized veterinary care, etc. Zoological Support is also the main rescue hub of the park and currently houses three rescued bottlenose dolphins. While most dolphins were born within the SeaWorld parks except Notchfin, 3 of these dolphins are also rescued dolphins that were deemed nonreleasable by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The park also has seven Pacific white-sided dolphins that live at Beluga Stadium. SeaWorld San Antonio is one of two zoological facilities in the United States that cares for Pacific white-sided dolphins.

Sea Lions, Seals, and Otters

In addition to the performing sea lions and otters, there is a large population of California sea lions and harbor seals living at this open air exhibit. Pinniped feeding opportunities are available for an additional fee. Unique to this SeaWorld is an exhibit for the park's Asian small-clawed and African spot-necked otters, while the other parks' freshwater otters can only be seen during shows.

Sea Turtles

The newest animal exhibit in the park which opened in May 2019 featuring rescued loggerhead and green sea turtles that live with schools of marine fish. It also has a natural biofiltration system consisting of an adjacent salt marsh with bacteria in the plant roots that feed on animal waste.

<big>Penguins</big>

SeaWorld San Antonio has about 250 penguins in their collection, and there are four total species, the king penguin, gentoo, chinstrap and the southern rockhopper. The penguin exhibit is a recreation of the Falkland Islands as all of the species cared for in the exhibit are found above Antarctica.

Aquatica San Antonio

Aquatica is a water park that was formerly a section of the park under the name, Lost Lagoon, which opened in 1993 and closed on September 5, 2011, to be replaced by Aquatica San Antonio, a separate gated water park based on the original Aquatica Orlando. Known as "Texas' Best Waterpark", the new park opened on Memorial Day weekend May 2012.

Attendance

Gallery

References

External links