A Smorgasboard of SeaWorld Questions

[JungleBumCT]

Hey all- I'm taking my family on a trip to San Diego in May (19th-22nd, to be specific) and of course will be visiting SeaWorld. Having visited SeaWorld almost annually since I was born, I get pretty giddy every time I get to go and I think about it a lot. I've been reading these forums for a while now and am impressed with the insight many of you have. Thus, I have a smorgasboard of questions (more out of curiosity than practicality) that I invite any/all of you to tackle.

1- House of Douse- we're planning on SeaWorld for Saturday the 21st. How is Saturday evenings for HoD usually? Would I be better off seeing it on Friday? Also, does the song list change at all, or is it usually one set list for the entire season? If it is a set list, anybody care to post the titles/artists of the songs involved? My kids love that show, and I think it would be fun to make a cd in advance with all the songs, so we can listen to it on the trip after SW.

2- Hats- I collect baseball caps. I usually get one from SW every time we go, but it seems like the selection hasn't changed much over the past year or two. We were at SWC last Feb (04) and SWO in November, with virtually no change in hat selection. Anybody know if SWC has introduced any new baseball cap designs for this season?

3- I faintly remember the Seal & Otter Show involving an "Ookie Spookie Castle" when I was really little. Does anybody else remember this version of the show? Anybody have any pics of the set? Also there was a mime there, who I think was pretty famous. What ever happened to him?

4- Can somebody give me an idea of the plot/storyline of the new show, Deep Deep Trouble?

5- Does anybody have scans of old park maps? It should be obvious by now that I'm a freak for nostalgia. I love to go to the parks and think what used to be where. I collect old Disney park maps, but have never been able to find any of SW.

6- Does SW sell a soundtrack for the Shamu Show?

A bunch of off-the-wall questions I know. But If figure if anybody can answer them for me, it would be the Micechat crowd! Thanks in advance!

[xfkirsten]

Sorry I'm a bit late on these questions, been a bit busy lately!

1) I'd suggest trying to see it Friday instead of Saturday. Saturdays in general are much busier around the park. As for specific songs, I don't actually know the names of the ones played during the show. In the preshow, they use "California Dreamin'" (can't remember the artist here, but it's certainly not the original), "Rubberneckin'" by Elvis Presley, and "Let's Get it Started" by the Black Eyed Peas. The song list doesn't change from show to show, unless there's been a change to the show itself for one reason or another.

2) I'm not sure on the hats.

3) Spooky Kooky Castle was the name of the show you're thinking of, I believe. I'm not sure what happened to the mime, though. But I haven't had luck finding pics of that show.

4) The plot of Deep Deep Trouble is that there's a captain of a submarine who's goal in life is to capture a mermaid. When he comes across one, he goes all-out to try and capture her, but there's a couple of stowaways on the submarine that get tangled up in his attempt to catch her.

5) I don't have older maps myself, but themeparkbrochures.com has one from 1980: http://www.themeparkbrochures.com/ma...diego1980.html

6) House of Douse doesn't have a CD for sale, but The Shamu Adventure does - or at least did. I haven't seen it in stores now for quite some time. I assume that, with the advent of the new Shamu show for 2006, they've stopped making them. They do pop up on eBay from time to time, though. And it's a very complete CD, it's got virtually every music cue in the show (plus some that San Diego didn't use, but the Ohio and Florida parks did).

Hope that helps!

[Dutchman]

The mime's name is Mark Wentzel. He was a fixture around San Diego for a while before working at Seaworld. He moved on ( I've heard conflicting stories why) a number of years ago.

[Darkbeer]

Mark left SeaWorld after 8 years for the Fair circuit, where he was making much more money. After doing that for a few years, he ended up at Disneyland. He performed under the name Lagniappe, and performed there for many years (plus other outside jobs) until he was let go last year...

http://www.markwenzel.com/

[pancakesaregood]

I have a postcard of the Sparklette's Water Fantasy Show, (somewhere in a box) and pictures of the park throughout the 1980s and it looks so different, it had a 'Japanese" look in someparts. I remember everything being blue and not all colorful.

[JungleBumCT]

Xfkirsten- thanks for the info on House of Douse and the old SW map! Amazing how things have changed.

Darkbeer- any idea what Mark Wenzel is doing nowadays? I visited his website, which still has him working at Disneyland. Seems like it hasn't been updated in a while, and there is no contact info for him. Another question for you or anybody else- can you list the show names for the Sea Lion & Otter Show? I remember the Ookie Spooky Castle, then there was one about Pirates that was there for a lot of years, but for some reason I can 't think of the rest.

I've really become a SeaWorld fanatic lately. Seems like almost every year we'd pack up the family station wagon and make the trek from Salt Lake to San Diego. When I was about 5, I was picked to come up during the Shamu show and feed/pet/hug Shamu. Ever since then I've had a special place in my heart for SeaWorld and have been interested in SeaWorld nostalgia. If anybody has anything else to add to these questions, feel free!