Mac Rating: 0.00 | Votes: | Date: 03/06/2026 14:53:00

On the southern shore of Mission Bay about ten miles north-west of downtown San Diego, SeaWorld San Diego is the original location of the international SeaWorld marine-life theme park chain and one of the most heavily visited theme parks in southern California. The 190-acre park opened in March 1964 as the brainchild of four University of California Los Angeles graduates who envisioned a marine-themed park combining a working oceanarium with a family-friendly theme park, with the original park covering just twenty-one acres and four shows. The park grew steadily over the following decades, expanding through several major construction phases into the modern complex that combines a comprehensive marine-life zoological collection with a substantial theme park, several major water rides and the chain's signature schedule of trained-animal shows. The collection includes more than twelve thousand individual aquatic and terrestrial animals representing some 700 species, with particular emphasis on the marine mammals and the celebrated breeding programmes that have made SeaWorld one of the most important contributors to global marine-mammal research over the past five decades. The park's flagship marine animals include the long-resident killer whales (now no longer bred at the park following the chain's 2016 announcement ending its captive killer whale breeding programme), several pods of bottlenose dolphins, a substantial collection of beluga whales, several species of sea lion, walruses, the celebrated penguin colony at the Penguin Encounter and one of the largest collections of sharks in any aquarium in the western United States. The park's ride collection has been progressively expanded over the past two decades. Standout rides include the Emperor floorless dive coaster (the longest and fastest dive coaster on the West Coast when it opened in 2022), the Manta launched roller coaster, the Electric Eel launched coaster (the tallest and fastest coaster in San Diego), Journey to Atlantis and the popular Shipwreck Rapids river rapids ride. A separate Sesame Place water park section, themed around the children's television programme Sesame Street, opened in 2022 with several family-friendly water slides, a wave pool and a children's splash area aimed at younger visitors. Tickets are sold by date, with discounted online pricing and multi-day passes covering several visits available at a substantial saving.