SeaWorld Permanently Removes Ride After It “Tore Itself Apart”

After months of speculation, SeaWorld has finally given up on one of its most controversial rides.

While its main attraction was once killer whales, SeaWorld has thrown itself headfirst into thrills in recent years. As guests turned their back on the theme park operator after the release of Blackfish (2013) – the controversial documentary about SeaWorld’s deadly orca Tilikum – it’s attempted to win back visitors with new, innovative roller coasters.

Related: SeaWorld Drowning In $12 Million of Debt, Theme Park Hit With Legal Action

Since Blackfish, SeaWorld has added 11 thrill attractions to its three parks: SeaWorld San Diego, SeaWorld Orlando, and SeaWorld San Antonio.

This year alone, it’s debuted two new roller coasters. SeaWorld San Diego welcomed Arctic Rescue – an Intamin launched coaster with straddle seating with arctic theming – in June, while Seaworld Orlando added Pipeline: The Surf Coaster – a first-of-a-kind standing roller coaster with surfboard-shaped vehicles – in May.

While most of SeaWorld’s thrill attractions have been well-received, not all of its additions have gone down well with parkgoers. In 2019, SeaWorld San Diego welcomed Tidal Twister. Like Pipeline: The Surf Coaster, it was an ambitious, first-of-its-kind model that provided guests at the Southern California park with an “exhilarating experience that demonstrates the power of the ocean,” complete with “a tight figure-8 track that includes dynamic Zero-G roll at the center section.”

Since its opening, however, Tidal Twister has been plagued with problems. The ride first closed for a week just two weeks after its initial launch due to “technical problems.” It then spent the entirety of July 2019 closed for the same reasons.

The situation didn’t improve much in the following years. In March 2023, a mass evacuation of SeaWorld San Diego Guests occurred when Tidal Twister reportedly “faulted” mid-ride.

SeaWorld San Diego spokesperson Tracy Spahr told The San Diego Union Tribune that there were 16 riders on the attraction when it stopped, while the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department tweeted that firefighters had “safely extricated 30 people.”

As explained by theme park blogger Jeffrey Jones, this downtime can be explained by the fact that it’s a “prototype ride,” with just one other example in existence – The Harley Quinn Crazy Coaster, which opened in 2019 at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo.

Earlier this year, it was rumored that SeaWorld had given up on the attraction. On July 18, a SeaWorld update account claimed that Tidal Twister is now “permanently closed” and “is already starting to be dismantled.”

Others speculated that the “constant twisting is causing rapid wear and tear on the joints and wheels,” with the original poster – SeaWorldH – stating that “the ride tore itself apart” due to its tight turns.

At the time, SeaWorld offered no official update on the attraction’s status. While it remains silent on its fate, the attraction has now officially been removed from the SeaWorld San Diego website and app. Attempting to directly access the Tidal Twister page now redirects to the park’s full list of attractions (minus Tidal Twister).

This follows the same pattern as another silently-closed SeaWorld attraction. Over at SeaWorld Orlando, Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin has been absent since 2020. The ride – which took guests on a trackless adventure to a penguinarium, where they could then explore an immersive penguin habitat – failed to reopen with the rest of the park after the COVID-19 lockdown.

Related: Guest Breaks Into Penguin Exhibit at SeaWorld and “Steals” Animal

While SeaWorld has never directly addressed its closure, rumors spread that SeaWorld failed to charge the batteries during the COVID-19 closure, meaning the ride vehicles no longer work and that its trackless system caused a lot of downtime and expensive maintenance.

A common thread here is that SeaWorld’s new attractions tend to be incredibly ambitious. Sometimes, this can have incredible results (for example, Pipeline: The Surf Coaster). In the cases of Tidal Twister and Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin, SeaWorld may have been too ambitious for its own good.

Will you miss Tidal Twister? Let us know in the comments!