SeaWorld Orlando will introduce Central Florida's first virtual-reality roller coaster next summer, retrofitting Kraken with headsets to give riders the sensation of traveling through the sea amid mythical and prehistoric creatures.
Riders on Kraken will have the option to don virtual-reality headsets attached to the roller coaster, covering their eyes and ears. They will hear music composed for the ride as they embark on a deep-sea mission alongside the fictional Kraken and other animals. SeaWorld won't say yet whether the images will be 3-D.
"We're developing sort of our own technology on how we're going to pull this off," said Brian Morrow, SeaWorld Entertainment's vice president of theme park experience design. "It's nothing that you've seen from other parks."
Kraken's changes will be among $175 million worth of additions that SeaWorld Entertainment is announcing throughout its theme parks. In Orlando, that includes remodeling the Dolphin Nursery and a new Food and Wine-style festival.
"We're really excited about this rolling out, if you will, all of these new experiences and having the opportunity to do it within one year," SeaWorld Orlando Park President Donnie Mills said.
The changes are being announced as SeaWorld has struggled with declining attendance and has less cash on hand. Last week, SeaWorld announced it would stop paying investors quarterly dividends.
Upgrading an existing ride can create a new experience more cheaply than building from scratch.
Theme parks have been slowly introducing more virtual reality. Six Flags has added headsets to some of its roller coasters giving riders the illusion of sitting in a fighter jet fending off aliens or in a helicopter fighting gargoyles. Universal Orlando this year has added a VR attraction for Halloween Horror Nights.
Virtual reality offers the smaller companies such as SeaWorld and Six Flags a way to compete "at a budget that is reasonable for them," Pacific Asset Management analyst Bob Boyd said.
They are "starting just around the edges to compete with the bigger theme parks as far as themed attractions," Boyd said.
"It clearly from a capital perspective is more efficient than ... building a ride from the ground up," Mills said. "What I think the point here is, we're looking at various options to bring differing experiences to SeaWorld. We want to make sure we're appealing to a very wide audience and a very, very competitive market. I'm not going to hide from the fact that yes, it's capital efficient, but that wasn't the driver."
Employees at Kraken will sanitize headsets after each ride. Mills acknowledged that will slow down the loading process, although he didn't have details about how much. Kraken may run more vehicles to compensate for that, he said. And more employees will be stationed at the ride to make the process smoother.
"I think the best rides you go on, you do have to wait a little bit because it creates anticipation," Mills said. "I think that adds to the experience."
New features in the queue will keep riders amused as they stand in line.
SeaWorld wouldn't identify the company developing the new headset technology or give the costs specifically for the virtual-reality experience.
