New Sea Life aquarium builds underwater theme-park scene
WINTER HAVEN – A new underwater habitat is taking form at Legoland Florida Resort. Work continues on Sea Life Florida Aquarium, the latest piece of the attraction's expansion plan.
For now, there's no sea life – or enough water – to see inside Sea Life. Curved rebar shows how faux rock work will frame views into giant tanks that will house more than 3,000 animals representing 150 species.
Sea Life Florida is wedged between two theme parks – Legoland and Peppa Pig parks – but it will have its own submerged park as decor in its large ocean tank. The concept was what do fish want to do when they come to Florida, said Blake Boyter, senior project manager with Merlin Magic Making, the creative arm of Legoland's parent company.
'Of course, being the theme park capital of the world, they want to come to a theme park,' Boyter said during a recent hard-hat tour of the aquarium building.
'We've got the castle with all the different roller coaster features around it,' he said. 'We've got a Ferris wheel in the back corner that's got clams.'
There's also an underwater carousel, a food and beverage outlet and a reef drop in the vicinity. On the opposite side of the walkway is a haunted house section.
'Hopefully, some of our spookier fish are going to stay over in that area,' Boyter said.
These props are scaled to a size that fish can get around, he said. The top of the tank is open and there is 3 feet of unthemed space up there 'so that the blacktip reef sharks can swim and circle around naturally,' he said.
Legoland theme parks and Sea Life aquariums worldwide are operated by England-based Merlin Entertainments Group. There's a Sea Life in Orlando's Icon Park, where the company also runs Madame Tussauds Orlando and the Orlando Eye observation wheel.
Like in the Orlando aquarium, the path through the Polk County attraction meanders through several environments, building up to a walk-through tunnel with 180-degree views of Sea Life inhabitants and the grand finale theme park under the sea scene.
There are 10 zones in the aquarium attraction containing 25 exhibits including a hands-on invertebrate touch pool. Visitors will see a freshwater swamp area, Stingray Bay, Key West Harbor as well as tanks for big-belly seahorses.
But for now is look is unfinished, with sealed-off windows, wiring work to go, incomplete paint job and unstocked gift shop. The water is murky as the chemistry and salt settle. Opening day is scheduled for May 23, the Friday of Memorial Day weekend.
'This is the brand new, the most technologically advanced Sea Life in all of Merlin's portfolio,' said Franceen Gonzales, president of Legoland Florida Resort. It will be the 11th Sea Life attraction in the U.S.
'I was a little concerned we were going to be construction land in 2025, but it's exciting to be able to know that Merlin has invested like this in Legoland Florida,' she said.
The tour included systems for climate control, filtration, lighting, life support and backup generators.
Sea Life Florida will be a separately ticketed gate from Legoland Florida theme park, but combo tickets with those two plus Peppa Pig Theme Park and Legoland's water park will be available. The current entrance to Legoland park eventually will be repositioned.
Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com. BlueSky: @themeparksdb. Threads account: @dbevil. X account: @themeparks. Subscribe to the Theme Park Rangers newsletter at orlandosentinel.com/newsletters.
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