Blue Sky: SeaWorld's Dark Ride Possible Placement

In the past few days, we have discussed about the Screamscape rumor that hinted about a new dark ride, which should be coming to SeaWorld Orlando very soon. In our latest SeaWorld photo-update, we also noticed that the former Manatee Rescue has been shut down, and it is currently been refurbished, meaning that a new attraction or experience is in the work in that area too. Is there a link between the two things?

Let's discuss about this. According to Screamscape, the new dark ride should be built on the site currently occupied by the Penguin Encounter. The penguins and the puffins would receive a completely new home in another area of the park, while the big Penguin Plaza would become the new dark ride. Take a look at this aerial picture (taken from Google Maps), which shows the extension of the Penguin Encounter Area, as well as the size of the Manatee Rescue area:

One of our readers, known here as "Bigfoots," really helped us on this project by comparing the size of a dark ride with the size of the land that would be available. He took as a model the building of "Curse of Darkastle," a Spiderman-type attraction found at Busch Gardens Williamsburg (Be aware that SeaWorld Orlando will NOT receive a clone of "Curse of Darkastle." This drawing is for illustrative purposes only.) As you will notice, the building - which is pretty large - takes the place of the Penguin exhibit, still leaving a lot of space around it. Remember that the whole Penguin Plaza also features a small restaurant and a retail area. This means that they could build an even bigger building to house the new attraction:

Now, though, what about the Manatee Encounter area? Yes, it was repeated a lot of times that there are very heavy rumors that almost confirm that the area will host a Florida-themed pavilion with a new 3D theater, but let's have some fun, and imagine that a new dark ride was to be built in that same area. Would it fit? Well, see by yourself:

As you can see, it looks like there's even more space back there! They could surely build something major. The only problem? The road behind it. Every dark ride needs to have a backstage area behind it. In this area, they would not be able to create a big backstage area, due to the service road behind it, and due to the retention pond on the left of the building. Sure, they could move the road, but why doing all this work? The Penguin Encounter building really needs a major overhaul, due to the age of the bstructure, therefore a new dark ride would be a great choice, as they would completely renovate the existing building, and just expand it.

Take a last look at the Manatee Rescue area:

...with the dark ride:

So, what do you personally think? Where should SeaWorld Orlando build their first dark ride? Please, share your opinions. It is always interesting to get to know what other think. Thanks in advance!

Thanks again to our reader "Bigfoots" for providing us these photoshopped images!