SeaWorld confirms SeaQuest will open in 2027, moving beyond original 2026 plans
SeaQuest: Legends of the Deep will open at SeaWorld Orlando in 2027, the park confirmed to Attractions Magazine, moving the suspended dark ride beyond its originally announced 2026 opening window.
“We are saying 2027,” a SeaWorld representative told Attractions Magazine when asked about the attraction’s opening timeline. A specific opening date has not been announced.
SeaWorld announced SeaQuest on Sept. 17, 2025. Although its current attraction page lists the opening only as “coming soon,” the park’s direct confirmation establishes 2027 as the new target year.
The park announced the attraction on Sept. 17, 2025. SEAQuest is, however, mentioned in the “10 reasons to get the 2027 Fun Card” webpage. Its official attraction page now says only that the ride will “surface soon.”
SeaQuest joins a growing lineup of new Orlando theme park attractions coming in 2027, including additions at Disney and Universal.
What to expect from SeaQuest: Legends of the Deep
Riders onboard SeaQuest will follow along with the fictional SEA Collective Adventure Team through scenes depicting “extraordinary lifeforms, breathtaking environments, and inspiring stories of the sea,” SeaWorld Orlando said in its announcement of the new ride.
SeaQuest will conclude with “a spectacular finale launch that celebrates the ocean’s resilience and beauty.”
SeaQuest will mark SeaWorld Orlando’s first suspended dark ride, and the park promises the ride system will be a “world’s first-of-its-kind.” Other suspended dark rides in Orlando include Peter Pan’s Flight at Magic Kingdom and E.T. Adventure at Universal Studios Florida.
SeaQuest follows the 2025 opening of SeaWorld Orlando’s Expedition Odyssey flying theater attraction, which is now reworked into Expedition Odyssey Fire & Ice, and the 2024 debut of the park’s Penguin Trek roller coaster.
In fact, in the queue of the new Expedition Odyssey Fire & Ice attraction, there is a model of the SeaQuest ride vehicle on a 3-D printer. See our photo below.
Photo by Dani Meyering
SeaQuest will open in a newly expanded area of the park, behind Expedition Odyssey.
Disney previously developed an underwater-themed “Little Mermaid” suspended dark ride, but scrapped those plans and later built the traditional-track Omnimover version of the ride we know today at Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid.1
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- “Behind ‘The Ride That Almost Was'” bonus feature on “The Little Mermaid” Platinum Edition DVD; Walt Disney Home Entertainment, 2006. ↩︎
I’m glad to see that SeaWorld is investing in more family friendly rides and attractions
The last two years SeaWorld has brought us Penguin Trek and Expedition Odyssey as the article points out, but prior to that SeaWorld heavily invested in thrill rides only such as Ice Breaker and Pipeline the Surf Coaster
Unfortunately not everyone is a roller coaster fan so to see SeaWorld going in a more family friendly direction with their attractions is a step in the right win my opinion
Please tell me this will be based on the 90s show SeaQuest, starring Roy Scheider