WaterWorld Tampa

17 October 2012

WaterWorld is a marine park located in Tampa Bay, Florida, United States.

Set in a lush subtropical environment, guests can encounter marine life of all kinds, from dolphins and sharks, to sea turtles and rays, and view them all in naturalistic state-of-the-art exhibits. Guests can observe a mesmerizing and educational dolphin show taking place in a multi-million dollar open-air dolphin theatre. Guests may also venture into the depths of the warm tropical seas and observe sharks, rays and colourful fish as they swim in and amongst their large coral kingdom.

WaterWorld took a very long time to develop; it took nearly a year in reality and over 11 years in-game and that's with the game paused for most of the time! I also had to customise a lot of downloads in order to get it to look exactly how I wanted. As you've probably already guessed, SeaWorld was the primary source of inspiration for this park. It influenced the landscaping of my park, the attractions and the species list. A lot of other zoological collections from around the world also inspired me and gave me ideas for exhibits.

This zoo was originally going to be part of a trio of animal parks in Tampa, Florida. Its sister parks were Explorer's Bay (inspired by Discovery Cove) and an animal park which I never named (inspired by Busch Gardens Tampa Bay). I started working on Explorer's Bay on 27 October 2012 but I never completed it. The animal park didn't get passed planning.

View WaterWorld

Commerson's Point

This exhibit, themed to replicate a rocky coast complete with a large light house, is home to WaterWorld's pod of Commerson's dolphins.

Coral Kingdom

Colourful fish, sharks and rays of all descriptions can be found in Coral Kingdom, WaterWorld's very own reef aquarium. This aquarium boasts a number of coral reef displays, the largest of which displaces 1,200,000 US gallons of sea water and contains WaterWorld's prized collection of sharks.

Dolphinarium

Guests can come and be amazed by an educational spectacle brought to life by WaterWorld's charismatic bottlenose dolphins. Guests can even venture backstage and view the dolphins in their display tank in-between shows.

Dolphin Bay

At Dolphin Bay, guests are given the opportunity to touch and even feed WaterWorld's energetic pod of bottlenose dolphins.

Manatee Lagoon

This exhilarating new attraction brings guests face-to-face with West Indian manatees. They can be viewed from a pathway above or guests can venture beneath the surface and view the manatees through giant acrylic viewing windows as they swim in and among unusual alligator gar fish.

Penguin Plunge

Guests can take a refreshing step out of the hot Florida sun and venture deep into the chilly barren lands of the sub-Antarctic, where they can discover a giant colony of towering emperor penguins, cute adelie penguins and feisty rockhopper penguins.

Seal Coasts

Seal Coasts is home to WaterWorld’s resident group of harbour seals. Their exhibit has been themed to replicate a rocky coast and views have been incorporated to allow guests to view the seals from above and below the waterline.

Stingray Shallows

Stingray Shallows allows guests the opportunity to touch and feed gentle stingrays as they swim about their shallow pool.

Tropical Waterways

This stunning new area of the park takes guests deep into a jungle-like environment where they can discover exotic freshwater animals, including playful otters, crocodiles and various tropical birds. There's also a freshwater aquarium home to piranhas, cichlids, paddlefish, arapaimas, snapping turtles and even one of the world's largest species of snake - the anaconda!

Coral Underwater Feast

At Coral Underwater Feast, guests can dine in the presence of tropical fish, sharks, sea turtles and stingrays which live in the main exhibit tank of Coral Kingdom. Reservations required.

Adam's Diner

Adam's Diner serves a wide variety of classic American cuisine, from freedom fries to hot dogs. Situated just outside the dolphinarium, Adam's Diner offers guests an invigorating refreshment after the exciting dolphin show.

WaterWorld was first conceptualised in the early 2000s^* under the name of Océano Paraíso, which roughly translated to "Ocean Paradise" in Spanish. The park was originally to be based in Salou, Spain. Weasel Parks & Entertainment (now known as Apex Zoos) later decided that the park would become part of a multi-park complex which would also comprise two other animal-themed attractions. It was eventually realised that Salou did not offer the required land capacity to build such a complex and so the park was relocated to Florida on the site of the now demolished Tampa Animal Park. Following the move, the marine park was renamed "WaterWorld". This was controversial as the complex was located in close proximity to SeaWorld in Orlando and Busch Gardens in Tampa. Heavy competition between the parks was expected. Nevertheless, WaterWorld opened its entry gates on October 17, 2012.

^* - This is a fictional date. Actual planning for WaterWorld began in late 2011.