Seaworld Orlando: No, those sealions are real.

Darksin · Post by **Darksin** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 8:47 pm

After browsing I decided that this is a group of people who can truly appreciate the comedic genus of this story.

Many moons ago, back in high school, I worked for Seaworld Orlando (yes, before the 'Adventure Parks' got tacked on and we got stuck in fish print). Stadiums, Sealion and Otter to be exact back during the days of Hotel Clyde and Seamore.

One cool spring evening, I was on the pinniped side (right side) of the stadium and things where fairly normal for once. JTA was down as normal and the radio clipped to my belt was full of the inane chatter of the stadium operations crowd. My show finished like normal, so we stood around in front of the glass to explain that fingers look very much like shrimp and sea lions LOVE shrimp. It was just about clear, we where almost free of the last show of the day when my "Oh-this-is-gonna-suck" radar went off.
There, to the left. Stomping up to me.
Oh hell, here we go.

"Ma'am I must ask you" this man said. "We've been to Disney.."
And he trails off, Okay so you've been to Disney world.. that's nice?
"Tell me, how many people are in the Sealion suits"

........
........
........
Seriously?

"Sir, they are real, live Sealions"
Naturally this couldn't possibly be true! "No really, it's okay you can tell me. We've been to Disney and everything there is fake so how many people are in those suits?". I heard in that moment the small sound my brain cracking and fizzling. "No sir, I promise you. The animals here are real and alive, those are REAL Sealions".

This went back and forth for more then 15 minutes, he simply couldn't grasp that the animals really where animals! Naturally getting madder and much louder that I wouldn't invest in him the national secret of our robotic sealion technology! Finally came the keyword I was waiting for once the words "Sealion suit" left his mouth. "I want to talk to your supervisor!"
Sure thing! Let me call for one!
I walked over to my phone and asked from one to come down, adding in they wouldn't believe this if I told them. They simply had to hear this for themselves! Less then ten minutes later a now high curious supervisor arrives!
"As soon as he sees the supervisor (Let's call him Mr.Man) he rushs right over before I can explain what's going on and demands loudly. "HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE IN THE SEALION SUITS?! I'VE BEEN TO DISNEY! IT'S ALL FAKE! HOW MANY?!"
Mr. Man was floored and just looked at me. Dude, I tried to explain they are real and I told you that you wouldn't believe this! Your turn!
Fast Forward: 15 more minutes of Mr.Man and myself trying to explain real animals are real and not fur suits. At this point Mr.Everything-is-fake-I've-been-to-Disney looks like he's going to give himself a stroke he's so worked up. Mr. Man is looking hopeless and I'm trying my damnedest not to fall on my ass laughing. Finally Mr. Man looks to me and says "Fine! You tell him!"
"One.. and the Otter is a remote control but you can't tell anyone!"

A smug look comes across his face! He knew our deep, dark secret. Without missing a beat as I turn to walk away "So how many people drive Shamu?"
.......
Really?!

**This is a true story the names have been changed**

hobie16 · Post by **hobie16** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 10:01 pm

There is no off position on the genius switch.

Great story for your first post. Welcome!

DisneyMom · Post by **DisneyMom** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 11:06 pm

Great Story!!!!!

drcorey · Post by **drcorey** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 11:44 pm

Yeah that cracks me up. people think everything at disney is fake. even the animals. I could be having lunch at a restaurant outdoors and have a rat steal something off my plate, and just heard the observing guests saying, wow, did you see that animatronicrat just steal food from that guy over there?
and one of them will say, wow, how small can the make animatronics these days? and I think yeah, disney makes sub-minature robots to steal food from guests just to entertain them.... Want to have some fun? when you see a tired duck or something, just say out loud, wow, that ducks power is getting low, where is maintinence? and watch more then half the crowd believe you.

Darksin · Post by **Darksin** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 5:09 am

Thanks!

This seems to the be one story I am constantly re-telling to people. It seems no one can ever simply believe the level of stupid which runs rampent at any park. Oh the wealth of tales I can tell and not all of them come from the employee side either! :D:

GRUMPY PIRATE · Post by **GRUMPY PIRATE** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 5:46 pm

SOooooooo

how many people DOES it take to drive shamu???? :p:

PhilimusPrime · Post by **PhilimusPrime** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 6:10 pm

Had a woman complain about the cranes that tend to flock around the outdoor quick service locations. She actually thought that Disney forced the birds to wander around, trained to take handouts/scrap french fries. She then proceeded to announce that she was an animal activist, member of PETA, and would never come back if they were going to treat animals like they were at a zoo.

I hope she visited Animal Kingdom.

Zazu · Post by **Zazu** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 8:16 pm

One day, working as a railroad conductor at MK, I noticed a family of rabbits grazing on the lawn in Tomorrowland. Being the perverse bastard that I am, I keyed the mic and informed my passengers that these were the new, "Mark 6-7/8 Animatronic figures. They have a self-contained power supply, a wireless control system, and best of all -- when they wore out they made new ones!"

You guessed it. While most guests laughed, there was one who came up to me at the next station and wanted details about whether we had a safety system in case one of them went rogue. "I've seen Westworld!" he informed me.

He left, satisfied with my answer that they were monitored 24/7 and the slightest misbehavior was justification to set of the self-destruct charge.

:kaboom:

The train's departure was delayed several minutes as my fellow cast members tried to stop laughing, crying, and holding their stomachs. You would have thought I'd triggered *their* self-destruct sequence!

DisneyMom · Post by **DisneyMom** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 8:28 pm

Zazu wrote:One day, working as a railroad conductor at MK, I noticed a family of rabbits grazing on the lawn in Tomorrowland. Being the perverse bastard that I am, I keyed the mic and informed my passengers that these were the new, "Mark 6-7/8 Animatronic figures. They have a self-contained power supply, a wireless control system, and best of all -- when they wore out they made new ones!"

You guessed it. While most guests laughed, there was one who came up to me at the next station and wanted details about whether we had a safety system in case one of them went rogue. "I've seen Westworld!" he informed me.

He left, satisfied with my answer that they were monitored 24/7 and the slightest misbehavior was justification to set of the self-destruct charge.

:kaboom:

The train's departure was delayed several minutes as my fellow cast members tried to stop laughing, crying, and holding their stomachs. You would have thought I'd triggered *their* self-destruct sequence!

Suddenly I see a way to control our coyote population! :twisted:

turkeyham · Post by **turkeyham** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 9:03 pm

OMG! You got me to laugh on that one. I have been to Sea World in FL and had fun with my sister and friends. We did enjoy the shows.

So, if there are sea gulls walking around on the grounds, there must be smart CM's who load the birds up with liquid mayonase (sp). Then the remote control bird has a camera looking down on SG and the CM on the opposite side has a few buttons. A) poop on SG with MK map in hand
B) Nose dive annoying guests with stupid questions
C) poop on nice cars in parking lot
D) fly low over SG and grab cell phone out of hand,
and drop in the nearby ponds.

Stupid Guest Tricks

Seaworld Orlando: No, those sealions are real.

Seaworld Orlando: No, those sealions are real.

Re: Seaworld Orlando: No, those sealions are real.

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Re: Seaworld Orlando: No, those sealions are real.

Re: Seaworld Orlando: No, those sealions are real.

Re: Seaworld Orlando: No, those sealions are real.

Re: Seaworld Orlando: No, those sealions are real.

Re: Seaworld Orlando: No, those sealions are real.

Re: Seaworld Orlando: No, those sealions are real.