SeaWorld Orlando planning new 504-room hotel with direct theme park access, documents show
ORLANDO, Fla. - SeaWorld Orlando could soon be entering the hotel business.
The theme park filed an application in Orange County last week to develop a 15-story, 504-room hotel adjacent to its attractions near the intersection of International Drive and Central Florida Parkway, according to documents from the county's Development Review Committee obtained by FOX 35.
The nearly 30-acre project, dubbed "Starboard," would include a walkway to the theme park, conference center, ballroom, parking garage, fitness center, restaurant and rooftop bar and terrace, among other amenities, as seen in the site renderings.
Photo: Orange County Development Review Committee
There are also renderings for a tropical-like space with a few pools and lounging areas.
Photo: Orange County Development Review Committee
Due to the hotel's location, some rooms might even have a view of the Mako and Kraken rollercoasters.
The Starboard hotel project would mark the theme park's first hotel under the same name in Orlando. SeaWorld offers vacation packages for hotels near the theme park, but has not yet built lodging on its Orlando campus, like that of Walt Disney World or Universal Studios.
Photo: Orange County Development Review Committee
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SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment CEO Marc Swanson doubled down on the company's commitment to opening not just one hotel, but two, in the next few years on last month's earnings call. It remains unclear, however, which SeaWorld locations in the U.S. that would apply to.
"On the hotel front, we also continue to make progress on our plans. As we mentioned last quarter, we are refining our design, planning on our first hotels and we expect to begin opening in 2026. We identified two locations of the first two hotels and we'll be offering more details about these properties soon," Swanson said, adding that they plan to continue to open more hotels in the years following.
Photo: Orange County Development Review Committee
Swanson said SeaWorld has "significant excess land" that is "underutilized" across its campus. That's where the hotels come in.
"We have a unique opportunity to build highly compelling hotels that will integrate with our parks, allow us to capture profits from our guests that are currently staying at other properties, increase length of stay at our properties, offer more compelling vacation packages, upsell and cross-sell guests, increase loyalty and generate an attractive (return on investment)," Swanson said.
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Swanson also shared some insight on how SeaWorld plans to pay for these hotels.
"Well, cash is fungible. We have several options given the nature of these projects. We expect to finance these hotels with a combination of debt and cash from our balance sheet. Given our expected cost of capital and the expected return on the expected returns on these hotel projects, we expect it expect to generate north of 20% returns on equity for these projects," Swanson said. "These are highly compelling projects that are long overdue. Many of you are fully aware of the value these types of hotels provide to our peers in our various markets, including in Orlando.
"Very excited about the significant investments we are making and the many initiatives we have underway across our business that we expect will improve the guest experience, allow us to generate more revenue and make us more efficient and more profitable enterprise."
ORLANDO, UNITED STATES - 2020/03/16: Roads are empty at the entrance to the SeaWorld Orlando on the first day of the attraction's closure as theme parks in the Orlando area suspend operations for two weeks in an effort to curb the spread of the coron
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No other details were released about the hotel plans at this time. As SeaWorld just filed this application last week, it remains unclear when the hotel would open if approved.
News of the potential SeaWorld hotel comes after the theme park revealed plans for its latest attraction, Penguin Trek.
The immersive, family coaster, which is slated to open in 2024, lets guests channel their inner wildlife researcher as they trek through Antarctica on a penguin research mission. The coaster moves at speeds of up to 43 mph across an over-3,000-foot track that twists and turns both indoors and outside. At the end of the ride, you won't find yourself in a simulated penguin colony, but you'll be face-to-face with actual penguins from SeaWorld's habitat.