Antarctica has reopened from its 2016 refurbishment to show off some new enhancements and, sadly, many degradations. Keep in mind while the attraction is now reopened there is still lots of work occurring that won't be completed till late April. I didn't have my camera, but I Mako Madness might be covering it in his next update.
1. The non-rider queue is finally here. Currently you enter the main queue for a few yards before deciding between the non-rider and rider queue at a fork in the path. This is still outside. Then, you enter the first pre-show room in three groups (rider, non-rider, quick queue), which is now separated into three areas by an ugly metal fence (luckily it looks to me temporary).
Once the pre-show ends, quick queue and riders leave first followed by non-riders into the indoor queue now featuring more ugly fences and a whole wall torn down with, you guessed it, another ugly fence in its place. From here riders and non-riders split.
Non-rider: Where the team member door was is now a (to the left right before riders choose between wild and mild) slightly larger, boxier, and, yep, uglier version of the second pre-show rooms that the riders enter. In the room is a short video with a SeaWorld team member talking about Puck and penguins in general. The small screen has the normal pre-show animation playing without audio. They end this little show early and a door to the right of the screens. This room exits into the penguin environment next to the ride unload.
Riders (quick queue and normal): You follow the same path as normal after the first pre-show, but this time its worse!!! What was a cavernous and icy queue is now a bunch of ugly fences and open rooms.
2. They are also making a new enlarged entrance. The only problem I have with this is that it protrudes into the nice open area that was in the middle of the land.
3. On the bright side, the fog effect has returned and much of the paint and fiber glass has been touched up. Also, the load room animations are working completely again. They were sometimes off from their audio on the RV.
Now I may come off as hating, but I liked this ride (and still do to some extent). I just don't know what was going through their heads with some of this stuff. The general idea is sound, but not the execution. Worse of all is that all these changes are making loading pre-shows longer and the overall wait longer as well. ugh
1. The non-rider queue is finally here. Currently you enter the main queue for a few yards before deciding between the non-rider and rider queue at a fork in the path. This is still outside. Then, you enter the first pre-show room in three groups (rider, non-rider, quick queue), which is now separated into three areas by an ugly metal fence (luckily it looks to me temporary).
Once the pre-show ends, quick queue and riders leave first followed by non-riders into the indoor queue now featuring more ugly fences and a whole wall torn down with, you guessed it, another ugly fence in its place. From here riders and non-riders split.
Non-rider: Where the team member door was is now a (to the left right before riders choose between wild and mild) slightly larger, boxier, and, yep, uglier version of the second pre-show rooms that the riders enter. In the room is a short video with a SeaWorld team member talking about Puck and penguins in general. The small screen has the normal pre-show animation playing without audio. They end this little show early and a door to the right of the screens. This room exits into the penguin environment next to the ride unload.
Riders (quick queue and normal): You follow the same path as normal after the first pre-show, but this time its worse!!! What was a cavernous and icy queue is now a bunch of ugly fences and open rooms.
2. They are also making a new enlarged entrance. The only problem I have with this is that it protrudes into the nice open area that was in the middle of the land.
3. On the bright side, the fog effect has returned and much of the paint and fiber glass has been touched up. Also, the load room animations are working completely again. They were sometimes off from their audio on the RV.
Now I may come off as hating, but I liked this ride (and still do to some extent). I just don't know what was going through their heads with some of this stuff. The general idea is sound, but not the execution. Worse of all is that all these changes are making loading pre-shows longer and the overall wait longer as well. ugh