Seaworld San Antonio

For the first time in more than four decades, a new Shamu show premiered Saturday at SeaWorld San Diego without animal trainers performing stunts in the water with the marine park's iconic killer whales. Photos : "One Ocean" killer whale show at Sea World San Diego After a fatal accident at SeaWorld's sister park in Florida, the San Diego park unveiled the conservation-themed " One Ocean " show, featuring orcas performing in unison against a new backdrop of giant LCD screens surrounding a tie-dye-colored whale fluke.

SeaWorld Orlando has announced a multi-year plan to add a 3-D movie, a swim-with-sea-life attraction and a new themed land in an effort to counter increasing competition in Florida's crowded theme park marketplace. The largest and most expensive expansion in the marine park's 38-year history comes on the heels of the successful debuts of Universal Orlando's Wizarding World of Harry Potter in 2010 and Legoland Florida in 2011. During that same period, Walt Disney World announced plans to open a Fantasyland makeover at the Magic Kingdom starting in 2012 and Avatar Land at Disney's Animal Kingdom starting in 2015.

SeaWorld San Diego is set to launch a new killer whale show May 27 following the death last year of an animal trainer in Orlando, Fla., that forced a complete reworking of the marine park's signature Shamu attraction. Photos : 'One Ocean' killer whale show at Sea World San Diego The conservation-themed " One Ocean " show will feature dancing fountains, underwater imagery and orcas performing in unison against a new backdrop of giant LCD screens surrounding a tie-dye colored whale fluke.

For the first time in more than four decades, a new Shamu show premiered Saturday at SeaWorld San Diego without animal trainers performing stunts in the water with the marine park's iconic killer whales. Photos : "One Ocean" killer whale show at Sea World San Diego After a fatal accident at SeaWorld's sister park in Florida, the San Diego park unveiled the conservation-themed " One Ocean " show, featuring orcas performing in unison against a new backdrop of giant LCD screens surrounding a tie-dye-colored whale fluke.

SeaWorld Orlando has announced a multi-year plan to add a 3-D movie, a swim-with-sea-life attraction and a new themed land in an effort to counter increasing competition in Florida's crowded theme park marketplace. The largest and most expensive expansion in the marine park's 38-year history comes on the heels of the successful debuts of Universal Orlando's Wizarding World of Harry Potter in 2010 and Legoland Florida in 2011. During that same period, Walt Disney World announced plans to open a Fantasyland makeover at the Magic Kingdom starting in 2012 and Avatar Land at Disney's Animal Kingdom starting in 2015.

SeaWorld's Aquatica will introduce an innovative hybrid concept to San Diego on June 1 that combines a marine park with a water park, allowing visitors to interact with animals like dolphins, stingrays and flamingos as they zip down water slides. > Photos: SeaWorld San Diego's Aquatica water park SeaWorld San Diego purchased Knott's Soak City in Chula Vista from the parent company of Knott's Berry Farm for $15 million and plans an extensive renovation of the separate-admission water park about 20 miles south of the marine park.

Not everything is bigger in Texas. The new Aquatica water park at SeaWorld San Antonio will be one-third the size and cost half as much as the innovative Aquatica water park at SeaWorld Orlando . PHOTOS: Aquatica water park at SeaWorld San Antonio Debuting May 19, the Aquatica park in Texas will feature 18 water slides on 20 acres at a cost of more than $24 million. That's considerably smaller than Florida's $50-million-plus Aquatica which debuted in 2008 with 36 slides on 60 acres as the new high-water mark for water parks.

It already feels as if 2011 is shaping up as a tweener ye ar for new rides and attractions at U.S. theme parks. Last year saw the blockbuster debuts of Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal's Islands of Adventure in Florida and the " World of Color " water show at Disney California Adventure in Anaheim. And 2012 promises a long list of marquee additions headed by Cars Land at DCA and Transformers at Universal Studios Hollywood in California.

Melanie dubiously eyed the sea lion. Sure, Guthrie was cute--all 770 pounds of him--but that wasn't enough to convince this usually ready-for-anything 10-year-old that she wanted to get down on her belly to race a sea lion, much less kiss him afterward. Her cousin Kyle, a few months younger, couldn't understand her reticence. He wanted to go first. My daughter and nephew were participating in what's dubbed "Fun and Games With Sea Lions" at the New England Aquarium in Boston.

It's barely 6 a.m., overcast and chilly. We're too busy scrubbing the large stingray tank to notice. In the last 24 hours, the adults and kids in the group have helped build flamingo rookeries, prepared the manatees' lettuce meal and rescued an injured "whale" (an inflatable one). The bravest among us have taken the rigorous swimming test required for animal-trainer wannabes. It poured during the day, and our jeans got soaked.

SeaWorld San Diego is set to launch a new killer whale show May 27 following the death last year of an animal trainer in Orlando, Fla., that forced a complete reworking of the marine park's signature Shamu attraction. Photos : 'One Ocean' killer whale show at Sea World San Diego The conservation-themed " One Ocean " show will feature dancing fountains, underwater imagery and orcas performing in unison against a new backdrop of giant LCD screens surrounding a tie-dye colored whale fluke.

William Jovanovich, the unconventional publisher who turned a second-tier firm into one of the nation's foremost textbook, medical and scientific publishing houses, has died. He was 81. Jovanovich, the retired president and chief executive officer of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, died of a heart attack at his home in San Diego on Tuesday after a long illness. Jovanovich joined Harcourt Brace & Co. as a college textbook salesman in 1947. By 1954, he had risen to president.