History
SeaWorld of Texas was developed by Harcourt, Brace, and Jovanovich (now Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). Built for $170 million, it opened on Memorial Day weekend in 1988 and welcomed 75,000 people during the grand opening. It had 3.3 million visitors in its first 12 months of operation, placing it among the Top 10 attractions in Texas. At the time of the park's debut, it was billed as "the largest educational, marine-life theme park in the world."
In 1989, Harcourt, Brace, and Jovanovich (heavy in debt and fighting a hostile takeover) sold its SeaWorld and Boardwalk and Baseball theme parks to Anheuser-Busch, Inc. Plans to build a Boardwalk and Baseball park adjacent to SeaWorld of Texas were immediately abandoned.
On 26 November 1988, Kayla (stage named "Baby Shamu") was the first killer whale born at SeaWorld San Antonio.
Under Anheuser-Busch ownership, SeaWorld San Antonio closed less popular attractions such as the Texas Walk, the U.S. Map Plaza, and the Garden of Flags and added its popular Budweiser Clydesdales to the park.
In 2008, Anheuser-Busch merged with InBev; soon after, the newly merged company sold the SeaWorld parks to The Blackstone Group.
Read more about this topic: Howl-O-Scream (San Antonio)
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