The world of theme park Twitter is a fairly easy place to understand. We’re used to seeing something happen at Disneyland or Disney World, and then the Twitter accounts for Universal Orlando Resort or Universal Studios Hollywood light up with some snarky, though admittedly usually pretty funny, response. But sometimes there is a wild shake up in the natural order of things. Disney has even been known to throw a bit of social media shade now and then, but SeaWorld just dropped a pretty epic burn. Well, not so much a burn, as this dig was ice cold.
Our story actually begins last November. On this day, Universal Orlando Resort decided not to focus it’s biting humor at Disney World, but instead at SeaWorld. SeaWorld Orlando’s new Ice Breaker roller coaster was getting ready to open and Universal pointed out that even in November, ice doesn’t so much get broken in Florida as it melts.
No need to break it, ice doesn’t last long out here anyway. 😉 pic.twitter.com/XIQyFewFDoNovember 20, 2020
At the time, this shot was mostly ignored. It seemed SeaWorld was going to do what they always say you should do when somebody calls you names, just ignore them. But it turns out SeaWorld never forgot about this, they were just biding their time and waiting for the opportune moment.
That moment has come, as the new Ice Breaker coaster is set to open at SeaWorld in Orlando this Friday. So SeaWorld dug up the old tweet, and fired their own shot at Universal Orlando Resort. Universal opened their own new roller coaster, the Jurassic World VelociCoaster, last year and that became SeaWorld’s target. While the coaster got rave reviews, SeaWorld would like you to know it’s about to become second best. Looks like Blue needs an Ice Breaker after all.
Blue was always the beta.The Ice Age arrives on 2/18. Things are about to get chilly. 🧊 https://t.co/qJscy4N6DR https://t.co/9iJJIzLaMs pic.twitter.com/WUCcPWALJRFebruary 16, 2022
But wait, we’re not quite done yet. While not directly related to this minor Twitter smackdown, it needs to be noted that SeaWorld then followed this up with an even bigger tweet. Because what do you do when you just threw some shade that was cold as ice and everybody is now paying attention? You bring Vanilla Ice to your roller coaster launch. Yes, Vanilla Ice will be in attendance this weekend when the Ice Breaker roller coaster opens and he’ll even be signing a special Vanilla Ice, Ice Breaker t-shirt.
Alright stop…by the Glacier Bar Gift Shop…for this brand new invention. Shirts available Saturday starting at 10a. The first 75 guests can get theirs signed by @vanillaice himself 🧊 🧊 👶 pic.twitter.com/awwzhyTNleFebruary 16, 2022
We’re going to need to keep our eyes on SeaWorld going forward. The parks in both Orlando and San Diego have been opening some pretty exciting attractions in recent years. The company very nearly became the biggest amusement park company in the country recently, though it now appears that won’t be happening. Now they’re moving in on Universal’s title as the king of theme park smack talk on Twitter. And now they have Vanilla Ice.