Locally we also have the Gaylord Palms Resort in Kissimmee that features meet and greets and events with many of the DreamWorks treasure chest of characters. For the resorts popular ICE! event in 2012 the theme was Madagascar, proving that the brand was popular with both locals and tourists alike.
The franchise is one of the most popular CG animated movie franchises in the world grossing more than $1.8 billion at the worldwide box office.
All of this makes some recent news all the more interesting. SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment announced on Tuesday, February 12 that it will debut an original live musical based on the popular franchise. The musical, "Madagascar Live! Operation: Vacation," will debut in two parks; SeaWorld San Diego and Busch Gardens Tampa. The Tampa show will debut on May 18, 2013 while the San Diego show will debut a month later on June 15.
The 20-minute musical show follows the antics of Alex the Lion, Gloria the Hippo, King Julien, Mort and the Penguins during a vacation adventure. The show will feature rock/pop music performed by a live band and include both classic and original songs. The characters also will conduct meet and greets with park guests. Additionally, special co-branded merchandise exclusive to the parks, will be available.
The press release does state "The company also has the opportunity to expand the show to other parks in the SeaWorld family in the future" but one has to wonder why the company's most popular park, SeaWorld Orlando, isn't one of the parks that debuts the new show. SeaWorld Orlando does feature the Nautilus Theater where the A'Lure, The Call of the Ocean currently takes place. The theater could host a musical production with only a few improvements. There are rumors that the show will come to the park in 2014 but with no mention of this in the official press release it does look like nothing more than speculation at this point.
To gain the rights to one of the most profitable animated franchises in recent history and then choose not to include it in your most popular park (or at least say when it will be coming there) points to something more. One possible option is that Orlando isn't included in the contract that SeaWorld has. So what do you think? Is SeaWorld Orlando's omission point to something more? Could this be more proof of Madagascar coming to Universal Studios Orlando?
