SeaWorld job cuts announced on Wednesday totaled 350 positions at the theme park's headquarters and in Orlando and San Diego.
Park spokeswoman Aimee Jeansonne-Becka told the Orlando Sentinel that the cuts affected mostly its corporate headquarters and redundant jobs, such as separate marketing teams at the Orlando and San Diego locations.
"It's hard," Jeansonne-Becka told the Sentinel. "These types of initiatives affect real people, but it's what we need to do to move the business forward."
The layoffs mark just the latest problems for the theme park operation which has struggled to grow profits and stop an attendance slide after the 2013 documentary "Black Fish," Bloomberg reported. The film criticized the park's treatment of the killer whales it cares for.
"We do not take this task lightly," SeaWorld said in a statement about the layoffs, according to San Diego's KSWB-TV. "It is an unfortunate, but necessary, consequence of the restructuring that some positions will be lost. For those employees, we are offering severance benefits and outplacement assistance to help with their transition."
SeaWorld’s executive director, Joel Manby, ended orca breeding and began a redesign of its animal shows and tanks to make them look like natural habitats, Bloomberg said. The theme park has also moved away from some of its traditional animal shows by adding river rides and roller coasters.
The Orlando Sentinel reported that SeaWorld was building Infinity Falls, a raft ride with a 40-foot drop, which will open at the Orlando park next summer along with expanding its Sesame Street offerings.
CNBC reported that SeaWorld has nearly 14,000 employees and the announced cuts represent about two percent of its workforce. SeaWorld stated that the company will use the savings to boost future growth, such as marketing efforts to increase park attendance, the network stated.
"We remain committed to creating world-class guest experiences, providing comprehensively for the care of all our animals, and continuing our company’s focus on stranded marine animal rescue and ocean conservation initiatives," SeaWorld's statement said, per KSWB-TV.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.