SeaWorld San Diego was opened in 1964, developed by four fraternity brothers Milt Shedd, Ken Norris, David DeMott and George Millay.
SeaWorld (San Diego, Aurora, Orlando) was sold to Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (a publishing company listed on the New York Stock Exchange) in 1976.
When a new 170,000-square-foot exhibit at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago opened on April 27, 1991, it debuted as the largest indoor marine mammal facility in the world.
In 2012 it was surpassed by Marine Life Park in Singapore with a total water volume of 45,000 m3 (12,000,000 US gal) and over 100,000 animals of more than 800 species.
[1] In 2014, the Singapore park was surpassed by the Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in China, the current record holder, with a total water volume of 48,750 m3 (12,880,000 US gal).