Sea World Boards the Polar Express

The home of Shamu and his oceanic friends rarely gets into film tie-ins, but a surprise announcement earlier this week confirmed the rumors of a temp movie make-over for one of the attractions at Sea World's Florida location. Opening today (yes, today - told you it was a surprise) is a holiday-themed overlay to the park's "Wild Arctic" ride, a "Star Tours"-like simulator that normally takes guests on a bumpy helicopter journey through, well, the wild Arctic.

Now through January 1, riders will board the Polar Express, the titular train from the Robert Zemeckis Christmas movie with all those freaky-looking kids in it. After the ride, guests usually disembark into an arctic area to get up close and personal with polar bears, but now they will find themselves in "Santa Town". No word if there is a Tom Hanks audioanimatronic on hand to greet them, but if there is, it will look just like he did in the movie.

UPDATE: The Orlando Sentinel reports on the new "Polar Express Experience", including photos of the revamped ride vehicles.

Click here to buy The Polar Expresson DVD from Amazon.com.
Links via OrlandoSentinel.com and Imdb.com.