On Friday, April 23, SeaWorld Orlando announced their plans to build Orlando's tallest, fastest and longest roller coaster, which would open in 2016. As you can imagine, the news has brought about a considerable amount of buzz, as many amusement park-related announcements do. It has attracted speculation from all sorts of roller coaster fans as to the exact statistics, name and location of the ride, among other things.

But unlike most run-of-the-mill amusement park news, this announcement has also attracted the attention of an entirely different group of people, the type who don't usually pay attention to these things. The people who have stood firmly behind the ideas and accusations presented in the 2013 documentary, Blackfish. The people who have stood outside of SeaWorld's gates with protest signs and pledged never to give SeaWorld another dime.

And you can imagine that these people are likely less than thrilled with the park's latest investment.

In between SeaWorld's latest news and the surge of activist protests brought upon by the release of Blackfish, the theme park chain (which also owns and operates the Busch Gardens brand of parks) underwent a purge of many employees from part-time popcorn makers to upper-level marketing executives. This was paralleled by many reports of decreases in attendance and revenue for the SeaWorld parks. It looked like the parks were in serious trouble to the general public.

This was good news to a lot of SeaWorld's critics. In case you didn't know, Blackfish condemns the actions of SeaWorld, and other similar zoological attractions, citing animal captivity as inhumane and as an irresponsible instigator of animal aggression and mental degradation. And with the film's massive commercial success emerged a prevalence of critics who promised to boycott SeaWorld and everything it stood for. Naturally, the rumors of SeaWorld's financial troubles gave these detractors reason to rejoice.

But here we are…SeaWorld has enough confidence in their performance to put forth enough capital to build a record-breaking thrill ride. As much trouble as the company may have faced recently, the controversy brought forth by Blackfish has failed to substantially slow them down.

I personally have no opinion regarding the movie. I don't advocate for SeaWorld and I don't condemn them. What I do question, however, is the logic behind the staunch opponents of SeaWorld's main attractions. This article isn't for opinions; let's look at the facts. SeaWorld has spent millions of dollars on conservation efforts. Many of the animals that are in captivity at SeaWorld are rescued from the wild, and would have no chance of survival in the 'real world'. And although SeaWorld's primary mission is to entertain its guests, it does so while educating them and thus spreading awareness of natural issues.

And it is able to do this with the money its theme park guests pay them.

I wonder, then, what percentage of SeaWorld's biggest opponents spend as much time, effort and money on marine conservation as SeaWorld does. Have they dedicated the amount of resources to wildlife research and science that SeaWorld has? It's pretty impossible for anyone who isn't a multi-million dollar entertainment corporation to match SeaWorld's efforts.

And when SeaWorld loses attendance and revenue, they lose the ability to keep pressing forward with their conservation efforts. Less money spent in the parks means less money spent on rescuing animals, rehabilitating animals, researching animals, etc. Furthermore, it means layoffs to the staff...not just of executive-level bean counters, but of the trainers who deal with these animals every day. The people who care for SeaWorld's marine attractions are arguably the most passionate people toward marine science in the world--the job requires extensive training and love for the subject. Are these the people that SeaWorld protestors want being laid off? No matter how vehemently against SeaWorld's captivity practices someone is, it is impossible to deny the negative repercussions that financial drawbacks have on conservation and marine science efforts.

I don't want to diminish the actions of the anti-SeaWorld crowd. The fact is that they have stood up for a cause they believe in and their passion has definitely made enough of a difference to take notice. I admire their tenacity and drive. But isn't it worth questioning if the goals of SeaWorld's boycotters are somewhat counterproductive? In trying to stand up for animal rights and safety, they're detracting from that very cause that SeaWorld leads in working toward.

Why do I bring this up now? Because with the Orlando park's latest announcement comes reassurance that these parks aren't going anywhere. Even with significant hits in attendance and revenue, they are still performing well above the average regional amusement park. And that means that protesting this park, while turning heads, is not taking the park down but rather hurting the very cause being fought for by both parties.

SeaWorld has proven that they will continue to operate successfully as an amusement park. At this point, it seems that, to some extent, the only thing being hurt by Blackfish is the very thing it sought to protect in the first place. It is at least something to think about.