A week ago, this was an unconfirmed rumor.
On July 29, a social media report claimed SeaWorld Orlando park president Jon “JP” Peterson had been forced out. It followed an earlier claim that he was retiring effective immediately. No company announcement. No job listing. No word from Peterson.
We covered it carefully because that is what the evidence supported. A missing job listing proves nothing. Companies promote internally, appoint interims, and run quiet searches constantly. SeaWorld’s own materials still listed Peterson as president earlier in 2026.
The honest read was narrow. A report said he was out. The company said nothing. That silence raised a real question without answering it.
This week, it got answered.
The Announcement
SeaWorld Orlando, Aquatica Orlando, and Discovery Cove are back under a single park president.
Brad Gilmour, who has run Aquatica and Discovery Cove since 2023, immediately picks up SeaWorld Orlando.
The 23-year company veteran replaces Jon “JP” Peterson, whose departure went unexplained in Thursday’s announcement.
Read that again. The company confirmed the transition and offered no reason for the exit. It answers what happened without touching why.
Who Gilmour Is
Not an outside hire with a slide deck.
Gilmour has more than two decades with the company and has led Aquatica and Discovery Cove since January 2023. Plenty of people in the Orlando attractions community have watched his career build over that stretch.
For a company juggling as much as United Parks & Resorts currently is, handing more territory to someone with that history at least offers continuity.
SeaWorld Has Done This Before
This structure is not new. It is a reversal.
Kyle Miller was named interim president of SeaWorld Orlando, Aquatica, and Discovery Cove in 2019 and later remained in the role permanently.
The company split the job in January 2023 when Miller moved to a corporate operations role. Peterson took SeaWorld Orlando. Gilmour took Aquatica and Discovery Cove.
Gilmour’s promotion puts all three back together for the first time since.
Miller is still with United Parks & Resorts as chief parks operations officer for its Florida parks, a corporate position he has held since January 2023.
What Peterson Built
Worth acknowledging, because he was not a caretaker.
When SeaWorld promoted him in 2023, the company said he had roughly three decades with the organization, including years running zoological operations and SeaWorld Orlando’s rescue work.
Penguin Trek opened under him. So did Expedition Odyssey, which was later closed and reworked as Expedition Odyssey: Fire & Ice less than a year after debuting.
Speaking with Attractions Magazine in May around the Fire & Ice launch, Peterson described the process behind it.
“You get a vision and a conversation of, ‘How do we make this better?'” he said.
He praised the queue, the music, the scents, the visuals, and the emotional storytelling, and was especially high on its cross-generational pull.
“I think we have hit something that is going to be, for a very long time, a ride that people talk about,” Peterson said.
Gilmour inherits all of it.
The Mess He Is Walking Into at SeaWorld Orlando
The expanded role comes with problems, including some already inside his own portfolio.
The National Labor Relations Board recently ordered Discovery Cove to recognize and bargain with a union representing divers at Discovery Cove and Aquatica, after finding the company had unlawfully refused. That dispute began while Gilmour was running those parks, though the public record does not establish his personal role in the response.
United Parks & Resorts has more going on beyond that. The U.S. Department of Justice has challenged its accessibility policies. A separate suit from Sesame Workshop concerns its licensing agreement.
Business pressure is real, too. The company posted weaker attendance and financial results for 2025. It is still investing, with SeaQuest: Legends of the Deep coming to SeaWorld Orlando.
On this week’s earnings call, United Parks executives named their priorities: better marketing execution, attendance growth, and using intellectual property to reach new audiences. That last one is already visible, with licensed horror hitting Howl-O-Scream for the first time this fall.
Does This Change Your SeaWorld Visit
Not tomorrow.
Park presidents make big operational and strategic calls, but SeaWorld Orlando runs on a much larger leadership structure. Events, attractions, and tickets are unaffected.
The real change is directional. One office now sets the tone for three Orlando parks, of from two. Guest experience, pricing, seasonal events, and investment across SeaWorld Orlando, Aquatica, and Discovery Cove all funnel through the same person.
Whether that creates coherence or just stretches one executive thin is the thing to watch.
And SeaWorld still has not said why the last guy left.
