visitors could walk freely around the oceanariums and sometimes could even play "catch" using a basketball with a friendly dolphin on the top deck. Another notable and unique item at Marineland was the fresh water system. Marineland of Florida operated a reverse osmosis water plant that converted salt water to fresh water. The water plant supplied the entire park and subsequent expansions as well as a waste water plant. Treated waste water was sprayed by a huge sprayer called a "rain bird" that was located behind the electric eel exhibit on the western side of the property. Marineland was quite far from any water utility service and had to make its own. Electric power was supplied by Florida Power and Light, however a large backup generator was on hand to keep critical systems running during extended power outages. When a power outage of even short duration occurred, the on duty pumpman was required to quickly restart the pumps or the tanks could start to drain. During a longer outage drains had to be closed to prevent the water from draining out. If an extended power outage occurred, the pumps could run on the backup generator, but many other systems could not. Under the oceanariums a network of air and utility tunnels existed to allow crews access to valves and power cables. A large high wattage step down transformer was located directly under the circular oceanarium to help supply power to the Marine Studios facility. The opening of Walt Disney World Resort in 1971 gave a major boost to the attraction's annual attendance. However, Sea World's entry into the Florida market eventually had a very negative impact on Marineland from the late 1970s through 2009. Many publications erroneously note the peak attendance as having been 300,000. The break-even admission point was actually 400,000, even during the 1950s. Decline Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, who was the major stockholder of the private company opted to sell the marine park in 1983 to a group of St. Augustine businessmen during the summer of that year. These new investors brought some new ideas to the park, and some didn't work very well. Some of these new ideas actually did work and appeared to help the park. For a while the park held its own with fair attendance in the busier summer months with the ongoing traditional shows being complemented by a seasonal high dive show added