SeaWorld trainers Mark Galan, right, and Laura Surovik embrace as friends and colleagues of Dawn Brancheau, who was dragged to her death by a killer whale, gather to watch first whale show after her death... (Associated Press) 
 
 Employees wept and audience members grew silent Saturday at SeaWorld as the theme park's popular killer whale show resumed with a photo montage memorial for a trainer who was killed by one of the orcas in front of horrified spectators three days ago. 
 
 The show had been shut down since veteran trainer Dawn Brancheau, 40, died Wednesday after rubbing a 22-foot, 12,000-pound orca named Tilikum. The animal grabbed her ponytail and pulled her into the water in front of about 20 spectators. The medical examiner says she likely died of traumatic injuries and drowning. 
 
 More than 2,000 people packed the park's stadium Saturday for the first show since Brancheau's death. 
 
 The audience seemed thrilled, applauding and cheering as the whales zipped around their tank and splashed spectators during the show _ with the theme of "believe," about a young boy who sees an orca and dreams of one day becoming a whale trainer. It was a fitting tribute to Brancheau, whose family said she always wanted work with the giant whales. 
 
 At one point during the show, a young girl was brought on stage and given a whale tail necklace. 
 
 "I just wanted to be here for this show. It's so special," said Russell Thomphsen, 65, who said he is a season-ticket holder for SeaWorld. "This touches so many lives." 
 
 Spectators packed the enormous outdoor amphitheater despite chilly, rainy weather, with the orca pool registering at 52 degrees. The whale trainers received a standing ovation as they approached the platform before the show, part of the multimillion-dollar enterprise centered around "Shamu" _ the stage name given to all the performing orcas. 
 
 Several SeaWorld employees wept as the photo montage set to music was shown. 
 
 "It was very moving," said Molly Geislinger, 33, who came from Minneapolis with her husband and 21-month-old child. 
 
 However, she noticed a difference in how the trainers acted. 
 
 "They looked like they were being very careful," she said. "They looked very cautious today." 
 
 Indeed, the trainers weren't allowed in the water, meaning the whales' handlers did not surf on top of the marine mammals or fly into the air. Instead, the trainers _ wearing orca-like black-and-white wetsuits _ directed the whales from outside the huge tank's acrylic walls. They coached the creatures to splash the front-and-center rows a few times, much to the delight of onlookers. 
 
 SeaWorld officials have said trainers won't swim with the orcas until they finish reviewing what happened to Brancheau. 
 
 Jeff Steward, who came to the show with his wife, called the memorial "a very emotional start." 
 
 He said they enjoyed the show, adding: "It's a tragedy, but these things happen when you're dealing with wild animals." 
 
 SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment President Jim Atchison said Friday that Tilikum will remain an "active, contributing member of the team," in part because the killer whale show is big business at SeaWorld. The company owns more killer whales than anyone else in the world and builds the orca image into its multimillion-dollar brand. Tilikum did not perform Saturday. 
 
 The timing of the killer whales' return to performances reflects just what the sleek black-and-white mammals mean to SeaWorld, which the private equity firm The Blackstone Group bought last fall for around $2.7 billion from Anheuser-Busch InBev in a deal that included two Busch Gardens theme parks and several other attractions. 
 
 There are two other SeaWorld parks _ one in San Antonio, and one in San Diego. 
 
 No animal is more valuable to that operation than Tilikum, the largest orca in captivity. Captured nearly 30 years ago off Iceland, Tilikum has grown into the alpha male of captive killer whales, his value as a stud impossible to pin down. He now has been involved in the deaths of two trainers and requires a special set of handling rules, which Atchison wouldn't specify. 
 
 John Galloway, of Palm Coast, Fla., said he didn't want to see the killer whale shows end because of the tragedy. 
 
 "I think they know what they're doing," he said of the trainers. "Me, myself, I wouldn't be down there doing that." ||||| It was back to business at SeaWorld's Shamu Stadium on Saturday, but there were some glaring differences in a show that has brought tourists from across the globe to the celebrate the beauty of jumping killer whales. 
 
 On an emotional morning that celebrated the life of Dawn Brancheau, fans of the park's signature show, "Believe," didn't see a trainer emerge from the depths of the enormous pool on the nose of a flying orca, nor were they drenched by the crashing waves off the fins of the 6-ton killer whale Tilikum. 
 
 The 11 a.m. show -- which had fans lining up as early as 9 a.m. -- started with a tribute to Brancheau, a veteran orca trainer who drowned Wednesday after Tilikum yanked her by the ponytail and pulled her underwater. 
 
 Billy Grady and his family, tourists from Georgia, returned to the park this weekend solely to catch the show after it had been canceled Friday. The father of three said he was moved by the tribute, which included photos of Brancheau hugging and swimming with killer whales. 
 
 "It brought tears to my eyes. She died doing what she loved," Grady, 33, said. 
 
 Young children in the audience recognized Brancheau in the pictures, while some adults sniffled and fought back tears. 
 
 Despite Brancheau's shocking death, Grady said, the show needs to continue to educate people about animal conservation. That's what he thinks Brancheau would want as an animal lover. 
 
 "If it stopped, I don't think she'd be happy. She's looking down on us, and she's happy it went on," Grady said. "If she had a second chance and she was still alive, I don't think she would give up." 
 
 Yoouhenky Hickman, an Orlando resident who comes to the show regularly, was teary as she exited the stadium. Hickman, who described herself simply as "a big fan" of the killer-whale show, said that watching the animals and trainers interact Saturday reinforced her belief that Brancheau's death was a tragic accident. 
 
 "It's amazing all the things these animals do," she said. 
 
 Change happens 
 
 There was no Tilikum on Saturday morning, so the 6-ton orca didn't provide his crowd-pleasing, clothes-soaking splashes as part of the show. Officials have said that the male killer whale will return, but they are not sure in what capacity. 
 
 Trainers also stayed out of the water, feeding the whales with buckets of fish on the ledges of the pool. In what has become a signature for the park, the trainer-orca interaction has provided Shamu fans with incredible images of beautiful lifts out of the middle of the pool, with the trainer emerging from the water standing on the nose of a jumping orca. 
 
 But because of the continuing investigation into Brancheau's death, fans had to settle for the whales taking direction from above the surface. 
 
 Other precautions were obvious, with more staff on hand throughout the stadium and the female trainers tying their hair up in buns.These adjustments will also take effect at the parks in San Diego and San Antonio. 
 
 Some things never change 
 
 Although trainers, who were greeted with a standing ovation, stood on the sidelines this weekend, Grady said the show wasn't disappointing. Using hand signals, trainers instructed the whales to leap, twirl and wave to the audience, while also providing plenty of big splashes for the audience. 
 
 Tilikum has long been known as the whale with the biggest splash, prompting many to buy ponchos outside the stadium so that they could sit in the front row and take all that the orca had to offer. On Saturday, the dreary weather kept many from entering the splash zone, but Tilikum's back-ups still left plenty with wet clothes to air out as visitors walked around the park. 
 
 "They still put on a great show. I don't feel let down," Grady said. His family planned to attend a second show Saturday. 
 
 They don't 'Believe' 
 
 The emotional return of 'Believe' did not change the minds of people who have long thought SeaWorld should not force animals to perform in shows. 
 
 People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sponsored a protest at the the park, with less than a dozen holding signs at the main gate. PETA has called for SeaWorld to free its captive whales and warned that more human deaths will occur if frustrated, unhappy animals are not let go. 
 
 "In the wild, orcas and other dolphin species swim up to 100 miles a day," said Amanda Fortino, a PETA spokeswoman, lamenting that animals at SeaWorld are kept in tanks "that to them are just like the size of a bathtub." 
 
 PETA claims that 42 killer whales are held captive in the U.S.. 
 
 Marine mammal-rights activist Russ Rector said Saturday that killer whales such as Tilikum should not be kept in tanks or put in shows."Captivity just dements these males, makes them monsters," said Rector, a former dolphin trainer. 
 
 "They treat them like props. It's a shame, absolutely a shame." 
 
 The main attraction 
 
 But it would be a shame if the park lost its marquee performers, said the Christopherson family of Ridgeland, Wis. It was the family's first vacation in Orlando, and even though they planned their trip around the Walt Disney World theme parks, they said the orca show lured them to SeaWorld. 
 
 "We were scared the show wasn't going to open," said mother Kelly Christopherson, 38. 
 
 They wanted to teach their three daughters, ages 10, 8 and 4, about sea animals, which they don't get a chance to see back home in the Midwest. 
 
 "Where else can you see killer whales [close up]?" said father Tim Christopherson, 41. 
 
 Although she wants to see trainers and whales back together in the water in future shows, tourist Deborah Osuch said SeaWorld officials are right to take their time in reviewing their procedures, with trainer safety being the most important. "Until the dust settles, they need to do what's right," said Osuch, of Fairhaven, Mass. 
 
 Following in Dawn's footsteps 
 
 Brancheau, according to her mother, found her love for orcas on a family vacation to SeaWorld when she was about 10 years old. On Saturday morning, a young Kissimmee girl was chosen from the crowd to be the guest trainer, spending about a minute on a plank near the tank. When asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, the dark-haired girl simply replied: 
 
 "A Shamu trainer."
– SeaWorld in Orlando resumed its whale show today, preceded by an emotional tribute to the female trainer killed three days ago. Spectators, some of whom waited in line two hours before the first show began, gave the trainers a standing ovation when they first emerged, notes the Orlando Sentinel. "It was very moving," one spectator told the AP, adding that trainers seemed "very cautious." The trainers abided by temporary new rules prohibiting them from getting in the water with the whales, and the female trainers wore their hair in buns. Dawn Brancheau apparently got pulled under by her ponytail. The whale that attacked her did not take part in today's shows.