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Income Taxes - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)
In Thousands, unless otherwise specified
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2014
Dec. 31, 2013
Dec. 31, 2012
Income Tax Disclosure [Line Items]      
Cash paid for income taxes $ 858us-gaap_IncomeTaxesPaidNet $ 923us-gaap_IncomeTaxesPaidNet $ 767us-gaap_IncomeTaxesPaidNet
Deferred tax assets, valuation allowance 1,507us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance    
Deferred tax assets, charitable carryforwards expiration start year 2015    
Net benefit resulting from prior year adjustment for revaluation of state net operating loss carryforwards (2,977)us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefitContinuingOperationsAdjustmentOfDeferredTaxAssetLiability    
State Tax Credit Carry Forwards [Member]      
Income Tax Disclosure [Line Items]      
Net operating loss carryforwards 970,000us-gaap_OperatingLossCarryforwards
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= seas_StateTaxCreditCarryForwardsMember		    
Federal Tax Credit Carry Forwards [Member]      
Income Tax Disclosure [Line Items]      
Net operating loss carryforwards $ 650,000us-gaap_OperatingLossCarryforwards
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= seas_FederalTaxCreditCarryforwardsMember		    
Minimum [Member]      
Income Tax Disclosure [Line Items]      
Year federal net operating loss carryforwards begin to expire 2029    
Ownership shift due to the secondary offering 50.00%seas_PercentOfOwnershipShiftDueToSecondaryOffering
/ us-gaap_RangeAxis
= us-gaap_MinimumMember