Pros
My coworkers were some of the best people I have ever worked for. Plus, getting to see all the animals that you don't see out in every day life is amazing. In the tour guide job specifically (as opposed to exhibits), you get a good bit of air conditioning and rest in the shade throughout the day. They have a great conservation and animal rescue program, the animals are treated great and they definitely make large strides for animal education.
Cons
They have shareholders and no union so we are paid an un-livable wage and are not allowed to strike for better pay. Not to mention, the company doesn't care half as much for the employees as it does for the animals. $12.50 is the base pay for educators, and they JUST gave a "promotion" that included a $1 pay rase to those who have been there for six months or more. It's nearly impossible to get full-time status, and those who do get full-time still need second jobs to live. One full-timer has been loyal to SeaWorld for 26 years and has to have a second job to survive. She made a list of things she's gained and lost since working at SW and she said so far, the only things on the list are on the lost list. They take away the ambassador parking lot on busy days despite having enough parking in the regular lot so we have to increase our walk time by a few minutes in the blistering heat as well as crossing a busy street from the lot we have to park in in that case. On top of this, they have started construction in certain areas, which required fencing off walkways and paths for ambassadors only, but also some guest pathways. This sounds necessary for construction, but the problem is, they did not start the construction until weeks or even months (for some of the paths) after they closed the paths. So they blocked off our ambassador paths which increased our walk time from the tour meeting area to our headquarters by FIVE minutes. A five minute walk in 90-100 degree weather makes a big difference. And also, we have a coworker with a disability and the only way into our headquarters now is through a huge heavy door that has no automatic button to open it so she has to struggle to open that every day she comes to work. They also cut everybody's shifts by 15 minutes to save money while simultaneously constructing on bathrooms that didn't need to be fixed, and 3/5 of the sinks and hand dryers don't even work. When they're being constructed on, they put porta-potties in front of them that smell like sewage. I could go on to list even more problems (like the mold that was growing in the tours meeting area), but I'm sure this short list will suffice.
