We had 14 day access to Sea World thanks to our day at Discovery Cove, so my family bounced into Sea World a few times during our trip in June. The park was very near our resort (Marriott's Harbour Lake - awesome BTW), so it was an easy filler for evening activities. We did not wish to waste valuable morning time at Sea World (our last trip was exclusively the Sea World parks before our Fantasy cruise, so we did this park heavily last August).
Anyway, we were at Sea World on June 23 and 24 in the evening (arrived after 7) with our goal being penguins. On Sunday June 23 we waited about 50 minutes (posted wait time was 90 minutes). We rode the wild side (not wild) and enjoyed the penguins.
In fact, the next night we went back because kids wanted to see penguins again (kids are 8, 12, 17, and 18...all wanted penguins). They did not love the ride (viewed it as a necessary evil to see penguins really). When we arrived the ride was down, BUT they were allowing people into the que to see the penguins. We waited about 20 minutes and then we spent about 50 minutes with the penguins! The attendants commented that they had not seen a family stay so long in the 32 degree weather LOL We live more north and kids brought hoodies, so all were ready for the cool.
So even if the ride goes down, you may be able to enjoy the penguin exhibit, which my family honestly thought was well worth the wait. We departed Orlando for home the next day, or I have no doubt we would have been back in the evening to see the penguins.