Penguins

[Invisible Penguinboy]

:wizard: Hey i know that they have penguins at Sea World, but does anybody know if they have like a penguin esperience thing where you get to pet penguins. That would be awesome. :earsboy:

[onlyoneforme]

From the Seaworld.com website:

Adventure Express Tour
SeaWorld's first-class six-hour tour includes:

Front-of-the-line access to Kraken, Journey to Atlantis and Wild Arctic
Reserved seating at two select shows including the Shamu Adventure
Venture behind the scenes to touch a penguin
Feeding dolphins, sea lions and stingrays
A freshly prepared lunch
$89 adult / $79 child (ages 3-9)

Call (800) 406-2244 for reservations and seasonal savings. Park admission is not included and is required. Admission through Discovery Cove with SeaWorld package or valid SeaWorld Passport does apply. Tour times, prices and components subject to change and availability. Minors must be accompanied by an adult.

[jeanelle]

There is also a tour that is much cheaper. I think it is called artic expedition or something like that. You get a behind the scenes tour of the artic area including seeing the beluga whales and polar bears. The tour ends up with you being able to pet a penguin. It was cool. I loved it as penguins are my favorite animal in the world and even my 13yo son thought it was cool.

Jeanelle

[gw_lit]

Its called Polar Expedition, details can be found here (http://www.seaworld.org/education-programs/swf/tour/index.htm#pe) on SeaWorld's website.

Basic details are:

TOUR DESCRIPTION
• Explore the backstage areas of Wild Arctic®
• Meet and touch a penguin

PRICES
per Adult $16
per Child (ages 3-9) $12

[DisneySurfGirl]

It's an awesome trip and it fits in well with the rest of your day at SW so you won't miss out on the rest of the park. It's so reasonably priced too! :cool1: But make sure you get to the park early or even pre-book your place because they run out so fast. The behind-the-stage rescue package is really good too (I love manatees and it was so cool to see how they rescue and treat them!).

[Invisible Penguinboy]

:wizard: hey thanks for the info everybody. This sounds like it is gonna be great. I can't wait. :earsboy:

[SamiL]

You can also make advance reservations for the one hour tours by calling 1-800-406-2244. They still ask you to be at the park by 10 am to check in and get your tour time, but you are guaranteed a spot on the tour. If you pre-register, they take a credit card number and I think you have to give like 24 hours notice if you need to cancel.

You will love the Polar Expedition tour! We liked it so much that we went back and took the Predators Tour on a second day. We actually learned a lot on both tours too. (For example: the only way to tell whether a penguin is male or female is to do a blood test, so when one is born they try to pick names that would work for either gender, or they go with a guy name – so, I don’t know, maybe male penguins are more offended being named Jennifer than girl penguins are at being named...say…Bruce??!) :)

At any rate, we loved both tours and had a great time. One other word of advice, if you drive, spring for "Shamu's Preferred Parking." It's only $2 more and we got to park right by the entrance. It's nice when you're running in to get to the tour counter by 10 a.m., but when you're wrapping up your day and you've been tromping around the park for hours it's awesome to have your car right there (No tram ridding!!! Woo-Hoo! )

[robvia]

I've also done the Penguin tour and agree it's well worth the money. Sign up first thing in the morning as you enter the park.
You walk behind the polar bear exhibit, see their holding areas, the giant water filters. The guide tells you all kinds of information. Then you take a bus over to the penguin building. It's cold inside, like 40 degrees. A girl holds a penguin, and everyone gets to pet it.

[PiRSquared]

My son's fave animal is penguins, too, and we got to meet one up close FOR FREE!! A couple of times a day they have a talk in the penguin area. One of the SW people come out and talk about penguins and then you ask questions. At the end, he asks a question of the audience. The first person he sees raise his hand (if you have correct answer) gets to go back behind the scenes and see a penguin up close. Because there were only 4 of us, he let us all go back there. We got to touch Emmitt the penguin who was born and raised at Seaworld. It is definitely worth trying to do. (He even took our picture with a polaroid so we could take it home that day) A memory we will alway treasure!