Just back from a rainy day at Seaworld and thought I would post a trip report in case anyone is interested. This was our first trip in many many years and 1st time for our DD. Before we went I was desperately searching for touring plans - I did manage to find a few and put together ours based on what I found here.
The best thing about today was that even though it rained most of the day we still had a great time and we were able to experience everything we wanted to
The second best thing of the day was the very low crowd - actually unbelievably small crowds.
We were a bit late getting out of the condo but still managed to get parked right at 9:00 for the opening. We chose the priority parking ($3 extra) and parked in the front row literally across the bus lane from the entrance.
9:00 - 9:30 - Antarctica - there was no line for this but it took us about 5-10 minutes to walk there and we spent a lot of time viewing the penguins (in the freezing cold)
9:30 - 9:50 -Manta - there was also no line for this but we spent about 5 min putting our stuff in a locker (which broke) and then there were technical difficulties with the ride just as we were about to board.
* My DMom and DD toured the Manta aquarium while the others rode which they really enjoyed
9:50 - 10:05 - walked over to Shamu Happy Harbour
10:05- 11:00 Rode all the rides multiple times in Happy Harbour - there were only 2 or 3 other families in the whole area and for most of the rides we just stayed on a rode again.
11:00 - 11:30 Wild Arctic - also walked on and rode with only 4 other people
11:30 - 11:45 Snack/water break
11:45 - Arrived at Shamu stadium for 12:00 One Ocean show. First time we saw other people all day - the stadium was quite full and we found good seats but had to sit in 2 different rows.
12:30 - 12:45 Walked back to Shark Underwater Grille
12:45 - 1:45 Lunch at Underwater Grille - had a very nice table right next to the aquariium. Food was nice - above average - we enjoyed that it was quiet and calm in the restaurant.
1:45 - Headed over to the Clyde & Seymour theater for the 2:00 show. Theatre was quite full when we arrived but we still found nice seats - but then the heavens opened and by 2:15 they had cancelled the show
2:15 - 2:45 Walked over to the Atlantis Aquarium - looked around the aquarium and gift shop and waited out the rain
2:45 - Rain let up and headed to Dolphin theater for 3:00 Blue Horizons. The theater was less than half full. About 5 min after the show started the rain started again but the show continued with no problems
3:30 - 4:00 Turtle Trek (this was the most crowded attraction of the day but we still walked into the next show)
4:00 - 4:30 Dolphin Cove - tried to stand on the side to pet a dolphin - unsuccessful and the rain started again so for the first time kind of got caught out and wet
4:30 -5:00 Kraken (for half the group) walk-on no line at all. Snack and dry -off break (other half of the group)
5:15 - Back to Clyde and Seamour theatre for the 5:30 show - which thankfully went ahead despite the rain.
6:00 - Walked to the car
So all in all we had a nice day - we enjoyed all the shows and did the 2 big rides, only really missed the Atlantis ride but the weather just didn't cooperate. We all felt that it was an amazingly successful day in what were not very nice weather conditions. I was impressed with the park and how everything and everyone seemed very calm about the rain and they just opened and closed things as and when necessary. I think we were very lucky that the park was very uncrowded. We did notice the line at Antarctica was posting a 35min wait around 2:15 - thankfully we did that first - which I would recommend.
The best thing about today was that even though it rained most of the day we still had a great time and we were able to experience everything we wanted to
The second best thing of the day was the very low crowd - actually unbelievably small crowds. We were a bit late getting out of the condo but still managed to get parked right at 9:00 for the opening. We chose the priority parking ($3 extra) and parked in the front row literally across the bus lane from the entrance.
9:00 - 9:30 - Antarctica - there was no line for this but it took us about 5-10 minutes to walk there and we spent a lot of time viewing the penguins (in the freezing cold)
9:30 - 9:50 -Manta - there was also no line for this but we spent about 5 min putting our stuff in a locker (which broke) and then there were technical difficulties with the ride just as we were about to board.
* My DMom and DD toured the Manta aquarium while the others rode which they really enjoyed
9:50 - 10:05 - walked over to Shamu Happy Harbour
10:05- 11:00 Rode all the rides multiple times in Happy Harbour - there were only 2 or 3 other families in the whole area and for most of the rides we just stayed on a rode again.
11:00 - 11:30 Wild Arctic - also walked on and rode with only 4 other people
11:30 - 11:45 Snack/water break
11:45 - Arrived at Shamu stadium for 12:00 One Ocean show. First time we saw other people all day - the stadium was quite full and we found good seats but had to sit in 2 different rows.
12:30 - 12:45 Walked back to Shark Underwater Grille
12:45 - 1:45 Lunch at Underwater Grille - had a very nice table right next to the aquariium. Food was nice - above average - we enjoyed that it was quiet and calm in the restaurant.
1:45 - Headed over to the Clyde & Seymour theater for the 2:00 show. Theatre was quite full when we arrived but we still found nice seats - but then the heavens opened and by 2:15 they had cancelled the show
2:15 - 2:45 Walked over to the Atlantis Aquarium - looked around the aquarium and gift shop and waited out the rain
2:45 - Rain let up and headed to Dolphin theater for 3:00 Blue Horizons. The theater was less than half full. About 5 min after the show started the rain started again but the show continued with no problems
3:30 - 4:00 Turtle Trek (this was the most crowded attraction of the day but we still walked into the next show)
4:00 - 4:30 Dolphin Cove - tried to stand on the side to pet a dolphin - unsuccessful and the rain started again so for the first time kind of got caught out and wet
4:30 -5:00 Kraken (for half the group) walk-on no line at all. Snack and dry -off break (other half of the group)
5:15 - Back to Clyde and Seamour theatre for the 5:30 show - which thankfully went ahead despite the rain.
6:00 - Walked to the car
So all in all we had a nice day - we enjoyed all the shows and did the 2 big rides, only really missed the Atlantis ride but the weather just didn't cooperate. We all felt that it was an amazingly successful day in what were not very nice weather conditions. I was impressed with the park and how everything and everyone seemed very calm about the rain and they just opened and closed things as and when necessary. I think we were very lucky that the park was very uncrowded. We did notice the line at Antarctica was posting a 35min wait around 2:15 - thankfully we did that first - which I would recommend.
