Christmas Events at Seaworld

[DaniGal]

Thinking of spending the day and the night at Seaworld on the first Sunday in December, Just three adults. For those of you who have been what are the must do attractions? How are the lines are they manageable? How long should we get to a show in advance in order to get seats? We want to do the rides, definately the polar express and as many shows as we can fit in. Any recommendations on where to eat?

Thank you for all your help. First time going in ten years

 

[CarolineB]

Must do rides for one person can be different from another -- do you like roller coasters -- are you willing to spend time in line to ride them??

You can go in the single rider line to cut down on standing in line.

I like manta and kraken. Journey to Atlantis is just o.k. but I like the boat drop at the end (if you've never been on this, I would go.)

If you want to ride manta, go early and use a small fanny pack or pockets -- no backpacks.

I wouldn't waste time on the wild arctic helicopter ride -- you can go "walk through" for less time. The polar bear is always sleeping -- I've never seen him move.

Shamu, dolphin show, clyde and sea more, pets ahoy, acrobats are all good.

Skip sesame street show if it's playing.

Skip kiddie rides in Happy Harbor.

Skip climbing structure in Happy Harbor.

Turtle Trek is new -- I haven't done it.

Perhaps look into a behind the scenes tour.

The two shows that are in doors -- pets ahoy animals and the acrobats show both fill up and have limited seating -- you can't get in after the show starts.

 

[FLOIR]

roller coasters -- You can go in the single rider line to cut down on standing in line.

What single rider lines? Sure you aren't thinking of another park?

 

[RabFlmom]

Not sure if the Christmas shows are everyday or just on weekends the first week of December; but they are all a must see.
Get to the parks at opening and plan to stay all day and night. If you have to choose between 2 of them be sure to go to O wondrous Night- check out the shows for SW on you tube to help you decide, too

The Christmas shows are mostly at night.
1. Clyde and Seamore have a special Christmas show about Santa.
2. There was a new show with animal puppets and live animals ....where the puppets tell how they helped the night Jesus was born. O Wondrous Night was the name, I think. Then the puppets are replaced with live camels,birds, donkeys, etc. The performers sing about 30 songs and it was wonderful. You have to line up for this one early. It is in the Cirque theater so seats are limited but it holds quite a crowd. It was beautiful, the songs were sung beautifully, and it was funny.
3 There a Shamu Christmas show
4. In Bayside stadium they have a beautiful Ice Skating Show.
5. Sea world converts Wild Arctic ride for Christmas,,,,,,so you do want to do the ride....it is a train ride using the movie Polar Express, Santa will be in the Arctic. Great photo ops in there. It is amazing how different this ride looks for Christmas. The theming is excellent. You can ride this one any time during the day.
The lights in all the oak trees in the park are beautiful and they have different colors and types of Christmas trees allover the park.

During the day try to go to as many shows as you can and see all the animals in the park. You can feed the dolphins, the sea lions, and the sting ray which is also fun.

Haven;t seen Turtle trek yet but probably good too. Be sure to go in the Shark aquarium , the manta aquarium to see the cool octopus, the aquarium in the gift shop at Atlantis ride.

I suggest that you buy the all day meal plan and eat all 3 meals in the park for $29.99 (adult). Food is good and there is a large variety of things to eat-not just burgers and fries. You can also get drinks and snacks inside the 5 restaurants all day long.

I was very impressed with Christmas shows and decorations at SW last year.
They even had a huge snow globe to get your picture taken in . At the end of the night there are fireworks, too.

My one gripe is getting out of the parking lot and out to I-4 or 528. Always takes about an hour at the end of the night.....so I usually hit the bakery or the ice cream shop, walk through the big souvenir store and watch the masses leave so we can drive right out.

 

[RabFlmom]

What single rider lines? Sure you aren't thinking of another park?

They have one for Manta and Kraken....my son uses it all the time. They fill up the rows with single riders.

 

[Victoria3]

They have one for Manta and Kraken....my son uses it all the time. They fill up the rows with single riders.

I don't think I've ever seen a single rider line at those attractions.

 

[RabFlmom]

Son said he used single line just a few weeks ago when we were there. Rode several times in a row in a short time even though it was a busy day. I don't know how well it is signed.

 

[TivoQueen]

We have been to Sea World during their Christmas Celebration and loved it. We loved it so much that we are planning a second day at Sea World this year just to enjoy the Christmas Celebration. We bought the quick queres for each of us for an additional $15 so we didn't have to wait in the long lines for the rides. It worked out great and we plan to do it again. The only food we really ate was the Dinner with Santa and his elves. It was at one of the restaurants (I think the Seafire) and it was very good. Buffet and then fresh baked cookies were handed out for dessert. It also included a refillable travel mug for each one of us, not sure if that is included again. The decorations in the park are amazing. We are Disney people and were not expecting much out of Sea World and boy were we wrong. It tops our list of to do's at the holidays.

 

[CarolineB]

The all day dining is a good value but the lines can be really long. If you're trying to see everything in a day, I wouldn't do the all day dining -- I would eat breakfast before I got to the park and then do quick serve (and carry water and snacks in to the park.) The pizza and pasta is part of the all day dining or you can buy separately so I've tried that and I would not advise that -- yuck! The single serve pizza sold in Waterfront was good. Chicken/beef fajitas are good. Desserts so so -- they look better than they are.

I didn't realize the OP was going to be there during the Christmas celebration. I went to Sea World last year during this time and had a lot fun -- RabFLMom gave a really good description of the event. I enjoyed all of the holiday shows. I didn't do the Dinner with Santa.

I couldn't get everything done for the Christmas event in one visit because you had to line up so early to get a seat in some for some of the shows (but I like to sit in the front.)

 

[Herbie]

Sea World does and awesome job at CHRISTMAS. I would actually chosse SW over Disney for the overall Christmasy feel.

we love the sea of trees.

 

[Jamie25UGA]

Sea World does and awesome job at CHRISTMAS. I would actually chosse SW over Disney for the overall Christmasy feel.

we love the sea of trees.

I agree about it feeling more Christmasy at Sea World. idk what it is but I've been to Disney many many times around Chriastmas, even a Disney cruise and I went to Sea World for the first time around Christmas last year and it INSTANTLY felt much much more Christmasy than Disney ever has to me.

If you're going early in the Christmas season make sure you've got weekend nights to spend at Sea World because when I went last year the Christmas shows weren't playing during the week. Everything was beautiful though.

 

[nilseks]

It is so nice to hear everyone loves Sea World at Christmastime! We are going for the first time this December (same day as OP, first Sunday). My boys are 8 and 11 so we are contemplating the Santa's Feast thing. It is hard to find info about it--does anyone know if we need reservations way in advance like at Disney? I can't even find pricing info on it, the only thing I found was a handout from the Hilton Doubletree but I don't know if it's accurate. Trying to budget in advance, lol.

 

[ilovefh]

We LOVE Sea World at Christmas! I can't even count the number of times we went last year. While we visit all of the Christmas events Sea World is by far our favorite! The O Wondrous Night show was great! Definitely line up early for that one.

We also really enjoyed the dancing trees and the ice skating show. I think we saw the Christmas Shamu show more than once and the Clyde and Seymour Christmas show was cute.

 

[TivoQueen]

Yes you have to make reservations for the Santa's Feast ahead of time. I wouldn't wait too long because it fills up fast. Our kids loved it and the food was very very good too. Enjoy

 

[mommy2twingles]

So do the Christmas shows start in December or earlier? We are going down the week before Thanksgiving and are going to Seaworld. If there are special holiday shows I will make sure to plan around them.

 

[CarolineB]

The show schedule is not posted yet but I think the Christmas shows are only on the weekends (Friday through Sunday) during the early part of the schedule and then nightly starting in mid December.

Here's a link for 2011 as 2012 will probably be similar:
http://www.disunplugged.com/2011/12/07/sea-worlds-christmas-celebration/

This is copied from Sea World's web site:

Enjoy SeaWorld's Christmas Celebration:
Select dates from November 23 – December 31, 2012.

 

[KBF]

So do the Christmas shows start in December or earlier? We are going down the week before Thanksgiving and are going to Seaworld. If there are special holiday shows I will make sure to plan around them.

The Christmas shows start the day after Thanksgiving and go every Friday, Saturday and Sunday until mid December when they become nightly. However, you might be able to ride "Polar Express Experience" which is usually up and running before Thanksgiving.

 

[Yvie]

Didn't realise there was so many Christmas shows at Seaworld
Should be interesting to see.
I must keep an eye out for when they release the schedule!

 

[CarolineB]

I saw Turtle Trek twice this past week and enjoyed it (DS8 didn't like it though -- too scary.) Both times we went the last hour that the park was open so no lines.

Manta had a 5 minute line at 9:30 p.m. tonight so that was nice too (the park closed at 10:00 p.m.)