Sea World Day Camp? Anyone with Experience?

[persimmondeb]

This would be for next year, not this year, but it's being contemplated for my nephew. This would involve either us or his parents getting a nearby hotel/vacation rental and taking him/picking him up every day (or splitting the week between the two families).

It looks great, but since we live in PA, it would obviously involve some effort. Worth it for a kid who's really into zoos/aquariums?

 

[kathy884]

My son did the SeaWorld camps when they were overnight ones -- I'm sure the experiences would be the same during the day, but just not have the overnight piece. Best camp ever. He loved it so much. He went six different years to the Orlando one which was his favorite by far. He did the one in San Antonio once, the Busch Gardens one once, and the San Diego one once, but thought Orlando was the best. It was such a great experience (met great friends who were like him lovers of marine mammals). One of his friends he met at camp even works for SeaWorld now. DS is 25 now and did the camps when he was age 13-20. They do all the cool behind the scenes experiences, so if you add up the costs of all that, the camp is a decent deal for all you get. They get to meet with animal keepers and trainers, do some prep of food for the animals, all kind of cool stuff. They have some fun time for rides and shows too. Best camp ever IMHO. In Orlando too, they treat the kids like adults, treat them with a lot of respect, expect them to be responsible, and they are. It's such a great experience. They should have this for adults,. If they did I would be very tempted to sign up.

Oh and here's a link to a post I did back in 2011 when my son had just gotten back from camp in case you are interested: A plug for the SeaWorld camps/another great experience | The DIS Disney Discussion Forums - DISboards.com

 

[RogueX]

My daughter did the busch gardens/SeaWorld overnight camp a few years ago and she loved it. She got to sleep where the manatees are one night, they fed some of the larger animals during the day, and had plenty of time for rides at both of the parks.

We're in MA, so while she was at the camp, my husband and I had our own adventures around Florida.

 

[ChanaC]

I used to be one of the counselors, or technically an "education camp intern"! We had a couple of campers who were out of towners and did the camp on vacation.

Yes, for the most part the parents would stay at a nearby hotel or vacation rental and drop off/pick up the kid. Of note, SW offered parents and other family members something like a $20 ticket to enter the park after the camp ended, so they could pick up the camper from the check in/out area and go back into the park. It could be a long day, but a lot of the kids were excited to show their parents and siblings what they just saw and learned and they would want to go back and do everything again. This kind of worked well when there was bad weather, because while we have a plan for what we do during the week, sometimes a thunderstorm would roll by and they would have to cancel a show or shut down a coaster that we just didn't have time to do again later in the week. I really don't remember what the exact price of those tickets were, or if they still offer them, but it's worth asking about it.

I believe the parents who were vacationing would use the time the kids where in camp to do more adult activities, like golf, spas, just sitting by the pool alone, etc. We once had two parents who were attending a convention at the Orange County Convention Center down the road, and camp worked out perfectly because they could drop their kid off while they did whatever work related things they need to do at the convention and pick them up when they were done.

Personally, I thought the camp was worth it and was something really special and unique for the kids. The full time education staff works really hard to make a solid agenda for the week, so we're not just aimlessly wandering around the park, like what honestly happened at a few other summer camps I worked at before SW. For the most part, every day we attended one show and went on one big ride, plus had lunch, snack, and arts and craft time. The younger kids also had a storytime, and the older kids (grade 6 and above) get to spend a day at Aquatica. Each camper also gets to the do the dolphin feed experience and gets to touch a (baby) shark and a penguin, plus feed the stingrays and seals and sea lions. Each camp group is lead by one full time SW education employee who knows almost everything about every animal. The camp takes the kids backstage in a lot of areas that I don't think even paid groups get to visit. We also got to speak with a lot of employees who would teach the kids what they do and about the animals they work with. I honestly haven't worked at other zoo or aquarium camps, but I would think SW would rank really high compared to a lot of them.

Feel free to message me if you have any questions!

 

[Princess Melody]

Not sure of his age but my daughter is going into 5th grade and has been attending since she was going into 1st. She has wanted to be a dolphin trainer when she grows up since kindergarten and loves all aquatic animals. She loves this camp so much we do more than 1 week of it now (even though I do think it's kinda repetitive despite having different sessions for the younger grade camps so one week would be plenty). The camp is very well organized and well worth the money. Normally it includes lunch but they had to do away with that this year due to the added safety precautions. They do a daily craft, play simple games, see a show, get to feed and touch animals, interact with keepers backstage, and do 1 age appropriate ride daily (grades 4 and up do the big coasters but several kids will choose not to ride and that is fine, one counselor always stays behind with them). I know there are some kids in the camp who don't live locally because I see parents walking kids to the hotel across the street from the parking lot every day. It's the highlight of my daughter's summer and she's really looking forward to next year when she will be going into 6th grade and gets to graduate to the big kid camps. They normally do a black Friday special for the camps and a lot of people sign up then but you also get a % off if you are a passholder (gold is 15%, platinum I think 20% although I had to pay in full up front and have them refund the difference at the Park...it's listed in the passholder benefits but doesn't always show up on the passholder account). I do recommend signing up when you know which weeks you want because they keep a fairly small ratio of kids/counselor so they can fill up pretty fast (4th & 5th are 1 counselor/8 kids so 16 kids max/camp & only had 5 slots left for the entire summer this year when I registered in mid April). If you are unsure though there are always cancellations so you have to just keep checking daily. We have passes so not sure if it changes from year to year but this year you can buy up to 6 Sea World tickets at $25/ticket but you do have to enter the park right after camp ends. You also get 2 t shirts, a water bottle with holder, and (for the younger grades at least) they get a small stuffed animal on the last day. If he's into sea life he would probably love it!