1st visit to SeaWorld coming up 9/15/11

[MommyMissy]

Hi! My family and I will be at SeaWorld on 9/15 for our very first visit. Mostly I am just looking for some tips on how to plan our day, where to eat, and what things not to miss. It will be myself, Dh, my sister, DS4, DS2, and DD11months. Any imput will be appreciated. TIA

 

[GottaLuvMickey]

Yay for Sea World! We're leaving in.... I just counted.... 29 hours! 4am Saturday morning! Anyway, I haven't been in 2 years, but we took our daughter there for her first birthday and had a great time! If your kids like pets, they will LOVE the Pets Rule show. It's super cute! We love all of the shows personally. They have the Sesame Street Bay of Play which is great for getting out of the stroller, running around and burning off some energy!

Food - We really enjoyed our meals at Mama Stella's Pizza Kitchen and I have heard great things about Calypso Bay Smokehouse. We will be getting the All-Day Dining pass when we're there this weekend, so we'll probably be eating plenty, so I will let you know more when we get back.

 

[MommyMissy]

How exciting!! I will be looking forward to hearing all about your trip! Have fun!

 

[A Small World]

When you enter you will be given a map and on it is a list of show times for that day. You really need to plan your day round whichever shows you want to watch - most will show more than once during the day however when we went in October some were only showing once.

You can use the time while waiting for the first show to try and plan the others

Make sure you arrive early for the Sealion show as the preshow is so funny with a mime artist

 

[MommyMissy]

Thank you for the tips, we will definitely plan around the shows!

 

[argueta0305]

We went to Sea World last summer. My kids LOVED it! All of the shows are great! They loved the Believe Show with the whales best. Plan to be there all day. You will have a blast! Enjoy your trip!

 

[llump41]

Park hours and show times, subject to change, are posted on lien for the day. Crowds should be light since this is mid week off season. The all day meal plan may not be beneficial for you since the park is only open 10-6.

 

[MommyMissy]

We went to Sea World last summer. My kids LOVED it! All of the shows are great! They loved the Believe Show with the whales best. Plan to be there all day. You will have a blast! Enjoy your trip!

Thank you!

Park hours and show times, subject to change, are posted on lien for the day. Crowds should be light since this is mid week off season. The all day meal plan may not be beneficial for you since the park is only open 10-6.

Thanks! Yay for light crowds! I was wondering about the meal plan so thanks for the tip. Do you reccomend any particular places to eat?

 

[GottaLuvMickey]

I agree that the All-Day Dining deal may not be a great idea if the park is only open 10-6 on the day you're coming. We did the dining deal today and got great use out of it, but we were there for 8 hours, and had been driving for 5 1/2 hours before we got there and hadn't eaten yet. I think if you plan to eat 2-3 meals or 2 meals and a couple snacks, it's totally worth it. We definitely got our money's worth today and think it's great! We'll be getting it again tomorrow.

We saw the new One Ocean show today - BORING - I was so disappointed! I know that Sea World has changed a lot of the policies since the death of the trainer in Orlando, but it just makes me sad to think that these poor whales used to have their trainers in the water with them many times each day, and now they hardly even touch them. They're so hands off about it all and it breaks my hearts for the whales. They don't know what happened in Orlando and why they're being "punished" like this. Either way, show was really boring. The Pets Rule show was awesome! We only saw those two today, I'll let you know more tomorrow after we're done!

 

[llump41]

I like the Calypso Bay Smokehouse. They have,or had, a great brisket. Shipwreck rapids is pretty good and if you sit in the far back you can catch the rafters as they are about to go under the waterfall.

 

[sonnyjane]

We saw the new One Ocean show today - BORING - I was so disappointed! I know that Sea World has changed a lot of the policies since the death of the trainer in Orlando, but it just makes me sad to think that these poor whales used to have their trainers in the water with them many times each day, and now they hardly even touch them. They're so hands off about it all and it breaks my hearts for the whales. They don't know what happened in Orlando and why they're being "punished" like this. Either way, show was really boring. The Pets Rule show was awesome! We only saw those two today, I'll let you know more tomorrow after we're done!

This is a very hot-button issue in my field I agree with you that One Ocean is BORING. I went in July and a lot of the audience walked out after about ten minutes. You summed it up perfectly - the policies have changed since the trainer's death in Orlando and because of that they no longer do water work (swimming with the whales). They also, for safety reasons, no longer pick a child volunteer from the audience to toss ice to the whale. Basically, it's a 20 minute snooze-fest that involves cheesy music and splashing the audience. Where I will differ with you is that I don't think the whales are sad that they don't get to swim with "their humans", nor do I think the whales feel they are being punished. I have a friend that is a trainer here at Sea World and I assure you the people miss the interaction far more than the whales.

What is really sad to ME about this whole process is that while I obviously can't say I'm against animals being in captivity (I do work at a zoo after all!), I do feel that orcas are too big of an animal to be held captive. Prior to moving to San Diego, I was a naturalist on a whale-watching boat in Washington. I have seen groups of up to 100 orca at a time frolicking and playing, and they travel miles and miles a day. The pools at Sea World (and keep in mind the pools at SW are bigger than those of other facilities that house orca) are nothing compared to what a whale really needs. Yes, their fins really do flop over because they don't have enough room to swim. Basically, the whales at SW were something that I could tolerate because 1) the old show had a conservation message and 2) the old show was (more) entertaining. Now, the conservation message is basically gone and the whales aren't being utilized as they used to be, which makes me think SW should really start phasing out the killer whales all together. I'm okay with the dolphins and the sea lions. A lot of the sea lions are rescues from the wild, and the dolphins have been bred specifically for these purposes, but whales just require SO MUCH SPACE and I don't really support SW having them anymore. Ahh, rant over haha

I will say that Pets Rule! is my favorite show at Sea World