2 days at Seaworld?

[araes2102]

Seaworld offers to add a day at their park if you buy the Citypass through them. We were thinking about using our extra day in San Diego at Legoland. I would much rather spend the extra day at Seaworld though, if there is enough to experience without duplicates (with the exception of attractions we really LOVE of course). Plus when we go DS will be 11 and maybe getting too old to really enjoy it, and while DD will be 5 and at a good age, she isn't really that into legos. What do you all think? Thanks in advance for suggestions

 

[Love Tink]

Seaworld offers to add a day at their park if you buy the Citypass through them. We were thinking about using our extra day in San Diego at Legoland. I would much rather spend the extra day at Seaworld though, if there is enough to experience without duplicates (with the exception of attractions we really LOVE of course). Plus when we go DS will be 11 and maybe getting too old to really enjoy it, and while DD will be 5 and at a good age, she isn't ask that into legos. What do you all think? Thanks in advance for suggestions

I can only speak for our family, but we went to Sea World on a very, very busy day this month. We got there at opening and left around 6:00 and we did everything we wanted to do. We rode all the rides, saw all the shows (except the nighttime-only shows) and walked through all the aquariums.

I can't imagine that we would have come back for a second day, even if we could have. It was fun, but we had just done everything. And, as I said, this was on a busy day. (We waited 45 minutes for the skyride. My sister and her family went the next day, a Monday, and they walked on.) If it hadn't been busy, we could have gotten it done even faster.

We enjoyed Sea World, but I think you'd have to be really big sea-creature fans to want two days there.

I am struggling with the same question about Legoland for my about-to-be-11-year-old. I'm not sure what we're going to do. If you're not sure, may I suggest saving some money and spending a day at the beach? You can never go wrong with that, in my experience!

 

[sonnyjane]

I can't even fathom what you'd do on the second day. As the PP mentioned, you can easily accomplish everything in one full day.

 

[araes2102]

We're getting the city pass and plan to spend 5 days in Anaheim and then 5 in San Diego. Definitely spending 2 of those at the beach I love the beach! Plus SeaWorld and the zoo. Just thinking about the best use of that third "activity" day.... Thanks for the input on SeaWorld, very helpful.

 

[sonnyjane]

We're getting the city pass and plan to spend 5 days in Anaheim and then 5 in San Diego. Definitely spending 2 of those at the beach I love the beach! Plus SeaWorld and the zoo. Just thinking about the best use of that third "activity" day.... Thanks for the input on SeaWorld, very helpful.

I PROMISE I'm not a downer by nature , I'm just curious when you're visiting San Diego? I ask because the weather here is not always conducive of a great beach day, let alone two, so I just want you to have realistic expectations when planning. If you're coming in July or August, great! If you're coming at another time, the beach conditions might be very different. Just trying to help you plan!

 

[araes2102]

As of right now we are planning on being there in late June next year. Quite a ways in the future, I know. What can I say, I'm a planner This may change however as we get closer and depending on DL's opening of CarsLand. Either way, we will definitely be there over the summer. Plus, being from Nor Cal I've experienced me some cold beach weather and still love it!

 

[sonnyjane]

Plus, being from Nor Cal I've experienced me some cold beach weather and still love it!

Perfect! I have only been in CA for a few years -prior to that I was spoiled by living in Florida and enjoying white, soft sand beaches and 85 degree clear water. My friends and family had to be educated on things like "marine layer" and "wetsuits" before visiting. If you're from NorCal though, you already know the drill! Have fun!

 

[starshine514]

We have Sea World APs. So, we definitely think there's enough there to warrant going more than once. The last couple of times, we've just done quick one-day trips on our way up to Disneyland (we have APs there now, too), but have previously spent 3 days there in an single week! On our one-day trips, we just hit the highlights - Shamu show, Blue Horizons, Atlantis, Wild Arctic, Sharks, Sea Turtles, Penguins, Pacific Point, Sea Lion show, tide pools and a couple rides in the Bay of Play for my little ones.

On the longer trips, we'll hit the Skyride, Skytower, more rides for the girls, the little aquariums, Pets Rule!, the Sesame Street 4D movie, spend more time letting the girls run around or ride rides in the Bay of Play and meet the Sesame Street characters (and the Shamu, penguin and otter characters), make it a point to feed the dolphins, etc. (I think we'll be adding Shipwreck Rapids to the list, as I think my littlest one is finally tall enough). If we go multiple days, then we tend to hit Blue Horizons each day, as well as the sharks, penguins and tide pools. Next summer, they'll be opening the new Manta ride as well, so I'm thinking that will have to be added to our list!

We may be sea creature fans though, I read a review of the Downtown Aquarium in Denver where someone said they were done in 30 minutes...we spent 4 hours there!

 

[araes2102]

I didn't see a planned height requirement for Manta in San Diego, but it seems that the Manta ride in Orlando has a 54" height requirement. So sad that DD won't be able to go on it, but I suppose that is fine as I'm not sure it will even be open while we are there for Mommy to go on and it would have been a struggle convincing DS to go with!

 

[ConnieB]

It really depends on your touring style...we are not commando types...we like to wander into all the exhibits, stores, see all the shows, ride all the rides and stop along the way and enjoy the little extras. Two days is easy to fill at Sea World. There are enough shows to fill nearly a whole afternoone/evening without even doing any of the rides or exhibits.

As for Legoland....my girls ARE into Legos but definitely felt that a single day was more than enough and have no desire to return. Their words "it's really more for little kids". The highlight...and the only thing they've mentioned since our trip last year were the mini-structures. Those were great and even I enjoyed that part of Legoland. The rides...rather boring, the exhibits very simliar to each other so by mid-day we were thinking "been there done that".

Personally, I'd definitely do a second day at Sea World and skip Legoland with an 11 year old that is not into Legos.

My suggestion would be to study the map of Sea World on their webpage and decide which of the exhibits, shows and rides look interesting to YOUR family. You could probably find a lot of videos on youtube to give you an idea of what things are like to decide. Same for Legoland...check the map and videos to see if your son thinks it looks right for him. I wish I'd done that for Legoland before we went...we went solely on the idea that the girls love to build with Legos so of course the park would have to be great. Not.

 

[llump41]

Since you are going in June then with the extended hours in might be worth it. Yes you can see all of the park in a day, but you could also use that 2nd day as a beach day, nap time then back to the park for their night time shows. My fav show is the night time seal lion show. Funniest show in the park.

 

[2prettyprincesses]

How about you save the money and go to the beach and Belmont ? I could never do 2 days at Seaworld. The last time we went to Lego land was when my youngest was 10. even then they said it was too baby like.

 

[starshine514]

My fav show is the night time seal lion show. Funniest show in the park.

 

[Tinkerbelle's Mom]

I just did legoland with dd (10) this past summer after having been there when she was 4. We did not enjoy it nearly as much. The rides were a big let down for her. We have APs to Disneyland and there is just no comparison between the rides at the two parks.

That being said we could definately do two days a Sea World. This year we have the funcard and are planning a trip later this fall. We will drive down and spend the night in San Diego so we can have two days at Sea World.

You can accomplish a lot in one day but it takes a lot of planning and going straight from one show to another. We enjoy a slower pace and taking time to smell the roses. So while two days works for us - your family may not need it.

There are also a lot of very afforable tours available at sea world along with special experiences. We try to do a new each year and have anjoyed many of them!

 

[araes2102]

What is, IYO, the best tour at SeaWorld? I doubt we would do more than one, but I would love to offer the kiddos a special experience there

 

[Tinkerbelle's Mom]

What is, IYO, the best tour at SeaWorld? I doubt we would do more than one, but I would love to offer the kiddos a special experience there

The best event we have ever done by far is the sleepover. We slept in the area outside of the belgua whales viewing tank. It was an amazing night.

Our next favorite has been the Penquin Experience Tour.

 

[dinosaurjim]

We had a very different experience from other posters. We were at Sea World just 2 days ago on a Friday in September...not busy at ALL! There were no lines for anything and we could basically sit wherever we wanted for everything. The park was open from 10-6 and we wish we had another day there! We didn't get to see any of the aquariums. We rode all of the kid rides, we saw Sea Lions Live, One Ocean and Pets Rule, but we did not have time to see the Dolphin show. We rode Atlantis and the sky observatory ride, but we did not see turtle reef, the shark aquarium, or basically anything else. We took about an hour for lunch. It could be that we felt like we wanted more time simply because 8 hours was not really enough time, especially with little kids (DS9, DD's are 7, 6, 3). also, most shows were only showing twice during the day since we were there in the off-season, which meant we couldn't just decide to go to a show whenever we wanted. We were surprised to see NO dolphin shows after 3pm.

Anyway, it was good because it left us wanting more, but we wished we had more time there! (And the kids wished they had more time to play in the ENORMOUS playground!)

Good luck!