All WDW or Seaworld too?

[bjkj]

We will heading to the world in September. DH, DD9, DS6. They are all first timers, I've been a ton.

We will arrive on Friday late, staying at FW in the cabins. Sat through Wednesday are for the parks, leaving us 5 days. We will go to a few evening shows. We are leaving for the 3 night cruise on Thursday.

So, do we take a day and see Sea World? I love that park but I do want the kids to really experience WDW. If we go to Sea World, we will be hitting the parks a little harder, not as much down time.

What do you think?

 

[erikthewise]

Five days is just barely enough for a good introduction to WDW. If you are doing a "few evening shows" with children you will not be able to spend anywhere near five days in the parks anyway. You (or at least they) will need some down time. IMO adding Sea World to the mix would be too much. Leave it for a trip that's not already so busy. Relax and enjoy it!

 

[goofy4tink]

If you're going in September the crowds shouldn't be a big factor..so that's one less problem. We did SeaWorld a year ago. We found that we spent about 7 hrs. there. My dd isn't into the big thrill rides, so that saved us a lot of time.

As far as whether or not you will have time to do all the parks justice...well, do you think you will be back again? If so, it's not as big a deal. Here's what we do....MK we split into several visits. A morning here, an evening there. If we go MK in the morning we hop on over to AK for the afternoon or vice versa. We find that AK gets hot and we don't like being there for more than 4 hrs. or so. We love Epcot and World Showcase but my dd is a little older and we've been many times so we know what we like to do. MGM could be a split day for you also. I would try to do SeaWorld on a day that you could spend the evening in MK for parades and such. Be at opening for SeaWorld, stay until about 4 and then go back to your resort, freshen up and head over to MK if it's open a little later that night.

Sample schedule... Sat...Epcot then MGM and Fantasmic at night
Sun..SeaWorld.....Epcot/World Showcase
Mon..AK...MK
Tues...MK all day
Wed...whatever

Or something like that.

 

[ms.ojo]

I have always found Sea World to be a nice break from WDW. Almost like taking a rest day. The pace is diff't, less thrill rides, and lots of sit down shows! I find it recharges us for time back at WDW. Just don't try to do it all in 1 trip. If you're not sure you're coming back, then pick & choose what you want to do at the World so your party isn't overtired but I'd still include a day at SW. JMO

 

[AladdinsPrincess]

I have always liked Sea World, but my husband and I went in December and had a horrible time. After about 5 hours, we literally went running out of there and over to Disney where things are cleaner, better organized, and don't even get me started on how much friendlier the cast is at Disney. They really make the other theme parks look bad! That said, I love Shamu but I wouldn't skimp on Disney to squeeze in Sea World.

 

[scrump]

We debate this EVERY time for EVERY trip. We always want to do Universal or Sea World, but don't want to give up "Disney time" especially when we don't know when we're going back next. And on top of that, we actually make plans to do Sea World, but once we get to DisneyWorld we end up changing plans anyway!!!

 

[NboroGirl]

When the kids were young (age 6 and 9), we did an all WDW trip. We stayed on site and didn't take any side trips anywhere, and it worked out well. Even staying there a week it is still barely enough time to see and do all you want to. For the next trip to Orlando, the boys were older (11 and 14), and more into roller coasters, so we did Universal and added Sea World. That worked out really well for us, as we were able to do all of Universal, plus Sea World, in one week. Disney had more appeal to them when they were younger, and Universal had more appeal to them when they were older.

As for Sea World... it was okay. The kids liked the roller coaster, and everyone LOVED the dolphins. We were there in the dolphin area during feeding time, so we got to feed them, and pet them, etc. That was the highlight of our trip to this park. (So much so, that last year we went to Discovery Cove and swam with the dolphins.) The rest of the park was okay, not great, definitely not Disney or Universal, but enjoyable enough. We had an opportunity to return the next day for free (2 days for the price of one) but no one wanted to spend a 2nd day there, and we'll probably never return until we have grandchildren. .

 

[lllovell]

I have always liked Sea World, but my husband and I went in December and had a horrible time. After about 5 hours, we literally went running out of there and over to Disney where things are cleaner, better organized, and don't even get me started on how much friendlier the cast is at Disney. They really make the other theme parks look bad! That said, I love Shamu but I wouldn't skimp on Disney to squeeze in Sea World.

How strange. I went right at the beginning of Dec and had a fantastic time at Sea World (same as we always do!)

For us, Sea World is a day away. A day to be calm and enjoy the beautiful weather that we usually find in FL during the cold, damp months here. If you are going to try to do everything, it will be too much anyway. If you will be back again some other time, then save it for then.

 

[Abba98]

SeaWorld is a nice chance to get away from the magic for a day,and we always like to take a day to visit there.We've never been disappointed.....
We like both really,and if you do have a chance to visit Sea World,then by all means,take it!
Have a great trip!

 

[Laura's Dad]

As a teacher, I can take 3 personal days to go to WDW. We always spread this around a weekend, so the five day stay is what we usually wind up with. We were able to get to Sea World on our last trip in June ,when we actually had a week, and really enjoyed the park. We are going for Star Wars week in May and would love to go to Discovery Cove, but I don't think we can fit it in. We plan pretty well, but to do the things we really want to do at WDW will take most of our time. If you really want to experience Disney, do and stay with Disney. Just remember, they are not going to move WDW or Sea World any time soon. You can always go back. Prioritize what you want to do this time.

 

[GRUMPYMOMOF3]

We went to Sea World last year.We hated it.My kids are 9,9,6.Complained the whole time.They love rollar coasters,and there was only one,plus the wet ride.If you wanted to add a park i would suggest Islands Of Adventure at Universal Studios.My kids love it almost as much as Disney.

 

[bjkj]

Thanks everyone. I value everyone's insight!

 

[Buzz's_girl]

Went with the kids for the first time in August. We were there for over 2 weeks so we went to Sea World one day. THe kids loved it, and I realized there was so much to do there, we could have spent another whole day there!

That being said, if you are not going to be there for long, I would wait until your next trip. There is so mcuh to do at WDW...you might even spend a day at the resort just looking around and hangin in the pool!!

 

[cranbiz]

DW and I did Seaworld this trip and can't wait to go back. I still love Disney, but will definately schedule some more Seaworld time. In fact, we have added the SW/BG Tampa Gold passport (good for 2 years) to our repritoire of AP's

 

[Kapp]

mid vist to WDW and enjoyed it. We were not blown out of the water (no pun intended!) but it was nice and a change. You could sure notice how SeaWorld was not kept up as well (chipping paint, litter, dirty restrooms, etc.) as compared to WDW but it was still worth the time and $$$.

Have a great time!

Kapp