Anyone done the Behind the Scene Tours at Sea World

[Seeker615]

I am in the midst of planning a few days at Sea World in October. Has anyone done any of the optional tours? I am looking at the Beluga whale and walrus tour. I want to be sure it is worth the extra money before I commit.
What have your experiences been like?

 

[leiaorgana]

I’ve done the Beluga and Walrus, Dolphin Up-Close and Sea Lion Tours over the last few year and can definitely recommend both the Beluga one and the Dolphin one.

I posted a review of the Beluga and Walrus Tour a while ago in another thread so I'll copy and paste it here too. Keep in mind that this was from June 2016 so some details might have changed since then like times etc.

"For the Wild Arctic tour our tour time was 2:15pm - 3:15pm. On our tour there were 12 people in total (our group of 3, a family of 4 and another family of 5 but the grandma of that group ended up sitting most of it out because her ECV couldn't get through some of the doorways of the backstage areas and she didn't want to be out in the heat in the outside backstage area which a lot of the tour takes place in)

The meeting place for the tour is by the bronze polar bear statue by the Wild Arctic shop and that's where it ends too. The only thing you're allowed to take with you on the tour is your sunglasses and a bottle of water. Everything else had to be put into a locker, which were one per family/group and you had to leave your sunglasses/bottle with the tour leader when you were interacting with the Belugas.

The first part of the tour was just an explanation of how they take care of the animals at the Wild Arctic enclosure and the second part involved interacting with two Harbour Seals (stroking & posing for pictures), then stroking & feeding a Beluga Whale (we did this kneeling on a platform in the bit where you view them after coming off the ride but the trainers told us normally they do this bit of the tour in the back enclosure, it just depends on where the Belugas want to be at the time) and then we ended the tour by feeding fish and squid to a Walrus that's kept in it's enclosure behind bars because they don't like being touched and then posing for some pictures with her.

Overall I definitely think it's one of the better tours that SW offers now."

 

[Joanna71985]

I've done the killer whales up-close tour, both dolphins up-close and encounter, and sea lions up close. I've enjoyed all 3, but I LOVE the killer whales tour (doing tour#13 on Fri). Highly recommend it

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Did the Walrus & Beluga tour in Feb. It was really good. You get to see the behind the scenes walrus area, and feed a fish to the large walrus "Garfield." The trainer answers questions for you. Then we went to a room with mirrored glass, where we could see the young walrus' they had there. They are not out in public view yet (may have changed since Feb though). We went to the behind the scenes beluga area as well, and each person/group got to go one on one with a trainer to ask a few behaviors of a beluga and toss a few fish. They were working with acclimating the belugas and the harbor seals in the same exhibit while we were there, so it was cool to see that interaction. While each group was waiting to go up to the belugas (there were a few belugas, so it was 2-3 groups at once), the waiting people were able to pose more questions to the trainers.

Even though we got half price tix via a black friday deal, there were not too many people on the tour - about 12 total. As noted above, they do provide you a locker as you cannot bring cameras / etc. on the tour.

 

[Seeker615]

Sounds awesome. I really want to do one of these tours. They sound like they are worth it.

 

[Penguinempress]

I've done the sea lion and penguin tours. I would recommend both but the penguin tour was especially amazing! I love penguins so I may be a bit biased but I found that the tour was very informative and included a lot of time actually interacting with the penguins.

 

[TimC40]

We did the Behind the Scenes Up Close Tour a couple of months ago which was excellent and very informative, would recommend it to all ages.

 

[WonderKid]

Has anyone done the Rescue Tour? It's described in my reservation material as an exclusive look at how our animal experts care for rescued manatees and sea turtles. However, I can't seem to find this tour listed on the SeaWorld website.

 

[TimC40]

WonderKid, the Rescue tour was described to us as a Behind The Scenes Close Up Tour and this is the tour we went on. It was part of a package we had which included a hotel stay, a day at Discovery Cove, 14 days entry to Seaworld and Aquatica and various other discounts. It was one of the best bits of our visit to Seaworld and they should promote it more.

 

[Joanna71985]

Can add another tour to mine. Just did the Animal Ambassador tour, and loved it!

 

[keishashadow]

During our Beluga tour last Nov the harbor seals were unexpectedly off the tour. We got to spend a bit more time (they said) with the Beluga. Pretty cool but I admit my (arthritic knees) were killing me. I’d certainly do it again, as they had no issue with me getting up right after my time with them and sitting on bench. The babies were so sweet to watch. No idea if they have been acclimated to general population by now.

Must say, the Sea Lion tour was my DH’s favorite. he never gets enough of feeding those bad boys . Fishies that were tossed weren’t as gross as I had expected lol. Here the guide was more than happy to take candid pics at both the stadium & pacific harbor area. A nice plus.

We stayed late & did the evening Xmas shows. I must’ve misunderstood the procedure for the photo card & the belugas. Went to retrieve the pics after midnight and they had gone “poof”. Told you have to check it out the same day. Not sure if that is standard or it was fluke. That’s okay, it’s a good reason for us to book it again

 

[Future Horizons]

I've done the Rescue and Beluga/Walrus tours, with a few more booked throughout the rest of this year. I would highly recommend them! Lots of interesting information, a good look backstage, and memorable interactions. I couldn't resist getting a couple beluga/walrus photos printed!

 

[Joanna71985]

For anyone doing the Wild Arctic tour, be aware the belugas currently aren't participating