Beluga Interaction Program??

[Jewelsy]

My daughter and I were watching the travel channel tonight and they did a show on SeaWorld. In it they mentioned the Beluga Interaction Program. It showed the people in wetsuits sitting on the side of a tank? petting the Belugas and having them perform via hand signals. My daughter thought this was great as she has loved Belugas since she was in kindergarten and they performed the Baby Beluga song.
I looked this up on the website and you can do it for $179 plus the cost of admission to the park. However, when I looked to see when it was available you could only reserve it through the end of June. Does this mean they won't be doing this program anymore? All the other interactions and tours could be booked through the end of the year.

 

[diswedwish]

I think it's a new program. When I was originally trying to convince my mom that August was a good idea ("no, really, it won't get that hot") I remember seeing this on SeaWorld's site and getting really excited, but being disappointed because it wasn't offered until September - and was listed as a new program. This was a few months ago; my mom said "no" to August but "yes" to Jan. of '08 so I didn't check back until I saw your post. So maybe they are trying it out to see how it goes as far as how many tours to offer, etc? I am excited now though, we just booked our flight for January and I hope we can try this out!

So the short answer is that I wouldn't worry about it, I'm pretty sure it will be offered for some time to come if it's successful and I can't imagine that it wouldn't be - I would call to ask about a certain date that you're interested in to verify. HTH

 

[Capt_BJ]

You get similar interaction with Bel' in the 'trainer for a day' program (the SW t4d ..... different than DC's). Obviously not all day with Bel' but part. Note that the number of people for these programs per day is SMALL ... like 6 maybe. Dau did trainer for a day and there were only 3. They were full for the other days we tried to book.

(also note if u do one of these, it started WAY b4 the park opened!)

 

[Charleyann]

My 9 year old did this on a Wish! He did the interaction on Jan 4th. He had an amazing time. The pictures were beautiful. I cry everytime I watch the video.


Charleyann

 

[s.and.s]

Interesting - I booked for the Beluga Interaction Program some months ago for early October 07.

 

[Charleyann]

Interesting - I booked for the Beluga Interaction Program some months ago for early October 07.

They did his interaction at a time they don't normally do it. He was younger then the stated age requirement....but again this was for a Wish.

You love it! The water is very very cold...

Charleyann

 

[diswedwish]

Okay, I just called to check on this one - thought this and the Sharks Dive would make good Christmas presents for my mom (if I can keep my mouth shut that long ). The helpful CM (or the SW equivalent) said that the dates are only available in June - so far anyway. He said that he knew the interaction part has changed - it's all poolside for now (but that is what is listed on-line). He made it sound like it used to include swimming with them. He said the reason for the limited availability is that there are new whales and he guesses that they're using June as a test period to see how things go before they open up more dates. So I don't know if that's the end word, but it sounded reasonable to me. Also, if they haven't notified people (like s.and.s) who have reservations that they need to cancel it seems pretty hopeful to me that they won't discontinue the tour.

HTH!

 

[aprile]

I did the Beluga Interaction Program last September and I'm sorry to hear that they've changed it. When I went we actually went into the deep water with Spooky (our whale that day). She was a real sweatheart and although I was very nervous the closer I got to doing this, I'm glad I didn't chicken out. It was an experience I will never forget and it was worth every penny.

My only regret is that I didn't buy the whole CD of pictures (I bought some pictures).

There were only three of us, plus the two trainers. First they explain everything to you, then you get in your wetsuit and go to the beluga display. When we got there was the first I knew that we were part of the wild artic exhibition, I thought we'd be in some back tank. We sat on the side of the water and got to touch her head and her tongue and feed her fish and things like that. She did some tricks and the trainer said depending on her mood would decide whether we went with her into the middle of the pool. Well, she was loving us, so we went out there and she swam around us and waved her tail at us and it was just something unreal.

I'm sure it will be a great experience without going in the deep water, I wonder why they have to train new whales, I hope the other whales are OK.

Have fun!!