Christmas week without Quick Queue...doable?

[Jenny-momof3]

We really want to visit Seaworld during the week between Christmas and New Years. We have 6 in our family and I'm finding all of the onsite hotels have a max of 5...and I can't afford to book 2 rooms.

I've been able to find a great 3 bedroom condo at Windsor Hills for $100/night. But that means no quick queue. Are we crazy to try to do Seaworld for a few days that week without it?

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

We really want to visit Seaworld during the week between Christmas and New Years. We have 6 in our family and I'm finding all of the onsite hotels have a max of 5...and I can't afford to book 2 rooms.

I've been able to find a great 3 bedroom condo at Windsor Hills for $100/night. But that means no quick queue. Are we crazy to try to do Seaworld for a few days that week without it?

We did Christmas Week trip to the SW parks this past holiday season (December 23rd to December 30th). I would say Quick Queue is a must if you enjoy the rides and don't want to wait in lines.

While Christmas Day itself was great (with Quick Queue passes, that is) the days that followed were VERY packed. Even on Christmas Day (which was "quiet" by comparison), by mid-afternoon, the SkyTower had a 60 minute posted wait time . We walked on with QQ.

If you are more of a show-only family (and animal feedings, etc.) then QQ will not be such an issue for you. That said, some of the rides are really excellent....my DH and DS think Manta is the best coaster anywhere....and we've visited all 4 Disney parks, both Universal parks, SW, Canada's Wonderland, etc.

I did a trip report and you can find the link in my signature, if you want to check out my thoughts and photos of our experience.

Do check out the Residence Inn SeaWorld and the Hilton Grand Vacations SeaWorld. Both are onsite properties that offer rooms for larger families.

The one bedroom at the RI should sleep six, as there are two queens in the bedroom and a queen pullout sofa, plus there are also two bedroom suites available at this property. If the website comes up as disallowing 6, I would call the hotel directly to inquire.

The Hilton Grand Vacations also offer one and two bedroom suites (as long as you have two beds in the bedroom with a pullout couch, then six should be workable as long as the fire codes allow). The HGVC will offer you the benefit of in-suite laundry facilities as well.

The RI SW will give you a free hot breakfast buffet each day. If you want to check out that property, again see my trip report as that's where we stayed.

Any other questions about a SW Christmas stay, feel free to ask!

 

[Jenny-momof3]

Thanks so much for the detailed info! Will definitely be reading your trip report!

Rides are a big draw for us and we're not going to want to wait hours in line when we're used to Disney's fastpass! I've checked both the hotels you mentioned and I can't even get a room for 5 let alone 6. But possibly they are booked over New Year's Eve...not sure I will try calling both of them though.

I looked up pricing to buy QQ. It might end up being cheaper going that route vs. 2 rooms onsite. Obviously I need to spend some more time looking into all of this. We've done Disney numerous times Christmas week no problem...but rope drop and fastpass make it easy.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Thanks so much for the detailed info! Will definitely be reading your trip report!

Rides are a big draw for us and we're not going to want to wait hours in line when we're used to Disney's fastpass! I've checked both the hotels you mentioned and I can't even get a room for 5 let alone 6. But possibly they are booked over New Year's Eve...not sure I will try calling both of them though.

I looked up pricing to buy QQ. It might end up being cheaper going that route vs. 2 rooms onsite. Obviously I need to spend some more time looking into all of this. We've done Disney numerous times Christmas week no problem...but rope drop and fastpass make it easy.

Definitely call the hotels and inquire. When I plug in 2 adults and 4 kids directly on the Residence Inn SeaWorld hotel site, it won't allow 6 people in the room. But if you go to the Seaworld vacation packages website and plug in 2 adults and 4 kids (I used the ages of 10, 11, 12 and 13 just for arguments sake), it comes up with the RI 2-bedroom as one of your options to book .

If you like Disney's Fastpass, you will love Seaworld's Quick Queue. But be aware , SW changed their policy from including unlimited QQ with your onsite stay (where you could use it as many times in a day as you wanted on whatever rides you wanted with no limits) to one-time-per-attraction. I am not sure if you can upgrade to the unlimited version once you are at the park or not (I'm guessing you can for a smallf ee), but its just something to be aware of before you go.

Definitely still plan on rope drop. You will get a much better parking space (there were so many cars on the week between Christmas and New Years that their parking areas were over capacity and they were parking vehicles on the grass on an empty lot next to the Renaissance across the street) and you will beat a lot of the crowds. Here is what the entrance of the park looked like on Christmas morning this past year:





Blissfully empty! We got so much done in the first couple of hours that I almost felt guilty . Almost!

 

[Jenny-momof3]

Now that's what I like to see!

I will definitely call RI and inquire about 6 people and upgrading QQ..although if we get there early we might be able to ride without it then use their QQ later in the day. Is the QQ from RI also good for shows?

This will be our first time to Seaworld. Do you feel there would be enough to do for 3 days? And do you know of anything special they do for New Year's Eve? We're planning on buying annual passes so we can hop over and visit on our Disney trips a few times.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Now that's what I like to see!

I will definitely call RI and inquire about 6 people and upgrading QQ..although if we get there early we might be able to ride without it then use their QQ later in the day. Is the QQ from RI also good for shows?

This will be our first time to Seaworld. Do you feel there would be enough to do for 3 days? And do you know of anything special they do for New Year's Eve? We're planning on buying annual passes so we can hop over and visit on our Disney trips a few times.

None of the shows have Quick Queue (its a feature for a selection of the major rides only). The show venues generally hold a lot of people, so just get there early (during the busy holiday season, I would suggest 45 minutes or more before the show start time to get a good seat).

If you have never been to SeaWorld before, you can easily fill two days, particularly at Christmas time. You should be able to see it all and do it all, even with the crowds, particularly if you have the QQ to speed you through the lines. Remember, too, that there are two entirely different sets of shows during the holiday season. The regular shows will run during the day, then the holiday special shows run in the evening .

For your third day, you might want to consider something "extra" like Dine With Shamu and a revisit of all your favourites from the other two days. Also don't rule out Aquatica......even in the winter, you can get some waterparkable days. We went Christmas Eve day and had the park to ourselves......it was paradise!

I know angelmom was at SW last New Years Eve, so she will be able to chime in with her recommendations and feedback on those special events .

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Whoops, also wanted to mention.....

Not sure if you are aware, but SeaWorld offers (but doesn't advertise) a photo CD for all your pictures taken while in the park (or at most locations, anyway). If you keep all of your photo cards given to you as the photographers capture your pictures, then turn them in at Adventure Photo at the entrance to the park, they can burn all the images onto one CD for about $40. We were even able to get our snow globe family photos on that CD , which was an excellent savings. IIRC, you can gather photo cards for up to a 7 day period and get all the pictures on one disk (including those taken at Aquatica, I was told). We had a variety of pics put onto the CD, including the aforementioned snow globe photos, pictures taken in front of the Shamu on the wall at the park entrance, with Santa at the North Pole (part of the Polar Express Experience), with the giant Snowman near guest services, and in front of the massive tree in front of the park. Those taken at the SkyTower could be added to the CD for an additional $10, but the disk had to be taken the same day to the SkyTower kiosk to facilitate this.

Once you burn the disk, though, they cannot add any additional photos.

 

[lthiesfeld07]

Joint in on this conversation.

My family of 6 is thinking of going to Sea World on January 6. Is it going to be nuts? We are staying on Disney property

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Joint in on this conversation.

My family of 6 is thinking of going to Sea World on January 6. Is it going to be nuts? We are staying on Disney property

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

January 6th should have far less crowds and be much quieter than during the Christmas break. From what I can see, that's a Monday, and the day the kids go back to school after the holiday break (for us Northerners, anyway). That means most of the masses will have already gone home. That first full week after New Years is usually pretty quiet (or at the very least, much quieter) in all of the Orlando parks .

 

[toystory1130]

Now that's what I like to see!

I will definitely call RI and inquire about 6 people and upgrading QQ..although if we get there early we might be able to ride without it then use their QQ later in the day. Is the QQ from RI also good for shows?

This will be our first time to Seaworld. Do you feel there would be enough to do for 3 days? And do you know of anything special they do for New Year's Eve? We're planning on buying annual passes so we can hop over and visit on our Disney trips a few times.

We just got back and did try to upgrade the regular QQ and was told that wasn't possible (and they did ask a manager)

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

We just got back and did try to upgrade the regular QQ and was told that wasn't possible (and they did ask a manager)

Everyone on this board knows that I love SeaWorld , but this really disappoints me. How silly that they wouldn't allow you to upgrade. Hopefully they will get enough constructive feedback to convince them to change their policy.