Dine with Shamu?

[starshine514]

So, Sea World sent us an email that AP holders could get 10% off and one free kid with each paying adult on Dine with Shamu. It seems like a pretty good deal, but $80 is still more than we usually pay for a meal for the 4 of us. Does anyone have experience with this? Looking over the menu, it appears that I would be the only one in our group to eat much that isn't in the for kids section, so the price would need to be for much than the food to justify it for us.

Thanks!

 

[Camonkeygirl]

It has been a couple of years, but I have done the Dine with Shamu twice. The food is ok, but you get to sit right next to the swim areas for the whales. There are trainers in the area that interact with the whales and show how they work with them.

Pleasant experience, but a little high priced, as I don't eat much.

 

[rizzo0904]

We are doing this. I'm excited for it, but it is pricey. Thankfully the 2 year old is free.

 

[Huff]

Its a fun experience but we've only done it once several years ago. Food was good but selection was limited. I don't know how this has changed since our trip. It was fun and relaxing dining while watching the whales but the trainer interaction was minimal.

Lately we've purchased the all-you-can eat meal plan. Its a great deal if you arrive early in the morning and stay till late night. Its not worth it on a 10am-6pm park day. We get breakfast, an afternoon lunch and then snacks, hot coco etc. at night. With an AP discount we saved considerably over buying our meals separate especially allowing us to get free drinks anytime we wanted.

I've also heard the Shamu lunch box is a good deal. It gets you a good meal and a good seat for the Shamu show. We've not tried this ourselves yet.

 

[starshine514]

Thanks for the replies. I think we'll skip it.

 

[christinaspring]

We VERY much enjoyed our first Dine With Shamu experience. So much that we've done it a number of times since! The food for both breakfast and dinner is some of the best in the park in my opinion. (Overall I think the park food there is just so-so.) We prefer to just snack for lunch, then attend the early Dine With Shamu dinner. Since we are technically skipping lunch this makes up for some of the cost. I say if you've never done it before, do it!

ETA: I just noticed your kids ages and I think they are the PERFECT age to get a huge kick out of Shamu being RIGHT THERE. And yes, he is literally "right there".

 

[jumparound]

ETA: I just noticed your kids ages and I think they are the PERFECT age to get a huge kick out of Shamu being RIGHT THERE. And yes, he is literally "right there".

I totally agree with you. We went for my son's 4th birthday and he LOVED it, as did I. It's something I would do again. They had Shamu come right up to the seating area, so close if we reached over the barrier we could have touched him. A family next to us had their food splashed a little and had to go back to get more food, but it's a buffet and they had Shamu looking right at them, so IMO it would be totally worth the wet food. Plus we had reserved seating for Shamu Rocks and a preview of some of Shamu's tricks as well as explanations on how they train the orcas.

 

[endy]

Another vote for doing Dine with Shamu. Especially if kids are free, that's a great deal. We've done it a couple of times and it's a typical buffet. If your food gets spashed they take your plates and you go fill up again. Ours got spashed. Kids will love it and the whales, as mentioned by a PP, are right there.

 

[d00mbuggy]

Summertime's the best~

 

[ldymcbth]

Thanks for all of the posts on this thread! We were lucky enough to get tickets to SeaWorld for "free" using credit card rewards points, so I think I might splurge and do this dining experience with the kids - I think they would love it!