Dining with Shamu

[yasuern]

Hi ALL,

We are going to be in Orlando in July and are visiting Seaworld. I was wondering has anyone every done the Dine w/ shamu? If so did you like it? Can you tell me a little about it?


Any and All info greatly appreciated

Sue

 

[monarchsfan16]

We did in February. We loved it. It was really neat to be that close to the whales. It's a little educational, because they talk about how they train the whales and stuff, but the whales do some tricks, and the information they give isn't boring. Of course I didn't hear much of it, because I was too amazed by the whales, but, that's just me. The food is really good too.

 

[yasuern]

Thanks so much for the reply!

Sue

 

[pjlla]

Here is a link to my review from January. HTH.......P

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid498396

 

[Verity Chambers]

Hi. we did it last uly and it was the highlight of our trip. The food was really good and you got unlimited drinks, my husband was gutted that he was driving!!! But being so close to the whales was amazing. I would highly recommend it to anyone.
Love Verity.

 

[jacksmom]

Hi! I have a few questions also, if you don't mind? We are thinking about this for our early Oct. trip. How far in advance did you book? What are the times available? How long did it last? And, was the park closing when you got through?? TIA!

 

[pjlla]

Well..... I was going to tell you to just click on my link above, but I cannot get it to work... I know it worked before!

Anyhow, you can do a search and find my review that way, but I will try to answer your questions here.


I believe this can be booked 3 months in advance, so start calling in early July. If you call too far in advance they will tell you when to call back. Since we went during value season (January) there was only one seating at 4:15pm I believe (or maybe 4:30). The actual "show" (for lack of a better term) last probably 30 minutes. And we had time to get over to Shamu Stadium (right next door where we ate) for the 6:30pm "Shamu Rocks America" show, which was the closing show when we were there. It was TERRIFIC.... fun show that I would suggest not missing. We followed the crowds out after that, stopping along the way to do some shopping. We probably got out of the park by 8pm. I have no idea if SW considers October low season.... probably.
But really, for more in depth info, search for my post. Or PM me. We really loved Sea World. My biggest complaint about it is that I found it difficult to find my way around, even when using the map and signs! We spent a great deal of time trying to figure out where to go next. I never feel that way in WDW........P

 

[jacksmom]

pjlla, Thanks for the great info!

 

[NCRedding]

We just did dinner with Shamu last week, and were a little disappointed, but it was more the circumstances than the actual dinner. We had the lat seating. I tried to call Sea World the day before to determine what time late seating was--it took me 3 calls and 15 minutes to get an answer. Then, when we went to the park, we had to stand in line in the hot sun for 15 minutes to confirm that we would be at dinner that night, and to receive a card with our table number on it. We were told to get to the building no later than 7, where we waited in line for another 15 minutes, this time in the rain. We were allowed in at 7:15, shown to our table, and provided with drinks of our choice--including beer. Dinner was a buffet that I thought was good--my DH thought the food was a little exotic for his taste. DD liked the kids menu. When the trainer began to speak, the table next to ours would not shut up--there were about 10 people, appearing to be hispanic or brazillian. The adults were the worst--I heard about every other sentence the trainer spoke. The animals were amazing, and I had never had an opportunity to get that close to a whale before, but the exhibition was very short. We were done with dinner by 8:05 which meant I spent almost as much time waiting as I did at the dinner.

 

[highlander447]

not such a good experience have a noisy table next to you that rotten

 

[JC Butterfly]

I purchased my tickets for October about 3 months ago now so I'm not sure how strict they are (I did it over the internet and not over the phone). I did call to confirm and asked what time the dinner would be and they were not able to tell me.

When do you suppose this information will be available?

 

[gw_lit]

We did Dine with Shamu in early May and absolutely loved it. They told us that the time for the seating wouldn't be available until about a week before our date, and that's when we found out. I imagine that since you are going in the off-season there will only be one seating and that is usually somewhere around 5:00 p.m.

 

[XRogue]

I think sometimes it depends on the whales in there as well. For instance, I went twice, and the first time, the whales were wonderful, and the trainers got in the water with them and went around to various sections of the dining section. We were also allowed to ask before booking if we could go at a later date and have a better chance of sitting along the water's edge. The second time, we were not allowed to do that, and the whales were the two the trainers do not enter the water with, so it was very boring compared to the first time.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

How much does it cost and where exactly does it take place? Is it a buffet and what do they serve?

 

[pjlla]

It cost about $100 for my family of 4 as I recall. The buffett includes ..........I can't remember! I'll try to find my review and post a link!...............P

Found it.... this one should work!
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=498396

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

thanks pjlla that link DID work AND it answered all my questions.

 

[XRogue]

Originally posted by Bella the Ball 360
How much does it cost and where exactly does it take place? Is it a buffet and what do they serve?

It costs $32 for adults and $18 for kids. The experience takes place alongside the breeding pool. This is where they used to have "Shamu Close-Up!" It's basically above the underwater viewing. The menu, if I can remember, includes things like salads, a type of salsbury steak, a vegetable platter area, mashed potatoes, some type of fish, and a dessert area. For kids, there's chicken fingers, mac and cheese. I know there's more, but those are the things I remember.

 

[bnlbebes]

I know that I made our Dinner with Shamu reservations online, and am pretty sure that I did it more than 3 months in advance. In fact, by the time I booked the reservation, I could only get the Friday dinner before my son's Saturday birthday.

We had an enjoyable time, and the free drinks (beer and Bacardi coolers) were a great treat during one of the hottest days we have ever spent in Florida!