KBF
Hi I would like to take your word for the help. We are planning to visit SW the week after Christmas. We are a party of 5, 3 year old triplets and hubbie and me. Hubbie and I have been to SW but its a first for the triplets. Should we stick to your plan or do you have any other advice. We were planning on seeing Elmo, since they love it. Not planning to go to Manta or Kraken of course, but may visit Journey if it is not too scary. The kids LOVE animals, will probably enjoy the exhibits a lot. And we have a second visit free, so we could go two times, not sure. Help please.
Hi Anapaulina! I would be more than happy to help you with your plan. Let me start off by saying that its such a good thing that you have the 2nd visit free. You will be visiting Seaworld on the busiest week of the of the year. Ive come up with an alternate Idea for you because of this. Expect near 30,000 people in the park on the day of your visit. Still, im sure you and your family will enjoy your visit despite the large crowd size.
The good thing about visiting the week after Christmas, is Seaworld will still offer its Christmas shows and events throughout the park. The majority of these shows take place at night. In the plan, I've split your visit into two days. One visit in the morning and one visit at night. I'm sure with three little ones, you wouldn't want to stay from park opening at 9am until park close at 11pm. That's a pretty long day.
For your frist day, I would recommend getting to the park as close to 9am as possible. The wave of people will start coming in around Noon, so this should give you a few hours before the majority of people arrive at the park. Unfortunately, the show schedule for December hasn't been released yet, however, I'm going to use the schedule from July 4th as a guide. The July 4th schedule is a pretty good estimate as to show times for the busier time of the year when your going, since July 4th week is the 2nd busiest week of the year.
Here is the show schedule for July 4th......
http://www.seaworld.com/ParkHours.aspx?LocationID=1&ScheduleID=40363
The difference with the shows, would be there is no "Shamu Rocks" show. This show is changed to "Shamu's Christmas Miracles." There is no "Sealions tonight". This show is changed to "Clyde and Seamore Countdown to Christmas." There is no "Elmo and Abbys treasure hunt." This show is changed to "Elmo and Abbys Christmas celebration" Finally, the fireworks show "Reflections" is changed to "Holiday Reflections" and there is an extra added night show which is "Seaworld on Ice" which is an ice skating show located at Bayside stadium.
Now for the plan......
Like I said, I would suggest that you get to the park as close to 9am as possible. From park opening, I would head over to feed the dolphins. I would do this first because its obviously very popular and will get very crowded the later you go in the day. From feeding the dolphins, I would head over to the 10:00 Blue Horizons show. Following the show which should end around 10:30, I would take the time to view some the exhibits around the show like the Sting Ray Lagoon and Turtle Point. The Manta Rollercoaster has a very nice aquarium that is accessible to all visitors whether they ride the roller coaster or not. All these things are on your way to the Elmo show. Around the corner from the Elmo show is the Dolphin Nursery where there are baby dolphins and mothers. From there, head into the 12:15 Elmo Christmas show located at Seaport Theater. Keep in mind the busyness of the day and the show will fill up very quickly. Since there are only 2 chances to see this show, I would recommend getting there as early as possible. You can always go back and do some of the exhibits later in the day. I would recommend being outside the theater around 11:30-11:45.
The good thing about the time your going, is Seaworld is filled with Christmas decor and costumed characters dressed as elves, or Santa Claus which provides a great photo op for kids. Some of these photo ops are located right outside the Seaport Theater where the Elmo Christmas show takes place. So take some time after the show to check out some of the Christmas Decor.
Following your photo ops, it would be a good idea to stop for a lunch break. There are great places to eat where you will be located in the park. Voyagers smokehouse provides bbq chicken and ribs and Seaport Pizza is right around the corner and provides Pizza or chicken fingers. There are fresh salads and fruit at both locations.
After your lunch break head on over to catch the 2:15 showing of "Clyde and Seamore take Pirate Island" Following the show, there are great exhibits that your kids would really enjoy. The Sealions are located right outside the stadium. The Penguin encounter is located nearby. This is where you will also find Journey to Atlantis. The ride height requirement is 42 inches. So it may be difficult for children your kids ages to ride. However, there is another aquarium of Jellyfish and fish located at the ride which non riders as well as riders could enjoy. If your kids do meet the height requirement that would be a bonus. Journey to Atlantis is pretty much like Splash Mountain only with a surprise ending. Keep in mind also that even though it is Florida, there are rare days where it does stay very cold in late December into early January so getting wet may not be the greatest idea and you may get soaked on the ride.
Next, head over to the manatee and Alligator exhibits which are located right around the corner from Journey to Atlantis. If you decide to skip the earlier Sting ray and Turtle exhibits to get to the Elmo show instead, this would be a great time to visit those exhibits since they are near this area. From there head back towards Clyde and Seamore where you will find the Pearl dive where for a small fee, you can have a diver pick an Oyster from the bottom of the pool and bring it up. You get whatever is inside the Oyster which is guaranteed to have a pearl. Sometimes if your lucky you get two pearls inside. Younger kids sometimes enjoy interacting with the divers as they dive for oysters and you can watch even if you decide not to buy an Oyster. The skytower is located next to Pearl dive which will give you and your kids a great view of the park. This is an extra charge of $3 a person, however, kids 3 and under may get on for free. Im not 100% sure if this is the case, but it would be good to find out once you arrive.
To finish day one, I would suggest seeing either the 4:45 or 6:15 viewing of "Pets Ahoy" depending what time it is when you finish all the exhibits on day one. Your kids will love seeing dogs and cats, and even a pig perform in this awesome show. The neat thing about this show is all the animals were rescued from the local animal shelter. The "Pets Ahoy show is located right next to the skytower, in the same theater as the Elmo Christmas show was in. This is why there are only two Elmo shows each day.
I would call it a day after that. Go back to where you are staying and relax a bit. Then come back for day two....
On your second day, plan to get to the park sometime after noon. Around 2:00 would be a good bet. For the second day, you can head over to the other side of the park. The first thing you could do is head over to the "Polar Express Experience." This is a motion simulator ride that is set to scenes from the popular movie, "Polar Express" and its special only to the Christmas season. In the non Christmas seasons it is a motion simulator ride called "Wild Arctic" which is simulates your journey on a helicopter through the arctic. There is an area for young kids or people who dont want to ride which plays a short movie and you skip the ride all together. Following the ride or movie, you will enter the Beluga whale, Polar Bear, and Walrus Exhibits. You will also find a special photo op with Santa Claus himself!
Following the ride, head over to Shamu stadium which is located right across from "The Polar Express experience" for the 4:00 showing of "Believe" It would be a good idea to get to the stadium an hour before show time, again since it will be very busy and the show will fill up fast and you will want to get a good seat. Following the show, I would recommend heading over to "Shamu's Happy Harbor" this will be a HUGE hit with your kids. Its located right behind Shamu Stadium and has a massive play net and kids area where they can play. They will probably want to stay there all day. There are small rides designed for young kids that im sure they would enjoy. There are also places to eat right there. One of my favorites its "Mango Joes" which serves chicken or steak sandwiches, fruit, and salads. Another nice place to eat is "The Terrace" This serves all kinds of sandwiches, stews, fruits, and salads. This is also located near happy harbor and its indoors incase its cold outside it could be a nice relief.
Following the play area, head to the Sealion and Otter Stadium. But on your way, make sure to check out the "Animal Connections Sea Garden" which will have more photo ops with costumed characters and there may be a photo op with exotic animals from around the world. You will also pass by the Shark Encounter. Make sure to stop in to see all kinds of sharks, poisonous fish, and even some frogs! The shark encounter is right next to the Sealion show.
Next, check out the 7:15 showing of "Clyde and Seamore Countdown to Christmas" it will obviously be a different show than the Sealion and Otter Day show. And its obviously Christmas themed. I would suggest getting there atleast 45 minutes- 30 minutes early for the best seat. Again, with only 2 showings, the stadium will fill up quickly. If you get there earlier, you could always go back and see the Penguin or Sealion exhibit again.
Following the show take this time to view the Christmas decor again. Only this time, everything will be lit up in an unbelievable display of lights. You can find the lights outside Sealion and Otter Stadium, over to Seaport theater, and throughout the waterfront area. There are certain times at night where it will "Snow" in the waterfront area. Your next stop will be Shamu Stadium for the night show, "Shamu Christmas Miracles" make sure you head across the bridge this time so you will see all the amazing Chrismtas decor around the lake on on the bridge.
You will be arriving for the 2nd viewing of the "Shamu Christmas Miracles" which is at 9:45. This wont be as crowded as the first show. But still plan to be at the stadium atleast 30 minutes early. Before the show, there is Christmas Karaoke where you can sing along to popular Christmas songs. There will also be a saxophonist that comes out to play about 10 minutes before show time. This show is also different from the Shamu day show. And it is Christmas themed as well.
Following the show, head over to Bayside stadium, located around the corner from Shamu stadium. Here you will find the 10:30 showing of "Seaworld on Ice" This iceskating show may not be of interest to you kids, however, the fireworks show, "Holiday Reflections" starts literally a minute after the ice skating show ends and the best place to see the Fireworks show is at Bayside stadium. So you could just stay in your seat and enjoy the fireworks.
I hope this plan works for you. And I hope your able to do the 2nd day. But please, please please check in with guest services sometime during your first day to make 100% sure that you can return free for a second day. If for some reason you cant go the 2nd day, you will be missing out on so much.
A few side notes, Each show is no longer than 30 minutes and no shorter than 15 minutes. Blue Horizons is the longest at about 30 minutes and Pets Ahoy is the shortest, around 15-20 minutes. A show I didnt mention is "Alure" This is an acrobatics show and im not sure your kids would enjoy it. It isnt a must see, but if your into acrobatics, I would check out this show at some point. As far as weather goes incase you dont live in Florida, it normally doesnt rain much in December or January and the temperature can be all over the place. One day it could be in the 70s and the next day it could be in the 40s. and then back up to the 80s the next day. So I would bring something warm to wear and something cool to wear just incase. Like I mentioned before, there are rare days where it is very cold. Early January this year we had 3 straight weeks where the temperature didnt get above 60. Which was very very rare but it could happen. We even had a small snow flurry which was exciting for a native Floridian to see. If by some chance it does rain, know that each show has covered seating. Believe, Clyde and Seamore and Blue Horizons are outdoors and A'lure, Pets Ahoy and Elmo are indoors. Thunderstorms are rare that time of the year, but if it does happen, there is a chance the show may be delayed or canceled. If it just rains, its ok. But if there is lightning, you may be out of luck. So prepare for that just incase.
Finally, here is a park map off Seaworlds official site which will help you better understand where shows and exhibits are.
http://www.seaworld.com/orlando/parkmaps.html
I hope you and your family have a great time! Please feel free to ask any more questions you may have. I would love to answer them for you! Hope this plan works for you!
