Honest comparison with Disney, please?

[Robinrs]

MrsMud I just wanted to add my reflections on SeaWorld.

As I mentioned my son likes thrill rides so Kraken and Journey to Atlantis was about all he liked about SeaWorld. For his birthday the first week in January we were at a hotel on I Drive very close to SeaWorld and since we have APs we spent alot of time there.

Once I got him away from his two favorite rides, in fact one day Kraken was closed due to the extreme cold, we took our time and went to the shows and truly had a great time. The next day we wore our ponchos and sat in the Soak Zone of every show. He LOVED getting splashed, even in the cold! Don't miss the Clyde and Seamore show, it was hilarious! He left with a true love and respect for the sea creatures he had never paid much attention to before.

Have a great time!

 

[Cindy B]

I have to voice how nice Seaworld/Discovery Cove is as well... they are just wonderful top notch park throughout.

The shows at Sea World are very nice, and fantastic.. wouldn't trade seeing the Baby Shamu show for anything... and the dolphin swim/whole day at Discovery Cove was the highlight of our entire Florida visit!

Go to other places, you won't be disappointed.

 

[DrCool]

I would choose IOA over Disney in a heartbeat. In my opinion the park is much more entertaining, has better rides, is cleaner, and is just better overall.

My 3, 4, and 5 year old nephews just got back from Orlando and IOA was their favorite park over Magic Kingdom, MGM, Animal Kingdom, and SeaWorld. They loved Seuss Landing and the Cat in the Hat ride. The 4 year old also loved SpiderMan and rode it 4 times.

 

[VINN127]

The Loews hotels are everybit as nice and in some cases nicer than the best Disney has to offer. This from a DVC member. Don't get me wrong we love disney, but don't sell Universal short it is very nice and we always have a great time. The Palm restaurant is excellent as are all the restaurants at Portafinos. We have stayed at all the Loews hotels on property and enjoyed them all. Enjoy your stay

 

[LIFERBABE]

We went last June and bought 4 day hoppers for WDW. Since we were staying 7 nights, I bought the AP for US/IOA for $99 special fanclub rate last year. We only planned on doing US maybe 2 1\2 days. We slept in our first morning there so we decided to use the AP's for US instead of waste a hopper day. We ended up going back every day and finally made it to MK the day before we left.

We have 2 boys (5 and 3) and they were thrilled to see all the comic book characters and Nickelodeon characters.

We are headed back this June and will use our still valid AP's for Us/IOA and probably a hopper day or two.

I find it's very hard to hop from park to park once you get going and with Fastpass times.

The Curious George waterpark and Ball pit in IOA was so much fun for my boys they didn't want to leave! I love the free-for-all instant access concept of that area after standing in lines or waiting for fastpass times all day.

We enjoy both parks and plan on doing Florida vacations for many years so eventually we will get to do all of it. I don't know how much longer US will offer the cheap prices but they really make it affordable for the whole family.

I also found the counter food to be alot cheaper at at US/IOA than at Disney.

 

[the Dark Marauder]

Originally posted by LIFERBABE
The Curious George waterpark and Ball pit in IOA was so much fun for my boys they didn't want to leave! I love the free-for-all instant access concept of that area after standing in lines or waiting for fastpass times all day.

The area is in USF, not IOA. It is a very fun place, though. It's also perfect on a hot summer day-a great place to cool off!

 

[lookingforward]

I LOVE Disney but I also LOVE US/IOA. We have been to both several times this year. I love Loew's hotels and the prices are much better at US if you use the dicounts available. The parks are clean, well spaced out and much more interesting to a 10 and 12 year old boy. For our 4 year old daughter Disney is the best but she honestly enjoys US/IOA too. Her favorites are Cat in the Hat, Spiderman and the shows at US. If you stay onsite you will be totally spoiled by the express enterance to all rides. It really makes a huge difference when you have kids not to have to wait in hot, long, boring lines.