Living Seas vs. Sea World? Manatees?

[disneykaws]

My son's girlfriend would really like to see manatees on our trip to FL this summer. Should I schedule a separate trip to Sea World? Are there manatees in WDW at the Living Seas? Is there enough to see at LS to satisfy someone wanting to see an aquarium?

 

[phanomouse]

Yes there are manatee's at WDW and yes LS is enough to satisfy a craving for seeing a great aquarium. If she is looking for some hands on and some shows then head over to Sea world but LS is AMAZING I personally think you'd be ok just seeing this.

 

[goofy4tink]

We loved being able to see the manatees at LS. Funny thing tho...we were able to see them better on our video tape when we got home!! The manatee exhibit at SeaWorld is nice too tho. Not sure I would make a special trip there just for that.

 

[Chuck S]

I like both LS and Sea World. LS is good for a quick fix and may satisfy the needs of the person who is interested. But I would leave a "flexible" day, near the end of your trip, where you could either do a Disney park or decide to go to Sea World.

Sea World is to the Living Seas as Animal Kingdom is to a traditional city zoo.

 

[Letsbgoofy]

Well said ChuckS. Sea World is amazing and well worth the price.

 

[Eeyore1954]

I like LS, but it is just a shadow of SeaWorld. I love doing some of the "backstage" tours at SW -- got to learn a lot about how they do manatee rescue and rehab. There is so much more to see and do at SW, I would save a day to visit it.

 

[pjlla]

We were unbelievably disappointed in the Living Seas exhibit. We were SO GLAD we had planned our day at SW, which was TERRIFIC! Don't get me wrong, we LOOOOVE almost anything "Disney" but the LS was a big flop. And we (especially my 8 yr old DD) really like fish and stuff. We make several trips a year to the NE Aquarium. But we found the LS to be very lacking. Other than a new tanks full of "Finding Nemo" looking fish, there was very little else to see. In fact, I fully expected to see a sign somewhere that there was some problem and they had to remove fish from the tank, there were so few. But I didn't see any signs.

Anyhow, if you have a marine life lover in the family (fish/sharks/whales/dolphins/penguins/mantees/turtles) GO TO SEAWORLD! It was the surprise hit of our last vacation!.....P

 

[georgina]

I agree. We skipped living seas last time we went. It really didn't impress us at all the trip before that. Seaworld was great.

 

[jcemom]

We weren't at all impressed by Living Seas either! If you have the time, I say go for Sea World!!!

 

[monarchsfan16]

Living Seas has gone way downhill in the past few years. I believe they have 2 manatees. Sea World has loads. Sea World also has other amazing stuff. I could just about live at Sea World, it's great. Seriously, if I lived within an hour of Sea World I'd be there every weekend. But obviously I don't.

 

[chyam]

If you get the chance try and do Sea World,the exhibits are great and so are the shows. I live about 70 miles from Orlando and had not been to Sea World in about 10 years when I went back last summer, and it much improved! The shows were great, espcially the dog and cat show.....the manatees are very easy to see and it seems like you are so close. To me it is well worth the time and the trip, as much as I love Disney the LS does not hold a candle to Sea World.

 

[Liz]

The last time we went in Living Seas (2 yrs. ago) the tanks were all cloudy and we couldn't see any fish at all.