My 1/2 day plan - is it doable? UPDATED

[tmarquez]

We will get there at opening:

First dolphin feeding & check out the rays.
Clyde & Seamore show @ 10:00.
Pets Ahoy show @ 10:45.
early counter service lunch
Feed the seals.
Penguin Encounter.
Shark Encounter.
Check out the horses.
Wild Arctic.
Believe show @ 2:30.
Let the little one play in the kids area for a bit.
Blue Horizons show @ 4:00.

This will be on Sunday if that matters. Also we all have pretty short attention spans so we won't be really lingering at any attraction for very long.

 

[Coachshoes]

wow. thats a quite packed schedule. As long as the shows dont close, like ours because on spring break they filled up 30 minutes early, you might be able to do it. All i can say is good luck and run fast. lol.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I think this is very brave, particularly on a Sunday. I have always found that Sunday is easily the busiest day at Seaworld and we tend to go almost everyday for a couple of hours during our two week vacations. I think most of it should be doable, but Clyde and Seamore and Pets Ahoy are too close together for comfort. Pets Ahoy often fills up and I have known the doors to close 15 minutes prior to the show as the theater was full.

dolphingirl47

 

[kellymonaghan]

I don't think you're allowing enough time between shows.

For example, believe will get out @ 3 and you should be in your seats for Horizons by 3:30 for the 4 o'clock show, and it's a bit of a hike from Shamu Stadium to the Horizons show. Good luck on prying the lids out of Shamu's Happy Harbor after 5 minutes!

Also, there's not enough time betweem the 9 am opening and the 10 am Clyde & Seamore show to feed the dolphins. You really need to get to C & S at least 20 minutes before show time to catch the mime. (Yeah, yeah, I know it may sound lame, but trust me, it's many people's favorite!)

 

[tmarquez]

We're back!

This is what we did. It was great. I think the crowds were light, at least they seemed light, I don't really have a frame of reference. We got there at opening. We didn't get to any show more than 15 mintues early and still got good seats.

9:15 dolphin feeding (a must do!)
Fed the rays (watch out for the birds)
Clyde & Seamore show @ 10:00. (funny...and yeah even the mime was good)
Pets Ahoy show @ 10:45. (very impressed that they adopted these animals)
Ate at the Spice Mill, none of us were thrilled with the food.
Penguin Encounter.
Shark Encounter.
Blue Horizons show @ 12:30. (we left before it was over, more on that later)
Wild Arctic. (DH got a bit motion sick, DD and I thought it was fun)
Let the little one play in the kids area for a bit. (it was HOT so all DD wanted to do was get wet)
Believe show @ 2:30. (whales on strike!)
Fed the seals. (again it's so worth it to feed all the animals)

It was really good to have a plan, if we had not...I imagine we would have just pretty much waondered aimlessly and missed most of what we wanted to do.

We left the Blue Horizons show early because we thought it was lame. I know the shows used to be more about the animals...not sure why they felt they should change it into a high diver, bird lady act. Anyway...we wanted to see/learn about the animals, and it just wasn't for us.

We didn't actually get to see the Believe show because the whales didn't want to perform. Which was actually pretty interesting, although alot of people were dissapointed. Honestly, if the Believe show turned out to be like the Blue Horizons show...it was more interesting to us to see the whales on strike! We sat in the splash zone and got splashed a bit anyway.

The highlight of the day for DD (5) was feeding the animals...that was an awesome experience. We even sprung for the photo they sell you...although you don't find out it's >$20 until you go to buy it...ouch!

 

[zumbergc]

do you know when the dolphin feeding times are?

 

[baloo's girl]

Thanks for your schedule. We're thinking of putting in a Sea World day for our trip, so I think we'll use your schedule as our model.

 

[dolphingirl47]

do you know when the dolphin feeding times are?

It does change, but most days the first feeding was at 9:15 and then every hour until lunchtime when there was a break of a 2 hours 15 minutes. Last feed of the day is around 4:30 usually.

dolphingirl47

 

[kellymonaghan]

I'm impressed. Looks like you managed to fit a lot in. Did you have to do a lot of hot footing between attractions?

I've never seen a Shamu show where the whales balked, although I've always known it's a possibility.

 

[DixieDolphin]

You didn't miss much at Believe. If you ask me, it's the worst Shamu show to date. Overall, I think they're recent Vegas-style shows are a big step down from the educational, animal-centric shows they used to have.

But yeah, sometimes the animals just decide not to participate. A lot of times this has to do with some outbreak of whale drama in the group.

I've seen it happen more often with the psuedorcas than the killer whales, though. Haven't seen it in a while, but they used to get moody and not perform all the time back when the show was still the Key West Dolphin Fest.

=)

 

[tmarquez]

do you know when the dolphin feeding times are?

The first was at 9:15, then 10:15 or 10:30 and another at 12:30...those are all the ones I looked at since we were going to be gone after that.

I'm impressed. Looks like you managed to fit a lot in. Did you have to do a lot of hot footing between attractions?

I've never seen a Shamu show where the whales balked, although I've always known it's a possibility.

My DD is 5 and not much of a walker...we just recently stopped bringing the stroller to MK and we only do a half day at a time there too...soooo...I don't think the walking was bad at all.

You didn't miss much at Believe. If you ask me, it's the worst Shamu show to date. Overall, I think they're recent Vegas-style shows are a big step down from the educational, animal-centric shows they used to have.

But yeah, sometimes the animals just decide not to participate. A lot of times this has to do with some outbreak of whale drama in the group.

I've seen it happen more often with the psuedorcas than the killer whales, though. Haven't seen it in a while, but they used to get moody and not perform all the time back when the show was still the Key West Dolphin Fest.

=)

I haven't been to Sea World in probably 11 years and I really don't understand why they have gone this route with the shows. Watching the animals do what they do and learning about them was always what Sea World was to me. heck I even wanted to be a dolphin trainer for most of my childhood due to Sea World. I know DD would have loved it the way it used to be...too bad.

The 2 older whales wanted absolutely nothing to do with the trainers at all. The 2 younger ones were all gung-ho, but I guess there is no "backup" plan when the stars are feeling moody. It was cool anyway...like I said we liked it better than Blue Horizons and there wasn't even a show!

 

[fan of the TTA]

it was a hot day?

should have done atlantis...you can get pretty soaked on that.

anyway..thanks for reporting