Penguin Encounter or Behind the Scenes Tour?

[BellaBaby]

Can anyone tell me more about each of these? DS9 loves penguins. The BTST looks less expensive and you still meet a penguin, but can it compare to the Penguin Encounter? How long does each last?

TIA!!

 

[Sehsun]

The Penguins Up-Close Tour is about 45 minutes long. The Behind the Scenes Tour is about 75 minutes long.

The first half of the PUC Tour is spent walking through a "backstage" area of Antarctica, where the aviculturists work. An aviculturist will talk to you and you'll learn about what they do to care for the penguins. Then you get to meet a penguin on the second half of the tour.

On the BTS Tour, you'll get to meet a different species of penguin that is not in the Antarctica exhibit - it is accustomed to warmer temperatures.

Both are very good tours. If you're looking to focus on penguins specifically and learn more about their care at SeaWorld, I would recommend the PUC Tour. But if you want to meet a penguin, plus learn more about SeaWorld's rescue efforts, then I would recommend the BTS Tour.

 

[Susan2771]

We just did the behind the scenes tour a week and a half ago and had a very enjoyable experience. It is 1 hour and got to learn about the rescue operations, see examples of the equipment for how they rescue sea life and learn a lot of interesting facts. They had a few injured manatees that were recently rescued and we got to see them up close in the large tanks they were recuperating in, and the staff working with them spent some time explaining about manatees, the types of injuries, their progress and about all the equipment being used to help them on the road to recovery. It was really something! We also got to see sea turtles that were recently sent down from the northern states that would be released shortly and learn about their journey as well.
The group got to pet "baby" sharks, and we got a bus tour of some more of the facilities and the end of the tour was at a Magellanic penguin enclosure that the rest of the public does not have access to. We get pretty close to them and the supervisor of the enclosure who works with the penguins brought one out so that the tour group could go up one at a time to pet it and take photos. The penguin sits on the supervisor's lap so he will be in the photos as well.
It was a very interesting tour and I completely recommend it. We learned a lot about the Sea World facility behind the scenes and we had no idea how involved they are in rescue operations in the state. Meeting the various staff was also nice and you can see how devoted they are to the animals and their well being. Our daughters really enjoyed it and it was a great way to learn and ask a lot of questions.

 

[BellaBaby]

Thank you both! That's very good information. Will talk to DH to see what he thinks. Also, should we buy tix ahead of time or wait until day of? I have a day planned for Seaworld but if the weather changes I don't want to be locked in if I don't have to.

 

[Sehsun]

I would get them ahead of time, either over the phone or online. If you're visiting on a weekday, get the $75 weekday ticket. If you're visiting on a weekend day or aren't sure which day of your vacation you'll be visiting SeaWorld, get the $85 any day ticket. You can print them at home directly from your order confirmation email, and they will be turnstile-ready (no need to stop by the ticket window once you arrive at the park).