Penguin Up Close tour vs Behind the Scenes tour

[AmyLyn]

We are going to Sea World/Discovery Cove in February for a family trip (my family of 4 and both sets of grandparents). We are trying to decide between the Penguin up close and the behind the scenes tours. The cost savings for all of us to do the behind the scenes tour instead of the penguin tour is about$250. I am willing to pay the extra cash if the penguin tour is worth it, but if the interaction with a penguin on the behind the scenes tour is decent, I'll do that and save the cash. My kids are 5 and 9.
Has anyone done these two and can offer insight into which is better?

 

[JM27]

We are going to Sea World/Discovery Cove in February for a family trip (my family of 4 and both sets of grandparents). We are trying to decide between the Penguin up close and the behind the scenes tours. The cost savings for all of us to do the behind the scenes tour instead of the penguin tour is about$250. I am willing to pay the extra cash if the penguin tour is worth it, but if the interaction with a penguin on the behind the scenes tour is decent, I'll do that and save the cash. My kids are 5 and 9.
Has anyone done these two and can offer insight into which is better?

I was at SeaWorld this week and I had this exact same question. It was a really cold day and I was chatting with one of the workers when no one else was around and I asked her. The behind the scenes tour is the best value you can get for your money. It's a different penguin but you actually get to pet it (on its lower back) and spend some time with it and the trainer. With the penguin tour, you get to take a photo with a bigger penguin but the interaction is not as great.

(You can get photos with the behind-the-scenes one too...the tour guide will take them for you with your own camera)

I picked the behind the scenes tour and it was worth it. Since I didn't actually do the penguin up close one I can't totally compare, but I think your kids will have a great time doing the behind the scenes tour. They'll get to see turtles, dolphins, manatees up close that are all off exhibit, pet a shark, and get to see the penguins up close. (The penguins you see are the ones they always bring on tv talk shows and stuff)

Hope this helps....if you have any other questions let me know.

 

[LottiesMommy]

My family did the penguin tour on Friday. My daughter is 7.

I did not feel it was a good value. They gave us a discount because we also did the Dolphin Tour and we had a quick-que, and I still didn't feel it was worth the cost.

The tour starts near the sea lions/seal exhibit. You walk behind the scenes and into the backstage area of the penguin habitat. You stand in a hallway and look at some posters on the wall while they tell you about the four types of penguins you will see.

They then take you into the back of the exhibit. The area you stand in is about 10-15 feet long and maybe six feet wide. Our group included about 15 people total. It was very crowded and you can only see straight out in front of you (there are walls on the other sides). The person giving the tour even said, "This is going to be a small area and we will all need to work together to make sure everyone gets some time near the front of the area to pet the penguin".

Since we were there for my daughter mainly, I just stayed near the back and let her be up toward the front. It was very dark, so not great for pictures.

We spent about 15 minutes in that area each taking turns petting the penguin and asking questions. It may seem obvious, but - It was very cold - so make sure to bring a sweater or light coat since it is 32 degrees. There was one person on our tour with just a t-shirt and shorts and he looked very cold.

My daughter was VERY happy about petting a penguin, so I am glad we did it for her, but I would recommend just sending one adult with the child and save the tour cost for any other adult unless that adult really wants to also pet the penguin. Although I thought it was cool, I certainly didn't feel it was a good value.

 

[AmyLyn]

Thank you both so much for your feedback. You've made my decision a whole lot easier. We will be booking the behind the scenes tour.

 

[AmyLyn]

I would recommend just sending one adult with the child and save the tour cost for any other adult unless that adult really wants to also pet the penguin.

That's a really good idea too