Question to plan Aquatica/Sea World day(s)....

[tig82174]

My DP and I are headed to Orlando Sept. 2nd (arriving late) through the 5th (leaving late). (Yes, I know it's Labor Day Weekend and that's nuts----but we're going on B2B DCL cruises with the sept. 8th Med and the TransAtlantic so it just made sense to add a few days in Orlando before we head to Europe for the Med Cruise).

Anyhow...we're staying at BCV with DVC points and are planning on doing a bunch of the non-Disney parks for the first time in about 4 years. We are planning Saturday, Sept. 4th as our Aquatica day and so here's our question(s):

We notice that Sea World is open until 10pm that night----is it feasible to imagine that if we arrive at opening we could do Aquatica in the morning/day and then head over to Sea World and do all or most of the park before it closes that night? (I should probably mention that we are not "all day waterpark" people. We regularly go to Blizzard and Tyhpoon, arrive at park opening and have never stayed past 2pm-ish)

Would it help our effort if we purchased that "quick queue" option (Sea World's version of the fastpass)?

Are the parks close enough to one another to make driving from one to the other quick? And they are separate parking fees, correct?


Would there be any obvious disadvantage to trying to cram both parks into one day? (One we can think of is that showtimes are not up for Sea World yet for September but we know some shows have their last run at 4ish in the afternoon)


Anybody have any thoughts? experience? expertise?


(NOTE: I should probably also have mentioned that we purchased the "Orlando Pass" which give us unlimited entry to Sea World, Aquatica, Universal, Islands of Adventure and Wet & Wild for up to 14 days....so ticket prices or "wasting" a ticket for only a 1/2 day isn't a concern for us)

 

[jlder72]

Just got back and did one day at Aquatica (did not do Sea World this time so can't comment on that).

If you go at opening you can easily do all the water slides, wave pool, lazy river, Roa's (raging rapids) and see the other attractions by 12-1pm. We were there at about 8:45 for a 9am opening and they were already letting people in. Save time by not having to get a locker.

Our favorite was the raging rapids so you may find you like to stay on that for more than 1 trip around. I'm an excellent swimmer but did wear a life-jacket because it is so much more relaxing (no tubes like on the lazy river).

There is a free shuttle that goes to all the Sea World parks so you only need to worry about parking and paying at one park.

Sea World fast passes were not an option last time I was there but I would think that if you don't get there until the afternoon you would want them. Aquatica does not have the fastpass option so I would definitely go there first thing in the am and then finish your day at Sea World.

Have a wonderful trip

 

[finucane]

We just did this very thing this past week. We spent the morning at Aquatica and then headed over to Sea World. If the rides are important to you then the Fast Pass option would certainly speed things up for you. We found the wait times to be under 15 minutes at the end of the day though, so if you save those for last you may save The 19.99 they were selling them for. However, we may have been benefiting from people attending the After Dark shows though, that won't be going on when you visit.

The other main disadvantage to doing this method that I can think of is that we found the dolphin and stingray feeding opportunities were closed later in the day. You can still pet the stingrays, but they are not as fun as when you have a fish to offer them. Same goes for the dolphins, you can still view them, but for $7 it's hard to pass up an opportunity to feed one, and sometimes get a few pets in.

As far as parking, we only needed to pay the one time at Aquatica and that receipt got us in to Sea World as well. They also have shuttles running between the parks as well.

Overall though, we found that 1/2 a day at Aquatica was all we could stand anyhow and switching made for a great day overall.

 

[tig82174]

We just did this very thing this past week. We spent the morning at Aquatica and then headed over to Sea World. If the rides are important to you then the Fast Pass option would certainly speed things up for you. We found the wait times to be under 15 minutes at the end of the day though, so if you save those for last you may save The 19.99 they were selling them for. However, we may have been benefiting from people attending the After Dark shows though, that won't be going on when you visit.

The other main disadvantage to doing this method that I can think of is that we found the dolphin and stingray feeding opportunities were closed later in the day. You can still pet the stingrays, but they are not as fun as when you have a fish to offer them. Same goes for the dolphins, you can still view them, but for $7 it's hard to pass up an opportunity to feed one, and sometimes get a few pets in.

As far as parking, we only needed to pay the one time at Aquatica and that receipt got us in to Sea World as well. They also have shuttles running between the parks as well.

Overall though, we found that 1/2 a day at Aquatica was all we could stand anyhow and switching made for a great day overall.

Thanks for the great info. Any idea what time th feeding dolphins ends? We don't need to feed rays we have done that many times at castaway cau...but do they still let u feed seals? Til what time?

 

[finucane]

The two times we arrived late in the day (430ish) they had already closed the feeding. I seem to recall seeing a 2:30pm sign up, but the trip was such a blur that that might not be the most reliable source if you know what I mean (although I typically trust that gut feeling.)

I did a quick search that didn't yield any results either, sorry couldn't pin it down more for you. That area is really close to the entrance and was usually the first stop we made each time so if you go straight there a little after lunch I bet you will have success.