Spassvogel
6'7" 350lbs of Fun
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2009
- Messages
- 94
Just a quicky report on Sea World.
We hadn't been to Sea World since 2008 and decided to add it to our three days at DL and 1 day at Legoland.
The drive from Anaheim to Sea World starting in the morning went about as you would expect. There were numerous slow-downs and I-5 was even stopped a couple times.
By the time we arrived at Sea World, all of the Preferred parking was sold out, and we ended up in Parking area J-5 which I think is the farthest possible parking area from the gate. Not an auspicious beginning.
We had pre-printed our tickets at home (which saves you considerable money) and were able to use the closest gate. Unfortunately as you curl around the corner of the sidewalk towards this gate, the line is supposed to split into two lines, however, people kept jumping into the split as if it was their own line and cutting past hundreds of people. A staffer was there for about 5 minutes preventing this, but eventually left. There was also someone with a significant cache of outside food who was told they couldn't bring it in, but they told the people at the gate that their kid was allergic go fish and needed the food. The gate people asked them whether they knew that Sea World was full of fish, but let them through even though the food was far more than the one child could eat and there are actually very few places that serve fish.
The lines for Manta were long all day and eventually we decided against it. The rest of the cool rides tended to be water rides and we weren't going to get wet. We did do the Arctic Star Tours thingy, which was oddly rough and painful in places. Kids enjoyed it though.
Food prices were a few dollars each more than Disneyland. It was over $50 to feed four of us at the Pizza place.
Other annoying things: The paths through Sea World are not well organized and there are several dead-ends, or my favorite, the restaurants that don't tell you which way the entrance is. We walked for almost 10 minutes in the wrong direction around the Mama Stella's place looking for the entrance.
There are a ton of food items in the restaurants that have no prices on them. You see a cup of fruit or a piece of cake and you get it back to the cashier only to find out that it's $5.95 after you read the receipt. I know one can just ask, but in a place that cacophonous it's hard to get yourself heard.
One good thing that they did was show some flexibility with kid's meals. I.e., it was only supposed to come with Cheese pizza, but they were willing to swap in the other kinds of pizza.
Sea Lion shows were the highlights for us. (they have a daytime show that is a parody of Saturday Night Live, and a night-time show that parodies all the other shows at Sea World). It was very funny and they also entertain the crowds very well during pre-show.
The Shamu show was good as usual, but didn't seem all that spectacular.
The dolphin show was a huge disappointment. It had a storyline and more human acrobats instead of the dolphins doing jumps and tricks.
Pet's Rule was funny, but seemed shorter than it used to be.
The sky tower was actually included with admission...that is you can just queue up and ride it without paying extra anymore. That was a cool discovery.
For future trips we will probably stick to Disneyland because we know how to get the most out of it, and we know how to eat cheaply, what snacks to bring, and you don't have to pay to park at your hotel. (but I suppose you have to pay to use ART if you're out there a ways).
We hadn't been to Sea World since 2008 and decided to add it to our three days at DL and 1 day at Legoland.
The drive from Anaheim to Sea World starting in the morning went about as you would expect. There were numerous slow-downs and I-5 was even stopped a couple times.
By the time we arrived at Sea World, all of the Preferred parking was sold out, and we ended up in Parking area J-5 which I think is the farthest possible parking area from the gate. Not an auspicious beginning.
We had pre-printed our tickets at home (which saves you considerable money) and were able to use the closest gate. Unfortunately as you curl around the corner of the sidewalk towards this gate, the line is supposed to split into two lines, however, people kept jumping into the split as if it was their own line and cutting past hundreds of people. A staffer was there for about 5 minutes preventing this, but eventually left. There was also someone with a significant cache of outside food who was told they couldn't bring it in, but they told the people at the gate that their kid was allergic go fish and needed the food. The gate people asked them whether they knew that Sea World was full of fish, but let them through even though the food was far more than the one child could eat and there are actually very few places that serve fish.
The lines for Manta were long all day and eventually we decided against it. The rest of the cool rides tended to be water rides and we weren't going to get wet. We did do the Arctic Star Tours thingy, which was oddly rough and painful in places. Kids enjoyed it though.
Food prices were a few dollars each more than Disneyland. It was over $50 to feed four of us at the Pizza place.
Other annoying things: The paths through Sea World are not well organized and there are several dead-ends, or my favorite, the restaurants that don't tell you which way the entrance is. We walked for almost 10 minutes in the wrong direction around the Mama Stella's place looking for the entrance.
There are a ton of food items in the restaurants that have no prices on them. You see a cup of fruit or a piece of cake and you get it back to the cashier only to find out that it's $5.95 after you read the receipt. I know one can just ask, but in a place that cacophonous it's hard to get yourself heard.
One good thing that they did was show some flexibility with kid's meals. I.e., it was only supposed to come with Cheese pizza, but they were willing to swap in the other kinds of pizza.
Sea Lion shows were the highlights for us. (they have a daytime show that is a parody of Saturday Night Live, and a night-time show that parodies all the other shows at Sea World). It was very funny and they also entertain the crowds very well during pre-show.
The Shamu show was good as usual, but didn't seem all that spectacular.
The dolphin show was a huge disappointment. It had a storyline and more human acrobats instead of the dolphins doing jumps and tricks.
Pet's Rule was funny, but seemed shorter than it used to be.
The sky tower was actually included with admission...that is you can just queue up and ride it without paying extra anymore. That was a cool discovery.
For future trips we will probably stick to Disneyland because we know how to get the most out of it, and we know how to eat cheaply, what snacks to bring, and you don't have to pay to park at your hotel. (but I suppose you have to pay to use ART if you're out there a ways).
