Our group of 9 spent the day at SeaWorld on Saturday, January 25, 2014. It was the first time visiting Sea World for all of us, and so none of us had any idea what to expect at the park. In preparing for our trip, I scoured these boards and found some good tips, but I didn't find a good "itinerary" to follow. I also had some questions that went unanswered, and so I decided to post our itinerary along with a few details in the hope that it will give some ideas and further information about how to go about visiting the park if you are a newbie like we were. Our group consisted of 2 grandparents, 2 great aunts/uncles, 2 parents, and 3 kids (ages 8, 5, and 23 months).
We arrived at 9.20am and headed straight to the dolphin feeding. If we had arrived right when the park opened at 9am, we would have stopped off at the stingray lagoon first (as it turns out, we didn't really miss anything, as we saw stingrays later at the shark encounter). The first dolphin feeding was at 9.30am, although it appears there is no way to find out the dolphin feeding times ahead of time. I saw some postings on this web site that the first feeding time is often 9.15am, but ours was in fact 9.30am. The other feeding times were every hour thereafter. It costs $7 per person to feed the dolphins (except my 23-month-old was free). If you are going with a group where some want to feed but others don't want to feed, I recommend getting to the front of the line because when you are then led into the feeding area, you will be right next to the non-feeders who are standing with their cameras ready to take pictures. If you do as we did and show up late (meaning you're at the end of the line), you'll be 50 feet from the non-feeders; what I did was wait until after the directions were given, and then headed down to the area near the non-feeders. I recommend the dolphin feeding - my 8 and 5 year olds really enjoyed it.
Then, after spending 5 or 10 minutes at underwater viewing area for the dolphins, we went to the dolphin show at 10:00am. The dolphin show was the favorite part of our day for most of our group -- it was truly outstanding. Even our 1-year-old enjoyed the entire 30-minute show. I would definitely make sure to get there early enough to get good seats (fortunately in our case, that meant arriving only 10-15 minutes before show time).
We then headed to the Sea Lion theatre for the Clyde and Seamore show at 11:00am (you can cut through the Antarctica section, and even though there are signs for stroller parking at the entrance of Antarctica, you are free to have your strollers throughout the section -- the stroller parking is only if you are going on the Empire of the Penguin ride). The sea lion show was not nearly as good as the dolphin show, and the animal tricks were limited, but my 8-year-old loved the corny jokes - it was his favorite part of the day. My 1-year-old was a wiggle worm the whole time, as she didn't understand the jokes of course, and there wasn't enough action to keep her entertained. If I had to do it again, I wouldn't feel bad about skipping this show. It lasted about 30 minutes.
We then went to the Antarctica section for lunch (Expedition Cafe). We were early enough (11.45am) that we beat the lunch crowd.
We then went on the Emprire of the Penguin ride. Fortunately we were given Quick Queue passes from our hotel and so we could jump to the front of the line; it appears that saved us about 30-40 minutes wait time. Once inside, we mixed with the non-Quick Queue riders, and there was still about a 10-minute wait to actually get on the ride. Once inside, you can choose Wild Expedition or Mild Expedition. The ride is very similar to the Finding Nemo ride at Epcot; and the difference between "Wild" and "Mild" Expedition is simply that the "Wild" riders are placed in a car that bounces and spins a lot more then the "mild" cars. Your baby can go on the ride as long as he or she can walk by himself/herself (i.e., no "handheld infants"). The ride lasted only 5 minutes (at most), at which point you are dropped off at a large penguin viewing area, where you can spend as long as you want. The attraction was okay, but not great. There is underwater viewing for the penguins as well. As best as I could tell, this ride is the only attraction in the Antarctica section.
We then attempted to go to the Jewels of the Aquarium, but it was closed (we knew the Journey to Atlantis ride was closed, but we weren't sure about the Aquarium).
We then headed to Pacific Preserve to view the sea lions, etc., which was fine.
We then headed to the Shark Encounter. No strollers are allowed inside. The walk-through exhibit was okay for the first part, but the very last part where you walk through a tunnel with the sharks swimming above was well worth it. Outside there is a swimming tank with lots of really cool sharks, rays, and some other fish.
We skipped the Sky Tower and headed to Up Close with Shamu. Even though the show area was closed, you can walk through the back of the orca training area and view the orcas from above and then from the underwater viewing area. The line appeared long at first (it stretched all the way up to the concession stand), but it turned out to be only a 10 minute wait. Once inside, you could stay and view the orcas for as long as you wanted. There was no formal show, but apparently they do training throughout the day, and so if you're lucky (we were not) you might see the orcas do some tricks.
We then headed to the Happy Harbor area and spent an hour or two letting our 2 older kids run around and taking our 1-year-old on a few rides. The longest wait was for Shamu Express roller coaster, but it's a good first roller coaster for kids.
We then headed to Wild Arctic, which is an area where you can see polar bears, beluga whales, and walruses. Like Empire of the Penguin, there are 2 options for getting to the animals -- the walking option (mild) and the helicopter option (wild). The helicopter ride was the most intense thing we did at Sea World all day (keep in mind we didn't ride either of the 2 big roller coasters -- Kraken and Manta). Once you arrive at the animals, you can view from both above the water and below the water. Again, this was okay, but nothing special.
We did not make it to Kraken, Manta, the sky Tower, the Alure Call of the Ocean show (Nautilus Theater), Journey to the Atlantis, the actual orca show, or Pets Ahoy (Seaport Theater).
All in all we had a nice day at Sea World.
We arrived at 9.20am and headed straight to the dolphin feeding. If we had arrived right when the park opened at 9am, we would have stopped off at the stingray lagoon first (as it turns out, we didn't really miss anything, as we saw stingrays later at the shark encounter). The first dolphin feeding was at 9.30am, although it appears there is no way to find out the dolphin feeding times ahead of time. I saw some postings on this web site that the first feeding time is often 9.15am, but ours was in fact 9.30am. The other feeding times were every hour thereafter. It costs $7 per person to feed the dolphins (except my 23-month-old was free). If you are going with a group where some want to feed but others don't want to feed, I recommend getting to the front of the line because when you are then led into the feeding area, you will be right next to the non-feeders who are standing with their cameras ready to take pictures. If you do as we did and show up late (meaning you're at the end of the line), you'll be 50 feet from the non-feeders; what I did was wait until after the directions were given, and then headed down to the area near the non-feeders. I recommend the dolphin feeding - my 8 and 5 year olds really enjoyed it.
Then, after spending 5 or 10 minutes at underwater viewing area for the dolphins, we went to the dolphin show at 10:00am. The dolphin show was the favorite part of our day for most of our group -- it was truly outstanding. Even our 1-year-old enjoyed the entire 30-minute show. I would definitely make sure to get there early enough to get good seats (fortunately in our case, that meant arriving only 10-15 minutes before show time).
We then headed to the Sea Lion theatre for the Clyde and Seamore show at 11:00am (you can cut through the Antarctica section, and even though there are signs for stroller parking at the entrance of Antarctica, you are free to have your strollers throughout the section -- the stroller parking is only if you are going on the Empire of the Penguin ride). The sea lion show was not nearly as good as the dolphin show, and the animal tricks were limited, but my 8-year-old loved the corny jokes - it was his favorite part of the day. My 1-year-old was a wiggle worm the whole time, as she didn't understand the jokes of course, and there wasn't enough action to keep her entertained. If I had to do it again, I wouldn't feel bad about skipping this show. It lasted about 30 minutes.
We then went to the Antarctica section for lunch (Expedition Cafe). We were early enough (11.45am) that we beat the lunch crowd.
We then went on the Emprire of the Penguin ride. Fortunately we were given Quick Queue passes from our hotel and so we could jump to the front of the line; it appears that saved us about 30-40 minutes wait time. Once inside, we mixed with the non-Quick Queue riders, and there was still about a 10-minute wait to actually get on the ride. Once inside, you can choose Wild Expedition or Mild Expedition. The ride is very similar to the Finding Nemo ride at Epcot; and the difference between "Wild" and "Mild" Expedition is simply that the "Wild" riders are placed in a car that bounces and spins a lot more then the "mild" cars. Your baby can go on the ride as long as he or she can walk by himself/herself (i.e., no "handheld infants"). The ride lasted only 5 minutes (at most), at which point you are dropped off at a large penguin viewing area, where you can spend as long as you want. The attraction was okay, but not great. There is underwater viewing for the penguins as well. As best as I could tell, this ride is the only attraction in the Antarctica section.
We then attempted to go to the Jewels of the Aquarium, but it was closed (we knew the Journey to Atlantis ride was closed, but we weren't sure about the Aquarium).
We then headed to Pacific Preserve to view the sea lions, etc., which was fine.
We then headed to the Shark Encounter. No strollers are allowed inside. The walk-through exhibit was okay for the first part, but the very last part where you walk through a tunnel with the sharks swimming above was well worth it. Outside there is a swimming tank with lots of really cool sharks, rays, and some other fish.
We skipped the Sky Tower and headed to Up Close with Shamu. Even though the show area was closed, you can walk through the back of the orca training area and view the orcas from above and then from the underwater viewing area. The line appeared long at first (it stretched all the way up to the concession stand), but it turned out to be only a 10 minute wait. Once inside, you could stay and view the orcas for as long as you wanted. There was no formal show, but apparently they do training throughout the day, and so if you're lucky (we were not) you might see the orcas do some tricks.
We then headed to the Happy Harbor area and spent an hour or two letting our 2 older kids run around and taking our 1-year-old on a few rides. The longest wait was for Shamu Express roller coaster, but it's a good first roller coaster for kids.
We then headed to Wild Arctic, which is an area where you can see polar bears, beluga whales, and walruses. Like Empire of the Penguin, there are 2 options for getting to the animals -- the walking option (mild) and the helicopter option (wild). The helicopter ride was the most intense thing we did at Sea World all day (keep in mind we didn't ride either of the 2 big roller coasters -- Kraken and Manta). Once you arrive at the animals, you can view from both above the water and below the water. Again, this was okay, but nothing special.
We did not make it to Kraken, Manta, the sky Tower, the Alure Call of the Ocean show (Nautilus Theater), Journey to the Atlantis, the actual orca show, or Pets Ahoy (Seaport Theater).
All in all we had a nice day at Sea World.
. Sounds like you had an awesome day at SeaWorld!
Its actually possible for the plan to be to have NO plan! 
) . The possession (or lack thereof) of Quick Queue would also affect a SW itinerary. So many variables!!!
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. So to watch those domesticated house pets perform such amazing tasks on command.....I was utterly impressed! 
