SeaWorld Experts Help

[kuayoung]

OK, so I am normally an overplanner but thanks to my husband's last minute suggestion on what to do for the kids for Christmas, we are headed to Orlando and Sea World

I love to plan but don't have the time as we leave next week. I read somewhere about the shows being setup in such a way to allow you to more or less go from one to another but that is all I know. We love roller coaster and big rides and love animals too. Any suggestions on the good, the bad, a plan of action? The overplanner in me is a little nervous

 

[anonymouscactus]

What day you are going (sorry it wasn't clear if you meant for Christmas in general, or Christmas day), what time you are going, and knowing what you want to see and what you are willing to sacrifice are all important factors. Also the risk of getting good seats vs not so good seats vs not getting seats at all. Are you trying to see and do everything? (Happy harbor / kid rides? Animal feedings? Snowfalls? Time for shopping?) -- show times and number of shows will vary from day to day. Do you want to see both versions (IE: daytime and Christmas versions) of the sealion show and shamu show, or just the "better" of the two? Are you going for one day? Strictly Christmas things?

See the crowd report thread above/below for some general guidelines and recommendations for the Christmas event, but there are way too many variables and little information to go on, making it difficult to help out.

That said, I would love to help! Knowing the exact day would help a lot, because you can find the show schedule for the rest of the month on the website and I can try to give you some pointers.

 

[Herbie]

be there at opening and ride manta twice. You will need to rent a locker for 50 cents, because you cant place things on the ground when you board. also, do Polar Express early.

 

[kuayoung]

Additional details??? Of course, how silly.

We are going to be there on the 21st (the calendar said they are open from 9 am-11 pm). We are staying "onsite" with a package with dining and should have quick queue access (I think that is the right terminology). We are open to shows you can miss, rides you can miss suggestions. We love thrill rides but have some concerns about our son being tall enough. Since we haven't ever been there, it is hard to say.

Does that help?

 

[chiamarie]

be there at opening and ride manta twice. You will need to rent a locker for 50 cents, because you cant place things on the ground when you board. also, do Polar Express early.

Good advice; however, if it's a cold morning; they can't start operating the ride until the temp reaches a certain degree; so Manta might have a delayed opening based on how cold it is outside.

My advice for Polar Express is to go DURING a Shamu show. Once the show lets out, its where everyone heads, and gets crowded quick!

If you want to feed dolphins, go there first thing, they usually have a 9:30 feed time, and thats typically the least crowded time. You can also feed Stingrays, Seal/Sealions, and Sharks. Dolphins are the only ones that typically have a set time, the others are open for most of the day.

As far as shows go, if you want to see Shamu, you need to go to a show, and plan to be there 30 minutes early because the stadiums will probably fill. There will be two DIFFERENT shows this day; the regular One Ocean day time show, and at night the Shamu Christmas Miracles show.


The other big daytime shows are Clyde and Seamore take Pirate Island (which is one of my favorites) Blue Horizons (dolphin and false killer whales, plus birds and acrobats), Pet's Ahoy (rescued cats and dogs), Al'lure (circque del soliel type show). There are also alot of christmas night shows going on. My biggest advice is look online now, and decide what shows you want to see and make a plan A and plan B of what shows you want to see when. Like i said, plan to be there at least 30 minutes early to garuntee seats.

Hope this helps!

 

[anonymouscactus]

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 21st
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PLAN WITH NO QUICK QUEUE:

Hard to say how bad its going to be... but here is what I would reccomend for the Christmas portion / after 4:30pm

---- start heading over to Wild Arctic / Polar Express ----


4:45pm-ish -- Polar Express (everyone will be lining up at ONE OCEAN and the first clyde seamore)

---- long walk ----

6:30 (arrive BY 6) -- Clyde/Seamore Countdown to Christmas [personally I prefer clyde/seamore take pirate island over the christmas show, but that's just me. This is the only show I would "skip" if I needed time to do other things -- note: i have not seen the sesame street show]
>>> lets out at 6:55

--- take a 30 min breather, get a quick snack, do some shopping, go to the bathroom ----

8:15 (arrive by 7:30 to be safe) -- o wondrous night [first show at 6:00 *will* fill and close by 5:30; not only will people be lining up super early for o wondrous, but stampede from a FULL clyde/seymore will go straight to o wondrous night they are right near eachother -- the second show is **ALWAYS** the better option]
>> lets out at 8:50

----- go STRAIGHT to shamu stadium ------

9:30 (get there by 9) -- shamu christmas miracles
>>> lets out at 9:50

----- go STRAIGHT to bayside stadium for the winter wonderland on ice, watching the 10:00 sea of trees and the entertainment before the show. May be tough to find a decent spot for sea of trees on the way, as you might not make it to the stadium in time to grab a seat to see the sea of trees since there is a small hike and you'd have to get out of shamu quickly ---

10:30 -- Winter Wonderland on Ice

When winter wonderland concludes, stay in your seat for the fireworks show! Make sure you are on the bottom level, far enough down so your view isn't blocked when looking up! Same applies for the top, make sure the roof doesn't cover your view of looking up for fireworks.


** So what's bad about this plan? well... you won't get to walk through the fake snow for the "waterfront snow flurries". Other then that, there isn't a lot of breathing time since it's jumping from one place to the other.

I DEFINITELY reccomend doing two days to see everything, otherwise you will be scatterbrained trying to follow the schedule above. You are on vacation, it's good to take your time. You may want to sacrifice a show or two. Just remember, if you are going to an earlier CHRISTMAS showtime, GET THERE EXTRA EARLY!


---

PLAN WITH QUICK QUEUE:

I would have told you to do manta/kraken/journey to atlantis after 7:00pm when they are dead (no, really, there will be NO lines), but you mentioned you had quick queue, so no worries squeezing them in during the morning. Also, Polar Express *IS* included on quick queue. So you may want to do that before/after the time you see the ONE OCEAN shamu show to make things easy.

It will be easier to make reccomendations once knowing the crowds on the 19th and 20th, because that week will be unpredictable compared to the previous weekends. That is the first week they are open for daily operation, schools are out, etc. so it's hard to compare. Hope that helped a little bit. General rule of thumb, if there are two shows, the first will get PACKED. The second one you don't have to arrive as early. If you do stray from my schedule above and go to first showings, you **MUST** give yourself extra time otherwise you may find yourself at a closed stadium.

Most of all.... good luck! I'm curious how crowds will be during that week.

--------

As far as the morning stuff... I heard that the Sesame Street christmas fills up very quickly... I have never been to that show so I don't know for sure. It is a very small stadium.

Definitely see A'lure, Pets Ahoy, and Blue Horizons. One Ocean / daytime shamu is just "eh" to me, but others love it.

With the quick queue, you will do fine. 1:30 blue horizons will probably be the busiest and at risk of closing the quickest.

I did way too much typing, perhaps if I have time I will make up a daytime plan of attack as well.

Hope that helped a little bit, anyway. If not for you, then maybe someone else going to the park.

Most of all, have fun! Try not to be too stressed out trying to do everything, it's very difficult to do so. Moreso if you are going with kids.

 

[Herbie]

I would agree that Clyde and Seymore is the dont miss show. We also like the pet show.

The nice thing about SW in general is that it is the most relaxed pace park in Orlando. You dont have to kill yourself to get it all done.

 

[Wadecool]

I would agree that Clyde and Seymore is the dont miss show. We also like the pet show.

The nice thing about SW in general is that it is the most relaxed pace park in Orlando. You dont have to kill yourself to get it all done.

I would agree with this post. I think that the Blue Horizons show should be added to the don't miss list. Those dolphins are pretty amazing.