seaworld saturday of columbus day weekend

[nymomof3]

Hi we will be spending the weekend in orlando on columbus day weekend and wanted to know how bad are the crowds at seaworld and Aquatica. We will have the fast que pass.

 

[georgina]

I can tell you Seaworld is quite crowded today (Sept 24) so I would expect that Saturday may be also. Be sure to go early. We arrived at 9:45 this morning and the lines for bag check stretched very far down the entry sidewalk. We were only going for the morning so had no bags and skipped that line. When we left at 12:45 the line of cars waiting to get in was all the way down the Central Florida Parkway and around the corner down I-drive! We are going back at 2:30 for Dine with Shamu so I hope the line is less by then.

They are also having a Halloween Spooktacular every weekend in October which may bump crowds also.

 

[shh]

I wonder why they're so crowded? I keep hearing SW is losing money, losing attendance and Sept is supposed to be a quiet off-season month. I can understand WDW and Uni being crowded - Disney Halloween party, Food/Wine and Kong/Harry Potter/Halloween Horror nights respectively. But Sea World?

 

[georgina]

We've been here since Tuesday and it was not as crowded on weekdays. Our Seaworld official hotel is fully booked on the weekend. Perhaps a lot of locals go on the weekend? There are a lot of foreign tourists also. I saw a sign when we were walking around that said 'pass holder picnic' so maybe there was an event we were not aware of.

 

[keishashadow]

I wonder why they're so crowded? I keep hearing SW is losing money, losing attendance and Sept is supposed to be a quiet off-season month. I can understand WDW and Uni being crowded - Disney Halloween party, Food/Wine and Kong/Harry Potter/Halloween Horror nights respectively. But Sea World?

Exactly for that reason. Many visiting more than one park each trip, if not all three. Those who bought the discounted blue Friday APs also need to activate them soon.

OP believe that Saturday will include the afternoon Halloween thing they do for the kids. Should bump up attendance.

 

[shh]

Yeah...bummer. Question I'm hoping someone can answer. We're only in Orlando for 3 days in mid Oct - arriving around 10am Sat leaving Tues am. I booked DC for Sunday to make sure I had a full day to enjoy it. I planned to do Sea World Sat and Aquatica Mon, thinking the latter was a quieter day for the water park. Now wondering if it would be smarter to:

1. Cut Aquatica short on Mon: maybe just catch a few things in am vs hanging out all day and revisit Sea World Mon afternoon to enjoy stuff that was too crowded on Sat to see?
OR
2. Do Aquatica on Sat (even though we can't get there until 10:30-11 when it would already be super busy), then devote all day Mon to Sea World.

Any advice would be welcome. I'm a WDW pro, but only visited SW once and never been to Aquatica or DC.

Don't mean to hijack the OP's post - maybe I should create this as a new thread?

 

[georgina]

You could definitely cut Aquatica short. We went when it opened and rode everything we wanted several times by noon, then spent time in the wave pool, lazy river, and rapids and left before 2:00. Having the Quick Queue at Seaworld will really help with the rides, but trying to fit in all the shows in one day takes planning. Some extra time there on Monday would help.

 

[shh]

You could definitely cut Aquatica short. We went when it opened and rode everything we wanted several times by noon, then spent time in the wave pool, lazy river, and rapids and left before 2:00. Having the Quick Queue at Seaworld will really help with the rides, but trying to fit in all the shows in one day takes planning. Some extra time there on Monday would help.

Thanks so much for your input. Sadly, we actually don't have the Quick Queue...the official hotel rates for the week we're going were super high at all the hotels and since we're planning several more trips to WDW and Uni over the next 8-12 months, buying AP passes for both, I'm trying to economize this trip. DC was enough of a splurge . So we're doing a cheaper LBV hotel.

But I won't care that much if I miss out on the thrill rides (my DH doesn't do them anyway.) I just love the animal shows and exhibits...that's what's most important to me. Do you think we'll have enough time to see everything at SW if we go Sat and revisit Mon afternoon?

 

[angelmom27]

I noticed last weekend that the crowds seemed higher. Hopefully not too high during Oct we plan on going for the Halloween event. Not many of the local schools here have off for Columbus day.

 

[georgina]

Thanks so much for your input. Sadly, we actually don't have the Quick Queue...the official hotel rates for the week we're going were super high at all the hotels and since we're planning several more trips to WDW and Uni over the next 8-12 months, buying AP passes for both, I'm trying to economize this trip. DC was enough of a splurge . So we're doing a cheaper LBV hotel.

But I won't care that much if I miss out on the thrill rides (my DH doesn't do them anyway.) I just love the animal shows and exhibits...that's what's most important to me. Do you think we'll have enough time to see everything at SW if we go Sat and revisit Mon afternoon?

Oops, sorry, confused you with the OP who said she had it. Yes, the stadiums are quite large and they had more shows on the weekend than during the week. We never did see the Pets Ahoy show, thought the Blue Horizons show was great, the other 2 were good. Turtle Trek (sea turtles and manatees) is a walk through with a movie and had about a 15 minute wait, it looked like you can see the outside tank from above by walking around the back, but not sure you could get in that way to the underwater viewing if time was short. The Antarctica ride line was very long and there was also a wait (shorter) to just walk in to see the penguins. That one seemed to be very popular. The Wild Arctic simulator ride we did during a show so the line was short; once the Shamu show got out the line grew. You can also skip the simulator and just walk in to see the beluga whales, seals and walruses. The two indoor aquariums were also interesting and fairly short.