SeaWorld Up close tour

[GoSkins0405]

My family is planning on going to SeaWorld in June. We have two children. There ages will be 2 and a half and 5. I saw online that the Dolphin up close tour would cost our family $130. Would it be worth it for our children? Are you allowed to touch the dolphins? I would really appreciate some feedback.

 

[soxfan11901]

I don't know about the tour, but you can touch the dolphins when feeding them and it's only $7pp for a tray of fish. I would think that would be enough to thrill the kids and anything extra that the tour would entail would be more valuable to the adults.

 

[GoSkins0405]

Where do you feed the dolphins at for $7.00?

 

[soxfan11901]

Dolphin Cove. When you enter SeaWorld pick up a schedule of events and it should have the different dolphin feeding times. I've heard the first feeding is the best as it's less crowded and the dolphins are hungrier. Each person who enters the feeding area has to pay the $7 and receives a tray of fish in return. For some reason (profit possibly?) you can't just buy one tray and then share it amongst your family.

 

[GoSkins0405]

Can you touch the dolphins when you are feeding them?

 

[SharonK0527]

When we fed the dolphins back in October, the animal handlers told us we were allowed to put one hand under the dolphin's "chin" and then when he opens his mouth, toss the fish in. Also, there were times when the dolphins would come and lay on this shelf that ran along the inside of the tank, just below the top of the tank. The dolphin would lay on the shelf and everyone nearby could pet it.

From reading the description of the Dolphins Up Close Tour, it doesn't sound like you get any more interaction with the dolphins during the tour than you do when feeding them. I would save the money and do the feeding session.

 

[chiamarie]

My family is planning on going to SeaWorld in June. We have two children. There ages will be 2 and a half and 5. I saw online that the Dolphin up close tour would cost our family $130. Would it be worth it for our children? Are you allowed to touch the dolphins? I would really appreciate some feedback.

Dolphin Cove. When you enter SeaWorld pick up a schedule of events and it should have the different dolphin feeding times. I've heard the first feeding is the best as it's less crowded and the dolphins are hungrier. Each person who enters the feeding area has to pay the $7 and receives a tray of fish in return. For some reason (profit possibly?) you can't just buy one tray and then share it amongst your family.

A) Profit is not why they have everyone pay. Dolphins only eat so much, and they only set aside a small amount of food to sell to the public (the trainers feed out most of their diet, so that each animal is getting enough food). Even back when they didn't require everyone to pay, they still sold out of food. Dolphin feeding sells it's self, they don't have to make people pay. Its because the feeding area is maent for those feeding; so not to confuse the dolphins. (This is how it was explained to me when I was there and asked about it). They want everyone in the feeding area to have food, so the dolphins know that when people are there, tehy will be fed. If you only bought one tray of food (that has 3-5 fish) but birng in 10 people, there are going to be people in there trying to touch, and not feeding. Which is what it used to be like, a big free for-all. SO they changed it so the guests (that choose to feed) were getting better expirences (they weren't getting pushed out of the way by people who didn't buy food) and it was better for the dolphins, there wasn't just one fish and 10 hands reaching out trying to touch it.

B) Dolphin up Close Tour is a one hour tour. You start at dolphin nusery, and you watch a feeding session with hte moms and babies there. You also get to help with a scatter feed there (you can throw a handful of fish in if you want). Then you wash your hands and head to dolphin cove. At dolphin cove you help with a full training session. You do not get to feed the dolphins during this part. THe trainers do the feeding. But you get your own private tour praticaly. It's your family with a trainer and 2-4 dolphins all to your self. You get to ask for behaviors, learn about them, and get lots of good touch's and photo's. If you want to compare the two think of it this way, if you do the feeding, it is cheaper, $7 per person. You will be feeding 4 fish in the feeding area with up to 100 other people as well. You'll get a 5 minute spiel on how to feed the dolphins, and about 5-10 minutes to feed, and then they clear you out so more people can feed. On the tour you get about 20 minutes for the training session and its your family with one on one with a trainer and 1-4 dolphins. Its more interactive, but obv costs more for that longer, one-on-one interaction. Its up to you to decide which is worth the money.

 

[GoSkins0405]

Thank you for your feedback. Do you think my children would enjoy the tour? There ages are 2 and a half and 5. Would my youngest get to touch and feed the dolphins?