Stick with Disney Parks or add SeaWorld

[Mambo Junkie]

I'd say go. Last year the guys wanted to go do the Harry Potter stuff while my DIL, 2 DGDs and I did a morning reservation for Supercalifraglistic Breakfast at GF followed by Epcot princess autograph day, breaking at 1 to enjoy the resort and pool. Wonderful relaxed day, and the guys were happy too!

 

[Docmum]

Maybe you would want to let your daughters do some research on e.g. Orcas and their way of life. "Togetherness is our home" would be a very interesting lecture. Afterwards they might have a certain idea if they want to see these majestic anmals, that have a stronger social life than humans, in captiviy or not.....

 

[mshanson3121]

Our trip is early June with my husband, two 10 year old daughters, and me. Our current plan is 3 days at MK, 1 1/2 day at Epcot, 1 day at HS, 1 day at AK, and one resort day (Poly). My husband loved SeaWorld as a kid, so we started talking about Sea World. Would you drop a MK day to go to SeaWorld, drop the resort day for SeaWorld, or neither? Our family is split - two of us want SeaWorld and two of us do not.

I'd keep Disney. Have you been in the summer before? It's hot. Now, we totally didn't find it that unmanageable. But we're used to humidity. My BIL and his family went to SW in the end of May, and honestly, couldn't handle it. They left. It was too hot - there's just not as many places to get out of the shade or into A/C as there is in Disney. So that's their story - spent almost $500 for 3 or 4 hours.

For us, we originally planned on doing SW, because DH and his mom really wanted to go. Yeah, the kids would have enjoyed it, they would. But... I'm not a big fan of SW due to the orca captivity, and how damaging it is to them. Yeah, Disney has animals in captivity, too, but you can't begin to compare AK to SW. It's not even remotely the same concept. They're also struggling big time, admissions were down 12% last year, and San Diego SW is actually closing it's orca show next year. Orlando is supposed to be creating larger tanks for them, because they've finally acknowledged (via pressure) that their housing facilities are inadequate. So, there was that.

But really, even aside from that... once we got to Disney, we had no desire to be elsewhere! We spent 3 days at MK, 2 days at AK, 1 day at EP and 1 day at HS - and didn't even come close to see everything, even just the things we wanted to! So, I definitely would NOT drop a Disney day! But, if your DH really wants to go, then maybe he can go with the child that wants to on resort day, and you can stay at the resort? For the record, I would also not drop the resort day. Disney in summer heat is exhausting. You'll need the rest. Otherwise, you'll get burned out.

 

[Mambo Junkie]

There is a lot to do at Sea World; we had a blast there! I really like walking through the tunnel with the sharks swimming around.

 

[momof2n2]

I haven't been to SeaWorld in a few years now because I haven't been able to justify the cost of 1 day to SW over adding another day to Disney.

This is EXACTLY what Disney is up to and what talked us out of SeaWorld for 11 years. We finally broke out and we were so glad.

This next trip will take us back to Gatorland for a day.

 

[Planogirl]

I would go to SeaWorld. In fact I'm thinking of going next month because I hear that their holiday decorations are amazing.

 

[MinnieSweetheart]

I have been to Sea World twice in the last couple of years, I have to admit, and I am not proud of it! Yes, I wanted to see the Orcas, this was my fault. If I had known then about Orcas in captivity what I know now I never would have gone there! So, from my familys point of view: stay with Disney and enjoy, without any feelings of being guilty concerning the whales and dolphins in captivity!

But aren't their dolphins at the seas pavilion?

 

[Belle1962]

My grandson and I have gone to SW a few times. We haven't been in several years as we didn't consider it worth doing anymore. We have played with the idea of going back but after seeing the documentary called "Blackfish" neither of us will ever visit in Fl again. In Ca they are phasing the orca shows out.

 

[dizzyinwdw]

We just did a week at Disney with one day at Seaworld in nov. If my 5 yr old was not so enthralled with whales and sea life we would not have done it. I too grew up LOVING sea world and wanted to be a dolphin trainer when I was young after spending countless times feeding the dolphins. Sea world of those days is LONG gone. To me the best part of Sea world was the animal interaction/encounters; now it is a hybrid amusement park/animal show. You have to pay for pretty much all animal interactions (e.g. a 5-15 minute dolphin interaction (cool, but used to be included before) where you can touch the dolphins but no more feeding is $15 per person) or the animal encounters tours (on average $50-120 per person!). Without any type of discount you are paying ~$100 per person per day for entry. PLUS the animal encounters! Totally not worth it at that price. I just read they are going to decrease entry fees to $21 pp; at that price YES I would go for a day (or in our case a half day). The shows are okay now but nothing like before. I had bought an AP earlier in the year for Sea World; if not we would not have gone again this trip. Compared to Disney you receive SO much more for $100 per day. Since we have WDW APs I was really trying to convince DS to do Animal Kingdom or Epcot again, but he wanted to see whales (sigh). Once he is of age a day at Discovery Cove will be a trip for us, and hopefully that is worth it. Personally I would suggest DH and DD do that instead; it seems more like the SW of old!

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

Since you're paying the money to stay at Poly, I'd keep the resort day and enjoy what it has to offer. If it were a mod or a value, I'd be more willing to spend the day at SeaWorld.

 

[kathy884]

I'm another one who always makes a day for SeaWorld on every trip. We sometimes even go two days with the great $15 second day pricing. The Summer nights stuff is really fun too. // We love the Disney parks, but SeaWorld is our family's favorite.

 

[Love Tink]

OP - Sea World offers free passes to all K-12 teachers from Florida, Texas, and California. Just mentioning it on the off chance that helps you.

Disney has marine mammals in captivity as well. And a lot of other large land animals too. Just sayin'

There is a very big difference between Orcas, who are a truly unique, family-oriented, sensitive animal, and other marine and land mammals. The closest animal that WDW keeps with which you could compare them is probably elephants - which at WDW are at least given a large habitat to roam. I would never tell someone not to go to Sea World if the Orca captivity doesn't bother them - but neither should anyone act as if animals are all the same and keeping one is the same as keeping another.

 

[epcotty]

I say drop a MK day to go to SeaWorld, 3 days @ MK is probably too many, on the 3rd you'd be primarily repeating stuff from before

 

[Mickfarland4]

I also loved Sea World as a kid and always wanted to go back. It was a sad day here when they closed ours down! I was upset that my kids don't have the chance to go like I did as a kid...Until tonight. I watched 'Blackfish' and don't think I could go again. Those beautiful whales. It was eye opening. With that said, go where your family will have fun!

 

[DOOM1001]

I would go to SeaWorld. In fact I'm thinking of going next month because I hear that their holiday decorations are amazing.

I've done the Sea World and Busch Gardens Christmas celebrations the last couple of years and none of the other Florida park is as heavily decorated and full of lights as Sea World and Busch Gardens,the Christmas ice skating shows are great as is the popular O Wondrous Night nativity show in Sea World,the dancing Sea of Trees at Sea World and the Carol of the bells projection show at Busch Gardens are also fun,overall they seem to have more Christmas attractions on a smaller scale than Disney or Universal but they end up being more enjoyable overall with the smaller crowds and amount of things throughout the parks.I would say the Sea World/Busch Christmas celebrations are on the rise as this is only like the third year Busch gardens holds one and the Sea World one has just gotten better overall the last couple of years,I remember going like 10 years ago and they didn't really offer much,I remember a water projection show with small fireworks on the lagoon but overall it was lacking,now it's 1000X better.The Universal Christmas events are flat as they've basically been having the same attractions for a good amount of years now,Grinchmas,the Macy's Holiday parade and on some nights a Mannheim Steamroller concert.Disney once this Holiday season ends will definitely be the one on the decline with the Osborne Lights going away,they've actually been removing Christmas things in the parks for a while now with the lights of Winter axed several years ago as well as the Christmas tree show in Epcot and if you actually look around the parks aside from certain areas in the parks they decorations are majorly lacking.

As far as Blackfish I've never been a fan of the Shamu show,I've just never really enjoyed it,the dolphin show is a lot more enjoyable.If they were to go the route of phasing out the Shamu show once they build the huge blue world expanded killer whale habitat I would be fine with it.They also just announced they're partnering with the Evans hotel company to build hotels onsite as well as build a new Sea Rescue dark ride and for next years Christmas celebration the Polar Express ride may be going away and being replaced by Rudolph the Red nosed reindeer characters who they just acquired in a recent deal.

 

[NYHeel]

I'm trying to make the same decision for my family trip this January. We last went to Orlando in January 2012 and we didn't do Sea World then. There's 5 in my family with kids ages 13, 9, and 7.

We're arriving on the evening of 1/19 and my schedule currently looks like this:

• Wednesday 1/20: Epcot
• Thursday 1/21: MK
• Friday 1/22: AK (need to leave park by around 3:30 since we're Sabbath observers)
• Saturday night 1/23: Epcot to see Illuminations
• Sunday 1/24: Universal Studios or Islands of Adventure
• Monday 1/25: Universal Studios or Islands of Adventure
• Tuesday 1/26: Possibly Sea World or repeat Disney park like MK
• Wednesday 1/27: HS
• Thursday 1/28: Repeat of park(s) that we really liked (leave to airport at about 5:45)

On the one hand, I think we might be a little bored doing another day at MK and can see stuff there again on 1/28 if we want. On the other hand I'd love to save the approximately $300 price difference between 5 weekday sea world tickets and one more WDW day. I'm really not expecting to need 2 days in MK as we have a touring plan set up and it seems extremely doable to hit everything we want in one day. There's plenty of room for breaks built in we still should be fine doing MK in one day.

Any thoughts?

 

[mshanson3121]

I say drop a MK day to go to SeaWorld, 3 days @ MK is probably too many, on the 3rd you'd be primarily repeating stuff from before

Not likely. We spent 3 days at MK in June and didn't come close to seeing or doing it all.

 

[amylevan]

Not likely. We spent 3 days at MK in June and didn't come close to seeing or doing it all.

I think it depends on your definition of "doing it all". There are certain things in MK my family is just not interested in doing - COP, Presidents, Tiki Room, etc. So for us, 2 days is plenty and we are never interested in a 3rd day.

 

[ArwenMarie]

There is a very big difference between Orcas, who are a truly unique, family-oriented, sensitive animal, and other marine and land mammals. The closest animal that WDW keeps with which you could compare them is probably elephants - which at WDW are at least given a large habitat to roam. I would never tell someone not to go to Sea World if the Orca captivity doesn't bother them - but neither should anyone act as if animals are all the same and keeping one is the same as keeping another.

Most large zoo animals are medicated with psych meds.

 

[Mambo Junkie]

Here in Virginia, Busch Gardens has Christmas Town which is hugely popular and being pass holders is one more reason why Sea World is appealing to me. I remember telling my friends (who had never been at Christmas before) how beautiful Disney was and how disappointed I was in their lack of decorations. They have definitely scaled back.