SW/DC questions please

[cobbler]

Ok, hubby wants to mix things up a bit for our Dec 2007 trip. He wanted to do DC and since we apparantly get tickets to SW included in that he wants to do a couple of days there.

Fine. Now no one in my family has ever been. Ok I lie, I went when I was much younger to the SW in Ohio. It was a long time ago.

So anyway, we will either be staying at SSR or OKW. What is the best way to get there? We do have our own vehicle.

Cost for parking? At both DC and SW? Not sure but are they essentially one in the same, just seperated like MK and Epcot? (both WDW but . . . )

Any tips and such? Or places or threads to read?

When should I be looking for tickets for DC? SW?

How about dining? Lets say I want to reserve the dining with Shamu, how much and how far in advance? Our family will be 2 adults, an 11 year old (probably considered adult) and a 6 year old.

Thanks!

 

[padisneylover]

A DF and I took her two kids to DC and Sea World two years ago and it was the best investment we made. I can't tell you about parking since we used a town car and didn't have to worry about that. DC is across the street from Sea World and is just beautiful from the time you enter the building to go in to all through the park. We purchased our tickets almost a year in advance since I had heard that they are hard to get at times and we didn't want to miss it. We took the advice of the boards here and got there an hour before official opening. They let you in and you can get your id tags and tour done of the facilities and also get changed into either your wet suits or flotation vests with time to spare. Then you have time to schedule your swim with the dolphins before it gets busy. We had an early morning swim as the advice on the boards told us to do since people said the dolphins are more interactive then. A half hour before the swim when we were to report to the area for our start of this her daughter disappeared and we never did find her in time for the tour. They were great and rescheduled it for us later in the day and the interaction was still great and not to be missed. Don't take any valuables with you since you have to put them in lockers and they are out in the open. We left all our stuff at the hotel in the care of the CMs there so we didn't have to worry. The lunch was great and there was a wide selection of food even for the picky eater in our crowd. They take pictures of you all day in the park and you can purchase them on leaving and we ended up spending a fortune between the two of us on them. Most of them we didn't even know they were being taken and they were just great.
Sea World was also great but due to time constraints we only spent one day there and I kind of felt is was a waste of the seven day ticket. If we had to do it over again we would do both parks but plan on spending more time at Sea World and take advantage of the days there. Don't forget to take bathing shoes with you so you don't have to worry about getting out of the water and walking on the hot pavement or the sand it worked really great for us. All I can say is I wish I was going with you. Enjoy your trip.

 

[dhuba]

Parking at DC is free. When you purchase a DC ticket, you can buy a weekly pass for parking at SW. I can't quite remember what we paid this summer. The parking may have been about $8-9 a day, but with the weekly pass was around $15 or so. I wish I was going back too. We had the time of our lives, even our hard to please teenagers loved it.

 

[cobbler]

Anyone else have any good info to share??

Does SW have a booklet or video to request on their site? I couldn't find it but that doesn't mean anything