kikids
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2009
- Messages
- 279
Info learned from our visit April 2nd:
We booked an entire package with preferred hotel and SW passes thru the SW website.
Staying on site at a SeaWorld property gets you: * Early entry to the park on certain days, * Unlimited Quick Queue wristbands, * Offer to take the exclusive Rescue Tour on early entry days, and * Free transportation to SW, DC, Aquatica and Universal. (We also were offered the all day dining plan for free with a promotion running when we bought the tix online.)
Getting these benefits: Each hotel has an Expedia Travel Expert desk. On early entry days, the Expedia person arrives at 6:45 am and hands out benefit cards starting at 7 am. Our hotel was booked so I arrived right at 6:45 but the rep told me SW gives her lots of passes and that she didnt anticipate needing to deny anyone the benefits though it is first come, first serve, while supplies last.
Rescue Tour: I asked the rep about this tour and she told me you go behind the scenes and learn how SW takes care of sea turtles and manatees. She explained that it is interesting and informational but added that there is no feeding or interaction with these animals. We opted not to do the tour the only times offered were around 8:20 and 9:00 and we didnt want to cut into our early entry experience or breakfast.
Early Entry: With early entry you bring your card from the Expedia desk to SW at 8 am and are let in through a different gate to the left of the main gate/guest services. The biggest surprise to us is that early entry only means access to only four exhibits: the Manta ride and aquarium, the dolphins, the sea turtle, and the sting ray pool. All other exhibits remain off limits until the park officially opens at 9 am. For some reason I had thought early entry meant to the entire park but it does not (or at least not when we were there). However, my DD and DH loved riding the Manta three times in a row and being the only ones at the dolphin pond. (Though you cannot feed them until the first feeding time at 9:30).
Breakfast: Ive seen many threads asking about breakfast at the park. When we went on April 2nd, early entry day, the SeaFire Inn opened at 8:45-10:30 for breakfast. They served French toast sticks (exactly like the frozen Aunt Jemima ones), bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, danishes, chocolate chip muffins, fruit cups and orange juice.
Transportation: We used the shuttle from the Renaissance to SW, even though we could have just walked across the parking lot! The shuttle runs several times during the day including a 7:40 am run for early entry and is very convenient. I kept the shuttle schedule if anyone has questions about times to the various parks.
Unlimited Quick Queue: This was a wonderful perk of the hotel stay! My DD rode Journey to Atlantis five times never waiting more than a few minutes to get on, while outside the line for other park goers said 60 minutes from this point. TIP: Target stores sell Coleman ponchos in their camping section for $1.49 each that are packaged into a square the size of an index card. I bought and brought four to the park and we stayed dry on this ride! They work well in splash zone areas of the shows too! Also, this bracelet gets each person a free Sky Tower and Paddle Boat rental. We did both. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the Sky Tower!
In general it was a very nice SW visit for us. All employees were very friendly, all rides were open, the park was extremely crowded but you only noticed it during the shows. The food was not great, except Voyagers Smokehouse which was pretty good, though crowded. I recommend staying away from Spice Mill Cafe (not good at all IMO). We really enjoyed the Sea Lions tonight show after seeing the other shows during the day. Wish we could have caught the new Shamu Stadium show but it wasn't showing yet, guess we'll have to go back!
We booked an entire package with preferred hotel and SW passes thru the SW website.
Staying on site at a SeaWorld property gets you: * Early entry to the park on certain days, * Unlimited Quick Queue wristbands, * Offer to take the exclusive Rescue Tour on early entry days, and * Free transportation to SW, DC, Aquatica and Universal. (We also were offered the all day dining plan for free with a promotion running when we bought the tix online.)
Getting these benefits: Each hotel has an Expedia Travel Expert desk. On early entry days, the Expedia person arrives at 6:45 am and hands out benefit cards starting at 7 am. Our hotel was booked so I arrived right at 6:45 but the rep told me SW gives her lots of passes and that she didnt anticipate needing to deny anyone the benefits though it is first come, first serve, while supplies last.
Rescue Tour: I asked the rep about this tour and she told me you go behind the scenes and learn how SW takes care of sea turtles and manatees. She explained that it is interesting and informational but added that there is no feeding or interaction with these animals. We opted not to do the tour the only times offered were around 8:20 and 9:00 and we didnt want to cut into our early entry experience or breakfast.
Early Entry: With early entry you bring your card from the Expedia desk to SW at 8 am and are let in through a different gate to the left of the main gate/guest services. The biggest surprise to us is that early entry only means access to only four exhibits: the Manta ride and aquarium, the dolphins, the sea turtle, and the sting ray pool. All other exhibits remain off limits until the park officially opens at 9 am. For some reason I had thought early entry meant to the entire park but it does not (or at least not when we were there). However, my DD and DH loved riding the Manta three times in a row and being the only ones at the dolphin pond. (Though you cannot feed them until the first feeding time at 9:30).
Breakfast: Ive seen many threads asking about breakfast at the park. When we went on April 2nd, early entry day, the SeaFire Inn opened at 8:45-10:30 for breakfast. They served French toast sticks (exactly like the frozen Aunt Jemima ones), bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, danishes, chocolate chip muffins, fruit cups and orange juice.
Transportation: We used the shuttle from the Renaissance to SW, even though we could have just walked across the parking lot! The shuttle runs several times during the day including a 7:40 am run for early entry and is very convenient. I kept the shuttle schedule if anyone has questions about times to the various parks.
Unlimited Quick Queue: This was a wonderful perk of the hotel stay! My DD rode Journey to Atlantis five times never waiting more than a few minutes to get on, while outside the line for other park goers said 60 minutes from this point. TIP: Target stores sell Coleman ponchos in their camping section for $1.49 each that are packaged into a square the size of an index card. I bought and brought four to the park and we stayed dry on this ride! They work well in splash zone areas of the shows too! Also, this bracelet gets each person a free Sky Tower and Paddle Boat rental. We did both. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the Sky Tower!
In general it was a very nice SW visit for us. All employees were very friendly, all rides were open, the park was extremely crowded but you only noticed it during the shows. The food was not great, except Voyagers Smokehouse which was pretty good, though crowded. I recommend staying away from Spice Mill Cafe (not good at all IMO). We really enjoyed the Sea Lions tonight show after seeing the other shows during the day. Wish we could have caught the new Shamu Stadium show but it wasn't showing yet, guess we'll have to go back!
And yes, if you get bkfst, lunch, and dinner, the dining plan is definitely worth it.
) probably depends on how geeked up your family is to ride the rides. If you are mostly going for the shows and animals and don't mind waiting in 30 min+ lines and only want to ride a few things once or twice, then you wouldn't need it. But if you have people in your party who love coasters or water rides and hate waiting longer than 10 minutes to get on something (which accurately describes my family), then I'd go for it. Maybe price the one time quick queue versus the unlimited? Hopefully you'll get some other opinions from folks out there too...
