Sea World

Sea World is a great place to take your family while in the Orlando area. We just got back from our trip to Florida and visited Sea World. We had a great time. Here are some of the highlights as well as some tips.

Purchase your tickets ahead of time online at SeaWorld.com  They usually have a special that allows everyone to pay the children's price. This about a $10 savings on adult tickets. They also allow you to validate your ticket in the park (to the left as soon as you get through the turnstiles)  to come back a second day (within 2 weeks) for free. You can't beat 2 days for $68.95. You can definitely do a second day also because there is so much to see.

There are five shows and you can check the times here. Pick your top 3 that you want to see since it is hard to see more than that in one day. (That is why it is nice to come back a second day) (Pets ahoy and A'Lure Call of the Ocean are both inside)

If the park is crowded you will want to get to the shows early. It wasn't really crowded when we went and we still needed to get into the theaters about 15 min early for good seats. When its really crowded the theaters may be filled to capacity 15 min or more before the show begins.

Pack swimsuits (swim diapers) for the kids. There is a water play area in Shamu's Happy Harbour. Its great to give the kids a chance to cool off for a while.

They have an all day dining deal. It only pays if you are sure you are going to get in at least 2 meals while you are there. It is $29.99 for adults and $14.99 for children. You can read more about that here.

Parking is $12. If you  have a stroller and young children or don't want to walk far you can park in premium parking for only $8 more. We did that this time and we were about 8 parking spots away from the sidewalk and and a very short walk from the entrance. That was a lifesaver with the 3 kids, 2 bags, and a double stroller. It may have been the best money we spent all day, especially at the end of the day when we were all pooped.

If you want to feed the dolphins head there first. They start feeding them around 9am and then every1 1/2 to 2 hours after that. They usually finish around 5pm. They have a certain allotment of food for them and when its gone its gone. There is nothing on the schedule about when feeding time is since it is not set and we always miss it. I asked the trainer this time and that was the info he gave me.

You can feed the sting rays anytime and that is a lot of fun. It was $5 per container (about 4 shrimp) to feed them. You can stand there and touch them as long as you want though. Feeding them is cool and very different from feeding other animals. If you go around the left side of the tank there is a step for the kids to reach better.

Sea World is really fun. My kids always enjoy it. There are some fun things for adults too, (Manta) but I didn't get to do them since my kids were with me.

If you are staying in Disney and don't have a car then you can rent one just for the day or make arrangements with Mears for a one day transport.