SeaWorld - A Perfect Place to Visit {Especially in October}

I cannot even begin to tell you how much fun we had on our trip last week! I think one of our favorite memories of the trip will always be our day at SeaWorld. I remember as a child sitting there at the dolphin show at SeaWorld watching these amazing creatures jump up in the air, spin around and go back down. I was mesmerized & I knew right then and there that all I wanted to do in life was become a dolphin trainer. I was going to go to school, become an oceanographer and come work at SeaWorld when I was older. Well at least that’s what I thought for the next 3 days of our trip until we got home and I realized that I didn’t really want to move away from home or live in California and work at SeaWorld. I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up which was a mother, but if I still wish I could work at SeaWorld with the Dolphins 🙂 My kids were so elated when we told them that we were going to be going to SeaWorld. My kids love animals of the ocean. We have studied and watched a lot of documentaries about them and they couldn’t’ wait!When we pulled up and walked into the park my kids smiled. They were arguing (friendly) over what they wanted to see and do first. I couldn’t wait to see that dolphin show again. It has been about 13 years since I have seen it. We had an amazing time. I felt no stress, no rush, and completely enjoyed the day! My kids loved seeing all the fun Halloween decorations they had up for Spooktacular which they only do on the weekends. You can come and trick or treat and see all the Halloween decor and fun. That is only on weekends night through October. I have heard it is really fun to be there during that time, but we decided it would be less crowded on the weekday!

Tips and Tricks of Navigating SeaWorld

Now to get down to the nitty gritty and how to make sure you don’t waste your time, not get overly anxious, and frustrated. I would recommend getting there right when it opens. In the fall they are only open from 10 until 5 so you have 7 good hours to walk the park. It is actually a perfect amount of time if you go on a weekday.

SeaWorld is big, but it’s not huge and it’s pretty easy to navigate and not get lost. I totally recommend getting a map! Your kids will think it’s fun to carry around a map to see where they go!

The first thing we did was check the time for all the shows. There are 4 shows. The Shamu Show, The Dolphin Show, the Animal Show and the SeaLion and Otter Show. We did not want to miss the shows, that is the main reason we came to SeaWorld. On weekdays they only have the dolphin show twice, and the other shows once. So if you miss it you miss it. I’m glad we looked on our schedule right away because we found out that the Dolphins show was within the hour that we got there.

We decided to go to the right when you first walk into the park and just do a big loop. The first thing we did was ride Atlantis. My kids LOVED it!! It was a nice hot humid day so that was perfect to keep us cool for a while. The kids got to go on it twice because there is a stroller pass for it, which means my husband takes the baby to the end of the ride and we switch places. But the line was only like 5 mins long so we would have ridden it twice either way.

After that we headed over to the Arctic encounter and saw the Beluga Wales. The we headed to the penguin encounter and the sharks. The kids thought it was pretty amazing. Like amazing enough I had to pry them away from the glass windows and pick them up to get their hand out of the water with the Manta Ray in it.

We ended up right in front of the Dolphin Stadium right on time. The show was absolutely amazing. There were six dolphins in the water and a trainer for each of them.

I sat there feeling like I was a kid again, wishing that I could work with the Dolphins one day. I looked over at my daughter and I could tell she was having those same exact thoughts I did as a little child. At the end of the show she turned to me and said, “Mom I want to be a dolphin trainer one day how do I do that?” I smiled and told her that if she really wanted to be she could be. I would totally think that was awesome if she was. After the show we headed to the Shamu Show. Again…AMAZING! They don’t get in the water with them like they used to when I was a kid, but I guess that is probably safer. They talked about Killer Whales and what they do for them. I am very impressed with SeaWorld and all they do to help. You can read more about them here on this site www.seaworldcares.com, which has a lot of great information. The Shamu Show was fun and my boys got soaked! My kids wanted to sit in the wet zone in all of the shows. Kids think it’s fun sitting in the wet zone, but if you don’t want to get really wet, sit in the last 5 rows of the wet zone. Then the kids, if they want to, can go down a little lower and get wet like my kids did during the whale show. As far as food goes at SeaWorld, there are lost of places to buy great food. You can also buy a dining pass which I have heard it great! You can also bring food into the park We brought our own sandwiches that day and a few snacks. We didn’t want to waste time and we wanted to get the most out of our day! I also recommend making sure that you shop for your souvenirs at the end of the day when the park is closed. Everything closes down, but the gift shops at the front of the park stays open until around 5:30ish. It’s a great time to shop after you are done with all that you wanted to see.

The final show we went to was the Clyde & Seymour show with the SeaLion and Otter. It is a really fun show and very creative. Those creatures are smart and super funny! My kids were laughing the whole show and were completely mesmerized!The last thing we did was ride the rides. We road on Shipwreck Rapids and the Manta. Both very fun and exciting. My husbands favorite ride was the Manta, it is super fast and really fun. I went on it once and also loved it. SeaWorld for me though wasn’t about the rides. I could see if we were going for more than one day that it would be fun to ride them over and over again, but for us it was all about the sea life!We had an amazing time! The kids favorite thing was the Seymour and Clyde Show. It is always hilarious watching those sea lions waddle around with the trainers up there mimicking them and making us laugh. October is a great time to go to SeaWorld because it is kids free month. You get a free child admission per paid adult. They also have a great deals going on right now where you can pay for a day and get a year free. I know, right? That’s a great deal! You can also always find fantastic deals through Get Away Today.