A few weeks ago we took a vacation and headed to beautiful San Diego. It’s definitely a great break from this heat, and the drive isn’t that bad either! We wanted to surprise the kids who knew we were going somewhere but we never told them. We loaded the car at 3 in the morning and headed out in the van.
We pulled up to Sea World when they opened and the kids were so excited! We actually haven’ tbeen here in years, in fact the kids were so young they didn’t remember Sea World! There is so much amazement in this park, the animals are so beautiful I literally got teary eyed a could of times. This place is like no other!
But wait, there’s more! Click on the tab to see it all!
Our first stop was the Penguins exhibit where we got to see the penguins out and about, doing their thing! My kids wanted to take one home they are just so adorable! You can see them now if you click on their webcam: http://seaworldparks.com/en/seaworld-sandiego/Animals/Webcams/Penguin-Cam
Next we went to the Wild Acrtic. We did the ride and it was so much fun! They also have a walk through if you do not want to do the ride. Once we got to the exhibit we saw a polar bear, a walrus & Beluga whales which are absolutely beautiful! When we went though they were doing an encounter and it looked like a lot of fun for those participating! As you can see, my daughter was prepared for the arctic with her ski hat.
This isn’t just your average pet show, these pets put on a cute comedy show full of tricks and fun! The family could not stop laughing at this show, even though it isn’t sea life I highly suggest seeing this show anyways!
Sea Lions LIVE
Clyde and Seamore put on a skit show with their trainers in this comedy show. For us this show was extremely funny because when we went the sea lions wanted to do their own thing! We laughed the whole time as the trainers worked hard to get them to do their act but they just wanted to have fun. It was neat to see them interact and put on their own show!
Before the show we fed the Sea Lions, we all even touched stinky fish! The noises the Sea Lions make for their food is cute, look out for thieving birds though if you feed them!
Shark Encounter:
I feel like I should have the Jaws theme song playing for this. We walked through the Shark Encounter which was pretty exciting and scary at the same time as they roam over your head.
The Turtle Reef was one of the lil guy’s favorites, he just loved all those Sea Turtles. Some of these Sea Turtles were enormous, like bigger than most toddlers. Heck I think one was bigger than Tyler!
Blue Horizons
The Dolphin Show, Blue Horizons was really neat. It actually had acrobatics with lots of color and fun! There was a story line here and the trainers were dancing , it was a lot of fun. The kids sat in the Soak Zone, I decided to sit a little farther back.
One Ocean
The One Ocean with the Shamu (the Killer whales) was pretty awesome! These large animals come out of the water and are so beautiful! They definitely know how to work a good show, especially the whole splashing thing. You see that photo of my son doing the hand gesture? Well they teach the kids how to signal the whales to do the splashing of the audience. Fun for kids, not fun for mom who even though is sitting about 15 rows back gets soaked while taking pictures of another whale with her fancy camera. That is what I get for being in that soak zone! Luckily, we had spare clothes in the car to change into and come back in. What is also neat is Sea World has full body dryers you can get in for $5 with multiple people. Definitely worth it if you get soaked!
We didn’t get to go on any of the big rides. The one that we waited in line for broke down and the other lines were kind of long.
The highlights from our trip to Sea World
- The Shamu One Ocean show was one of my favorites, even though my camera got wet these large animals are pretty amazing up close.
- Seeing the polar animals, being from Phoenix it’s pretty cool to see animals that habitat in much cooler weather up close!
- Riding the Sky Tower at night, there is something about seeing San Diego in lights was pretty amazing.
- Pet’s Rule show, my kids cracked up the whole time it was such a fun show!
- The touch ponds with sea stars and urchins. If you go, be sure to look for the giant 15 year old lobster.
- The customer service from the employees was amazing! Everyone was friendly and when I needed to charge my phone, they walked me to an outlet.
Tips if you go:
- Plan your day with a show schedule which you can actually find online: http://seaworldparks.com/en/seaworld-sandiego/Park-Info/Park-Hours
- Get to he shows early! They fill up fast, I recommend at least 30 minutes early if you want a good seat.
- Stay late, there is a cool Fireworks show at the end of the day!
- The All you can eat offer is your best bet if you stay and play all day (above image). They have a wristband you can buy for one price and you can get as much food & drink as you want all day in the participating restaurants at the park. We definitely got our moneys worth, its expensive but if you remember it pays for all of your meals it’s a pretty darn good deal! You don’t even need to eat entree’s every time, there were times we would go and get a drink or a dessert for a snack.
- Check out this information before you go: http://seaworldparks.com/en/seaworld-sandiego/Park-Info/Know-Before-You-Go
- Soak zone means soak zone. These animals don’t mess around, lol! If you don’t want to get wet, purchase a park poncho (they are sturdy) or sit higher up.
- The weather is nice year round, there really isn’t a bad time to go! Be sure to bring a sweater as it gets pretty chilly!
Their customer service is great! Love the “soaked” photo lol! Also if you’re going to download their app – do it before you go when you have wifi (I wore down my battery doing that)