We recently went to Sea World Orlando for one day. Our kids love sea animals so we knew they would have a blast. Everyone had fun and we enjoyed our time, but we probably won’t be back anytime soon. Here is a breakdown of our day and thoughts around our experience.
Rides and attractions
Our favorite attraction of the day was feeding the sea lions. You could purchase trays of fish to feed them and the boys loved it. We ended up doing this twice!!
We also loved the underwater shark encounter! It was a moving walkway with tanks all around. So you felt immersed under the water with the fish and sharks all around you.
Another family favorite was the Dolphin Nursery. We saw a few baby dolphins and were able to be face to face with the sea animals.
Unfortunately, we did not get to see the penguins. We waited in line for 20 minutes and it was not moving. Apparently there is some construction going on, so they were limiting the amount of people going in the building at a time.
We also did not ride any of the rollercoasters because the boys aren’t tall enough and I won’t go upside down. The water rides looked fun, but it was so cold the day we were there, getting wet sounded miserable. I will say, the wait times for the rides weren’t too bad!
Shows
Our favorite show was the Orca Encounter. It was cool to not only see the orcas do their tricks and jumps, but to also learn about the orcas and Sea World’s conservation efforts. We actually watched this show twice because Auggie was obsessed, and he even convinced my husband to sit in the splash zone the second time!
We also watched the Dolphin Adventures show. To be honest, Oliver was a bit overwhelmed by the stadiums for the shows and all of the people in one location, so we didn’t stay for the whole thing.
There was also a Sea Lion and Otter Spotlight show, but we didn’t even try to sit down for that one. Like I said above, we did feed the Sea Lions though and that was a huge hit!!
Sesame Street Land
We spent a lot of time in this section and rode every ride. This section of the park was so fun and clearly very kid-friendly. If your kids are Sesame Street fans, they will love this! In addition to the rides, there is a small playground and a splash pad.
You can also meet different characters throughout the day at a meet-and-greet spot, and the characters can be spotted just walking around. The buildings look like you’re on Sesame Street like the Laudromat and Hooper’s Store. You can even take a picture in Big Bird’s nest!
Food
I am not a huge fan of theme park food unless I’m at Epcot or it’s a Mickey pretzel. So with that being said, the food was decent. Sea World had all your typical options: burgers, chicken fingers, sandwiches, fries, pizza, pretzels, nachos, etc.
The boys and I ate chicken fingers and waffle fries for lunch from Seafire Grill. Nothing special, but I’ve definitely had worse chicken fingers before. Cory had the Cuban Sandwich from the Panini Shore Cafe and said it was better than he expected!
I did appreciate the many options at every turn for food and drinks. Plus, there was a coffee shop in the front of the park called Coaster Coffee Company that served Starbucks coffee and treats. We stopped for an afternoon iced coffee. Auggie also got a donut and Ollie and I shared a rice crispy treat.
Our favorite snack of the day was the pretzel bites at Mama’s Pretzel Kitchen. These were much better than your typical large theme park pretzel. And there were different dipping sauces available.
There is an all-day dining package you can purchase, but it seemed expensive for our family. Especially since it is hard to sit down and eat for long with Oliver. We need quick options!
Seven Seas Food Festival is currently going on now through May 7th. However those special food and drink booths are only open Thursday to Sunday and we were there on a Monday. The menu items looked delicious though!
Overall
I recommend downloading the app before you go, so you can easily use the map and find show times. Supposedly you can order food ahead at certain places, but I couldn’t ever get it to work. Thankfully the food lines were never too busy.
Overall, we had a fun day and our kids enjoyed themselves, but I don’t know if we will go back anytime soon. For it being called Sea World, my husband and I both agreed, we thought there would be more aquariums and sea life to see at every turn and we didn’t feel that. He also thought there would be more rides besides rollercoasters.
Have you been to Sea World Orlando and what was your experience?
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