Sea World

[moved]

Originally Posted by CatsinSnow

I wanted to. I'm really just looking for people to answer my question no offense. With all due respect, start your own topic and tell people you think SeaWorld is a waste of money so I can get on topic responses to my question.

Maybe people aren't interested in answering your question. I've never heard of anyone recommending SeaWorld as a restaurant option, even if they live within walking distance.

[CatWarmer]

RosieSD, I am not CatsinSnow; he/she would be CatCooler perhaps? CatsinSnow, your best source for when the lines are the shortest would be the food venues themselves. Next time you go, ask the servers or perhaps the clean up crews around the tables. If they're not sure, ask them when their break times are - that's probably the slow time.

As pure coincidence, we did buy the $55 passes before that offer expired - planning on going Monday since happily the weekday offer did not exclude Monday holidays. We are also hoping to park outside the gates and walk in, or perhaps bike in although we would like to stay for the fireworks. We can see the tops of them from our back yard and alley so it would be interesting to see what goes on near the ground.

Husband and I had a long discussion about when we were previously at SeaWorld so I dug out the albums. Last time was 25 years ago in 1992 with our then five-year-old son. First time was 41 years ago in 1976 - the original map and information brochure were still in the album. Adult admission was $5.50. You could buy individual or combined tickets for the SkyTower, Skyride, and some kind of boats. I think the park might look a little different now...

[RosieSD]

Originally Posted by CatWarmer

RosieSD, I am not CatsinSnow; he/she would be CatCooler perhaps?

Too many cats, too little time to keep 'em all straight. And, apparently, they're all eating at Sea World.

[montreid]

That's a great option for people who like to visit with out of town F+F.

With the Shamu show gone, I'd think the BBQ station at Shipwreck Cafe would be your best bet. It's fairly large and off to the side.

With the free entry passes from work, it's a free easy cheap eat. by the 4th meal, it's paid for itself so for those on a shoe string budget, it's a pretty good idea and get free entertainment and people watching.

Great idea about asking the waitstaff on best times. You may actually strike something up with the crew chief if you become a regular.

[sdjimbob]

Where is there (presumably free) parking "just outside the resort?"

This site can give you an idea of crowds
SeaWorld San Diego Crowd Tracker – Is It Packed? – Real-Time Crowd Tracking – IsItPacked.com

[CatsinSnow]

PM if you want to know about the free parking. I would rather not publicly share it lol...

The crowd tracker doesn't really help me. I'm just talking about the lines for food and nothing else.

[CatsinSnow]

Originally Posted by montreid

That's a great option for people who like to visit with out of town F+F.

With the Shamu show gone, I'd think the BBQ station at Shipwreck Cafe would be your best bet. It's fairly large and off to the side.

With the free entry passes from work, it's a free easy cheap eat. by the 4th meal, it's paid for itself so for those on a shoe string budget, it's a pretty good idea and get free entertainment and people watching.

Great idea about asking the waitstaff on best times. You may actually strike something up with the crew chief if you become a regular.

The BBQ place is usually the one that is the most crowded. I've been there a few times for the brisket which sometimes has been good and other times it's pure fat.

My go to places at Sea World is usually Mama Stella's. Surprisingly, the pastas are pretty good. I tried the gluten free pizza before because I needed a pizza cutter at home (the gluten free pizza looks cool and all individualized lol) and it's served with one you could take home but it was gross (as is most gluten free foods though). I also really like Shipwrecked Cafe. Like with the pastas, they have a really great salmon with a ginger sauce lol. If it were served on a fancy plate, you would not think it came from an amusement park. It also is kind of cool to sit outside there because it looks like a tropical spot lol.

At times when I've been when the lines at both places were packed I would either go to the fry cone place or the wrap place. The fry cone place is okay but I've only been there once. I had the flat bread vegetarian sandwich there and it was bland. The fries were good but not worth the calories. The wrap place actually had a pretty good turkey sandwich.

Also most of the restaurants have dessert. I had a conversation with one of the restaurant managers there about the carrot cake. A few times they won't have the carrot cake out so I will ask for a slice that they just cut. They have one of the best carrot cakes that I have ever had no joke. She agreed with me. Again you wouldn't know it was from an amusement park.

I get a thrill knowing that I was able to do things super cheap or free. I'm not broke but it's just a rush that I get. My Sea World pass was free, my buss pass was free, and if I don't take the bus I get free parking. I just spent $79 plus tax for the meal card. If I take the bus and I have a little wait, I'll just go to the cleaner fish, look at the dolphins, look at the turtles, or look at the whales. I usually will spend more time there when it's rainy or if the park is fairly empty. My favorite shows are Pets Rule and Sea Lions Live. I really like the penguins exhibit too. Some attractions that usually are never crowded are the aquariums which are pretty good-World of Fishes in particular. I went on a great Sea World date months ago and we just starred at the fish together.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Season pass holder for many years and the only time I've not seen long lines is when the weather sucks. Kids too old to want to go anymore.

[eastcoastbias]

I went to SeaWorld last month- it was VERY UNDERWHELMING. Shows were closed. The park set-up isn't laid out in a way that makes sense- exhibits are just scattered about. The rides were okay, but you generally go their to see the animals.


The long lines were for the rides. The shows and exhibits weren't bad.


I'm comparing it with the SD Zoo of course, which I think is in a class by itself.

[CatWarmer]

We went on Memorial Day, parked offsite and walked 0.8 miles in, and I agree it was underwhelming. It's been 25 years since our last visit and to be honest, we didn't find it all that different. (It was somewhat different from our first visit 41 years ago.) The park just seemed tired. We didn't go on any amusement rides and it did look like they were really beefing up the kiddie area, so maybe it might be more fun for families. The park was not crowded at all, and we did not have to wait in any lines. We did end up criss crossing the park several times to get where we wanted to go - altogether I walked 7 1/2 miles.

The pet show was fun and the animals very well trained; we were especially impressed with the trained cats. The penguin exhibit looked essentially the same as 1992 except that the windows were so dirty that it was almost impossible to see the penguins through the glass. In the shark exhibit, there was a good variety of sharks but when viewing from above, much of the pool was dark, probably to better highlight the tunnel. The tunnel was still neat although seemed shorter than we remembered.

The Orca Encounter - hmm - the big screen was interesting but the show really seemed like an enhanced nature documentary. The kids in front of us were totally bored. The orcas themselves seemed to do less actions. Except for splashing the audience - that seemed to be the major highlight of the show - lots and lots and lots of splashing. Yay? Also the emphasis on helping whales in the wild seemed heavy handed - yeah, yeah, we get it, you're doing good, please stop sounding like you're defending yourselves.

The dolphin show was still very entertaining and impressive. Again, didn't seem much changed. The sea lion show was also fun (it was a pirate theme 25 years ago; now a TV theme). The "host" was excellent - looked sort of like Jim Carrey- he really worked hard to please us and we were appreciative. We did enjoy watching the open pool dolphins elsewhere in the park interact with the visitors by tossing balls over the edge.

We've been to so many great aquariums that the ones here felt small and unimpressive. Our biggest laugh was in the Giant Pacific Octopus exhibit - people kept circling the tank find the poor octopus, who had squeezed himself into a small opening in a corner so only one tentacle showed. How come PETA wasn't protesting to free the octopus?

We rode the sky tower because why not - we see it all the time. It was a grey and somewhat cloudy day so not much to see - ride was OK but didn't take long. We also rode the Bayside sky ride to nowhere and back - they took a picture at the turnaround. There were several photographers shilling in the park. I just got back from Seattle and they give you a free digital photo at the Space Needle and a few options for free digital photos at the Chihuly Museum. Quite a contrast on how to treat tourists.

We did the Wild Arctic ride and it was very dated; such rides were cool 25-30 years ago but really all they do is bump you around. We should have skipped the ride and gone through to see the walruses and beluga whales. They also have relatively small tanks compared to most modern aquariums; kind of sad to see them just circling.

We didn't stay for the fireworks because we were done two hours before they were shooting them off - they were hawking tickets for a special viewing area. After we left, we drove over to Fiesta Island and saw the fireworks launch float. If we'd wanted to stick around, we would have been close enough to get showered with ash. For free.