Tag: SeaWorld

Visiting SeaWorld San Antonio

Visiting SeaWorld San Antonio

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Mini-man’s first visit to SeaWorld San Diego

SeaWorld has a special place in my heart. I grew up going to the park in San Diego and worked for the Orlando park marketing for many years. So I was very excited to have the opportunity to visit the San Antonio park.

Some of my favorite SeaWorld memories

Now before I talk about our visit, I want to make something clear – I support Seaworld. They aren’t perfect, but no company is. As a whole, their efforts help marine animals around the world is incredible. I don’t care if you’ve seen that film. Seeing a 90 minute documentary doesn’t make you an expert. Educating yourself, helping animals, dedicating your life to conservation – that makes you an expert. Which is what SeaWorld is all about – teaching the public how to care for our oceans. Because if we don’t, then we’re in danger of losing a whole, valuable eco-system. Now I will step off my soap box and tell you about our wonderful trip!

Main entrance to the park

Unlike her sister parks, SeaWorld San Antonio is a seasonal park. Right now, they are only open on weekends and start letting people in at 1p. Another difference is their entrance plaza. Unlike San Diego and Orlando, all of San Antonio’s parks are next to each other.

Entrance to SeaWorld

So when we arrived, we were greeted by a nice, albeit slightly confusing, entrance plaza. 

Both boys enjoyed the Bay of Play area

Once we entered the park, the first thing we see is Bay of Play, the kids play area. This is great for us, as we could get the kids out instantly and start playing.

The comedy styling of Clyde and Seamore

Next we headed to see everyones favorite sea lions – Clyde and Seamore. I’ve always loved them since I was a child. However, the jokes in the show only made sense to locals, which I guess is their primary audience.

I. ❤️. 🐧!

Afterwards we headed to see the penguins, one of the few animal exhibits in the park. I love penguins and felt giddy going through the exhibit. Mini-man even enjoyed seeing the penguins!

The area outside of Shamu Stadium was beautiful

At this point, the sun is setting and the Christmas lights are starting to come one. The park was absolutely beautiful covered in 8 million lights. 

Im super proud of this picture. I’m no photographer, so the fact that this came out makes me really happy.

Next up, was an impromptu stop to see Shamu’s Christmas Miracle. I’m so glad we stopped. It’s a beautiful show filled with Wonder music. Plus, their staduim wraps around their killer whale pool, giving everyone a nice view of the show. 

Loved all the lights

At this point, we we’re all tired, so we started to head towards the front of the park. This worked out well as most of the pathway was lined with Christmas lights. 

We had a great time and highly recommend visiting the park if you ever get the chance.

California Adventure: San Diego

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I was born in San Diego (die-hard Charger and Padres girl right here), so I made it a priority to visit while we were in California.

We managed to get two visits in. On our first visit we took a train down to San Diego. 

We had fun visiting the World Famous San Diego Zoo and SeaWorld San Diego.

Our second visit was a stop in one of our cruises and I set up a sailing excursion along the bay. It was a beautiful day to see the city and very relaxing.

However, fours hours on a sail boat is a bit resticrive for a one-year old. Fortunately, we found an amazing playground really close to our ship. Mini-man had a blast swinging, running around, and getting wet. 

San Diego is such a beautiful place. I am so glad that I got to share it with my family.

Theme Park – SeaWorld Orlando

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I am a huge theme park freak. Growing up in San Diego, my family and I would often visit SeaWorld, Disneyland, and the zoo. Damon and I even met while working at Walt Disney World – so you could say theme parks are in my blood. I was so excited to take Mini-man to visit these same places.

After taking mini-man to a few theme parks I learned some very valuable lessons and applied them to this trip. Damon and I agreed ahead of time to only go for a few hours, see a show, see some animals, and leave. Keeping expectations simple is becoming the key to our success. (every time I spell success – the 1980’s song S-U-C-C-E-S-S from the ‘Secret of my Sucess’ with Michael J. Fox plays in my head)

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Anyways, we got to the park around 10am just in time to see my favorite show ‘Blue Horizons’ – an amazing performance showcasing the beauty and power of the Atlantic Bottlenose dolphin. We sat up high to stay out of the sun (in Florida, always seek out cover for shade or protection from rain). Mini-man loved watching the dolphins jumping through the air and was completely mesmerized during the show.

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One of the great things about visiting SeaWorld Orlando in October is their Halloween Spooktacular – included with park admission! We headed to the Bayside Pathway to partake in the festivities. The celebration offers trick-or-treating, a dance party, face painting, character meet-n-greets, and much more! Since Mini-man was under one, we decided to just walk the pathway slowly and do some trick-or-treating. This was fascinating to mini-man – he loved reaching into the bag and pulling out the candy to play with it. (don’t worry – Damon valiantly stepped and ate the candy on Mini-mans behalf). 

Since the pathway ends in Shamu’s Happy Harbor we decided to try some of the attractions in this area. Much to our suprise, there was nothing that mini-man could do! All of the rides required a child to sit in their own. And while Mini-man could sit on his own he couldn’t quite stay seated on his own. It really amazed me that a park that markets itself to kids, wouldn’t have anything for those who are under two.

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Afterwards, we were getting hungry and decided it was time to leave. SeaWorld has some amazing food, but it can be pricey and a little hectic. Little tip – there is a Wendy’s, Panera, Taco Bell, and Mellow Mushroom just outside of the park (no more than a 10 minute drive).

Thanks to our ‘keep things simple’ strategy, we managed to have a fun day with each other and create lots of amazing memories.