What Is Worth Paying Extra for at Orlando’s SeaWorld?
Excitement filled the air as our family loaded in the car to head to Orlando’s SeaWorld! Our youngest was two at the time and loved Cookie Monster so he was very excited to go to the Sesame Street part of SeaWorld.
If anyone wants a full Sesame Street experience, I highly suggest going to Sesame Place in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. We took our two oldest kids there when they were younger and our family had a blast. The whole park is Sesame Street!
Activities to add on
We walked into the gate of SeaWorld and we were welcomed by some fantastic photo opportunities.
We had a fantastic time at SeaWorld and would go back in a heartbeat. The shows were wonderful and we learned so much about dolphins and orcas from the shows.
The park was not overcrowded which we loved. We went during spring break so we were prepared for the worst.
Whenever we go to theme parks I like to add a little extra magic to the day. I added extra items to our park tickets.
I found a few of the things we added were worth every dollar, and other add-ons we could have done without.
The extras we added were the Encounter with the Dolphins, Dine with the Orcas, and VIP parking. So the big question is which ones were worth the money?
Encounter with the Dolphins
We did an encounter with the dolphins. Our family truly enjoyed this add-on. You will be with seven other families but, each family during the experience had their own dolphin and trainer.
During the encounter the dolphin did tricks, we petted the dolphin, and he gave us high fives and waved to us.
The only thing I wished was different was that we could take better photos from our own cameras. We ended up buying the Photo package for $70 to get a great picture of us petting the dolphin.
The photographer took a lot of pictures during the encounter so it was hard to just buy just one picture.
If you are going to do this experience and love pictures of your vacations. I would plan on buying a picture package. If you do buy the package make sure you stop throughout the day in the park to take as many photos as you with the photographer throughout the park to get your money’s worth from the photo package.
You can take your own pictures during the encounter but you have to step back to a wall. From the wall, you could not see the dolphins in the water because a large brick wall blocked the view.
I feel this add-on made the trip a little more special.
Our kids have said again and again their favorite part at SeaWorld was when they got to pet a dolphin.
Dine With The Orcas
I would not recommend dining with the Orcas experience.
This dining experience was nothing like what I had in my mind. We sat down at a plastic table and chairs by the Orca’s tank. I thought we would watch the Orcas swim around while we ate.
Instead, the trainers put on another show very similar to the show we just watched in the stadium. The Orcas did their show then the trainers put away the orcas while we ate our dinner.
The dinners seemed to come out very slowly and when we did get our food, the food was kind of cold. The taste of the food was just okay.
The funny thing is when my husband was looking for the Orca show earlier that day, he asked one of the workers “where will the Shamu’s show be held?”
“The Orcas show?” She laughed. “We haven’t called it the Shamu’s show in years”. The funny thing is the cups the kids received during the dining experience were Shamu’s cups. Not sure why they are still using cups from the 90s.
VIP Parking
This is another waste of money.
Save a few extra dollars and just do the preferred parking if you want to be close to the gates. There is not much of a difference between VIP and preferred as far as the distance from the gate.
These are just a few tips I found that could be helpful on your trip to SeaWorld. I hope you have a great time at SeaWorld!
