How busy is sea world on Christmas Eve?

[MagicalAdventures]

Hi

We are visiting Florida for the first time this year and we’re thinking of going to seaworld on Christmas Eve.

Can anyone tell me how busy it’s likely to be? We would plan to spend the full day and get the reserved seating for the shows.

Also will the traffic be an issue on Christmas Eve? We will be driving from lake buena vista area.

Thanks

 

[Slapshot1188]

I haven't been there on Christmas Eve so someone may have better info. I have been there twice for NY Eve though so I assume they are fairly close. It was very crowded. Especially in the evening, but not to the levels of Disney. The first time we stayed at the Renaissance across the street. It was great. We just walked home afterwards. Last year we stayed at the Springhill Suites and drove over. Parking was CRAZY. We parked across the street (next to the Renaissance) waaaay in the back on fields of grass. The tram only went half way.

The Christmas shows will definitely be crowed. Especially Oh Holy Night (which we actually didn't really care for). Because it's smaller... we really like Seaworld a lot for the Holidays. It's crowded but manageable. I'm sure you will have a great time.

 

[Joanna71985]

I've gone the past 2 years. While it isn't as busy as Disney, it can get busy (especially for the holiday stuff in the evening). Having reserved seating will definitely help

 

[FrankDIS72]

I've been to Sea World during Christmas week. Crowds are pretty heavy. Even the shows had lines to get in and they filled up early. The crowds won't be as heavy as Disney or Universal, so be prepared to arrive early and stay late. if you want to minimize the line. You might want to think of investing in Quick Queue as well.

 

[MagicalAdventures]

Hi thanks for all the replies that’s reAlly useful to get an idea of what to expect. I’ll have a look into quick queue too.

 

[bellarinah]

My family did Christmas Eve at Seaworld last year. We arrived at rope drop and left at park close. We did one up-close tour in the morning and had Christmas reserved seating. There was no traffic getting there in the morning and leaving at night but my hotel was five minutes from the park. We didn't do any rides on that day because we wanted to focus on their Christmas festivities. Granted, we visit the park once or twice a year so skipping rides is not a big deal to us.

I don't think the crowd was bad at all. We moved around freely and never at any point I felt uncomfortable. And I had a double side-by-side stroller with me. There was never a line at restaurants, except at Mango Joes's right before Shamu Christmas show at the end of the night. Just to compare, we went to Magic Kingdom the day after on Christmas Day, arriving at rope drop. And we had to leave at noon because I couldn't handle the crowd. It was wall to wall people. There was no concert of personal space there.

I think you would be completely fine if you arrive at rope drop. Do your big rides then. It shouldn't take any more than a couple hours since Seaworld doesn't have that many rides. And you will have the rest of the afternoon for non-ride, non-Christmas stuff (regular shows, animal exhibits, etc). The Christmas event starts at 5pm. The four Christmas shows will keep you busy all evening till park close. I barely had time to spend at Christmas Market and Christmas Town. So this year I decide to do two evenings there and spread out the four shows over those two evenings, no reserved seating. This way we will have some time to enjoy their other Christmas offerings.

 

[MagicalAdventures]

My family did Christmas Eve at Seaworld last year. We arrived at rope drop and left at park close. We did one up-close tour in the morning and had Christmas reserved seating. There was no traffic getting there in the morning and leaving at night but my hotel was five minutes from the park. We didn't do any rides on that day because we wanted to focus on their Christmas festivities. Granted, we visit the park once or twice a year so skipping rides is not a big deal to us.

I don't think the crowd was bad at all. We moved around freely and never at any point I felt uncomfortable. And I had a double side-by-side stroller with me. There was never a line at restaurants, except at Mango Joes's right before Shamu Christmas show at the end of the night. Just to compare, we went to Magic Kingdom the day after on Christmas Day, arriving at rope drop. And we had to leave at noon because I couldn't handle the crowd. It was wall to wall people. There was no concert of personal space there.

I think you would be completely fine if you arrive at rope drop. Do your big rides then. It shouldn't take any more than a couple hours since Seaworld doesn't have that many rides. And you will have the rest of the afternoon for non-ride, non-Christmas stuff (regular shows, animal exhibits, etc). The Christmas event starts at 5pm. The four Christmas shows will keep you busy all evening till park close. I barely had time to spend at Christmas Market and Christmas Town. So this year I decide to do two evenings there and spread out the four shows over those two evenings, no reserved seating. This way we will have some time to enjoy their other Christmas offerings.

Thank you so much for this detailed reply. It is so helpful to hear from people who have visited that day. I think given what you’ve said we will be ok with Christmas Eve. We won’t be doing any of the big rides due to height restrictions for the kids and then following the rest of your plan sounds great.