never again seaworld

[disneynewbee]

I also agree that you can't compare the two they are two totally different experiences and my kids had a blast at both sea world and disney. I also don't get the statement that there is nothing to do. We ran out of time and never even made it to the dolphins. This year we have put aside 2 days for sea world to make sure we get to do everything. The kids are super excited.

 

[makinorlando]

We are locals as well, and as much as we LOVE WDW, we love SW as well. Maybe as another poster mentioned, it's because as locals we are able to "take more time to smell the roses"......

DD9 loves to watch the dolphins in the Nursery - you never know when they will do some tricks! She has learned many things about dolphin mothers and babies from the educational staff who are stationed there. As she is always full of questions about animals! We also usually spend 15-30 minutes with the Sea Lions - just watching them and feeding them. i get a hoot out of them everytime. Even at nine, DD loves Happy Harbour and will spend a good 1/2 hr playing on the net, and although it is a short ride, she loves the new Shamu Express She also enjoys Wild Arctic - I walk through the queue line with her, and she goes into the simulator for the "ride" herself as I get motion sick on it! We spend several minutes watching the belugas, polar bears and walruses. One of our most memorable/funny moments at SW was watching one of the polar bears trying to get out of the water one day... he just coudn't get himself up there, everyone was cheering him on as he persisted and finally made it! I LOVE Blue Horizions - I just LOVE the music, and the colors! We love to laugh with the mime at Clyde and Seamore, and the new Sea Lions at Night is a new favorite! Odyssea and Pets Ahoy are good as well, we don't catch them as often due they way we tour and the schedules. We stop and admire the Clydesdales when they are out with the wagon. I enjoy watching the flamingoes, and DD likes to visit with the rays. We always visit the Manatees as well. We feed the dolphins on occasion, but sometimes it's just too crowded. Another favorite is a meal at Shark Encounter.... I agree that Believe is not as good as the old show, but my favorite was the Christmas show - with live musicians and a choir. It moved me to tears on TWO occasions (the first time the battery in my camcorder died, so we went back the next night!). Still Believe show the amazing intelligence, strenghth and ability of the whales!

DD is not quite tall enough for Kraken, and I won't do wither Journey to Atlantis or Kraken, so it's not that we go for the "big" rides at this time!

We also have passes to Busch Gardens along with our SW pass this year, we have been there on two occasions due to the longer road trip (90 miles compared to 25 miles to SW) but we totally enjoyed our time there as well. DD can't wait till she grows that last inch so she can ride all the coasters!

Well, that's our experience with SW. For us it's about taking our time and observing the amazing animals!

JMO!!!!

 

[FigmentsBiggestFan]

We were just at Sea World and had a blast! I do believe that any experience is what you make of it. We saw Believe and it was pretty good. I do remember more animal "tricks" before, but they did all they were supposed to. "Shamu" (I can't remember the orca's real name) splashing everybody is still the highlight of the show. That is one big orca!!

The best time we had was right after Believe when we headed to the underwater viewing area. Learned a lot by talking to the employee/worker/cast member there. The baby, Trua, is just too cute! His name means "Believe" in Icelandic (all of the orca's in Orlando have Icelandic names - none of which are Shamu. "Shamu" is their "family" name, and their stage one.) See, I can learn something! I did know that the original Shamu died many years ago, but I did not know that no others were named that.

Little Trua kept coming up to the windows where all the humans were and kept pressing his face against the glass. He was watching us as much as we were watching him and would interact with the people. We saw most of the shows and rode all the rides, but what I will remember for a long time is that not-so-little 8-month-old baby orca playing with all of us.

 

[makinorlando]

We were just at Sea World and had a blast! I do believe that any experience is what you make of it. We saw Believe and it was pretty good. I do remember more animal "tricks" before, but they did all they were supposed to. "Shamu" (I can't remember the orca's real name) splashing everybody is still the highlight of the show. That is one big orca!!

The best time we had was right after Believe when we headed to the underwater viewing area. Learned a lot by talking to the employee/worker/cast member there. The baby, Trua, is just too cute! His name means "Believe" in Icelandic (all of the orca's in Orlando have Icelandic names - none of which are Shamu. "Shamu" is their "family" name, and their stage one.) See, I can learn something! I did know that the original Shamu died many years ago, but I did not know that no others were named that.

Little Trua kept coming up to the windows where all the humans were and kept pressing his face against the glass. He was watching us as much as we were watching him and would interact with the people. We saw most of the shows and rode all the rides, but what I will remember for a long time is that not-so-little 8-month-old baby orca playing with all of us.

The day we were there for Believe - two of the males were out in the main pool when they were supposed to be in the back pool, of course the show was stopped for a few minutes, while they let them "swim" it off. The trainers (actually from what I learned at a Christmas show is that many are actually animal behaviorists/psycholgists - not just trainers) sensed that something had gone on with the other whales in the back pool, and they did not want to be there - they just swam around and around, occasionally doing a little "stunt"... then the mother came out.... all three swam for a while, and then one of the trainers in the back slapped the water, and one by one they all swam to the back pool, and the show was able to continue!

I guess MOM had a word with them to straighten them out! That is what the beauty of SW is - the animals are not coerced into performing, but are rewarded with great love, affection and lots of fish if they do what is asked of them. If they "misbehave", the trainers basically ignore them for a short time, and then will ask for the behavior again.

I love all of the names, but can NEVER remember them once I leave... I need to get the video out - my DGN taped it while I took pics!

 

[FigmentsBiggestFan]

The day we were there for Believe - two of the males were out in the main pool when they were supposed to be in the back pool, of course the show was stopped for a few minutes, while they let them "swim" it off. The trainers (actually from what I learned at a Christmas show is that many are actually animal behaviorists/psycholgists - not just trainers) sensed that something had gone on with the other whales in the back pool, and they did not want to be there - they just swam around and around, occasionally doing a little "stunt"... then the mother came out.... all three swam for a while, and then one of the trainers in the back slapped the water, and one by one they all swam to the back pool, and the show was able to continue!

I guess MOM had a word with them to straighten them out! That is what the beauty of SW is - the animals are not coerced into performing, but are rewarded with great love, affection and lots of fish if they do what is asked of them. If they "misbehave", the trainers basically ignore them for a short time, and then will ask for the behavior again.

I love all of the names, but can NEVER remember them once I leave... I need to get the video out - my DGN taped it while I took pics!

Martha (MAK), thanks for that picture! Yep, he was the trainer that was there for us and he seemed to have a lot of fun. What I think is so great about the film in the show is that afterward I was joking around with DH and said that when I was young I wanted to be a SeaWorld trainer too. Then DH said that he wanted to be the same thing when HE was young!

I do remember the lady at the underwater viewing area saying that "Mom" does indeed rule the roost. Seems that whales aren't too different from humans!

 

[checkwriter]

We visited Sea World for the first time in many years, and were very disappointed. Our past experience had been of a nature-themed park that was low-key and easy to get around. This past spring we found it had morphed into a Disney wannabe, with huge crowds, a few big attractions, and a generally second-rate presentation. The Shamu show -- still under development then -- was very good, to be sure. But other shows we saw were amateurish and left much to be desired. Given the hundreds of dollars that we paid as a family for admission, then for food, etc., I would not return.

Next visit: Gatorland!!

 

[DisOrBust]

I am sorry to hear bad things about Believe. Does anyone know if they st ill do "Shamu Rocks!" at night??? What is the sealion night time show??

TIA!
Sue

 

[DTop]

I am sorry to hear bad things about Believe. Does anyone know if they st ill do "Shamu Rocks!" at night??? What is the sealion night time show??

TIA!
Sue

No Shamu Rocks America is no more. The sealion tonight show is a funny spoof on the other shows.

 

[THUNDERMOUNTAINMOMMA]

Our family loves SW. Just saw the new fireworks/laser show in July, the kids thought it was the BEST! There are so many attractions and shows to enjoy. OHYEAH.... and I love my 2 free beers!

 

[RabFlmom]

Checkwriter if you found SW boring, I imagine that Gatorland will be a bad experience too.
I think if you want more of a Florida nature experience, head out to one of the air boat ride areas on the St. Johns River or down in the Everglades. They can be awesome.
As I have said before SW has become the park to go to this year. Crowds have been the largest I have ever seen. If you run from show to show and do a commando type visit to the park you tend to miss out on a lot of the nature you can experience. For example if you spend time in the underwater viewing area of the dolphins during a non feeding time you can see how the dolphins play with objects. If there is nothing in the water(no toys given to them by CMs) you might see them pick up gravel from the floor to drop and catch over and over or you might see them make rings in the water that they play with till they disappear. It is so cool that you can sit there for an hour or more just watching them.

 

[marivaid]

We went to Seaworld for the 3rd time this summer and FINALLY got to see Shamu.. beware though,if it rains they will cancel the show, and make you wait 'til the last minute to tell you too. The first time we tried to see it, it got cancelled. This time, the 2pm and 3.30pm shows were cancelled but we got to see the next one. Frankly at this point I didnt care if it was lame or not, I was NOT going to leave Sea World without seeing that darn whale.

The storyline is a little corny but I enjoyed the show. You dont see guys standing on killer whales noses everyday. I loved seeing them "ride" the whales too, and the jumps were very impressive. We sat in the soak zone,not worried because we'd never been soaked before. Oh boy were we wrong.
But it was a nice show. Probably not really worth waiting 4 hours for, but it was raining the whole time anyway so there was nothing to do but wait.

The show Blue Horizons is UNBELIEVABLE. We're going back to SeaWorld in December just to see it again. Seamore & Clyde is hilarious especially the night show (we made the mistake of going to see it the day before seeing most of the shows, so we only understood the jokes the next day!).

Don't let one bad review keep you from going. It's worth it!

 

[iHEARTflorida]

i love seaworld, its amazing.

ok maybe they dont do as much with the animals as they used to, but they cant make them do anything they dont want

this year, at the beleive show, there were 3 whales in the pool and only one of them went out to the back pool, and the people stopped the show and said as you have probably noticed these two whales havnt left the pool, blah blah explained it, tokk there time, and the whales went out. they cant make them do any thing they dont want. on time we went, the cancelled the shows as the whales wouldnt perform.

as for you didnt get long enough with the penguins there wild animals, at lease you got to see a penguin how many other days in the year do u see at penguin up close like that.

think of the experience that Seaworld is giving you.

 

[Jules224]

I have just quickly read through some of these posts and i don't think you can compare WDW and SW, we do all the parks when we go and i love doing MK to see the look on my kids faces but my favourite park is SW, we always plan to do 1 day there and end up spending 2 days there, can't believe people say there's nothing to do?
My DD is looking forward to seeing Shamu as much as she is Mickey Mouse this time.
We loved the Shamu shows last time we went (oct2004) so hope we enjoy the new believe show as much, i always enjoy the tricks etc but am also interested in learning about the animals aswell.
And i'll be going to night time show for Clyde and Seamore next time.
I wouldn't miss SW for anything when we go.

 

[barbmouse]

We love Sea World too and have been numerous times. We have been to Disney more though. I don't think you can compare the two. We love Kraken and it is our fave rollercoaster. The animal experiences are amazing. We hope to do Discovery Cove this summer. My main complaint is that I did find Sea World to be very expensive !!!