still talking about “sea lions” and “whales coming” and “people watching”. You must see Shamu, of course, but also don’t miss the other shows, especially the Cannery Row Caper with sea lions, otters, and the fattest walrus you can imagine, and Azul, with beluga whales, dolphins, and acrobats. Get your seats early…the stadiums do fill up, so we headed in around 25-30 minutes before show- time to pick our seats (and we had plenty of company already). My tip is to time snacks or lunch with your seating, so you can keep the kids occupied while you wait for the show to start. And, unless you truly want to get wet, don’t sit in the first 10 or even 15 rows…the park does not exaggerate about all the splashing!
Feeding dolphins at Sea World San Antonio You also will want to walk through the park and see the various animal habitats, including dolphins, penguins, sea lions, and tropical coral reef. If you can, feed the fish. Our older two children loved interacting with the animals this way, and it made for great photo opps! We happened upon the feeding time for the sting rays and other fish in the Coral Reef exhibit, where a scuba diver gave the fish a scheduled feeding, and that turned out to be a real treat to watch the fish interact with her (plus a cool, dark respite from the sunny, 95+ degree heat outside).
What to do: The newly opened Sesame Street Bay of Play was a great play area for our kids. It has a toddler dry playground that’s shaded, plus a 3 yr and under only splash area. There is a three-story (or more) climbing
jungle gym that the kids can play on to get really hot, then they can splash in one of the spray areas to cool off. There are a handful of rides for little ones, like a merry- go-round, plus some slightly more daring ones for the Pre-K set, like the Shamu Express roller coaster. We spent almost all of our second day at the Lost Lagoon, which is the waterpark at Sea World San Antonio. We could have spent longer, and even considered turning our two day passes into an annual pass so that we could come back for a third day (in hindsight, glad we didn’t, as we had a great time in San Antonio for our last day of the trip). Our younger two kids loved the Lil Gators splash area, with its soft play slides and shallow water, as well as the Activity Pool. Our 5-yr old liked the Splash Attack (which he called the “Splash Castle”), a three-story structure with geysers and sprays that gets you wet every which way. All the kids loved the wave pool. Mom’s favorite would have been the lazy river (called Castaway Cruisin’), but unfortunately we didn’t even get a chance to try it.
Two tips for Lost Lagoon: life vests are plentiful, so no need to bring your own for the kids. If you can afford it and they are available, a cabana would be a great investment if you plan to spend the day at Lost Lagoon, as shaded chairs are hard to come by (alas, I only looked longingly at them from afar on our trip).
Overall, it was a great vacation, and we had a great
time at Sea World San Antonio. To see the other tips from the rest of our trip to San Antonio, go to my post What to Do with Kids in San Antonio. (http://mykindofmom. com/2011/06/what-to-do-san-antonio-kids/ ) Enjoy!
North Texas Kids • July 2011 •
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