Seaworld San Diego: An Expensive Aquarium with a bit more than we bargained for
Written: Dec 31 '04 (Updated Jan 07 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Lots of interactive exhibits, beautiful landscaping
Cons: Few rides, expensive for what it is
The Bottom Line: SeaWorld is a great place for fish lovers but a disappointment for theme park lovers.
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| modernmarvel's Full Review: Sea World California |
We visited Seaworld in San Diego during Christmas Vacation week 2004. I wasn't sure quite what to expect when we arrived. The approach to the park and the parking lot looked a lot like a theme park. Even the $8 parking charge resembled a theme park. The entrance fees, map and large store near the entrance all screamed theme park. Yet, when we got inside, SeaWorld seemed a lot more like a large, spread out aquarium with lots of high quality exhibits.
WHAT YOU CAN SEE - SEA LIFE
The focus at Seaworld is viewing fish and aquatic animals. If you are looking for a theme park, you really should go somewhere else. As an aquarium, SeaWorld is really a standout. There are lots of huge tanks displaying all types of marine life in humane habitats. You can see more here than any other aquarium I have been to or heard of. A list of these attractions is below:
Forbidden reef: This was our favorite exhibit and we spent a lot of time here. The main part of the exhibit is a large, shallow tank of bat rays - a kind of sting ray. You can buy a small, shallow dish of squid to feed the rays for $4 which we did. Because so many visitors feed the rays, they come right up to the edge of the tank so kids can pet and touch them. My eight year old got quite a kick out of this although my five year old felt a bit timid about touching them. Another part of the exhibit is moray eels. You have to walk down a steep slope to the underground viewing area. The eels were quite impressive, although not interactive like the rays. An almost hidden part of this exhibit is three cranes living in a beautiful but small enclosure behind the gift shop. Be sure to check them out as they are really unique and beautiful. There is also a beautiful Japanese garden housing a few flamingos at the other side of the exhibit. This garden is a nice backdrop for photos.
Manatee Rescue: This huge tank showcases huge Florida manatees that have been rescued. Some show significant scars from interactions with humans. These creatures are very large and housed in a huge tank with an indoor viewing area. There is some limited educational material around the exhibit but I would have liked to see a bit more interactive educational material directed toward younger children.
Penguin Encounter: Several species of penguins live in an indoor exhibit. There are two ways to view them. There is a balcony where you can stand and watch them. There is also a moving sidewalk that travels across the exhibit. After the penguins, there is another exhibit in the same building that houses puffins. My kids were fascinated more with the moving sidewalk than the exhibits.
Shark Encounter: This exhibit starts with a tour of tanks housing sharks. You are looking down on the top of the tanks toward the sharks and, frankly, it wasn't that impressive seeing them swim around from the top. However, the second part of the exhibit is a tunnel through the tanks so you can see them from below. A moving sidewalk ensures visitors don't linger too long. However, this was one of our favorite parts of the park.
Rocky Point Preserve: We didn't spend much time here because it was so packed with people we couldn't even maneuver the stroller down the path. These tanks housed dolphins. You could also buy food to feed them.
Tide Pool: This area is billed as a touch pool for kids with a variety of sea life for them to handle. In reality, it was a giant shallow pool filled with orange starfish. Granted, it was fun to handle the orange starfish but I wish there had been more to see.
Seals and Sea Lions: This is a tank holding seals and sea lions. You are looking down on their habitat which consists of man-made rocks and a water tank, similar to a typical zoo enclosure. There was not much interactive here.
Other aquariums: There are other aquariums housed in the park that showcase a variety of tanks holding fish, similar to traditional aquariums. These buildings were crowded when we visited and we didn't spend much time in them. We have a traditional aquarium where we live and there wasn't anything in these buildings that was unique.
Wild Arctic: This is a hybrid ride and exhibit. When we visited, it was broken for the morning. When we returned in the afternoon, there was a 45 minute wait. This was tough because, unlike Disney, there is nothing to occupy your time during the wait except for a few television screens that were trying to build the story of the exhibit. There are two choices for the ride. One has motion, the other does not. We chose the motion ride. When you finally get inside the building housing the exhibit, you are sent to a staging area where you stand on a dot on the floor so the ride attendants can correctly line up visitors to enter the ride. You are asked to watch a short movie with a smarmy "pilot" who tells you that you are going to board a helicopter ride to view the arctic. After that you board the ride.
The ride itself is a motion simulator similar to ones you find in other theme parks. You sit in a seat with a seat belt and "ride" a helicopter to see animals in the artic. My five year old was fine on the ride. It is not scary or intense. After a short ride, you exit and can view the animal exhibits. The entire space is built to look like an artic base camp complete with very elaborate sets and animal enclosures. There are beluga whales, one polar bear and walruses. There is also a wall made up entirely of ice and some polar bear caves for kids to climb in. We had a good time here and this was one of my favorite parts of the park.
WHAT YOU CAN RIDE ON
Seaworld isn't really a theme park in the traditional sense. There really are not many rides and, during our visit, two of them were shut down. If you arrive looking for thrills, you are going to be very, very disappointed.
The newest ride is Journey to Atlantis. This is a thrill ride with no animal exhibit built in. You board a roller coaster type car and go quickly up a steep hill. Almost immediately you drop down a steep waterfall, similar to Splash Mountain at Disney. Then you travel along a river into a building. Your car is then taken via elevator up to the top of the ride where it becomes a traditional roller coaster. The ride was fairly short although the elevator made it interesting. It wasn't particularly thrilling but it was enough to me. At the exit to the exhibit, there are some large tanks showing three black and white dolphins that resembled mini-shamus.
It was here we got a bit more than we bargained for. The dolphins were, er, mating. Or, at least, the male was trying to mate with one of the females. The mating mainly entailed the male trying to corner the female and, er, mate with her. The male was in all his glory (for those wondering, about 12 inches) and his actions were less than subtle. Even more amusing than the animals was watching the expressions of the human viewers once they realized what was going on. Some even captured the events on video tape.
The other major ride at Seaworld is shipwreck falls. This ride is a large "raft" that can seat 8 visitors as it navigates a white water river. There are similar rides in other theme parks including Grizzly River Run in Disney California Adventure. This ride guarantees you will get soaked and you do so bring a rain poncho or a change of clothes if you don't want to spend the rest of the day shivering and wet.
There is a movie called Haunted Lighthouse 4D at the back of the park. They publicize the times the movie plays so you need to get in line about 20 minutes beforehand to be sure you get a seat. The movie lasts about 20 minutes. The movie is a 3d movie with other effects built into the theater. So, if it rains on the characters, the ceiling of the theater drips on the visitors. The movie was pretty good and the kids enjoyed the effects. I could have happily avoided getting wet since I was still drying from Shipwreck falls and the day was getting cool.
LUNCH WITH SHAMU
We had lunch with Shamu and really enjoyed it. We had to make reservations in advance. When we showed up, we all got VIP passes to hang around our necks which the kids liked. We were seated right next to the pool. The lunch itself is a buffet. Try to get in early because a long line formed after us. Lunch included some mediocre entrees for adults and chicken fingers and hot dogs for kids. The show included the trainers talking about the animals for 15 minutes or so while people got their food. Then the whales performed and several times the whales came right up to our table which was thrilling and well worth the price of the lunch. The tables were a bit close together but tolerable. The service for the lunch was excellent. I definitely recommend this experience.
SHOWS
There are several different shows during the day at SeaWorld including a show with Shamu, a dolphin show and a pet show. You can pick up a schedule at the entrance. However, this schedule is completely misleading. It rained the morning we visited so the morning shows were cancelled. Then, apparently, other shows were added that were not on the schedule. I think they made loudspeaker announcements about the additions but it was hard to hear what the announcers were saying. We tried to see two shows but the times had changed and we missed them. A hugely helpful addition to Seaworld would be a large central board that updated visitors on the show times.
THE PARK OVERALL
After a day at SeaWorld, I felt like I had never walked so much in my life. You could walk for over 5 minutes between some of the exhibits and the park is spread out over a considerable distance. Plus, the paths all curve and it is hard to see where you are heading as you set off down the path. There are signs but they are not always helpful. Unlike Disney, there isn't something to see every step of the way so the hiking can get tedious after a full day and it can be frustrating if you find that you have hiked in a loop by accident, particularly if you have small children in tow. That said, the landscaping around the park was beautiful and the park was very clean even though we visited at a busy time of year.
OTHER INFORMATION AND THOUGHTS
Just about everything was stroller accessible and wheelchair accessible.
There are gift shops at almost every exit to every exhibit and you are forced to walk through them. This can make it tough for youngsters begging for cute stuffies or other goodies. I promise my kids one small thing at the end of the day in return for no begging during the entire visit.
Speaking of shopping: there is quite a bit of shopping here. There are gift shops everywhere featuring lots of overpriced stuff you don't need.
They checked bags before people entered the park which slowed down the lines at the gates significantly. Although they claimed it was a security check, the main purpose seemed to be to seize soft drinks people were trying to smuggle into the park.
Of course, the food is ridiculously expensive. A pretty small soda set me back $3. Even more annoying is that they don't give out covers and straws so you have an open, flimsy cup to carry your beverage in. If you want a cover and straw, you have to spring $9 for a plastic souvenir container. I found this pricing to be extremely obnoxious.
Bring a rain poncho. Some of the rides involve getting wet and, if the day is cool, you will be miserable in wet clothing.
FINAL RECOMMENDATION
We liked our day at SeaWorld. There was a lot to see and we spent a full day there. I wish I had been more prepared for the walking (and carrying and pushing the stroller) because I was exhausted at the end of the day. I am glad I wasn't expecting a theme park experience and was open-minded to the aquarium concept. Overall, I would give SeaWorld five stars as an aquarium attraction and thought it was worth the admission price.
MY REVIEWS OF OTHER THINGS TO SEE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Disneyland
Disney's California Adventure
Legoland
Birch Aquarium at Scripps
The San Diego Zoo
The San Diego Wild Animal Park
Balboa Park
The Museum of Making Music
Recommended:
Yes
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modernmarvel
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