Sea parks are hit or miss with us, some lame (Sea Life Park in Hawaii), some not so bad. Sea World is one of the best we've been to, and part of it has to be that it's an Anheuser Busch park, which are usually pretty good (they own Busch Gardens, too.) Here are our tips for a fun day with Shamu and his crew!
Rides
Journey to Atlantis Like to get wet? This is it. It's a combination roller coaster/water coaster. Beware the siren's call as you find your way to the lost city of Atlantis. Your boat will take you on a super wet ride down a steep hill, only to turn into a roller coaster going on tracks around hairpin turns. Pretty cool.
Wild Arctic Your journey to the arctic circle starts on a motion simulator ride, similar to "Body Wars" at Epcot, and "Star Wars" at Disney Studios. This one takes you through some spectacular scenery, though, on a simulated helicopter ride, complete with perils such as avalanches. After the ride, you are deposited at Base Station Wild Arctic, an indoor exhibit built to look like an arctic research station. Check out the polar bears, walruses, and beluga whales, each with their own areas and swimming pools, then go downstairs to see them swimming under the water, too.
Sky Tower The only tourist trap in the whole park. This is the typical viewing tower that takes you to the top of a big pole for a great view of the park. Forget it. As much as you pay to get into the park, why are they charging $5 a person to ride the thing? Sheesh.
Animal Exhibits
Key West at Sea World A neat area where you can pet and feed dolphins and stingrays.
Pacific Point Preserve Get up close with seals and sea lions. Buy some fish and give 'em a treat!
Penguin Encounter Learn about the many different kinds of penguins and where they live with this series of videos and diagrams, then check out the habitat with hundreds of penguins doing their thing.
Terrors of the Deep A cool exhibit featuring a huge coral reef habitat home to sharks and zillions of fish. You are surrounded by it all when you walk through a clear tube which is under the water. Neato.
Shows
Cirque De La Mer It seems to be Sea World's knockoff of the popular Cirque Du Soleil groups, but it's actually a pretty good show. (This show contains no animals, fyi.) The comedian is pretty good-he starts out as an audience warm up, but becomes part of the show, which includes lots of acrobatic feats and dancing apparently based on South american folklore. Not a bad show-the kids will like it.
Key West Dolphin Fest A nice show featuring false killer whales and dolphins, along with live music.
The Shamu Adventure This daytime show is always packed full, so get there early. Another tip-if it says you will get wet, you will. The first 14 rows are marked off as a soak zone, so don't sit there if you want to stay dry. Too many people sit there, then start running up the stairs in the middle of the show because they thought "soak zone" was funny. Anyway, this is a really cool show featuring the stars of Sea World, the killer whales, including Shamu and Ramu (the biggest killer whale in any park at 11,000 pounds.) It's amazing to watch what these guys do. The jumps and flips are amazing, and what's even more amazing is the loving way they work with their trainers, playing with them and doing cool stuff like pushing them high into the air with their jumps. Don't miss it.
Shamu Rocks America This is the last show, at the end of the park's day, which is different from the Shamu Adventure show. This show is a toe tapping, quick paced jump fest timed to lots of great rock music. This show is much less crowded than the others, but the people leaving the park early are missing out-it's a cool show!
Polynesian Luau It looked like it might be fun, but when we found out that it starts at a really dumb time, we didn't go. If you want to catch Shamu Rocks America, do NOT go to the Luau. It starts at 6 p.m. and Shamu starts at 6:30 p.m. The Shamu show is much too good to miss for an overpriced ($30 per person) and probably not too authentic (considering we've seen the real thing) luau.
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