SeaWorld San Antonio is my favorite place to visit in San Antonio. It is about 25 minutes away from my house and I love to go there. If you live in or near San Antonio, the smartest thing to do is buy season tickets. That way, you can go as often as you like for the entire season from March through December of the same year and you only pay once. If you want to go every day (I wish!), you can.
Once I get through the gate, I pick up a free map of the park so I have all of the current show times. There are a bunch of shows, and they change depending on what month it is. The shows are a lot of fun and you will want to see all of them. If you plan it right, you can make time to see every one of them. Once you have seen them a few times, you can just go to one or two shows with each visit.
Take a camera, sunscreen, a waterproof purse, and sunglasses. If you plan to go in the water park, wear a bathing suit under shorts and a shirt and take a towel and flip-flops.
My favorite show is, of course, the Shamu show. During the year, there are different Shamu shows to see. All of them are great fun. A word of warning: Do not sit in the first 12 rows by the pool unless you want to get wet. Shamu will splash you and you will get soaked!
If you love watching the sea creatures, maybe you would like to visit the ocean in beautiful Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.
There are some great rides at SeaWorld San Antonio. My favorite is the log ride, Texas Splashdown and my second favorite is the Rio Loco.
There is an indoor theater that shows short movies in 3-D. It is really cool and I love it.
Different movies are shown and you should prepare to get a little wet because the seat in front of you squirts you with water at appropriate times during the movies.
My absolute favorite place to be in SeaWorld San Antonio is the Sharks/The Coral Reef exhibit. I could spend hours sitting in there watching the fish and sharks. This is a cool place where someone goes in the tank and feeds the stingrays at certain times of the day. They also tell you what is going on while they are in the water.
Another great place is the Penguin Encounter. The penguins are so cute and I love watching them. When you go in, you step on a conveyor belt and slowly move across the room, watching the penguins. Afterward, you can step off and stand behind the belt for as long as you like and see the penguins play. It is so much fun!
Stingrays Up-Close Tour
The Stingrays Up-Close Tour at Sea World San Antonio offers visitors the opportunity to feed and touch stingrays, touch a shark, and get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the park. Although it’s rare to feel like you’ve gotten your money’s worth at an amusement park these days, we did feel like the cost of this add-on was reasonable. (The tour is $10/adult and $8/child, not including the general admission park ticket.)
First, we got to learn about stingrays, watch them swim, touch them, and feed them fish. My four-year-old daughter had a little trouble holding the fish properly so that the stingrays would take it from her hands. Overall, it was a really cool experience, even for adults!
Next, our tour group went over to the tank that houses the white-spotted bamboo sharks. My daughter has become really fascinated by sharks, so she was excited and nervous for this portion of the tour. After my husband and I both touched the shark, E. found the courage to give it a try.
I was really proud of E. for being brave. I’m sure the thought of touching a small shark doesn’t seem scary to many people, but I was glad E. tried something new.
The description of the Stingrays Up-Close Tour did not include our next two stops on the tour, so it was a pleasant surprise that we got to stop by the dolphin pool on our way out, as well as get a peek at a species of sea lion that is endangered. (The sea lions are being housed at Sea World at the request of the government, according to our tour guide.) These little extras–a few minutes watching the dolphins and sea lions–made the tour worth the money, in my mind.
The entire tour lasted 60 minutes. This seemed like the perfect amount of time for kids to stay engaged in an activity and allowed us plenty of time to enjoy some of the rides and other attractions at Sea World before we left.
Water Park
SeaWorld has a water park with lots of water slides and a wave pool. They are both great fun. Some days, you may want to just spend the day in the pool and/or the water park. There are lockers that you can rent in this part of the park to put your personal belongings in.
A tip, if you leave the water park and plan to go back in later, do not leave your things in the locker. If you do, you will not be able to go in and retrieve them if the water park is full. The employees will not allow you back in until so many people go out, so you are stuck in the park. This happened to me the first time so I learned! Always take your things with you when you leave the water park and pool area.
SeaWorld San Antonio has some expensive but really good food and snacks. Their frosted lemonade is my absolute favorite. It is so awesome. I can never drink enough of it. Their roasted corn is pretty good, too. They have fabulous waffle cones, too. Any of the restaurants have great food, but it is ridiculously expensive so make sure you bring extra money, especially for drinks (frosted lemonade!). You will love it.
Don’t forget the souvenirs. There are all sorts of things, cups, toys, t-shirts, caps, pretty gift items…toy Shamus. Have a wonderful visit to SeaWorld San Antonio!