We went to Sea World yesterday, April 7th - Spring Break in this area.
We arrived at the park about 10:45 am. We had purchased our tickets on-line so went right to the kiosk, scanned our paper and had tickets in 1 minute. The lines were long to purchase tickets so I would plan on pre-purchasing online.
We went straight to the Atlantis ride. The sign had a 30 minute wait. The ride broke when we were about to get on and we were escorted out of line after about 50 minutes of waiting. No front of line passes were offered even after a request.
We went straight to the Shamu stadium for the 12:00 pm show. There was a crane in/near the stadium so they didn't open the stadium until about 11:52 am for seating. The show started about 10 minutes late. We were happy that there were vendors selling snacks and drinks before the show began.
DD12 went to the extreme zone and did the bungie trampoline and rock climbing wall. It was $5 per attraction or $8 if you did both. No one was in the area, so they let my DD have an extra long time on the bungie. She attracted 7 people to try it out. I told the staff that they could keep her all day as a salesperson.
After a stop in the Dolphin store, we headed to feed the sea lions and seals. Food was $5 per tray. The sea lions stand right up on their back flippers so they get about 6 inches from you and your fish. There was a staff member there during feeding that answered questions and gave some information about the pinnipeds.
By this time we were hungry, so went across the park to Shipwreck Cafe. I thought the food was great for theme park food. I had the glazed salmon and DD had the ribs (both grilled on an outdoor mesquite barbeque). Our meals included grilled vegetables and french fries. The carrot cake we had for dessert was yummy. We sat outside in our own palapa hut next to a waterfall. There were also sea turtles, aquariums and macaws.
Since we were right next to Shipwreck Rapids, we waited in the 20 minute line. Everyone in our raft was soaked. Luckily it was a nice day and the sun helped dry us out.
We made it to the dolphin feeding area about 5 minutes before the food was being sold. The line was at least 50 people long. Again, $5 for a tray of food. We went to the very end of the feeding area and had one dolphin all to ourselves. They take pictures of you feeding and petting the dolphins.
A short walk to the forbidden reef, and we were petting the sting rays. I tapped the water with a flat hand and about 8 sting rays came right over. There were no more feeding opportunities for the day at 3:30 pm.
Our second and last show was Clyde and Seamore. We found a seat about 5 minutes before the show started in the top section. I noticed we were sitting in a splash zone, but I couldn't figure out how the water would get up that high. About 15 minutes in, I figured it out, there were sprinklers up there. The show is funny and we loved the little otter.
The last exhibit we did was the Shark Encounter. Sharks must like pink, because when we were in the shark tube there was a shark following me. I noticed it at first and told DD and the kids behind me confirmed that the shark had his eyes on me.
I was surprised that we didn't see too many shows and didn't get into all the exhibits in the 6+ hours that we were there. We did purchase a fun card so that we can go back the rest of the year for the price of a single day admission.