Seaworld - Zoo/Aquarium Days --(Was: Spooktacularv-BBQ and Brew)

montreid

Registered
Joined
Feb 24, 2013
https://seaworld.com/san-diego/zoo-days-bayside-bbq-and-brews/
Reservations required.

--So looks like Seaworld trying to have cake and eat it too. Calico Festival style but at $75 for 6 meal tickets and entry with NO Rides or indoor attractions. At least the outdoor shows are still on; but it's a bit of a steep price for visitors.

For passholders, it's a reasonable $30 and worthy of a day event; especially for those wanting an escape and want to drink a bit since the food is just okay at Seaworld.

So if you miss Shamu and the dolphins and a passholder - worth a look.
 
Looks like they are charging a lot for parking l $25-$35 per vehicle. Overall, looks like a very expensive adventure, but with people not being able to travel very much, it will probably do well. I haven't been there in maybe 10 years in spite of being local because of their history with how they treat the animals and the employees. The food there was always 100% junk, but the picture on the link actually looks like they have good food now. Still not worth paying $75 to eat it plus $25 to park to me.
 
I haven’t been to sea world since 2005. I think I was 12 and my grandparents took me.

Maybe I’ll give this a try. Can make for a nice day trip.
 
Yeah the food has certainly improved over the years and the BBQ really is the better of their foods along with the beer selection. Kind of surprised no Seven Seas type selection with this type of pricing that they are doing.

For passholders with parking included, $30 isn't bad as will get the food and opportunity to run around the place and see the outside folk -- and that's a lot of fun in itself. The dolphin show is going to be really hard to crowd manage though so would be interesting to see how well they handle that.
 


Went today - reported 25% capacity

1030A parking opens
1110A: got to parking queue -- took about 15 min to get through parking stand
-Parking easy typical parking
-New Tent - temp check -- camera - no hats - walk through; no stopping -- easy
-Bag check - typical - easy
-Lanyard - 6 punch card -- old style. does have QR code of new map - condensed areas; lanyard has list of foods and locations
-Shows - 3 shows - Orca, Dolphin, and Sealion -- running throughout the day -- every other row strict; 6' apart - encouraged; masks reminded gently constantly on PA and in-person; end of show - church style section-by-section let out - quite orderly

-Feedings: both rays and sea lions open.
-Adventures - open

Was a lot of fun to be back. Lots of families. -- notable from LA too.
 
Went today - reported 25% capacity

1030A parking opens
1110A: got to parking queue -- took about 15 min to get through parking stand
-Parking easy typical parking
-New Tent - temp check -- camera - no hats - walk through; no stopping -- easy
-Bag check - typical - easy
-Lanyard - 6 punch card -- old style. does have QR code of new map - condensed areas; lanyard has list of foods and locations
-Shows - 3 shows - Orca, Dolphin, and Sealion -- running throughout the day -- every other row strict; 6' apart - encouraged; masks reminded gently constantly on PA and in-person; end of show - church style section-by-section let out - quite orderly

-Feedings: both rays and sea lions open.
-Adventures - open

Was a lot of fun to be back. Lots of families. -- notable from LA too.
Thank you for the detailed report!
 


We attended this event a week ago on Sunday, September 20th. We had been planning a trip to SD from Phoenix for the 20th through the 25th and didn’t realize that it was only running Friday-Sunday. So we got to super early on Sunday and left Phoenix around 7am.

We arrived around 1pm or so. There was only a single person manning a single booth for parking but the lines weren’t too bad. We had prepaid for normal parking and there was plenty of it. They told us to only park every other spot but no one was enforcing that and everyone was clustered together. It didn’t matter much to us since when we parked, no one was arriving near us anyway. I would not recommend upgraded parking because you will only get a tiny bit closer.

The entrance to the whole thing is off to the right from the main entrance. We waited only a minute or so to get “screened”. We saw them check temps of people in front of us but for whatever reason we didn’t get checked. Again, didn’t bother us as I have heard temperature screenings aren’t that effective anyway.

After getting through that area, you get dumped back into the main plaza. Not much like for us to get through and we are assigned our punchcard that hangs around our necks.

Because we knew we were not getting there right at opening we splurged $15 a person for the priority seating. I am glad we did. We attended all 3 shows (Orca, Dolphin, Sea Lion) and arrived with maybe 15 minutes and got our seating). The Orca show was especially nice since the reserved seating is mainly the one shaded area. The seating in general is very well done: every other row, marked spacing for groups and employees doing a pretty good job at enforcement. At the end, they dismiss folks in groups so you don’t get your usual stampede. Most people seemed to be compliant.

Exiting was probably one of the few times we’d get within 6-feet of other folks. There was normally plenty of room and you can tell they are operating well under capacity. Beyond the shows, several other exhibits were open including the “petting” area at the front, Shark Encounter, the penguins and Turtle Reef. The only thing we didn’t end up going was the last one because the line was fairly long and slow going

Masking was generally honored although still saw a few folks with their masks pulled down because they were drinking while walking. Again though: you could keep your distance without much effort and we were outside. We felt pretty good about the whole thing.

The food wasn’t amazing but not bad either. It had the feel of mass produced cafeteria food you might get at a big company. All of the places had different main options but the sides, non-alcoholic drinks and desserts were pretty much the same. The 6 punches were plenty for us because none of us drink alcohol (which takes a punch). We ended up using a few punches at the end to get some sodas (the non-alcoholic drinks are two for one punch) to take with us to our rented beach condo.

Overall, it was an absolutely fantastic experience, especially after being stuck at home for six months! And mostly inside since we are in Phoenix. I am really glad we started our get-away with this visit.
 
Update: Seaworld SOLD OUT today.
Went about 1100A today and they made significant improvements.

Lots of gated queues to all attractions that created evenly spaced lines with minimal cutting. It made for a lot more walking at the beginning to get passed the infrared temperature cameras and past the gates, but it made for a lot smoother process -- think Barnes&Noble or Bass Pro Shop style checkout queue.

Stadium seating also updated: improved staggered checkerboard style seating so no one was seated directly behind you at any time. This was done quite well. Unfortunately, this resulted in the popular dolphin show to close out each time 30minutes before the show.

Indoor viewing: lines averaged ~20-30 to get into the shark, turtle, penguin exhibits. They kept VERY good indoor crowds down with Ambassadors at both the entrance and exit to coordinate counts inside. This was a very nice thing to see and was quite impressed on this.
 
Seaworld reopened again Feb 6 daytime and running a nightime drive-through for the month still.

Nighttime Drive-through - you literally drive around the entire park in your car and see most of the Sesame Street parade carts stationed throughout the park and characters waving. Cute and nice little family thing. $25 for passholders and worth the distraction. $50 probably will make people feel fleeced IMHO.

Reopening -25% capacity. Outdoor only since we're Purple still. Outdoor showing all running and new Rescue Tails show is a nice addition.

Seaworld continues to improve it's spacing and social distancing skills. Seating is nicely spaced. Preshow explanation and postshow dismissals are efficient and they developed entertainment too for this. Also the outdoor viewing areas have 'cubicles' to space parties apart -- a nice welcomed addition that I hope the zoo takes notice and implement.

Can't wait for Red tier to allow indoor openings again for the turtles, sharks, and penquins - oh my!
 

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