Last week The Hubster and the Kiddos were on Spring Break, and unanimously wanted to take a mini San Diego SeaWorld vacation and explore the creatures in Explorers Reef, visit the turtles at Turtle Reef and run with Elmo and friends at the Sesame Street Bay of Play.
For us, SeaWorld San Diego is the perfect “stay-cation” for us. Now that we have a motorhome, we made reservations at Mission Bay RV Resort that is literally 10 minutes from SeaWorld. With great SeaWorld discounts, like “Pay for a day and get 2015 FREE“, we can enjoy taking our time exploring all that the park has to offer.
So far in 2015, we’ve visited the park twice – the first was part of my Christmas Gift. My husband decided that he would give me a gift of experience – a Seaworld Experience.
As a kid, I have always wanted an opportunity to swim with dolphins. I figured it would be something I did while on an incredible vacation, honeymoon, etc. As a matter of fact, I wanted to do it while on my honeymoon in Jamaica, however we ran out of time and didn’t get a chance. My hubby promised me that I’d have the opportunity, someday. As a Christmas surprise, he purchased a package from SeaWorld. It was an annual pass, Dolphin Interaction and Dine with Shamu. Little did I know, my present was already booked and planned for before I even received my gift.
During Black Friday, he was able to get an amazing SeaWorld discount on a 2 year annual pass, the Dolphin Interaction as well as Dine with Shamu. An experience that I would recommend to anyone. Even though it was raining, dancing with Rain and interacting with the other dolphins was the highlight to my day. Dine with Shamu was entertaining for the entire family, and the buffet lunch – delicious!
Since it was raining back in January, we had to make a repeat visit to interact with SeaWorld San Diego’s other awesome exhibits like Explorer’s Reef. My kids absolutely LOVE hanging out at Explorer’s Reef. Now that they’re brave enough to stick their hands in the water, they love watching the cleaner fish nibble at their fingers, and having the opportunity to pet the brown banded and white spotted bamboo sharks. We were all quite fascinated to check out the shark eggs they had hanging in a display.
We let the kids rule the day, picking out which shows to see, which exhibits to visit. They lead us to the One Ocean Show featuring Shamu and the killer whales. We enjoyed watching the dolphins interact with their trainers, splashing the crowd and all their amazing tricks, as well as the birth of their newest addition.
SeaWorld San Diego has been expanding their entertainment to include rides. I recall Manta being installed when I was pregnant with my first – so I still haven’t had a chance to ride this awesome roller coaster, but I plan to when the kids are tall and brave enough. They also have Journey to Atlantis, Shipwreck Rapids (which we LOVE to splash unsuspecting victims when they cross by the bridge loaded with water cannons), Riptide Rescue and the Wild Arctic Ride. With our “Buy one day, get the rest of 2015 FREE”, I’m hoping we’ll have the opportunity to enjoy these throughout the year.
The three of them: The Hubster and munchkins LOVE visiting the bat rays any time we are at SeaWorld San Diego. It’s so very hard to pull them away, because they want to feed them, touch them, and see if they will swim up to their faces as one did.
And when the littles get too antsy and need to burn off some steam, we run over to Sesame Street’s Bay of Play. The Bay of play has all kids of kids fun with a toddler play mat, bouncing mat for the older kids, obstacle area, sand pit, and rides Elmo’s Flying Fish, Oscar’s Rocking Eel and Abby’s Sea Star Spin. You can even have your picture taken with your Sesame Street pals.
We ended our amazing day at SeaWorld San Diego with this beautiful sunset at Mission Bay RV Resort where we stayed a couple of days enjoying the sun, sand and FINALLY a chance to relax and have quality family time over our Spring Break.
Disclaimer: We received a few tickets to SeaWorld in order to share our honest experiences during our mini vacation in San Diego. No other form of compensation was received.
Just so you know, “Lunch with Shamu” is actually called Dine with Shamu and they offer it at dinnertime as well. The Shamu show is called “One Ocean” not “One World”.
Looks like you got to see Shouka! She is the orca performing a flip in your photo. You can read more about her here:
https://orcapod.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Shouka
Thank you so much for the corrections. They are already updated.