A friend and I will be traveling to WDW in mid-June, and my friend really wants to take a day to visit SeaWorld while there.

Since I've never been to that SeaWorld and am unsure how long it will take to see most of the attractions on a June day, I have a few questions:

1. How long does touring the park usually take? All day? Half day?
2. What are the can't miss attractions? (Especially those that are not at the SeaWorld in San Diego.)
3. Is there a plan of attack I should adopt for optimum touring results?

Many thanks,
Sheila

You may want to consider one of the "tours" offered by SWO. They are a premium price however.

http://www.seaworld.com/seaworld/fla/sp_park_tours.aspx

You may want to consider knocking off the rides first thing. Kraken is a well reviewed coaster, and SWO's Journey To Atlantis the big brother of SWSD's.

Here's also a tip from the guide:

"Hand-feed sea lions, dolphins and stingrays in various areas of the park. Check the feeding times when you arrive and plan to be in the area well in advance of when the feeder booths open."

And for a real premium experience, there is the Discovery Cove.

http://www.discoverycove.com/vi_dcpackages_pricing.aspx

It may be more realistic to experience that when you have more time however.

Sheila - here's way more information than you really want, with the caveat that I'm going off my trip from almost five years ago.

As to your specific questions:

1. This is a really subjective question, depending on what shows you want to see and how much time you spend at each exhibit. I think there's plenty there to occupy a full day. When we went, we spent two separate days there and weren't bored at all. One thing to keep in mind is that their park seems bigger (not sure if it really is) than San Diego because they have a bigger lagoon area, which you would have to walk around if you're going to attractions in those areas. In San Diego, the lagoon is on one side, so that's not a concern.

2. See the long babbling below. :geek:

3. The only suggestion I would have is to try to go around the park geographically as much as possible, so you don't spend a lot of wasted time criss-crossing the park. If you're not going to that many shows, that would make it easier. Also, given June in Orlando, be sure to bring a hat and sunscreen and remember to drink lots of water. I can't remember if there's much shading there. And I would actually advise against the tours. They're good for specific purposes, but if you want a general visit, you're going to do much better on your own.


Killer whale area - Yes, San Diego has killer whales too, but Orlando has different ones (though they now have our Takara and Kohana, but I digress). According to the website, they also have a new baby: "SeaWorld Orlando welcomed a new baby killer whale to the Shamu family on February 9, 2004. The calf's mother, Kalina, gave birth to the 7-foot-long, 350-pound newborn at 10:10 p.m. in SeaWorld Orlando's multimillion-gallon research and breeding facility, Shamu Stadium, following a seven-hour labor. Moments later, the baby whale instinctively swam to the surface of the water for its first breath of air. The calf began nursing within hours." Mom might be back in the shows, in which case baby will be just wandering around the pool, which is always fun to see. If you've not seen a baby killer whale and want to, I'd encourage you to try to get a look-see. If not in the show, you might also be able to see mom and baby in their regular holding tanks. Otherwise, I don't recall the show itself being spectacular enough to be worth seeing.

Dolphin Cove - That's their dolphin area, not surprisingly. I don't recall what the topview is like, but I remember liking the underwater view, though because the viewing area is oval curved, the angle can be a bit distorted. While San Diego has something like this for the killer whales (underwater view of them swimming), they don't have something like that for the dolphins, which I wish they did. There's another location called the Dolphin Nursery, which I was really looking forward to seeing because I love little baby dolphins, but it's not designed so that you can see them very well. You can get glimpses of their little dorsal fins and of them if they happen to come up out of the water enough to breathe, but otherwise, not much to see.

Journey to Atlantis - I really, really like Orlando's version of this ride, though the surprise factor that we had will be gone if you already know about the ride. In any case, I definitely think it's worth a ride, but one huge word of caution is that if you sit in either of the two seats in the front row, you will get absolutely soaked. The first time we went on the ride, we sat in the middle somewhere, and you get a little wet, but not much. We decided to go on again and were stuck in the front row. We were literally dripping wet when we got off. Given that it was late afternoon in November and we were planning to stay through closing, we ended up deciding to drive back to where we were staying to change our clothes and then come back. I would suggest bringing an entire change of clothes with you in the car (so you only have to go that far to change), or alternatively, under no circumstances sit in the front row. Or, be prepared to be very wet for the remainder of your stay.

Seymore and Clyde on pirate island - This is their version of the sea lion show, but it's one I really like. San Diego had a version of this show year's ago, and I much prefer it to the version that's there now. It's a lot of fun.

I don't think Kraken, the roller coaster, was open when we were there, so I can't tell you anything about that. If you want to take a break, there are paddle boats in the lagoon in the shape of flamingos. We didn't end up doing that when we were there, but it's something I'd want to do whenever we go back just because I like paddle boats. I believe there's an extra charge for that.

The one thing to absolutely not miss is Pacific Point Preserve, which is their sea lion habitat. After seeing that, I so don't like the little tiny space where the sea lions live in San Diego. This is a huge place, with lots of different types of areas, some which are more rocky and some which are deep water. There are all manner of sea lions of various ages. I remember seeing a bunch of little ones sleeping or playing in the water, and there were some that were playing in the deep end of the habitat, where the wave machine was working. I could spend hours just standing there and watching all of them.

Have fun!

Sheila - here's way more information than you really want, with the caveat that I'm going off my trip from almost five years ago.

Your information was perfect. This is the kind of stuff I wanted to know about. The off-the-beaten-path kind of information makes traveling so much more enjoyable for me.

Personally, when I buy guidebooks, I'll always buy the one that features attractions favored by the locals, as opposed to the guidebooks that urge you to visit the tacky Wax Museum.

One more question though: On Journey to Atlantis, is that a rough ride? Can someone with back problems go safely on it?

Sheila

One more question though: On Journey to Atlantis, is that a rough ride?

I don't remember exactly, and I didn't have the concerns then that I do now. I don't recall it being rough. You should definitely check the printed guide map material and ask a CM about it.

Kraken is not a rough ride. I suffer from lower back pain and have ridden it a number of times (january being the most recent) with no problems. It is based more around large swooping drops and rolls rather than jarring curves.

Another area of Sea World worth checking out is the Ray tanks just over from the dolphin feeding area for the chance to stroke rays as they swim around(slimy little beggars).

The arctic area is also worth a look for the polar bears and white whale.

The Shamu show is fun but if you've seen a Shamu show before it may be worth a miss.

Hope this helps.