Review - Florida - Orlando - SeaWorld - Christmas Celebration

This past week my family and I were able to visit SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida. Since it was chilly (65 degrees) and rainy, the park had surprisingly low attendance for a holiday week which worked great for us. Despite the rain, the Christmas Celebration was in full swing and most of the food/drink booths were operating.

What is Christmas Celebration?
For a limited time, the park contains holiday-themed decor, opportunities to meet Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and his friends, photos with Santa (before Christmas), an ice-skating show, public ice skating, and over 40 tasty treats at different drink/food booths.

Rudolph and Friends:
Tucked away in the back of the park you'll find an enclosed area called Rudolph's Christmas Town featuring photo-ops with life-sized story book vignettes as well as picture-taking opportunities with Rudolph and his friends. You may purchase photos that are taken by the professional camera crew or take your own. This area opens at 5:00pm EST and is capacity-limited. At the end of the trail is a small market with ornaments, stockings, shirts, etc for sale.



Holiday Treats:
As you know, I really enjoy food festivals and treat trails, so I went ahead and purchased a sampler lanyard at booth #1. 5-sample lanyard costs $35. 10-sample lanyard costs $50. Passholder 12-sample lanyard costs $50. The way it works is every time you order a food/drink marked with a star from one of the booths, they stamp/punch your lanyard. The lanyard is a pretty good deal considering most items were in the $10 price range. Items not marked with a star require additional payment.

There were supposed to be 20 booths, however one of them was closed (Baking Spirits High, #18). Three of the booths (#2, #10, #12) are bars without food options (#10 and #12 do offer one non-alcoholic option). Many of the food booths also serve alcohol drinks (any with a star are part of the lanyard program). Two of the booths serve cocoa (#8 and #14) which are provided in refillable plastic cups (refills start at $0.99).

Here are a few items we sampled and our reviews:

Christmas Comforts (Booth #6)

  Lobster Mac & Cheese Bowl - since the cheese wasn't melted, it wasn't as good as it could have been.

  Traditional Turkey Christmas Dinner Stack - Roasted Turkey, Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, and Cranberry Sauce - This was actually our favorite dish. Well-cooked and very tasty.

Tottin' Around the Christmas Tree (Booth #11)

  Totchos - Chicken on top of tator tots with shredded cheese, jalapenos and salsa - Worse than it looks. The staff here were so nice. They will customize your toppings (or leave them off) which is great for picky eaters.

  Totchos - Carnitas (braised pork) on top of tator tots with shredded cheese, japanenos and salsa - Just gross. The cheese didn't melt.

Sliders that Sleigh (Booth #9)

Pork Belly Slider - Roasted then Seared Pork Belly, Sauerkraut, Mustard Aioli - definitely not for picky eaters as the flavors are weird
Hot Chicken Slider - Crispy Chicken, Apricot, Serrano Glaze, Pickles - Another miss. The sweet sauce was a little too heated; would have been better without the sauce/topppings.

O'Christmas Sea... Food Delights (Booth #7)

  Seared Scallops - Served with Pumpkin Seed and Serrano Pesto, Mushroom Risotto - It was alright. Kids didn't like it.

  Dynamite Shrimp - Served with Sambal Aioli & Cucumber Slaw - too spicy for most of our family members; next time I would leave off the aioli.

Treat Yo’ elf (Booth #20)

  - Chocolate Dipped Items - Bacon - Not as advertised at all (they used WHITE chocolate on bacon); grosser than it sounds/looks; very disappointing

North Pole Bakery (Booth #15)

  - Loaded Mini Donut Bites - Bananas Foster - Basically, a pile of mini sugar donuts with a squirt of flavored sauce. Just plain gross. The donuts were hard. Not like the advertised picture at all. We also tried the pumpkin pie flavor. Even worse. Stick with the plain sugar mini donuts.

Claus Cookie Co. (Booth #17)
S'mores - Graham Cracker, Melted Fluff, Melted Chocolate - This didn't turn out well for us; it was a big melted sticky mess.
Cookie Decorating Kit - Sugar Cookie Decorating Kit Includes Icing, Sprinkles, and Christmas Candy - this one cookie came in a nice box which we took to-go and decorated the next day. It's just one cookie so not sure it justifies the price if you pay out of pocket.

Sea of Trees:

The Christmas Light and Music show on the lake (called Sea of Trees) was really nice. The trees turned different colors according to the songs.

Other Photo Ops:


Details:
Christmas Celebration at SeaWorld Orlando ends January 2nd, 2022.
For specifics and hours, click on the Seaworld Orlando Christmas Celebration website

Overall Family Ratings:

• 16 year old - Liked the Turkey Dinner; enjoyed riding Mako several times (since the line was so short)
• 12 year old - Liked the plain cocoa; enjoyed Mako ride
• 7 year old - Couldn't ride any of the big-kid rides due to his height and didn't really like the "baby" rides; liked the White Chocolate flavored cocoa
• 15 month old - Really liked Sesame Street land