Review - Texas - San Antonio - Sea World San Antonio - Mardi Gras

For a short time, Sea World San Antonio is celebrating Mardi Gras (a carnival theme which was made famous in New Orleans) with colorful theming, fun characters roaming the areas with beads to give away, musical and animal shows and some Cajun-style foods for purchase.

After getting through security then the ticket scanning stalls, you will come upon the park map and the fountain area. If you come too early, you may miss the fun guys on stilts but not to worry as you can circle back later and catch a picture with them - which is what I ended up doing since I arrived a little after park opening and they hadn't come out yet.

Head past the service buildings and you may find Shamu the killer whale waiting on the righthand path to take a picture with you and your family. If the line is long, be patient because it will get longer throughout the day and Shamu tends to disappear as it gets hotter or later in the day. Don't be intimidated by the park's photographer, you can take your own pictures as well.

If you're really lucky and you arrive early in the day, you may get to see Star, a bald eagle, just behind all the fountains.

As we headed toward the roller coasters, we ran into the colorful King and Queen.

When you head further into the park (and a bit later in the day since they weren't open in the morning), there's a nice Queen's Concoctions truck serving Mardi Gras-themed adult beverages.

Throughout the kid's areas we met several costumed characters wandering around. A few of them were handing out beaded necklaces. One fellow had a little bead-throwing game for kids to win a necklace.

There's special musical shows throughout the day. Use the Sea World app to find the times and locations. You can enjoy the Bexas Brass brand and The Krewe's Beats and Beads Jamboree. There's also a nice Cajun Critters show at the Biergarten Stage.

There was a small offering of Cajun or Creole foods and adult beverages. Definitely not as grand as their food festival which makes sense since this event only runs about a month long.

And finally, I took a peak at the new roller coaster coming soon - Barracuda Strike.

The party only lasts until February 16, 2026. Also, Sea World operating hours are on the "shorter" schedule - 10:30am - 5:00pm CST on weekends plus President's Day.

Sea World San Antonio, 10500 SeaWorld Drive, San Antonio, TX 78251

For more information, click here: https://seaworld.com/san-antonio/events

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

Info - Walt Disney World's planned Disney Genie+ and how it compares to other parks

Well, the news that Disney is finally moving to a paid fast pass system just broke millions of hearts. It was inevitable considering all the other theme parks charge for fast passes, but with Covid and the millions of dollars in lost revenues, it was the perfect storm to implement it. You can still wait in stand-by lines, but we all know how much longer you will wait in there as fast pass purchasers will be ushered ahead of you making stand-by lines that much longer. It's almost a requirement to get a paid fass past if you want to maximize your ticket for the day.

So how will Disney's new paid pass system work and how will it compare to other parks?

Disney will offer 2 add-on options. One is the Disney Genie Plus(+) which will cost $15/ticket/person and offer fast pass for 40 tier-2 or lower rides. The second is the Lightning Lane for the Tier-1 popular rides (such as 7Dwarves Mine Train, Frozen Ever After, etc) whose prices will vary depending on crowd levels and be limited to 2 options per day per person.

Amusement Park	Fast Pass Name	Fast Pass Cost	Number of Uses
Disney World Orlando	Disney Genie+	$15/ticket/person	Unlimited per day?
Disney World Orlando	Lightning Lanes	$variable/person	Limited 2 rides per day
Universal Orlando	Universal Express	$79.99+ per person	Once per ride
Universal Orlando	Universal Express Unlimited	$109.99+ per person	Unlimited
SeaWorld	Quick Queue® Unlimited	$14.99+ per person	Unlimited
Six Flags	Flash Pass - Bronze	$50+ per person	Limited options
Six Flags	Flash Pass - Gold	$80+ per person	Limited options
Six Flags	Flash Pass - Platinum	$115+ per person	Unlimited

Hope that helps!

Review - Florida - Orlando - SeaWorld

During our Spring Break trip, we headed to SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida on a Sunday afternoon. It was quite crowded (so if you prefer to avoid crowds, don't plan to visit on a weekend) and there were long lines for all the rides and shows. Our main goal, however, for this visit was the annual Seven Seas Food Festival which runs Friday-Saturday-Sunday through May 9th. You will find over 50 food options and 150 adult beverage options in addition to live entertainment.

Like the Food and Wine Festival at Busch Gardens, SeaWorld's Seven Seas Food Festival allows guests to either purchase food/beverage items a la carte or you can purchase a sampler lanyard which you get punched when you order food/drink items at the participating booths. Lanyards are available in 10 sample option ($60.00 or $6.00 each item) or 15 sample option ($75.00 or $5.00 each item). Passholders get 3 extra items with the 15 sampler option.
You can check out menus and information by clicking this link

North Atlantic Market - New England Style Lobster Roll


All-American Market - Lobster, White Cheddar KRAFT® Mac N Cheese


Asian Market - Giant Tempura Prawns and Bingsu Salted Vanilla Ice Cream


SeaWorld Orlando has a wonderful children's area called Sesame Street Land which features tons of hands-on fun for young children. They can touch and press all kinds of gizmos (keep that antibacterial gel handy). Inside the Photo studio building, they can meet two Sesame Street characters in a socially-distanced way (and there are fun activities kids can play while they wait). Outside the photo studio is Big Bird's nest where you can meet the character on a scheduled basis. The playgrounds were closed but most of the rides were operating and lines were reasonable (unlike the adult rides in the rest of the park). The splash zone was open if you remember to bring your swimwear.


Overall Family Ratings:

• 16 year old - Enjoyed the food festival; favorite item was Lobster Mac and Cheese
• 11 year old - Sort of enjoyed the food festival; favorite items were Lobster Mac and Cheese and the Caramel Popcorn at the Asian Market
• 6 year old - Did not enjoy the food festival (but did eat the Cheesy Bread); loved the Sesame Street land