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SeaWorld San Diego (SWSD) Discussion Thread

p. 61: Jewels of the Sea Jellyfish Experience coming in 2024!

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It seems really strange that there is no covered seating at Shamu Stadium (I find the fully enclosed pics of San Antonio creepy as hell ). Is that due to the weather?

 

Really none of the stadiums at SWSD have covered seating. You can find some shade, but not much. During the summer, it was downright brutal during the daytime! I would really welcome some covered areas in the stadiums! And I agree- while I've never been to SW San Antonio, I've always thought the pics of their stadium looks weird given that I'm used to San Diego!

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  • 5 weeks later...

^ The Good Nite Inn is directly across the bay from the park, about 2 miles. Granted it's situated next door to a Denny's and a strip club, but it's $41 per night for AAA members. $50 otherwise. It's a budget hotel, for sure, but for location you can't beat the price. I'd compare it to a Super 8.

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^ The Good Nite Inn is directly across the bay from the park, about 2 miles. Granted it's situated next door to a Denny's and a strip club, but it's $41 per night for AAA members. $50 otherwise. It's a budget hotel, for sure, but for location you can't beat the price. I'd compare it to a Super 8.

 

A budget hotel next to a strip club? I'm sure nothing shady goes down there after hours...

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^ You guys bring up good points, haha. I've stayed there 3 times and never had a problem, though. Here's a map of the location -

 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Good+Nite+Inn/@32.7613289,-117.2171101,16z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x80deaae59f59ca53:0x349d923d936894fb

 

I definitely had a good laugh when the first thing listed is "Strip Clubs" before "Cheap hotel."

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That part of San Diego ain't afraid to show its true colors, lol. But if staying next to strip clubs is really bothering you, there's a few other cheap hotels down the street for $10-20 more. All of them will probably be good enough for your stay, and they're still close to the main road into SeaWorld.

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I'll be going to San Diego for a few days next year. Does anyone have any recommendations for a hotel near Seaworld?

 

What do you want to spend? What do you consider close? The hotels will be cheaper if you get farther away from SeaWorld and San Diego.

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I don't mind staying by a strip club but my girlfriend might. I'll look into the Good Nite Inn. Might be worth seeing the night crowd at that Denny's. I'm trying to stay somewhere in the $50-$60 range and thought near Seaworld would be a good area to stay for 3 nights. Of course I don't mind driving away to get cheaper.

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^ Honestly in San Diego you won't find a better price until you get pretty well out of town. I've looked a few times just to see what was available and I keep going back to the Good Nite Inn because the price can't be beat. You may find something around $60 in the Hotel Circle area which is about a mile east of the Good Nite Inn location -

 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hotel+Cir+N,+San+Diego,+CA+92108/@32.7596065,-117.1764306,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x80deaad3ab4b5bf5:0xb8fdee3baf1a4365

 

Honestly, though, we stayed in that area once and it didn't seem like the safest place to be. There were a bunch of shady characters around.

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^Once you distance yourself a couple blocks away from the strip clubs, the neighborhood gets better. In fact, that's actually one of the safer parts of San Diego believe it or not, lol.

 

There's a Days Inn just south of Good Nite for $56, and you could also take adjacent Midway Dr. to bypass busy Sports Arena Blvd. Or, if you really wanna go cheap, you can check out Premier Inns, which is about a mile or so further away than Good Nite and is $40. The on/off ramp from there is a straight-shot to SeaWorld, so I honestly don't see any harm in giving it a try!

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I agree with that sentiment. As I said in the Orlando thread, they spent so much time trying to push the animal portion of the parks that people wouldn't even realize the parks have some great rides unless they did their research! Market yourself like a zoo and you will see attendance like a zoo!

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  • 1 month later...
I agree with that sentiment. As I said in the Orlando thread, they spent so much time trying to push the animal portion of the parks that people wouldn't even realize the parks have some great rides unless they did their research! Market yourself like a zoo and you will see attendance like a zoo!

 

 

Totally agree! Looking at their Facebook page you'd think they were only a political group with an animal rescue place.

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  • 1 month later...

I was just at the park on Wednesday. Before that, it had been about 7 years since I had gone, so I was excited to try Manta!

 

Going into it, I had no idea what to expect. I had heard that Manta was a great family coaster and also that it had airtime, but I figured there couldn't be that much airtime. I was pleasantly surprised by how much airtime was on this coaster! There were some really amazing moments on this ride, and both launches were really fun! I thought the pre-launch was really cool too and added to the atmosphere.

 

I was disappointed that I didn't see Shouka on my trip. They must have had her in some other tank, neither performing nor viewable to guests. I was really looking forward to seeing her again! However, I am always in awe of the whales when I get to see them. They are such beautiful and majestic creatures and I've loved them since I was really young. I wish there were more whales performing in the show, there were only three, but the show was still amazing and I got SOAKED! Definitely don't get that wet at any dolphin show!

 

However, the dolphin show, Blue Horizons, was amazing! It was a little weird to me to have so many aspects of the show that didn't involve dolphins, but the acrobats and divers were really fun to watch, the costumes were great, the set was AMAZING (and all the water jets were fun). Overall, one of the best dolphin shows I've ever seen (and I've seen a lot in my lifetime!).

 

I really really wanted to pet a dolphin and didn't think I'd get a chance without paying $50!! But I went to the trainer interaction thing and sure enough, they let us pet the dolphin!!! Several times!! I was so happy

 

Overall, an amazing day.

 

Here are some pictures I took with my iPod. Not the best quality but still fun.

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50th anniversary!

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These fish ate your hands! Literally! Such a weird feeling

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MANTA!!

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Such a fun ride!

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Beautifully themed too!

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ZOMG BABY WHALEE!!

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Another baby whale!

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The whale came right up to the glass and stared at these kids!

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FLAMINGOOO!

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This ride is still kinda "meh" and I got moderately wet

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Best part of Wild Arctic!

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Blue Horizons!

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So cool

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AHHH PILOT WHALLEEE!!

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So beautiful

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The finale was pretty cool

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My favorite show!!

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Yep I got soaked

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Blam!!

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Screw Blackfish! They're having fun!

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ZOMG I GOT TO PET HERR!!!

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baby shark na na na na na na na na

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mama shark na na na na na na na

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Am I turtle enough for the turtle club?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Cool Trip Report! I just visited the park in January and, as usual, I loved it! The highlight of my day was definitely getting to pet the dolphin. I'm so glad they changed the attraction, that show is great now. It used to be that you had to pay $5 for fish in order to get up close to a dolphin, but now they bring the animals right to you.

 

Manta is a great ride. It really throws you around a lot. It's super forceful for a family coaster and has plenty of good airtime moments. Also, the operations of that ride are simply unmatched. I think it's the highest capacity ride I've ever ridden and I believe it got a golden ticket for capacity in 2012. Journey to Atlantis will always have a special place in my heart since it was my first "big" roller coaster, but the theming on the ride is starting to fade.

 

I'm not a huge fan of the dolphin show, though. As a kid I had a season pass since my family spent almost entire summers in San Diego. The dolphin show back then was much more interactive and educational. It's a common sentiment to hate the change. The new show just feels too much like a theatrical production where the animals have been reduced to props instead of being the stars of the show like they used to. The Christmas show that I saw this past January was better than the regular show, though. If nothing else, they need to cut the part with the divers. I came here to see dolphins, not acrobats. I have similar feelings toward the whale show. Too much TV, not enough whales.

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Thanks, everyone!

 

I'm not a huge fan of the dolphin show, though. As a kid I had a season pass since my family spent almost entire summers in San Diego. The dolphin show back then was much more interactive and educational. It's a common sentiment to hate the change. The new show just feels too much like a theatrical production where the animals have been reduced to props instead of being the stars of the show like they used to. The Christmas show that I saw this past January was better than the regular show, though. If nothing else, they need to cut the part with the divers. I came here to see dolphins, not acrobats. I have similar feelings toward the whale show. Too much TV, not enough whales.

I can agree with your review of it. At SFDK, they have a show with the acrobats (Cirque Dreams) and a show just about the dolphins (Drench!). Although the acrobats are cool, I really like seeing the dolphins best. They're beautiful creatures and can do some really cool acrobatics of their own. Blue Horizons was really impressive but I kinda wish they had another show that focused more on the dolphins. Even though the show played twice, I had no interest in seeing it a second time. However, I could not figure out why the whale show only played once, I would have definitely seen that again.

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I hold a special place in my heart for people that can't seem to appreciate the love Sea World has for its animals, and their willingness to bring ALL PEOPLE, young and old, up close in person to see how amazing and special every single one of these animals are.

 

If there is ANYONE that has earned the responsibility of holding these creatures in captivity, raising them healthy to the best of their ability, and teaching people to appreciate the majesty of the ocean, it is Sea World.

 

I am a strong believer that if people don't have the opportunity to see orca's, dolphins, and all the other animals Sea World provides up close and personal, how are they supposed to have respect for the protection of their species and the conservation of the oceans they live in?

 

These are the things I learned going to Sea World when I was young, and these are the values taught to those who continue to visit with their friends and family. I only hope this kind of message gets repeated to people who are baited by viral propaganda; I hope they know what they're watching is more concerned with likes and views, instead of appreciating what really is an amazing, educational, eye opening place to visit. Sea World busts their asses to be the best, and I will 100% support them until that stops.

 

Thank you, RAWKIN_coaster38, for the photos and trip report! I haven't ridden Manta yet, but me and my girlfriend will soon, and we both love Sea World and look forward to our trip.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

So Screamscape is reporting that Blue Horizons may be on its way out the door in San Diego due to people not responding well to the Cirque style show. As much as I love Blue Horizons and it is my favorite show in each SeaWorld park it's in, I can see why the market in California is much more responsive to the old dolphin show with the lighthouse. It's also quite funny because one of the camp counselors in Orlando told me last year that Blue Horizons is actually Orlando's highest rated show. He said that the people in Orlando love the "cheese factor"! This rumor does make a lot of sense because San Diego has been kind of testing the water recently with some more interactive and less theatrical dolphin shows. It's kinda sad to see the show go if this is true considering its only been 5 years since they built the beautiful set for the show (which in my opinion is way better then the one in Orlando). The stadium is scheduled to be closed from September 8th to the 18th so this may be Blue Horizon's last summer season, but I do find it hard to believe that the 10 day downtime could be used to change the set dramatically so I'm curious to see how much they'll actually change the set for this new show.

Edited by colinx
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