Hey Howdy HAA everyone! 👋
It’s London, and welcome back to HAA Disney: Give Me A Review.
For this review, we’re heading beyond the Disney bubble to SeaWorld Orlando, where we experienced the park for the very first time.
While SeaWorld has long been known for its marine life, animal experiences and educational opportunities, the park has also evolved to include an impressive lineup of roller coasters and thrill rides. As someone who loves ocean life andenjoys a good coaster, I was really curious to see how all of those experiences came together.
Our first visit was hosted by AllGuest Services, and after spending the day exploring the park, riding nearly all of the major coasters and discovering the marine-life exhibits, I walked away with a much different impression of SeaWorld than I expected.
Before we get into the review, I want to give a quick thank-you to our partners at AllGuest Services, who provided our complementary SeaWorld Orlando admission for this experience in exchange for this review and podcast. If you’re planning a Disney trip or an Orlando vacation, you can use our code HAA to save up to $50 on eligible tickets through their website or by calling 407-648-0064 ext. 0. AllGuest Services also offers tickets and experiences beyond SeaWorld Orlando, including Universal Orlando, Walt Disney World, Busch Gardens, LEGOLAND and Kennedy Space Center. Thank you to AllGuest Services for this experience and sponsoring this review!
So, let’s take a closer look at SeaWorld Orlando, what we loved, what we would do differently next time, whether I think it’s worth adding to an Orlando vacation, and of course, my HAA rating.
🌊 A Little Background on SeaWorld Orlando
SeaWorld Orlando has been part of the Orlando theme-park landscape since opening in 1973. Historically, the park has been known for marine life, animal encounters, educational experiences and live shows.
Those elements are still part of the experience today, but SeaWorld has also developed a much stronger emphasis on thrill rides, roller coasters, education, conservation and immersive animal experiences.
That evolution is noticeable when you walk through the park.
SeaWorld now features major coasters including Manta, Kraken, Mako and Pipeline: The Surf Coaster, alongside its marine-life exhibits and educational experiences.
And I actually think that combination works really well.
You can spend part of your day learning about marine life and exploring the exhibits, then turn around and ride a major roller coaster.
For me, that variety is part of what makes SeaWorld Orlando interesting. It combines elements the park has historically been known for with a much stronger modern theme-park experience.
🐬 Our First Visit to SeaWorld Orlando
So, what did we think?
We really enjoyed it.
This was our first time visiting SeaWorld Orlando, and I went into the day genuinely excited because I love ocean life. I expected to have fun — and I absolutely did.
One of the things I appreciated most was the variety throughout the park.
We could explore animal exhibits, learn about marine life, walk through different areas of the park, experience Sesame Street Land and then go ride some seriously impressive roller coasters.
And we rode nearly all of them.
That combination made the day feel varied rather than repetitive. There was always something different to experience, whether we were looking for education, animals, nostalgia or thrills.
🎢 SeaWorld Orlando vs. Universal Orlando
One of my biggest takeaways from our first visit was this:
I think SeaWorld competes really nicely with Universal Orlando.
In fact, I think SeaWorld is a little slept on.
Universal gets a lot of attention when people talk about Orlando theme parks, but after experiencing SeaWorld for ourselves, I think it deserves to be part of that conversation.
The roller coasters are genuinely good, the animal and marine-life experiences are well done, and there is enough variety that you are not simply spending the entire day looking at exhibits.
And personally?
I enjoyed SeaWorld more than Universal Orlando.
I know that’s going to be a controversial opinion for some people! 😂
But for me, the combination of marine life, education, nostalgia and thrill rides made for a really enjoyable theme-park day.
Of course, what someone enjoys most at an Orlando theme park is going to come down to personal preference. For me, though, SeaWorld checked a lot of boxes.
🎢 SeaWorld Orlando Roller Coasters
This was probably one of the biggest surprises for me.
SeaWorld has some really good roller coasters.
We rode nearly all of them, and my two favourites were Manta and Pipeline: The Surf Coaster.
Both were so much fun and offered very different experiences.
I also appreciated the variety across the coaster lineup. SeaWorld is not simply a park where you can see marine life and animals; if you are a thrill-ride fan, there is plenty here to make the day exciting.
If you are a roller-coaster fan and have not considered SeaWorld Orlando, I would absolutely put it on your list.
🐠 The Walk-Through Marine-Life Exhibits
Even with all of the roller coasters, the marine-life side of SeaWorld was still one of my favourite parts of the visit.
The walk-through exhibits were really well done.
I liked being able to slow down, look at the animals and learn without feeling like we had to rush from one scheduled attraction to another.
For someone like me who genuinely loves ocean life, these experiences were exactly what I was hoping to find.
They also reinforced something I think is important for first-time visitors to understand: SeaWorld is not simply a roller-coaster park.
There is still a strong educational and marine-life element to the experience.
🎭 One Thing We Didn’t Know: Check the Show Schedule
There was one important lesson we learned as first-time visitors:
Check the show schedules before you go.
We didn’t realize that many of the shows we were interested in were scheduled primarily in the early morning and then again in the mid-afternoon.
Because we didn’t know that going in, we ended up missing them.
That was probably our biggest disappointment of the day.
If the shows are an important part of why you are visiting SeaWorld Orlando, I would absolutely recommend checking the schedule before your visit and planning your day around the performances you want to see.
For us, it was a classic first-time visitor lesson — and something we will know to plan for next time.
🎠 And Then There Was Sesame Street!
Okay, this made me so happy.
I loved Sesame Street as a kid, so seeing Sesame Street Land brought back a lot of nostalgia.
Walking through the area and seeing the familiar characters and environment genuinely made me feel like a kid again.
Sometimes it is those unexpected moments that make a theme-park experience extra special, and this was definitely one of them for me.
It was a completely different kind of experience from the roller coasters and marine-life exhibits, and I loved having that variety throughout our day.
💰 Is SeaWorld Orlando Worth the Price?
Our tickets were hosted as part of our partnership with AllGuest Services, so we did not personally pay for admission on this visit.
However, when looking at SeaWorld Orlando tickets, I noticed that the park frequently runs sales and promotions, and ticket prices can vary depending on the date and current offer.
I have seen tickets advertised in the range of approximately $60–$110 USD, depending on the date and sale.
Obviously, prices and promotions change, so I would always check the current pricing before planning your visit.
But if you can find a ticket toward the lower end of that range, I think SeaWorld offers a lot for the price.
You are getting animal and marine-life experiences, educational opportunities, walk-through exhibits, Sesame Street Land and an impressive collection of roller coasters.
For the right price, I think SeaWorld Orlando is worth it.
🌎 SeaWorld Is Worth Venturing To
I think this is the biggest takeaway from our first visit.
When you are planning a Disney vacation, it can be incredibly easy to spend the entire trip focused on Walt Disney World.
But sometimes it is worth venturing outside of Disney and exploring what else Orlando has to offer.
SeaWorld gave us a completely different experience.
We got to discover a new park, explore marine-life exhibits, ride some fantastic roller coasters and experience something that neither Disney nor Universal offers in quite the same way.
And the best part?
We want to go back.
We would also like to explore some of the other parks in the SeaWorld family because this first visit made us curious about what else they have to offer.
I think SeaWorld is one of those parks that can be easy to overlook when planning an Orlando vacation, but I would not sleep on it.
If you are visiting Orlando and have an extra day — or you are simply looking for something different to add to your vacation — I think SeaWorld deserves a spot on your list.
👍 The Pros
- 🐬 Really well-done marine-life and animal exhibits
- 🎢 Excellent roller-coaster lineup
- 🌊 A great combination of education, animals and thrill rides
- 🐠 Well-designed walk-through exhibits
- 👨👩👧👦 Something for different ages and interests
- ❤️ Sesame Street Land was a huge nostalgic highlight for me
- 🎢 Manta and Pipeline were our favourite coasters
- 🌎 A different experience from both Disney and Universal
- 💰 Frequent ticket sales can make it a good value
- 🔎 A great way to venture beyond the Disney bubble
- 🌊 Made us interested in exploring more of the SeaWorld parks
👎 The Cons
- 🎭 The show schedule was not obvious to us as first-time visitors
- ⏰ Shows are concentrated around specific times, so planning is important
- 🗓️ You should check the schedule ahead of time if shows are a priority
- 🎢 The increased emphasis on thrill rides may not appeal as much if you are primarily visiting for traditional marine-life experiences
- 🌊 If you have an older idea of what SeaWorld is, be prepared for a park that has evolved significantly
HAA Rating: 4/5
For our first-ever visit to SeaWorld Orlando, I was really impressed.
I went in expecting to have fun because I love ocean life, but I did not necessarily expect to enjoy the roller coasters as much as I did — or to leave already thinking about what we could explore next.
SeaWorld has changed, and I think that is important to recognize. It is not simply the SeaWorld many people may remember from years ago. Today, there is a noticeable balance between marine life, education, conservation, exhibits and thrill rides.
We missed the shows this time, which is something we will definitely plan better for on our next visit, but there was still plenty for us to experience.
And I genuinely think SeaWorld is slept on.
It competes really nicely with Universal Orlando, and depending on what you are looking for in a theme-park day, I could absolutely see someone preferring SeaWorld.
If you can find one of their ticket sales in that $60–$110 USD range, I think it becomes an especially compelling option.
So, if you are planning a Disney vacation, do not be afraid to venture outside of Walt Disney World and explore more of Orlando.
Would we go back? Yes.
Would we explore more of the SeaWorld parks? Absolutely.
Is SeaWorld worth venturing to? I think so.
Thank you again AllGuest Services, who provided our complementary admission to SeaWorld Orlando for this experience. We had an amazing time and cannot wait to go back!
Let us know… would you visit SeaWorld Orlando on your next Greater Orlando Vacation?
Have a blessed and wonderful day,
London
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