Sea World San Antonio Trip Report (How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Kids)

This was a Trip Report I posted on CoasterBuzz.com.  It contains a little bit of coaster nerd jargon and makes an assumption of knowledge of a few coaster nerd things, but I thought it might be interesting to post something from my personal life and it's still an entertaining read.

Warning: Extreme use of parentheses ahead.

Schools out (for us, yes it's way early) and not for San Antonio Independent School District. What better way to celebrate than a trip to San Antonio for some kid based relaxing...oh yeah, and that new Iron Rattler coaster at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. After a couple of screw ups with travel, we finally settled on the week before Memorial Day Wed-Sat (with the drive back up on Saturday afternoon). I wanted to take the kids to Sea World because,...it's Sea World, but both Sea World and Six Flags were only open on Friday and Saturday and we have passes to Six Flags and Sea World is pretty pricey for a family of 4. So we originally planned to do Six Flags on Friday (which would be nice because it was a school day) and just take a leisurely drive home on Saturday.

Now, on Thursday afternoon after a trip to the zoo (which was great) we were hanging out with some friends in the evening and they mentioned cheap tickets to Sea World were available through Groupon...plus there's a magic promo code you could enter to get an additional 15% off. So I told my wife, "If we want to go to Sea World, it's a possibility. We could do Six Flags on Sat." by which I meant "I don't want to have to fight Saturday of a Holiday Weekend Lines to ride Iron Rattler" but she took to mean "Yes. Please buy us some tickets to Sea World."

So we had some crazy hair brained plan for Friday in which I would leave Sea World half way through the day, zip over to SFFT, bang out a couple laps on IR and return before anyone missed me.

So we pulled up to Sea World just as the national anthem was playing and headed to Shamu Express (which I had never ridden and actually needed the credit on). My older son, Caleb (4), is totally into kiddie coasters and he loved it. It's quite a bit more aggressive than Canyon Blaster at Six Flags Over Texas which I think made him like it more. We hit a few other kids rides and the Sesame Street show.

We caught the Sea Lion Show (and the accompanying sea lion tanks featuring a 10 month old sea lion), then the Shamu show (which was mobbed...we had to split up to find seats). I thought both shows were very good, though I always find the schmaltz on the Shamu show a little over the top (not to say it doesn't move me, it's just...let me just watch aquatic mammals flip around and stuff without being reminded that we're all one big family).

Aquatic mammals flipping and doing cool stuff along with
humans trying to make you feel sentimental

Took the long way around the park including walking under the Great White coaster and the younger son, Micah (2), conked out in the stroller. We stopped for lunch (we abused an all you can eat kids bracelet and fed a family of 4 with it...thus starting my son on a long life of crime) and then played on the playground for a bit. By this time Micah was up so he got to eat also. This was about when I had planned to ditch for SFFT, but I was having so much fun and didn't want to dump on my wife, that I decided to stay and just enjoy the day instead of being so worried about getting lots of laps on Iron Rattler. We'll see what happens tomorrow when we go to Six Flags, though.

So instead, I nabbed my 1 adult coaster ride of the day on Steel Eel which still holds up. I don't know what Morgan did differently building this ride, but it is great. The first few hills have serious air and the MCBR is so high up that the last section is really cruising.

We went over to the Dolphin Cove (near the former site of the hospitality house, the home of the free beer while Busch still owned the park. I would pour out some beer in its memory, but there isn't any free beer anymore) which was awesome. The trainers were having the dolphins swim right up to the edge of the pool and you could almost reach out and touch them. (To actually reach out and touch them was $15. I'm not kidding). Very cool. Caleb did not want to leave, even after the dolphin had swum by 4 or 5 times. We went into the Shark Reef which was also impressive.

After stopping for dinner (yep, still on one bracelet...sorry Sea World) we grabbed a quick lap on Shamu Express and watched the Azul show (a combination of dolphins, beluga whales, divers, acrobats, and synchronized swimmers). It was also incredibly impressive. I had a pit in my stomach for some of the dives that were happening and I found myself cheering along with my kids whenever the dolphins would come out and jump.

At this point it was nearing park closing and we had done just about everything we wanted to do. We pulled up to the bathroom to make sure everybody was ready for the drive home and while mom was going I pulled out the map. Caleb asked me what I was doing and I said, "I just want to make sure we did everything." He said, "But I didn't do that many rides." I replied, "You did all the rides you could...except Journey to Atlantis (this is the 100' Mack splashdown ride, not the hybrid flume/coaster)." He said, "I want to ride that." (Keep in mind that the 20' mini-mine train at SFoT is the biggest coaster he's ridden to this point).

"Umm....okay son. Are you sure? If you're scared at any point, we don't have to ride it."
"Why wouldn't I want to ride it?"

Alright then. Off we go. Mom took Micah to ride the carousel (and apparently run through some fountains) and we went to Journey to Atlantis. There was barely any line and every 5 seconds I turned to Caleb and asked, "Are you sure you want to ride this?" He always replied that he did.

Journey to Atlantis

So we got into the second row of a boat, strapped in and off we went. He was not phased at all by the height but as soon as we started rolling backwards through the dip, he latched onto the lapbar with one hand and me with the other. "This is not fun." was his resigned assessment.

As we rotated forwards, I reassured him that I was there and nothing would happen and once we got off he wouldn't have to ride it again. I gave him the play by play of what would happen as we started creeping towards the edge of the big drop. He tightened his grip on my hand and down we went. A big drop and a decent splash later and he immediately exclaimed, "That was awesome!" So proud of my boy. We'll make an enthusiast out of him yet. As we entered the station, he was laughing about how he didn't get wet because he was sitting behind a big man and I got soaked because I was sitting behind a little girl. We got out and I asked him if he wanted to do it again. "No" was his simple reply. But he wanted to watch a couple boats come down and each time when they hit the splash he would re-narrate his own ride, "That's the scary part. Then you go down the big drop and you hit the splash and then you go 'This is actually fun!'"

So that was it. I put him on my shoulders and we went off to meet mom and found the car.

Our day was fantastic. One of the best days I've had at a park in a long time and probably the best I've had with all 4 members of my family together. The shows were great, the rides were great (with a good selection for all ages), the park was clean and well decorated, the animal attractions were great, the staff was great. Oh and the price was right. I really couldn't have asked for more. Could I have created such wonderful memories at a different park or under different circumstances? Perhaps. But Sea World just made it that much easier. I'll be trying to bang out some laps on Iron Rattler tomorrow morning, but even though it was the main reason for me to take this trip to San Antonio, I can already call the trip a success.