Sea World - San Antonio
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During a recent long weekend in San Antonio, we set aside a day to visit the local Sea World park. It is the largest of the three Sea World parks. We often visit their sister park in San Diego and were excited to see how this park compares.
Sea World San Diego Guide: (Jump To)
Admission to Sea World San Antonio
Fortunately, our Sea World season passes work for all three Sea World locations so we scanned our passes and quickly entered the park. You can, of course, buy your discounted tickets online before coming to the park.
Sea World San Antonio Quick Queue
Because it was a weekend day we decided to get Quick Queue® Unlimited passes, their version of the front of line pass.
The Quick Queue works pretty seamlessly. We were each issued a card with a barcode. At the entrance to the attraction, we found the alternate line for the Quick Queue. At the end of the line, an employee scanned our card and we were allowed on the ride with under 5 minutes of waiting.
It helped skip long lines for the water-based flume and raft rides, but as the park cleared out in the afternoon and evening it ended up being a little bit of a waste of money.
Sea World San Antonio All Day Dining Pass
We bought an all-day dining pass for our visit. It allowed us to buy a meal, including a side or dessert every 90 minutes during the day of our visit. It also included unlimited non-alcoholic beverages. It’s a pretty good value if you’re able to split entrees.
Sea World San Antonio’s Newest Ride
First up was the park’s newest attraction, Tidal Surge. It’s a tall swinging pendulum ride. Its location next to the lake made for some pretty views (when our eyes were open.) Sea World bills it as the fastest and tallest ride of its kind.
Sea World San Antonio’s Water Rides
The temperature for the day was well over the 100-degree mark, so we decided that the next stop should be the park’s water attractions.
Rio Loco is a pretty average raft ride that succeeded in getting us properly soaked but wasn’t packed with unique thrills or excitement.
Journey to Atlantis, however, is a much cooler ride. It’s a combination of a rollercoaster and a log flume ride. It goes up a big hill, spins you, throws you forward, backward, and forward again before taking you down the typical log flume plunge. You’ll get wet, but it’s not a soaker.
Sea World San Antonio’s Roller Coasters
A small collection of rollercoasters filled our afternoon. We managed to ride three of the four coasters twice.
Our favorite was the wooden coaster, the Texas Stingray. It's a shaky wooden coaster with a nice drop and some fun twists and turns.
The Wave Breaker is a cheesy ride that tries hard to sell its strange theming around being an animal rescue worker. The ride zips you around a metal track above the lake. It’s a fun ride with low-level family-friendly thrills.
The Great White Roller Coaster is a floorless coaster with far too many whips and spins. It’s for sure the most thrilling of the rides in the park, but it left us a little worse for wear. This is the ride we decided didn’t qualify for a re-ride despite not having a wait.
The most visible coaster in the park is the purple and green painted Steel Eel. The ride is long, tall, and loads of fun.
Sea World San Antonio’s Animals
The park has several habitats for a variety of sea creatures. Our favorite was the Penguin and Puffin exhibit. There are also sharks, beluga and killer whales, dolphins, sea lions, otters, and fish of all shapes and sizes.
Near the front of the park, there is a large aquarium called Explorer’s Reef that closes much earlier than the rest of the park. This is where you can see the park’s sharks. Make sure to visit early in the day. During our visit, the exhibit closed at 5 pm.
Sea World San Antonio’s Nighttime Entertainment
We concluded the day with the Electric Ocean event. It runs all summer. The show includes a fireworks display, a water ski show, and live rock music by a cover band.
The water show was pretty entertaining to watch. The overall show was a little on the corny side and had some cringeworthy moments, but the performers were giving their all. It’s worth hanging around for.
While in San Antonio, make time for a day visiting the UNESCO World Heritage site San Antonio Missions.
