Review - Taking young family to Sea World

[liz.wis]

Following my overblown review of taking the kids to Movie World a few weeks ago, I'm following up with an equally verbose report on Sea World. So, it took me a couple of weeks to make it to Sea World, but we headed there on Sunday. We arrived at about 11.30am, and parked in the grassed lot behind the car park, so that's an indication of how busy it was. Being a long weekend, this wasn't a surprise. We ate a packed lunch in the car, to save a bit of $$ on lunch. It's been about a year since we went to Sea World last - my daughter was about 2.5 and thought it was the best place on earth. First noticeable different - Sponge Bob paraphernalia out on the water - I thought it looked quite vibrant, though personally don't know a thing about SB. Also movement of the model of the Endeavor to the side where the pirate ship ride used to be. I know it's been gone a while, but I quite miss that one, it was reasonably relevant, and I remember it being quite fun - I didn't do thrill rides as a kid, the pirate ship was about as daring as I got. It look like there was a bit of minor construction work about to begin around the lighthouse, I assume that's where the dinosaurs are going. There's now also signage on Bermuda about a new attraction or something to that effect (don't quote me on exactly what it said, but its presence wasn't completely ignored like last time we were there). Miss 3 wanted to start with the rides, we headed to the Carousel, which was her old favourite. We only had to queue for one ride before ours, which is the only time I could say that for the day. Last time we were there, the theming for everything else was still Sesame Street, now it all seemed to be generic Sea World characters - I didn't mind that change, I'm not necessarily a fan of having everything 'licensed brand' for kids. I'm pretty sure some of the signage around the rest of the park had the same characters. My big gripe for the day is the inconsistencies between ride height requirements at Sea World and Movie World. My daughter was tall enough to go on a number of the Movie World kids rides unaccompanied, however myself or my husband needed to cram ourselves into the Sea Planes etc. She was really enthusiastic about going on the Sea Climb ride with my husband, but she came about 2cm below the height marker, and pitched a tantrum, cause she couldn't see why she could ride the Road Runner Coaster at Movie World, but not be allowed on this considerably less exciting ride. Due to poor time planning on our behalf, we didn't catch any of the shows on the day, but we'd seen them all before, so weren't too concerned. I would have liked to see the parade, but we spent too much time lining up for the other kids rides. I thought the staff were reasonably quick at getting people on and off - probably better than at MW, but the crowd was so big a wait was inevitable. Shark Bay was a favourite, again, packed with people, but they tended to move on fairly quickly. We got a much better look at the penguins than last time we visited - there were few people in there viewing, so perhaps not a hugely popular attraction. We didn't have time to do Castaway Bay properly, but I think it's a nice space, the one thing I would change would be to add in a few more tables at the cafe - spent ages trying to get somewhere to try and sit to feed the baby. Another thing I think they seriously need to improve is the baby change facilities - I could only find two parents room in the entire park, with only 1 change table in each. They had updated the feeding chairs in there, they were very clean and well kept, which was nice, as most public ones are a bit grotty, however they need to empty the nappy bins more frequently, as they reeked. My husband was really peeved last time we visited that they were labeled as 'Mother's Rooms' and felt he couldn't go in to change the baby, however it has now been changed to say 'Parent's Rooms', as it should. Finished the day with my husband taking my daughter on the Viking's Revenge Flume Ride. I'm a bit nostalgic about this one, as it's the first "Big Kids" ride I went on at the grand age of 4, so just a little older than my daughter. I really hope they keep it in good repair, it seems to be a popular attraction still.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

overall sounds about bang on the money for sea world. Re: the height limits etc, unfortunately a lot of the time, an attraction comes with a minimum height limit from the manufacturer, and the park cannot override that without making modifications to the attraction and proving that those modifications make it safe for a smaller person to use. I assume you're referring to the Sky Climb that your daughter couldn't go on? As in the high-ropes course? She's 3 years old, right? If it is the high-ropes course you're referring to, let me tell you - at 6 foot tall, I struggled at some points on that course, and had to rely on the overhead lines to prevent a fall. I can't imagine a 3 year old doing that attraction.

[liz.wis]

No, not the sky climb, one of the rides in the kids section (Beach Break Bay? I think it's called now). It seats 2 people on 5 or 6 sides of a tower, the riders pull a rope to go up the tower, and then let go at the top. The ride minimum was 105cm, she's just over 100cm. I totally understand why it is like it is for safety reasons, it was just frustrating to be able to do pretty much all the kids rides at MW, but not SW. We're many, many years off the high rope course, though she was happy to bolt around the Sky Fortress last year. Crazy kid is still complaining about not being tall enough for Green Lantern, I reckon I'll be hearing about it daily for another 5 years or so.

Edited May 8, 2012 by liz.wis

[kujotess]

Liz means this...

[liz.wis]

Cheers, that's the one.