SeaWorld Orlando opened December 15, 1973 and today is America's 10th most-visited theme park, but ranking first behind the Disney and Universal parks. In recent years, the park has added seasonal food and music festivals as it looks to boost repeat attendance from locals.
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An un-named Arctic-themed flying theater ride is scheduled to open sometime in the spring.
SeaWorld Orlando's "animal connections" include the Orca Encounter, Dolphin Adventures, and Sea Lion & Otter Spotlight presentations and the Dolphin Cove, Jewel of the Sea Aquarium (tropical fish), Manatee Rehabilitation Area, Manta Aquarium, Pacific Point Preserve (sea lions), Shark Encounter, Stingray Lagoon, and Wild Arctic (walrus and beluga whales) animal habitats.
SeaWorld offers an All-Day Dining Deal that allows you one entree, one side OR dessert, and one regular sized non-alcoholic beverage at participating restaurants once per 90 minutes in the park, until park close. You can get a discount on All-Day Dining by buying your park tickets in advance. Participating restaurants are:
SeaWorld Orlando is located off Interstate 4, just south of the 528 Beachline Expressway - in between the Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando resorts.
SeaWorld is becoming more of a locals' park, so weekdays during the school year will be the easiest time to visit. But even on weekends and during holidays, SeaWorld visitors rarely will encounter unreasonable wait times.
If you are here for the coasters and thrill rides, start with Pipeline and work your way around the park from there. You should not need to hop back and forth across the park chasing short waits. On cooler days, save Infinity Falls for the warmth of the afternoon, as you will get soaked on that one.
If you care about the animal presentations, note the show times in the park app and plan your coaster visits around those. Otherwise, SeaWorld's paid Quick Queue line bypass is almost never needed when trying to do all the park's major coasters in one day.