Hosted: SeaWorld Orlando With A Toddler

Alright guys, we are in the thick of the holiday season and being a Central Floridian, what better way to celebrate than with a trip to one of Orlando’s big theme parks?! Having grown up in Central Florida i’ve been to every theme park more times than I can count and know how they each go ALL OUT during the holiday season. If you want to see amazing Christmas decor and truly get into the Christmas spirit, this is the day trip for you!

We have yet to take our little lady to a theme park up until this point simply because her strict nap time and bedtime schedule has made it nearly impossible to do so and truthfully, her sleep is more important to me than a day of fun. Now that she’s almost two, we figured why not give it a shot and see if we could make it work sleeping in the stroller so we could experience the magic of SeaWorld Orlando for a quick day trip during Christmas time!

We chose SeaWorld as our little ones first theme park visit over Disney and Universal for a few reasons….First and foremost, she’s a toddler who LOVES animals. What better park to go to for a day filled with animal experiences than SeaWorld? There are TONS of interactive exhibits and shows that simply make SeaWorld hands-down the best theme-park for an immersive animal experience for your kiddo.

In addition to animals-galore, SeaWorld also has Sesame Street Land which is completely tailored to toddlers and younger children, something I knew my kiddo would have an awesome time playing in. SeaWorld on average, is also considerably less crowded than Disney or Universal, making the park more appealing to me when visiting with a small toddler. While I do truly love Disney, the ridiculously long lines and VERY full park make it a less desirable visit until my little one is a bit older, truthfully.

With that being said, thank you to SeaWorld Orlando for gifting my family tickets so we can visit! Now it’s time to pack and hit the road!

WHAT TO PACK:

I knew I wanted to pack lightly and efficiently since it was going to be a warm day (80* and sunshine). I made sure to bring only our stroller, diaper bag and one small lunchbox.

ESSENTIALS-

Clip on stroller fan. This is an absolute MUST when visiting a Central Florida theme park. Seriously, never visit one without a small clip-on fan! They’re super cheap on Amazon!
Sunscreen & sunglasses for your little one. This is also a necessity! It’s sunny and hot pretty much year-round in Florida, so protect your little one and don’t forget these two essentials when you’re planning on being outdoors most of the day.
SNACKS, snacks and more snacks! You can bring in as many snacks for your kiddos as you want! I packed more snacks than I needed, but was happy to have more than not enough.
Water! We brought a small lunchbox that fit underneath the stroller and filled it with bottles of water. We obtained free ice throughout the day to add to our girls cup but never had to worry about purchasing drinks since we brought our own!
Large zip lock bag with one extra change of clothes. I always do this when traveling simply because you have to expect the unexpected.
Bathing suit & small towel. SeaWorld has a large splash pad/play area within Sesame Street land so I brought a bathing suit so my girl could play comfortably and be able to change back into dry clothes. This isn’t truly necessary since they have large driers you and your kiddo could stand in to try off, but if you have the extra space, pack it!

Alright guys, we made it to the park! Thankfully SeaWorld is only about a one hour drive from our home, so getting there was a breeze! The park opened at 10AM and we were there as soon as they opened! We also paid extra for preferred parking which is literally right in front of the entrance to the park. Regular parking was $25 per car and preferred parking was $35. I would highly recommend paying the extra $10 to park RIGHT in front of the entrance, especially when traveling with a stroller.

Immediately when we entered the park we chose to go see animals! The very first place we visited was the Dolphin Nursery (pictured below) followed by Pacific Point preserve (second photo down) which houses the parks many sea lions! My daughter got a kick out of watching the dolphins swim up close and sea lions bark! Both areas were practically empty since it was immediately following the opening of the park. I highly suggest visiting these two areas early on to avoid the crowds.

After entering the park at 10AM and checking out dolphins and sea lions, we stumbled upon a great show that was starting at 11AM- Dolphin Days! This was a 30 minute show with you guessed it, DOLPHINS! It was amazing, kept my toddlers attention, and was truly enjoyable to watch! I highly recommend making it a point to see this show!

After enjoying the Dolphin Days show we headed over to the Expedition Cafe for some lunch! I can kick myself for not photographing our meals because they were truly AMAZING. This restaurant features fare from countries involved in the original Antarctic exploration, including American and Asian tastes. I was baffled at how incredible my salmon summer salad was and for a decent price- $14! It had a HUGE piece of salmon, blueberries, strawberries, cheese, and candied walnuts. My husband enjoyed a filled plate of asian food and my toddler munched on chicken nuggets and carrots. We all left full and it didn’t break the bank like you would expect at a theme park!

Just outside of the Expedition Cafe we headed over to Antarctica: Empire of the penguin. This is not only a simulator ride, but also a penguin habitat. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that this trackless, motion-based simulator ride is offered in two variations: “mild” or “wild.” If you wanted to bring your toddler along on the ride, simply select the “mild” version. We had every intention of going on this ride as a family, but the 30 minute wait wasn’t appealing as we were approaching nap time and I knew my girl would get fussy standing in line. We chose to forgo the ride and just went inside to the penguin enclosure to see the penguins up close!

We did plan ahead and bring a jacket for our little one specifically since I knew we would be going into this 32* chilly enclosure. My girl LOVED it and I love how many various viewing points there were! Check out the penguin swimming behind that HUGE glass wall displaying their enclosure from underwaterb(Third photo down)!

After having fun with penguins it was time for a nap! After settling our girl down, we were pleasantly surprised at how many quiet areas there were to walk if you wanted to get away from the crowds! Plus, with the Christmas decor it was absolutely beautiful and so enjoyable to walk around in the shade! Just check out that beautiful Christmas tree in the background below!

After walking for a little bit throughout quiet areas of the park trying to get our girl to sleep we decided to head into the Shark Encounter. What could be more relaxing than walking THROUGH a giant aquarium filled with fish and sharks?! This exhibit is PERFECT if you have a sleeping kiddo or are attempting to get your little one to go to sleep. It’s dim-lit and the water is incredibly relaxing! SeaWorld does have designated “quiet rooms” for kiddos throughout the park, but we preferred to just walk around rather than sit in one spot.

Now that our little one was finally napping, it was time for Mommy and Daddy to enjoy an adult beverage! There are various places throughout the park to enjoy a beer, mixed drink or spiked seltzer and we definitely took advantage of the opportunity to do so while our kiddo napped!

As soon as our little one woke up, we RAN over to Sesame Street Land where the Party Parade was just beginning. We were happy to quickly and easily get an up-close spot for the parade and enjoyed all of the dancing and music! The parade was lengthy and worthwhile if you have little ones who want to see their favorite Sesame Street friends and watch a great performance with lots of beautiful floats decorated for Christmas!

Following the parade we spent a lot of time in Sesame Street land. This area of the park is SO incredibly catered to toddlers and young kids, it’s simply PERFECT. There were areas where we could just let our girl run and play without worry and plenty of shade to protect kiddos and parents alike!

Sesame Street Land also houses various kid-friendly rides perfect for your toddler such as the Sea Carousel and Abby’s Flower Tower (both pictured below). There were also a few other rides, but we wanted to make sure to catch one more show before we left so we didn’t get a chance to ride everything in Sesame Street Land.

I wish I would have taken more photos to truly show off how gorgeously the park was decorated for Christmas. To say it was stunning would be an understatement! There were SO many differently decorated areas and more Christmas trees than I could count. It was simply stunning and something you should definitely see in person to get into the holiday spirit! Here are a few photos I captured from around the park:

Before leaving the park, we decided to see one more show- One Ocean. This show was held in Shamu Stadium and featured the parks killer whales. This show was also about 30 minutes in length, informative and also obviously entertaining!

Well guys, it’s 4PM and even though the park closes at 9PM we sadly have to head home. While we would have LOVED to stay and enjoy the beauty of the Christmas trees and lights in the park at nighttime, with a toddler who goes to bed at 7PM, we just weren’t able to. We absolutely LOVED our day trip to SeaWorld. It was perfect. The park wasn’t overly crowded, the shows were great, and the animal exhibits were spectacular! We could easily go back and spend another FULL day riding rides, seeing shows and visiting exhibits that we didn’t get a chance to see today. There is SO much to do at SeaWorld that we literally only saw about half of it today!

In a nutshell, if you are looking for a great theme park to visit with your toddler in Central Florida, you MUST put SeaWorld at the top of your list. You simply won’t regret it, especially during the Christmas season, it’s pure magic!