9 Insider Secrets for Visiting SeaWorld San Antonio TX

We visited SeaWorld San Antonio TX and during our visit, learned a handful of important things to know before you go. Everything you need to know about the best tickets to buy, what hours to go, which SeaWorld shows are worth your time, how to play over 20 games for $20, and more! If you’re heading to SeaWorld Texas, read this first.

I recently visited SeaWorld San Antonio Texas with my husband, 4-year-old son, my sister, and my brother-in-law. We visited both SeaWorld and SeaWorld Aquatica and learned a bunch of tips and tricks for making the most of your visit. 

This post has been updated since our vist a few years back and is current as of November 2021!

Insider Tips for Visiting SeaWorld San Antonio TX

1. Buy the right ticket and buy it in advance!
2. Get at least one SeaWorld all-day dining pass.
3. Get a quick queue upgrade to skip lines!
4. Don’t miss SeaWorld shows. 
5. Pick the right seats at the shows!
6. Don’t count out SeaWorld rides.
7. Do at least one animal experience at SeaWorld.
8. Play games instead of buying souvenirs. 
9. Plan a half-day at SeaWorld Aquatica. 

Buy the Right SeaWorld San Antonio Tickets

One of the biggest ways you can save money on your trip to SeaWorld San Antonio is to buy tickets in advance. And right now with their Black Friday sales, you can get single day tickets for up to 50% off!

Also, really think about what type of tickets and passes you’re buying. Even if you don’t plan to visit SeaWorld or Aquatica more than one or two days this year, you still may want to consider their season and annual passes.

Especially since they’re currently doing a buy one get one 50% off sale for Black Friday on season passes! That’s a deal that can’t be beat!

As of November 2021, SeaWorld is only offering single day tickets as well as a variety of pass options.

SeaWorld Tickets

The only tickets currently available on the website are date specific single day tickets. You choose the date (different days are different prices) and buy one day tickets, but the nice thing is that these are currently up to 50% off for Black Friday through November 26th! Buy these here.

SeaWorld Season Passes

SeaWorld is now also offering four different season passes, and I highly recommend looking into getting one of these if you’re planning to do more than one day at either of the parks as the price of the season pass is typically actually cheaper than tickets when you consider the free parking ($25 value) and discount on in-park offerings.

And right now for Black Friday they’re doing a Buy 1 Get 1 50% off sale, which is a huge discount if you’re interested in season passes! Plus, if you buy now you get the rest of 2021 AND all of 2022 included.

1. SeaWorld Only – unlimited admission to SeaWorld, free general parking, up to 10% discount on in-park offerings.
2. SeaWorld + Aquatica Season Pass – unlimited admission to SeaWorld and Aquatica, free general parking, up to 10% discount on in-park offerings.
3. Silver Pass – unlimited admission to SeaWorld and Aquatica, free general parking, 2 free guest tickets*, up to 20% discounts on in-park offerings.
4. Gold Pass – unlimited admission to SeaWorld and Aquatica, free up-close parking, 4 free guest tickets*, up to 30% discount on in-park offerings.
5. Platinum Pass – unlimited admission to 11 SeaWorld parks throughout the country, free VIP parking, 6 free guest tickets*, free animal experience, up to 50% discount off in-park offerings

*Free guest tickets are available over the course of the year, not all as soon as you purchase a season pass. For example, the gold pass includes 1 ticket valid Jan-1 – May31, 2 tickets valid June 1 – sept 30 and 1 ticket valid oct. 1- jan 31.

Plan Ahead for Your Trip

With the current situtation in our world, it’s a thing of the past to just show up at an amusement park, buy a ticket, and enjoy your day. Just like with any other theme parks right now, you need to do a little pre-planning and packing before you go.

1. Know the park safety policies. They are constantly changing so make sure to review them here. As of November 2021, masks are recommended (but not required) for all guests in doors, more details on the mask requirement here).
2. Check dates before you go. SeaWorld Texas has different hours and days that its open depending on the season, so I always recommend checking before you choose your date. Park hours can be found here.
3. Know what’s open. Attractions and experiences are closed at theme parks across the country and SeaWorld is no different. Make sure you check out the rides and attractions list to see what is currently closed before you make a final decision.

Get a SeaWorld Dining Pass

If you plan to eat in the parks at all, get at least one SeaWorld all-day dining pass. The dining pass is a wristband that allows you to get one entree, one side or dessert, and one non-alcoholic up to once every 90 minutes in most of the SeaWorld San Antonio restaurants. 

So basically you can eat and drink all day long for a minimal price if you time it right. The 90 minute window starts as soon as you check out, and we just set an alarm to stock up on food again once the alarm went off. 

When we went, we ate enough to pay for our dining pass within a few hours of the park being open. And right now for Black Friday, they are on sale for Buy 1 Get 1 50% off, so it’s an even better deal!

You can’t share the dining pass but no one is stopping you from sharing that bottle of water you chose as your drink with your family. We found that the best restaurants were Smokehouse Grill and the Harbor Market. But all of the restaurants had decent entree options with healthy side options available!

If you don’t get an all-day dining pass, at least get a refillable cup souvenir cup to stay hydrated. You pay once and drink all day long. If you return to SeaWorld again during the season, you can use it again and pay a minimal fee for refills.

If you want something that’s more of a sit-down experience, SeaWorld also offers fun character and animal eating opportunities like dining with the orcas (in the pool behind you), and more. Get more info and dining reservations here.

Skip Lines for SeaWorld Rides with a Quick Queue Unlimited Pass

Unlike other parks where express passes and fast passes are well known, I feel like the quick queue unlimited ticket upgrade at SeaWorld is something not many people know about. Or at least it seemed that way as we walked to the front of the line with ours during our visit.

The quick queue unlimited is an upgrade option for your ticket and really it’s an option that lets you walk to the front of the line on pretty much every one of the SeaWorld rides. The quick queue lines didn’t used to be particularly well marked, so just ask an employee at the front of the ride when you get there if you can’t find them.

Most often, we went up the exit line directly to the front of the line where they scanned our pass and let us walk right onto the ride or back onto the ride as was the case when we rode the SeaWorld Journey to Atlantis ride! This made it possible to do all the rides and activities in just one day.

SeaWorld currently offers two different options for QuickQueue upgrades depending on your height and what rides you’ll be going on. The Quick Queue Junior option is geared toward kids while the Quick Queue Unlimited includes the adult thrill rides, etc.

• Quick Queue Junior – unlimited quick queue entrance to Grover’s Box Car Derby, Grover’s Rock Up, and Abby’s Rockin’ Wave
• Quick Queue Unlimited – unlimited quick queue entrance to all participating attractions including the ones listed for Quick Queue Junior

In addition to those options, there is an option to purchase a quick queue unlimited + reserved show seating pass. The price for the quick queue unlimited + reserved seating is about $10/person more, so we went with that one.

And both the quick queue and reserved seating options are up to 50% off right now for Black Friday, so I recommend buying them before the sale is over!

Don’t Miss SeaWorld Shows

SeaWorld is always changing up its show schedule but what you can know is that the shows are all worth watching!

If you’re planning out your trip now, you can get a daily show schedule by clicking on the park calendar then choose the individual day (the actual number circle!) you’re visiting. There are a ton of Christmas specific shows and events happening in addition to a lot of their regular shows!

The shows listed below are their standard show, but they also add seasonal shows (or at least they have in the past) so make sure to check the full schedule for SeaWorld shows here. 

I’ve put stars by the shows I personally think are can’t miss shows!

Orca Encounter* – Learn more about killer whales and connect in a new inspiring way – this show has replaced the previously super popular One Ocean show – and is the best way to see killer whales in action.

Sea Lion High* – sea lions play students at a high school on graduation day and have to go to “classes” to graduate. Silly but fun to see the sea lions at play. 

Ocean Discovery* – See birds, beluga whales, and Pacific white-sided dolphins interact with their trainers and perform. 

Sunny Day Celebration – This show is in the kid’s area in the Sea Star Theater and includes Sesame Street characters dancing live on stage. Cute but totally skippable unless you have Sesame Street lovers or extra time on your hands!

Sesame Street Party Parade – a musical party on wheels featuring your favorite Sesame Street characters! This is one I’m sure the kids will love!

Pick the Right SeaWorld Show Seats

One mistake my family made was to purchase AND sit in the reserved seats for all of the shows. While it was wonderful to not have to get to shows early with the reserved seating pass, we really missed out on feeling like part of the action at some of the SeaWorld shows.

For instance, some of the key components of the SeaWorld Orca Encounter show, is the orcas splashing the audience. The reserved seating for that show is up and above everything. You have a great view but you don’t get splashed and really don’t get any interaction with the animals or trainers.

So I highly recommend getting to Orca Encounter early, sit in the splash zone, and be prepared to get soaked. It’s all a part of the SeaWorld experience. 

Don’t Count Out SeaWorld Rides

One of the most surprising things to me about SeaWorld San Antonio was how good the rides were. You don’t expect a park dedicated to sea animals to have good coasters, but it really does. And I know roller coasters! 

Out of all of the SeaWorld rides, make sure not to miss these ones: 

• Texas Stingray – their brand new wood coaster, it’s the tallest, fastest, and longest wood coaster in Texas!
• Wave Breaker: The Rescue – virtually join the SeaWorld rescue team on this fun thrilling coaster!
• Great White Roller Coaster – a steel coaster full of breathtaking loops, corkscrews, and 360 degree flips (my personal favorite)
• Steel Eel Coaster – a hypercoaster featuring a vertical drop of 15 stories!
• SeaWorld Journey to Atlantis – a large boat type log flume that goes forward + backwards, fun
• Stingray Falls (at Aquatica – a tube ride in Aquatica with views of stingrays)

They also just redesigned their coaster for kids called Super Grover’s Box Car Derby that we haven’t tried yet, but it looks like a great first coaster for kids! And if it’s anything like the ride it replaced, Shamu Express, I’m sure it’s a fun one!

And if you’re a big fan of raft rides, Rio Loco is fun as well but not on my must-ride list unless it’s really hot outside!

Do At Least One Animal Experience at SeaWorld Texas

SeaWorld’s mission has always been focused on education, conservation, research, and entertainment. One of the best ways they support that mission is through animal experiences for all ages at their various parks.

We had the opportunity to meet and interact with dolphins, to do a penguin encounter where we learned about penguins and actually met a penguin, and to get in the water with and feed stingrays (at Aquatica).

And even though the shows and rides were amazing, the things that my family will remember from our visit was definitely getting the chance to learn about and interact with these amazing creatures.

Since we had my 4-year-old son, we just did some of the more basic encounters but if your group is old enough, SeaWorld also offers the opportunity to swim with a number of the animals (beluga whales, sea lions, and dolphins) at Discovery Point. It’s definitely on our bucket list as soon as my son hits the age minimum. 

Play Games at SeaWorld Instead of Getting Souvenirs 

When we went back in 2017, SeaWorld San Antonio had one of the best game deals I’ve ever seen in my life, and I’ve been to a lot of amusement parks. This may have just been a promotional deal that summer but if it’s going on when you go, do it!

Basically you pay $20 for a game card and that game card allows you to play every single carnival style game in the park. I asked one of the employees, and she said there were like 25 games in the park. Normally games are like $5 each, so it’s again, like the flex ticket, an absolute no-brainer.

The best thing about it is that there are a handful of games in the park that are always win games. We played all of those and went home with bag full of stuffed animals that my son now sleeps with every night.

And $20 for a bunch of stuffed animals + getting to play all of the games is a way better deal than buying something like a tube of dolphins or a t-shirt in a gift shop for $20. If you collect something from your trips, then go ahead and enjoy the souvenir shopping, but if not, the game card is the way to go! 

Don’t Skip SeaWorld Aquatica

I mentioned it earlier but you can get an affordable ticket or a season pass that gives you admission to SeaWorld and SeaWorld Aquatica. Definitely take advantage of the affordable tickets and passes and plan at least a couple of hours, or even an entire day, at SeaWorld Aquatica.

This is an even better tip since season passes are on sale right now for Buy 1 Get 1 50% off for Black Friday! It’s a great deal that gets you access to Aquatica all season long!

With one of my favorite rides (Stringray Falls) between either park, a great splash zone for kids, a handful of really fun slides, and more – SeaWorld Aquatica is definitely worth the visit!

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