Family Sea World Trip

Hyatt Wild Oak Ranch is a great kid friendly place to stay, and our kids always love to go to the San Antonio Zoo..

There is an Embassy Suites out close to Sea World and Fiesta Texas where we used to stay for those trips. It is older, but I love the Embassy Suites set up with separate sleeping quarters and full breakfast buffet. It also has an indoor pool. Just a warning though, if you are going during early and mid March it will be crowded with spring breakers. If you are looking to stay downtown, there is a brand new Embassy Suites right on the River Walk that is very nice. We stayed there last year and it was superb. The pool at that location is outdoors, but my kids are older and we were visiting to go to the Majestic theatre, didn't need to run off energy. Good luck, San Antonio is a great city to visit!

We stayed at the Hyatt Hill Country Resort which is basically right across the highway from Sea World. It is a great place to stay, but on the expensive side. I agree with the other mom who suggested the zoo in SA. It is a wonderful zoo and you can, also, ride the mini train around Breckenridge Park while you are there. The River Walk is great, but can be very crowded especially on Fri. night and all day Sat. If you can, try it during the daytime during the week. We always eat at Casa Rio when we go down to the River Walk. Just a tradition for us and my kids love to sit outside and watch the boats go by. Have fun!

I just asked a question like this the other day!!! Here's what the Mamas said to me!

http://www.mamapedia.com/questions/11478118611630096385

Hey -
I am not sure what your family temperament is, but mine is low key and I didn't want to DO San Antonio. I just wanted to "DO" Sea World. So, we stayed at the Hyatt Hill Country (pricey as others have said). But, they offer s'mores at the end of the day and have had in the past a buffet/grill at night by the pool. So, you can get your food there and enjoy it in a happy atmosphere.

I went this past summer with my 8 year old and 3 year old. We went to Sea World first thing in the morning and did what we could. Take swimsuits into Sea World as there are sprinklers/fountains at one area and we spent time there. There were NOT a lot of rides that all three of us could go on. So, in the mornings, we spent time in the little kiddie area where my 3 year old could ride some rides. We generally waited in line for ONE ride that my older child could ride by himself. In the afternoon, we went back to the hotel and rested. My daughter and I would nap and my son would play his Nintendo. Then, we ate dinner, swam in the hotel pool and then we would actually go back to Sea World around 7PM. The lines were less and my son was then able to ride several rides that he was interested in without the long waits. I think we did "Sea World" two days and the water park two days. The water park was awesome and we really enjoyed it. I am not clear on how that is going to work this summer - it sounded like the water park and sea world were no longer going to be open on the same pass.

For our family, we did not do anything else in San Antonio. It is just too much to try to do it all. We took the shuttle from the hotel to Sea World.

If you get summer passes, I recommend that you go the day/evening you arrive and redeem them at their special window. We went the evening we arrived and there was no line at that window. However, no one told us that we had to go to the window for the next day. So, the next morning, when it was crowded as all get out, we tried to get in and when we got to the gate, they said that we had to go to the window to get our passes. Well, by then, the line for the passes was extraordinarily long too. I was pissed - as we could have done all of that the evening before. And, we probably wasted an hour in lines just dealing with the tickets.

Good luck!
L.

We just did the Sea World trip to Orlando in December.. Not sure if San Antonio is the same as Orlando...
- We booked a lunch at the shark restaurant. You have to book it when you walk in the gates at the "guest stand".. It's cool, you go inside a dark restaurant and literally have lunch with huge shark tanks surrounding you. Very cool. My 5 year old son loved it..
- Check the show schedule times BEFORE you go. That way you can have PLANNED the times, where in the park you have to be, and how long the shows are...
-try to get to the shows early to get good seats.. Always better to have good seats at the shows.. If a show starts at 2:30, get there at 2...
-Definitely see "Pets Ahoy"... Very cool show with trained dogs, cats, ducks, mice, birds, etc (one of my favorite shows)...
- bring a back pack with snacks, waters in it... Food gets really expensive there (especially with 3 kids)..
-petting the sting rays is very cool. They have tanks there. You can lean over and touch their backs...We held our son so he could reach...
HAVE FUN!