Sea World San Diego

It depends on the age of your son. If he is young, the sesame street play area is a blast. We loved the cirque de soleil type show. I thought the Shamu show was overrated. It tried to be so "special" that is seemed a little boring to me. The other shows were great. We loved some of the rides too. Some of them were geared more for older kids. There are opportunities to get wet, so I would wear clothes that dry quickly. Also, be careful of the sea gulls. They will steal food off your plate. My whole family loved Sea World when we went, and the ages ranged from 2 to 9.

You guys will have a blast! We always have the big breakfast first and pack a cooler with lunch and snacks. I put a towel on top and they don't say anything about the food. If they do question you and you tell them that your family has severe food allergies they will let you in with the food. We usually leave the cooler in the car and grab it for lunch and have a cold beer with it. I recommend that you have flip flops for everyone plus dry clothes and sweatshirts for night. Walking around in wet tennis shoes is not fun and if you don't have time to dry before it gets cool you can just change. Switch into flip flops for the water rides and shows if you are in the splash zone. Bring a garbage bag to keep your dry clothes dry and you might want to bring a towel. Do it all and see it all!

We go every year to Seaworld and we always bring in snacks and water - no one has every stopped us. We do usually buy lunch there and it is pretty expensive. We love the Shark Encounter and the Ray pool. Also, there are so many cool fish to see in the various Aquariums. Last time we saw them feeding the piranhas. One of the best shows we saw was the Pets Rule show. And the Sea Lion show. We also like the Arctic area where they have the Beluga whales and polar bears. We normally do the whole place in one day but you can stretch it to 2 if you need to. Check out all the attractions on line first so you can get an idea of how to want to plan out your day. Also be prepared that some attractions might be closed.

Have fun!

If Cirque de la Mer is open by the time you go, definitely check out the show. It is awesome!

My son also has many food allergies. We have brought food into the park without any trouble and didn't have to eat outside in the picnic area. Also, they were able to provide detailed ingredient lists at every restaurant, so you may be able to find things for him to eat. My son is allergic to dairy, eggs, and nuts and I know that I bought him something for lunch (like, a hot dog or a hamburger or something).

I like the dolphin show more than the Shamu show, but since you have two days, you can do both. Go 20-30 minutes to make sure you get seats, as they do get full.

have fun

We have annual passes to Sea World too and try to go at least once every few months. I usually pack snack foods, like fruit snacks, granola bars and stuff that I know my son will snack on so I'm not buying popcorn and all that stuff from the park. I haven't had anybody say to me I couldn't bring them. I usually buy lunch at the park, as you do get a discount with your year pass on the food. I also just take water and the water mix ins- like lemonade and that's what we drink for the day instead of buying the expensive drinks at the park. We also stop on our way to the park for a big breakfast so that my son is full for a good part of the morning/afternoon. You should also get a discount in the shops with your year pass as well. Since you are going for two days, it might be nice to spend one day just walking around and seeing all the animals and then use the next day for the shows since we find we never have enough time to do all the shows we want with just one day.
Enjoy the trip!
H.

We went a few weeks ago and brought food for the kids, because we have a baby. They didn't say anything to us about bringing our own food, and they did check bags/purses at the entrance.

LOVE LOVE LOVE Sea World!

ETA : I agree with Angie about the Shamu show. If you don't care about being down in the front and getting wet, I'd actually get there a bit later so you don't have to sit through all the build-up. My kids were pretty bored with that part.

I haven't been to Sea world in years, but when my children were young they loved it. Since it gets really hot in the summer we liked to sit in the splash zone for the dolphin and whale shows to cool off. Just keep in mind that these animals live in salt water, and your skin and clothes will get salty. Also if you are eating anything during the show it will get salty. We learned this once the hard way and and ended up with very salty ice cream cones! Considering that I'm a biologist, you'd think I would have thought about this before hand! LOL!

we do sea world every few years. we hadnt been in a few years so we go the passes and went about a month ago. I was definately disappointed. I think the 2 big main things are the "shamu" show and the dolphin show. Shamu was kind of boring now. The trainers are not allowed in the water because of the whale killing the trainer in orlando a year or two ago. The dolphin show hardly had any dolphins and was mostly about birds and there were people dressed as birds. It was weird. I think they only have the cirque like show in the the summer so we missed that. One of our favorites will always be pets rule. pets do tricks. It doesn't always go as planned but its cute. the one thing I did notice is that the "rides" skytower and skyway are now included in the ticket price. you used to have to pay for them so that is good!