Sea World San Antonio Vacation Advice

We went to Sea World last month. We stayed at holiday inn by Seaworld. It saved me monet on parking becuase they had a free shuttle.
I paid $42 plus tax for the hotel by bidding on priceline.com. We also bought fun cards and went there couple of days.

Sea World is the BEST. I could never tolerate the July heat there though so you are very brave. It's LOTS of walking and we usually go around April when it's just in the high 80's and being there all day gets HOT.

Anyhow, if you don't mind the hot weather, then look into the deals where you can book a hotel and get your tickets provided to you with the cost of the hotel. I'll have to look up the hotel package website but I'm pretty sure we found it on the Sea Worlds website.

My husband and I picked the Drury Inn and some are nicer than others but the one we use is GREAT! You get FREE hot breakfasts every day for the entire family, FREE dinners which usually include the same foods, chicken tenders, salad, baked potatoes, etc. Plus if you and hubby want to relax there's FREE alcoholic beverages served by a bartender during certain hours of every day. My favorite part was the indoor pool we'd get to come back to every day and relax in. It's really big and there's a nice hot tub that works wonders on sore legs and backs. : )

This hotel doesn't include SW tickets but it saved us a lot of money on food for the family since so much was included for breakfast and dinners. The breakfast was the best IMO, Once you pay for the tickets there's really not much more you have to pay for in Sea World besides food which can be about $40 for your size family, yes the food is the most expensive part. AND some good advice to give you that I didn't know, Sea World signs say NO inside food or drinks, so we didn't take in any waters besides my son's sippy cup and that was a BIG mistake. Almost everyone I had seen walking in had their OWN water bottles and many more in their bags. They don't take them away from you and if you don't bring your own, you have to pay $3 for just ONE watter bottle. That's what almost broke our budget, I think we ended up buying 8 or more drinks that day so stock up on your own beverages.

You may want a little extra cash for a souvenier or two but those are pretty reasonable. We just bought each one of our kids a little Shamu stuffed animal and they were happy with that.

I'll look up the website I found and give you my hotel info so hopefully that will help to. Good luck to you, it's one of the best places to go and we got some of the most beautiful pictures ever taken from there.

Taking a vaca on a budget IS possible and well worth it.

Ok here is a link to the Drury we stayed in ---> https://wwwc.druryhotels.com/PropertyOverview.aspx?Proper...

and here is the link to the sea world hotels, it's called kids stay and play free package.....enter in your info and you can search through many different hotels and prices that have your tickets already included. I think they even give you the yearly pass with your tickets so you can go back all year for free. We were more picky with what we wanted in our hotel which is the only reason we went with the Drury. If you're not picky, I'm sure you can find you a good deal here. Good luck and let me know if you need any help.
http://commerce.4adventure.com/EStore/Scripts/Skins/SWT/H...

We did San Antonio for spring break and the kids actually asked if we could move there. We loved SA. So family friendly, so beautiful. But oh my gosh, is Seaworld expensive! It's worth it, and plan a full day. We were there all day and the water park wasn't even open yet.

I checked the website and they have a promo going on right now that if you buy your tickets on-line, you can an adult ticket at the kid price.

Here's another site I found for coupons, but I didn't have time to check it out, so when you have time, see if any of this is legit:

http://www.couponmountain.com/coupon-codes--se-seaworld+s...

Here are some of my thoughts:

1.) You need to plan at least $20-30 if you want your kids to feed the sea lions, sting rays or dolphins. It's a neat experience for them.

2.) If it says "splash zone" by the seats, you WILL get wet. Very wet. Plan to bring a zip-lock bag for your camera, phone, etc. For the beluga whale show (a must see), the water is kept very cold. If it's a hot day, it will feel good, but you will get wet!

3.) There are plenty of places to cool off. You can see the penguins, there are restaurants, gift shops, etc.

4.) Tons of walking. Wear comfy shoes, both you and your kids.

We feel that spring break was good for Seaworld because it was not crowded at all, but we also feel that we missed out on so much because the water park wasn't open yet, the water skiing show wasn't performing yet, so you've picked a great time. We would go back in a heartbeat.

Don't forget to take an evening stroll on the Riverwalk with the kids. And (bad pun alert) remember the Alamo. It's free and right by the Riverwalk. The kids can run through the gardens out back and it's really kind of cool.

Can you tell we enjoyed our trip? I hope you do, too! Have safe travels...

We went 4 years ago so I don't know how the prices compare. BUT I did got with my then 4 year old and we went the first weekend in October. AWESOME time to go. Waterparks are closed, but there is enough at Sea World to keep you busy. We did a package that was hotel and Sea World tickets combined (3 nights at hotel and 2 days of tickets). I believe it was the Radison. Huge breakfast buffet included in hotel price. FREE shuttle to Sea World (no paying to park and less walking). Went when it opened at 10 and stayed until about 3 both days. Then back to the hotel to swim and nap.rest. Ate small lunch at Sea World and I took snacks in my purse for when waiting for a show to start. Then we ate dinner at the hotel (which was very kid friendly and had pizza and even smores outside). We did not do anything else in San Antonio. In fact, we never drove the car the whole time we were there but enjoyed a great time. Good luck!

we went last august, and it was FREAKN' hot!
The kids didnt seem to mind, but the adults did.
My kids were 3 and 11. We had so much fun.
We stayed at a choice hotel. Good hotel. Free breakfast, nice pool.

We are thinking of going to sea world as well for the summer. I found that the cheapest is actually the vacation package "kids stay and play free". You get year long passes for every member of your family and the kids passes are free. You have a choice of atleast 10 hotels and not all of them have a minimum stay rule. One hotel we have used in the past and loved is Hill Country INN and Suites at Salado Creek Villas. It is like a time share/hotel and the prices are very cheap. It's not very close to Sea World or downtown, but the price is worth it. One more thing I forgot is Sea World has a deal going on right now kids pay $5 with an adult full price ticket. You have to go to the Sea World cares section on the website. I hope this is helpful, I spent some of my childhood in San Antonio, and their attractions are awesome, best field trips I've ever been on.

Well we went to SW about 6yrs ago for the 4th of July and the the whole family had a blast. The firework show TRUELY OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!
I can't help you very much with the hotel because we stayed there with my husband travel miles (2 out of the 4 days). But as far as trying to save money while your there. Eat breakfast before you go and bring alittle cooler with snacks and H2o. They say that it's not aloud but trust me people do it! I don't recomment anything sweet because it is going to HOT! We Drove down there, a 11hour drive and for the total cost we spent was $900.00 for a family of 4. It was the best 900.00 was ever spent.
I hope u have a great time!!
Ps. Bring a stroller, zip-loc bags, sun block and sun visiors!!!

We have been a few times. Some hotels will give you free admission tickets...it can't hurt to ask. If you are in the military you and your immediate family can get in for free.

When we have to get a hotel we always stay at the Red Roof in near the river walk, it's not too terrible in price and has a pool (they have never offered up tickets). And it's within walking distance to the river walk...it's a few blocks.

If you own stock in Busch you can call and get a discount card. We were able to save 10% on our food. We didn't bother with souvenirs. Instead we bought the kids meal. They come in a shamu lunch box and a shamu reuseable cup. That was plenty to make our kido happy.

The last time we went, I searched high and low for discount tickets. Popeyes had some, but they weren't spectacular. Non of the coupon codes I found worked. I did find a great deal and www.visitsanantonio.com. Click on the save tab. You have to put in your info. I haven't been spammed to death, but they do send out stuff occasionally, so you may want to use a back up email address. I can't remember what the deal was, but I do remember is was substantial at the time...we almost backed out of our visit until I found this deal.

Two years ago we went with our son. After seeing all the animal shows, we did not have time for the water park (fortunately he was too little to care), so going in September may be an option for you.

We went last year, they have deals from time to time - you just need to watch the prices. I know they were advertising a deal a while back, and sometimes they print coupons in the Ft Worth Star or Dallas Morning News. I also signed up on the "visit San Antonio" e-newsletter they send out promotional codes and prices. We bought seasonal parking and a 2 day pass so we could come and go through the day. (My kids were 5, and 2.5) I wasn't overly impressed with Sea World. It felt so spread out - the kids were hot and tired. Next big trip we're definitely going to rent something and get 2 day passes to Schlitterbahn instead.

http://www.visitsanantonio.com/visitors/save/VisitSaveOnl...

If you do end up going - the BEST thing we did on that trip was the wild life drive through... We had Zebras, Ostriches... sticking their heads in our cars. I was laughing so hard I thought I would die. The kids squealed happily - feeding the animals. I got some great pictures.

http://wildliferanchtexas.com/Web/Admissions/admissions.html

Have fun :)

we are planning in going check out the vacation package is more cheap