First time to San Antonio. Decided to drop in!
Pretty cool driving toward the park. Fairly flat land, so you can see Steel Eel primarily from a distance.
The parking booths needed something. My home park is BGW, so a huge sign above it would be a good photo moment for passengers. We regularly photograph the sign above the parking booths at BGW.
The covered parking being built looked really cool. We went on a very chill day, so parking was no issue.
The park entrance is crazy good. Security was simple, the entrance arch is fantastic. The Texas shape in the pathway is cool. Staff were incredibly friendly. A staff member asked about our Busch Gardens bag and quipped that BGW is way better than this park.
Here is the first creature we saw, with an ambassador. He was calm and beautiful. He was treated too kindly by a human (lol), so he would not survive in the wild most likely. Apologize for cropping.
We walked counter-clockwise in the park. Tidal Surge was first…
My goodness what a fun ride. I ride Finnegan’s Flyer regularly and it’s not even close to this experience. The swing out over the water…you barely see land and it’s just magical. The height of the ride make a huge difference. I look forward to riding Serengeti Flyer. This was borderline the best ride in the park…maybe Stingray takes it.
The operations on this ride? Terrible. Absolute slow walking. Inefficiencies. Just slow everything.
After this, went straight to Texas Stingray. Can I just say, everything about InvadR that I dislike is fixed in this ride. I know it’s mostly about space, but there is not abruptness in the ride. It’s just so much fun. And children and adults alike just have a blast. Theming on InvadR may be the only thing better…theming, and operations. My goodness the amount of goofing off by the staff. Just laughing, hanging out, not doing anything. We’re running single train and they’re not focused. On their phones, doing nothing, while people are loaded in the train. Trains could have come and gone. Nope. Chit-chat.
Great White is my first “clone.” Never ridden this model before. Primary ride operator was on the microphone being rude to the lady managing the queue. She was in turn being rather abrupt and rude to the queue. Just being very forceful in making people sit where she wanted them to. No options for front or back row. Also learned after buckling in that loose articles are not allowed in the bins on the ride, aka phone and wallet. They were running single trains. After stowing our items in the arcade, we waited in line a second time. Dealt with the rude staff member again.
Went back to the Orca show. Cannot express how beautiful and entertaining this show. The park was not busy, and it was packed out. Worth the price of entry! (Screenshot cropping, sorry)
Great White does not stand even close to Alpengeist. It’s fun, no doubt, but not close. The inline twists and corkscrews were disorienting and fun! Didn’t ride again. It was ok.
Sea Lion and Otter Show, fantastic and fun!
Steel Eel, the spanking machine…my my I have never laughed on a ride so much. After the drop, an amazing floater airtime then WHAM, a pothole at the bottom of the hill that slams you into your seat. Pain! Then wow another amazing floater moment then WHAM, a pothole at the bottom of the hill. After the second one I grabbed hold for my life with no success and it was hilariously bad. We laughed the entire ride at how bad the WHAMs were. Another guest said “thats some messed up stuff” in the exit.
Saw this character on the way out of Steel Eel. Also, announcement was made to use a locker and if they find out you stowed your stuff in the grass, you would be ejected from the park. I was sorta unsurprised at the amount of unattended bags in the area. Nice people, nice area, so no perceived threat of theft. I just thought announcements of being thrown out if the ride operator saw you was kind of a ridiculous claim.
Next, visited the penguin exhibit. Adorable creatures!
Finished out the visit with the Beluga and Dolphin experience. High octane show because of what those dolphins can do. I primarily took video, so no great photos.
Visited Discovery Cove on the way out, but that’s really for another thread.
Final statement…most staff were friendly. Ride operations were horrendous! Employees in rides and selling food and beverage at shows were mostly goofing off. Shows were stupendous. Tidal Surge and Texas Stingray are top notch.
And that’s my time at SeaWorld San Antonio!
Pretty cool driving toward the park. Fairly flat land, so you can see Steel Eel primarily from a distance.
The parking booths needed something. My home park is BGW, so a huge sign above it would be a good photo moment for passengers. We regularly photograph the sign above the parking booths at BGW.
The covered parking being built looked really cool. We went on a very chill day, so parking was no issue.
The park entrance is crazy good. Security was simple, the entrance arch is fantastic. The Texas shape in the pathway is cool. Staff were incredibly friendly. A staff member asked about our Busch Gardens bag and quipped that BGW is way better than this park.
Here is the first creature we saw, with an ambassador. He was calm and beautiful. He was treated too kindly by a human (lol), so he would not survive in the wild most likely. Apologize for cropping.
We walked counter-clockwise in the park. Tidal Surge was first…
My goodness what a fun ride. I ride Finnegan’s Flyer regularly and it’s not even close to this experience. The swing out over the water…you barely see land and it’s just magical. The height of the ride make a huge difference. I look forward to riding Serengeti Flyer. This was borderline the best ride in the park…maybe Stingray takes it.
The operations on this ride? Terrible. Absolute slow walking. Inefficiencies. Just slow everything.
After this, went straight to Texas Stingray. Can I just say, everything about InvadR that I dislike is fixed in this ride. I know it’s mostly about space, but there is not abruptness in the ride. It’s just so much fun. And children and adults alike just have a blast. Theming on InvadR may be the only thing better…theming, and operations. My goodness the amount of goofing off by the staff. Just laughing, hanging out, not doing anything. We’re running single train and they’re not focused. On their phones, doing nothing, while people are loaded in the train. Trains could have come and gone. Nope. Chit-chat.
Great White is my first “clone.” Never ridden this model before. Primary ride operator was on the microphone being rude to the lady managing the queue. She was in turn being rather abrupt and rude to the queue. Just being very forceful in making people sit where she wanted them to. No options for front or back row. Also learned after buckling in that loose articles are not allowed in the bins on the ride, aka phone and wallet. They were running single trains. After stowing our items in the arcade, we waited in line a second time. Dealt with the rude staff member again.
Went back to the Orca show. Cannot express how beautiful and entertaining this show. The park was not busy, and it was packed out. Worth the price of entry! (Screenshot cropping, sorry)
Great White does not stand even close to Alpengeist. It’s fun, no doubt, but not close. The inline twists and corkscrews were disorienting and fun! Didn’t ride again. It was ok.
Sea Lion and Otter Show, fantastic and fun!
Steel Eel, the spanking machine…my my I have never laughed on a ride so much. After the drop, an amazing floater airtime then WHAM, a pothole at the bottom of the hill that slams you into your seat. Pain! Then wow another amazing floater moment then WHAM, a pothole at the bottom of the hill. After the second one I grabbed hold for my life with no success and it was hilariously bad. We laughed the entire ride at how bad the WHAMs were. Another guest said “thats some messed up stuff” in the exit.
Saw this character on the way out of Steel Eel. Also, announcement was made to use a locker and if they find out you stowed your stuff in the grass, you would be ejected from the park. I was sorta unsurprised at the amount of unattended bags in the area. Nice people, nice area, so no perceived threat of theft. I just thought announcements of being thrown out if the ride operator saw you was kind of a ridiculous claim.
Next, visited the penguin exhibit. Adorable creatures!
Finished out the visit with the Beluga and Dolphin experience. High octane show because of what those dolphins can do. I primarily took video, so no great photos.
Visited Discovery Cove on the way out, but that’s really for another thread.
Final statement…most staff were friendly. Ride operations were horrendous! Employees in rides and selling food and beverage at shows were mostly goofing off. Shows were stupendous. Tidal Surge and Texas Stingray are top notch.
And that’s my time at SeaWorld San Antonio!
