Watching the animals at Sea World perform is always fun, but there is nothing like getting close enough to shake hands with some of these creatures and getting a personal introduction to them by their handlers. We met and fed walruses and porpoises, had a nice sit down with a Macaroni penguin, and – my favorite – played with dolphins during a quick version of the Dolphin Encounter program.
Normally, those dolphins don’t give us the time of day unless we stand ready with fish in hand, but their trainers made sure we got the VIP treatment. After getting acquainted with our dolphins and learning some basic hand signals, we were able to make them jump, “walk,” whistle and sing. It was like conducting an orchestra of sea mammals. They were so eager to play, I swear the dolphins were having more fun than we were. I would strongly recommend this man and beast encounter to any son of mine.
Some programs even allow you to jump in and interact with some of these creatures in their environment, though you don’t get fed for doing tricks like they do. You have to buy your own raw fish.
Sea World’s variety of behind-the-scenes programs each have a cost above and beyond the price of admission, but talk about making memories for the family! Set your significant other or your kids up on one of these Sea World extras and become an instant hero!
A menu of Sea World’s animal interaction programs can be found here.