SeaWorld San Antonio — Attraction in San Antonio

This review is exclusively for the male employee who worked at the prize shop of the indoor arcade center (the one with medium-long messy black hair and bangs) on the afternoon of Monday, August 5th.

Today is my son’s birthday and the 10th anniversary of my marriage to my husband. We thought it would be a great idea to celebrate at San Antonio SeaWorld, the destination of our first trip together. It held so much sentimental value for us, which I deeply regret now because it created an extremely negative core memory for my son due to racism.

After a long day visiting SeaWorld, my son decided to spend his final hours at the arcade. He won some tickets, which made him so happy, so we waited in line to exchange some goodies at the prize desk. There was another family (Caucasian) in front of us who had won lots of tickets and were taking their time deciding what to get. This male employee served them the whole time and showed no intention of greeting us, which we didn't mind. We followed the rules and waited patiently.

However, after a long wait, another family (also Caucasian) with kids came to exchange gifts, and this male employee immediately served them and exchanged gifts for them. I was so surprised that I asked him why he let them skip the line, especially since my son and I (a 5-year-old) had been waiting patiently. Instead of offering any explanation or apology, he looked down at me and my son as if we were beneath him and asked, "You didn’t ask me to help you, did you?"

I couldn’t believe he was treating us this way. I said, "You saw us waiting in line, and you didn’t even make eye contact or try to serve us. We were just being polite and waiting our turn." He responded with, "So do you want to choose a prize or not?"

My son was about to cry, seeing someone mistreat his mom like that. I knew it was because of our skin color. I didn’t want to disappoint my son, so I let him choose a prize, trying to shield him from the male employee’s abhorrent behavior. I said thank you after he handed the prize to my son, but instead of responding, this male employee slammed the door of the shelf right in front of us to show his attitude! I was utterly shocked! I've been mistreated many times in my life (unfortunately), but I never expected my 5-year-old to be treated unfairly because of his skin color—on his birthday, at SeaWorld, no less!

And I didn’t want to mention, while waiting in the line for such a long time, someone took my son’s “momma and baby” penguin stuffed animal we just purchased at the gift shop (from the stroller), he took long time to picked out his favorite one as his birthday present, and my son cried all the way back home. So on my son’s birthday, instead of creating any good memories, it only left us with a heartbroken child who was treated unfairly due to his skin color and a sad little empty gift bag—thanks to this racist male employee.

I am beyond furious and heartbroken that my son had to experience such blatant racism. This was supposed to be a joyous occasion, and instead, it was marred by the unacceptable behavior of this employee. SeaWorld, you need to address this issue immediately. No one should have to endure such treatment, especially a child on his birthday. The fact that this kind of behavior is allowed and goes unchecked in your establishment is appalling. This employee's actions were not only rude but deeply hurtful and discriminatory. This incident has left a scar on what should have been a special day, and it's something my family and I will never forget.

To the management of SeaWorld: It is your responsibility to ensure that all your employees treat every guest with respect and fairness, regardless of their skin color. This kind of behavior is unacceptable and must be addressed to prevent any future occurrences. No child should have their birthday ruined by such vile and racist treatment. We demand that you take immediate action against this employee and implement better training and policies to ensure that no other family has to go through what we...

I have been visiting Sea World San Antonio since the mid-90s. We really like coming to this park. It is always very clean, even on busy summer days. I've never had an issue getting into the shows or on the rides. The food here is some of the best in the theme park industry. I have never run into a rude employee. The reason for 4 out of 5 stars is the fact that it is one of the more expensive parks to visit. $34 for general parking is higher than Six Flags, Disney, & Universal. If you want covered parking, that can be up to $79. At Universal, all parking is covered for $30, & prime parking is $50. Admission w/ coupons can be as low as $49 or $59, but general admission with no discounts is approx $90. With all this said, I highly recommend buying a pass. It will include admission, free parking, & get you discounts in the park. If you come just 2 days over the course of a year, you have more than paid for the pass.

Now, some tips for a great visit.

First, I recommend getting to the park around 945ish. This will allow for better parking & closer to the front of a long security line. Park does not open till 1030, but this gives you time to park and get through security. If you don't want to get there at open, which I highly recommend, then wait till at least 12 noon for line to go down a bit.

When driving in to park, stay in far right lane. It moves 2-3 times faster than other lanes because it splits into 4 booths at the end, and the other 2 lanes do not. Once through the parking booth, if using general parking drive to the far side of the covered parking as you will find closer parking spots because everyone turns into the near side. Both sides are the same distance to the entrance. In addition, it will be easier when you leave because you won't be fighting the traffic.

Once through security, go to the left and do discovery point first. This section is not really part of the park anymore, but it closes at 6 pm, and most people miss this section. It is never crowded first thing, and you can do this section while everyone is trying to get into the actual park. Here is where you find the dolphins 🐬 as well as the aquarium and sharks 🦈.

As you head to the main entrance, be sure to stop and take a picture at the sea world logo. Use your phone so you don't have to purchase the picture. When you enter, if you plan on eating in the park, even one meal and a snack, it will be cheaper to buy the all-day dining pass. It's $59.99 and allows you to eat every 90 minutes. With a pass this is discounted by 20%. If there all day it can save you a lot of money. We actually just bought one and shared the meal. The 3 meat bbq plate with chicken, ribs, brisket, fries, plus dessert and drink is enough to share, but without dining would be almost $40 for one meal. Snacks are also expensive. Usually, it is around $10 for a pretzel, dip n dots, popcorn, fries, etc. You can use the dining pass for these items and a drink with it as part of the plan. Drinks are normally around $6.

Start with visiting the sea lions and otters behind the show stadium. Look for the baby sea lion, so cute. After that, if you have small children, get to the photo op with sesame street characters about 5 to 10 minutes early. The first photo op is usually around 1pm. First character, usually Elmo, the one you probably want. Again, take a picture with your phone so you don't have to purchase a photo.

Next, most people naturally walk the park by going right and circling around that way. It's less crowded if you go around the lake to the left first. Roller coaster lines are usually not that busy mid day, but the water rides have long lines because of the heat. Save the water rides for late afternoon or evening when the lines are shorter. It's still hot out, so they are still refreshing.

As far as the shows, do Sea Lion, then Orca, then show at Nautilus.

Cleanest restrooms usually in the restaurants. Best restaurant is BBQ place and chicken tenders by Rio Loco ride.

Hope this helps you have a...

0 stars

I considered purchasing a Gold Annual Pass for my nephew, who is a minor, in early April. This is supposed to come with 5 free guest passes, but on their online chart detailing when you get the free passes (see photo), only 4 passes are indicated (1 in spring, 2 in summer, 1 in fall/winter). I called their customer service using the “Contact Us” link at the bottom of their webpage (210-520-4SEA). Their rep told me that the 5th ticket could be requested anytime of the year as long as the pass holder had held the pass for at least a month. With this information, I went ahead with the purchase, and my partner and I planned to bring him to the park end of May.

When I signed him into the website’s membership section to review his benefits and redeem 2 free guest passes (1 for the spring, and the other that could be used anytime of year as long as it was requested at least a month after pass purchase), only the pass designated for the spring season appeared. I called customer service again, and a rep named Franklin told me that the previous rep was mistaken - there is no 5th free ticket that can be requested anytime of year. He said that the 5th free guest ticket may be claimed whenever SeaWorld offers it, and they offer 1 several times a year. I explained that we only have my nephew on certain weekends because of the custody situation, and had I known that the 5th free ticket wasn’t available anytime of the year as the last rep had described, I might have made a different purchase (not a Gold Annual Pass). Franklin said there was nothing they could do about the situation because I didn’t have a reference number for my previous call.

I asked to speak with a manager, and he said the only way that was possible was to email my name, photo ID, and last 4 digits of the credit card I used for the purchase to prove who I am and that I actually made the purchase, since only my nephew’s name is on the pass account (I put his name in when I purchased because this was a birthday gift to him and I wanted his name to be the one on the account). I refused to email these items because email is not a secure method of sending this type of sensitive information, and I asked if they had a secure portal to which I would be happy to upload the info and ID. He said they do not. I suggested instead that I could prove that I made the purchase by verifying any information on account (this is how they found the account at the beginning of my phone call), and they could also send me a verification code to the email on the account and I could read it back to them as proof that I had received it (like most 2-factor authentication systems). He told me he had to hang up on me then because I wouldn’t send the ID and credit card info by email to prove that I made the purchase. Before he hung up, I asked for the reference number for the call, and he told me I could only get it from his supervisor. I asked how he expected me to ask his supervisor for it when they refuse to talk with me. He also told me that he would put a note on my account saying that I was unhappy because I mistakenly thought that we would receive a free 5th pass upon request. I asked him to clarify that I was told that by a customer rep.

I’m not sure how this phone call to ask for help from customer service turned into a “prove who you are” situation in which they could not provide me with a secure means of sharing my personal information with them. It’s as if they know they are setting us (customers who have complaints) up to fail.

I’m so frustrated. I have held off on telling my nephew about my general reservations about being a SeaWorld customer (watch the documentary “Blackfish” if you haven’t already) because he loves being able to see sea life. But I’m just not willing to make any more purchases that benefit this unethical company.

Also tagging “season pass” here just in case other potential clients are using that search term to find out more before they buy. I wish I had checked the reviews first rather than relying on the promises...