SeaWorld's Christmas Celebration 2021
Hey all, happy holidays! I’m working on trying to log more of our trips to the parks for this blog, just in case anyone is curious about our experiences and what we actually do when we go. I’d like to keep these posts manageable, so I might not mention every detail, just enough for you to get a feel for what a day at the park is like!
We had an appointment to get our vaccines at 1, so we decided to head down to the park after. Rarely do we do a full open-to-close day as pass holders. It’s just not worth being worn out and trying to squeeze it all in. We were at the parks about 4.5 hours and checked a lot off of our Christmas to-do list!
The first thing we did was print off two free $10 vouchers that SeaWorld is offering to pass holders in November. Let me just say here, that SeaWorld treats its pass holders the BEST out of any park we’ve ever had passes to. After we printed those out, we went into the park and picked up a Christmas tasting lanyard. We chose the $50 one that has 10 punches on it, but we got an extra 2 punches for being pass holders. We also decided last minute to buy their hot chocolate refill cup because it was so cute! They were $6.99, and refills are 99 cents. I used our free $20, and the total for the 12 punch lanyard AND the hot chocolate cup came to right around $34. Score.
Cash was hungry, so we decided try out some of the food booths first. We tried the Lamb Chop served with root vegetable hash, pumpkin seeds & serrano pesto, Lobster Mac & Cheese Bowl, and Braised Short Ribs & Smoked Gouda Mac & Cheese Bowl.
We loved all three. Cash was meh on the vegetables that came with the lamb, but even though he’s not a huge mac and cheese lover, he LOVED the Gouda Mac. If we had to choose, we decided we liked the lobster best, because it was a little lighter than the short ribs and balanced with the flavor of the mac and cheese a little better. But all plates were cleared.
After that, we decided to go see the orca show because it’s great no matter how many times you’ve seen it. Then I talked my almost-12-year old into watching the Sesame Street Christmas parade with me, and it was really cute and very festive. It did fill up about 15 minutes ahead of time, so if you go, you’ll want to show up a little early to get a good spot. They have dancers and fun music playing the whole time so the wait isn’t too bad.
All the characters are dressed up in holiday themes; Grover with the Santa beard was my favorite. They roll out the “floats” and then basically have a 15 minute long dance party. Some of the characters are on foot and wander around, but for most of the party you just see the float that is in front of you. We got Oscar the grouch, which was really fun. Then they all roll back out at the end.
After the parade, we tried out the Chicken Totchos, and they were a pass for me. Cash finished it off, but agreed that it was weird, because they had salsa on them. It was like nachos…with tater tots…and the whole combo just didn’t work for me.
After that, we wandered over right as the Rudolph exhibit was opening. This is one of my Christmas favorites. They have little scenes set up to look like a storybook, and you can take pictures with the Abdominal snowman and Rudolph. Usually Clarice is out there as well, but last night she wasn’t. We asked Rudolph where she was, and he mimed out that she was still busy working on decorating for Christmas. Unfortunately we don’t have pictures from the actual Rudolph encounter, because there was an issue with our photo pass, so we’ll have to snag one when we go back. Did I mention I brought reindeer ears for Cash and I to wear? He humored me and wore them during the Rudolph exhibit.
After that, we were dying to try out the chocolate covered bacon! It was a MASSIVE disappointment. Literally just cheap looking bacon covered in what looked like Hershey’s syrup. When I’ve had chocolate covered bacon in the past, they used chocolate bark, like you’d use for chocolate covered pretzels. This was NOT the way to eat chocolate covered bacon.
Chocolate covered bacon at SeaWorld’s Christmas Celebration
After that, we walked through the back path to Flamecraft bar and I ordered a Duke’s Brown Ale (my favorite) while we sat and rested a bit. I timed it perfectly to where just as Cash was starting to get antsy, the first Christmas tree light show of the evening started. I don’t know that Flamecraft is the best place to view it, I’m sure it would be more immersive if you were standing close to the edge of the lake, because the overhead light was still on above us, but we were happy being able to sit at a table and sip our drinks while we watched. The music for the show was piped in through the speakers there too, which I was thankful for.
After that show at 6, we booked it over for the 6:30 showing of Winter Wonderland on Ice, which is my absolute favorite must-see show at SeaWorld’s Christmas Celebration every year. They usually have a violinist or some other musical artist play the pre-show so you don’t get impatient after having shown up early for a good seat. The skaters are fantastic, and I love that the background is the lake, and all of the trees change colors and coordinate with what’s happening during the show. Magical.
After the show, Cash really wanted to try one more food item: the Hot Chicken Slider with crispy chicken, apricot, serrano glaze, and pickles. I’m pretty sure that the guy was “over it” by the time we got there and made the sandwich with some ingredients left off, because all Cash got was a bun with the chicken and glaze, but because of the glaze, it was still really tasty.
After that, we made our way to the exit, enjoying the park lit up with tons of Christmas lights after dark. They do an amazing job of decorating. We can’t wait to go back and hit a few more things that we missed. And of course, watch the ice skating show again!
In the Christmas spirit? Read about our trip to Disney Springs at Christmas.