Spending The Night At SeaWorld + Christmas Celebration

If you were following along with my social media this weekend you know that I spent the night at SeaWorld! There have been many things that I’ve been able to do as a blogger but this weekend was extra special for me given the last couple of months. This year serving as a SeaWorld Wildside blogger has been incredible and it has been an honor to learn about the efforts that SeaWorld does each and every day to rescue animals, rehabilitate them as well as educate the public. I hope my readers got to see a true look at these efforts and will have a new respect for this company. I can tell you that the passion and love that each employee has for those animals is contagious.

I’d love to show you my exciting weekend and also tell you a bit more about SeaWorld’s Christmas Celebration going on right now! Notice I said CHRISTmas Celebration and NOT Holiday Celebration. I love that SeaWorld still celebrates the TRUE meaning of CHRISTmas! Sidenote: Be sure to look for links below to watch videos!

We started off the day meeting a new manatee that SeaWorld recently rescued from the Gulf of Mexico. He is currently being rehabilitated and will be returned to the Gulf. Watch a video HERE of the staff filling the manatee homemade food holders (he eats LOTS of romaine lettuce every day).

We then met with the conservation team who does so much to assist rescued animals. Many of the animals that we met were rescued from different circumstances and, unfortunately, were unable to be returned to the wild either due to injury or being unable to care for themselves. Note that it’s actually the government that determines whether or not an animal can be returned to the wild.

This is a beautiful screech owl that they rescued. His name is Bonsai and he was unable to feed himself and remains at SeaWorld as his home.

We then got to paint with the animals! The animals that enjoy painting paint pictures that are then sold to assist with financing their conservation efforts. Watch this Roseate Spoonbill painting HERE.

I was SOOOO excited to get to hold this pretty girl! This is Susie!!! She’s one of my favorite animals at SeaWorld and loves telling everyone a cheery, “HI!”

Merry elves dancing throughout SeaWorld!

This is one of the entrances to the Christmas market. I love the Christmas market with its Texas theme. This is where you can take pictures with the Cowboy Santa, listen to music and more! There is also great shopping to be done for special gifts!

Now time for Snow World where they have tubing, snowball throwing and more! Here’s the down low on Snow World. The lines are pretty long so I recommend either going there first thing when you get to the park or just know that you going to have to wait in line.

Waiting in line to tube in the snow!

Now time for dinner with Santa and Mrs. Clause! This is a great activity to do with the kids with elves in full character. It costs $30/adult and $15/children. The food was really good and Santa read a story to all the kids plus you get to take pictures with Santa. If you want to add this activity to your day you need to make reservations ASAP as they are selling out. Click here to make reservations.

Mrs. Clause’s kitchen!

Now time for the Shamu Christmas show! I know I’m super hormonal right now but this show brought me to tears! It was beautiful, told the story of Jesus Christ and talked about miracles!

On Sunday we got to visit the penguins which are SOOO cool! I highly recommend the penguin encounter (to learn more click here). Watch this video of this sweet penguin who walked right up to me!

This is my friend Pepper the penguin! I LOVED her and wanted to take her home with me! She’s so soft and sweet!

As you can see it was an amazing weekend that I will never forget!! To see all pictures from my weekend at SeaWorld visit my Facebook page by clicking here.

This is my sTORI being written as you read. – Love, Tori

Disclosure: I’m a SeaWorld Wildside blogger. I receive complimentary passes for my family and other perks throughout the year. All opinions expressed here are my own.