Sea World is hosting the Just For Kids! Festival on Saturdays through April 12, 2014; and, it's included with your park admission! Don't let the name fool you though, it's definitely family friendly! While it is kid-centric, it brings families together for fun activities, rides, Animal Ambassadors, and more!
We were given a festival map as we came into the parking lot. They are also available at the Ocean Adventure areas as well. The map is the perfect size for your little one to help navigate. It has all the Fun Stations mapped out for you with just a few main park locations for reference points.
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| Just for Kids Festival map |
The stars on the map are the Ocean Adventure areas. That's where your kids can go on an educational and fun trip around the park. They have games and information at each of the four stops. After you complete your activity, the bottom of your map will get a punch and you get a limited edition Explorer's card! The stations are really easy to spot too- there is a "take an Ocean Adventure" sign along with Just for Kids! banners like the one pictured here:
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| Ocean Adventure activity |
The Ocean Adventures are spread out around the park, but not too spread out! One thing that I loved about this is that they never excluded Cole. He's almost two, so he's really into doing these fun things like the matching games, but he's not quite old enough to answer questions about oil on penguin. Some of them they let me help him with but some tailored their activity to be more his level. It was tons of fun!
After you complete all four Ocean Adventure activities, you get a ticket that allows you to go to one of three stores and turn it in for a special surprise!
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| The four limited edition cards. |
Another fun part of Just for Kids is the Rockin' Rockhopper Party in Antarctica that starts at 11am. A DJ is there with some rockin' hoppin' music to get everyone moving. There are even special penguin guests who come out and party with you! They have games, snacks, face painting and you can even see live penguins! You don't want to miss out!
As always, there are lots of great Animal Ambassadors to wow and amaze! It's neat to see all the different animals and to hear their stories. The SEA Garden is home to one of the Ocean Adventures, many of the Animal Ambassadors and special story tellers.
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| Animal Ambassadors |
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| Story time! |
A highlight for my little one was the Elmo Rocks! show. He couldn't stop talking about Elmo all weekend! Be sure to get there early as the show is only performed in the earlier part of the day and there are only a few shows.
Be sure to stick around for the end of the day too. The Shamu Dance Party, at the front of the park in Village Square, starts one hour before park close and lasts until 30 minutes after park close. There is a stilt walking emcee, music for the whole family to enjoy and dance to, and Shamu and his crew are there! Unfortunately no pictures of the party because we've had plans that caused us to miss it the first two weekends, but we'll be there for the third one!
Have you been to Sea World's Just for Kids Festival yet? What was your favorite part? We are excited to go again this weekend and hopefully next weekend as well!
