Best Ticket Deal for Sea World Orlando for a Family of 4 or more

Sea World 

Orlando

best ticket deal

We just got back from a weekend trip to Orlando, FL for a gymnastics meet and wanting to do something else while we were there besides the meet and without spending a fortune, we researched out options and figured out the cheapest way to do sea world for 1 day.  Without getting suckered into a timeshare for $39 sea world orlando tickets, the next cheapest way to go for a family of 4 or more is to go online and buy a season pass for one person for $168.  If you have AAA, the price goes down to $140 ($149 after tax).  Buy this pass online before you go and bring the voucher with you for free parking (save $16).  Then all you have to do is go up to the self serve kiosks and scan your voucher to get your seaworld annual pass.  After the pass comes out, you can then use it to purchase up to 6 tickets for the rest of your family at 50% off. $49 for adults and $47 for children.  

If you have a family of 4, it would cost $79/ person if you buy the tickets on the seaworldparks.com website ahead of time or about $99 at the gate the day of.  

Cost Breakdown for a Family of 4

AT GATE PRICING (before tax) $396 plus $16 parking

ONLINE TICKETS (before tax)   $316 plus $16 parking

ANNUAL PASS purchased online before with 3 tickets purchased 50% off at gate (Before tax) $311 plus FREE PARKING and other discounts on food, merchandise and encounters in park.

ANNUALS PASS purchased through AAA online with 3 tickets purchased at 50% off at gate (before tax) $283 plus FREE PARKING and other discounts on food, merchandise and encounters in park.

This is the no gimmick best deal for going to Sea World for 1 day with a family of 4 or more!  

It's still not cheap, but it might be your cheapest way to spend a day at any theme park in Orlando, FL.  

Other things to keep in mind:

If you are military, you may be able to get free admission through Sea World's Waves of Honor Program. (although my brother who did this was not happy about the extent of personal information required to get his free ticket was worth it).

Preschool Fun Card for children under 5 who are residents of the state that Seaworld is located can get in free.

and FYI my one beef with the Annual Pass was that they scan your fingerprint at the entrance. Apparently they need to do this to verify that you are the season pass card holder on each visit, however I would think a photo ID should be sufficient.  I mean seriously?  I need to have my fingerprint scanned for a theme park?  I thought that was weird and was glad that the scanner was not working and so they had to let me in without getting my fingerprint on file.  I thought that was straight up stupid. 

All in all we had a great time and made lots of fun memories!  The Journey To Atlantis was the first real ride our kids have been on and it was so fun to experience that thrill with them, and even more so...since we got in park discounts with the annual pass, a couple of us did the dolphin encounter which was around $14 regularly but less after our discount (sorry can't remember the exact numbers there) but it was so amazing!  Holding onto a dolphin's flipper, petting it while making eye contact...simply amazing!

Our kids wanted to get splashed at the One Ocean Show with Shamu, we sat further back hoping to not get soaked and got there 25 minutes early and secured seats in the center of Shamu Stadium.  It was a great show however the kids kept complaining they weren't getting wet whenever the audience was getting splashed...until the end of this video clip.  ur 2.5 year old wasn't as excited about it as his siblings!  But he has since forgiven the Orca and enjoys his squeeky Orca Suvenier and talks about when he got splashed.

This was about 5 minutes after the One Ocean show....Getting splashed by an Orca was just too much!  Time for a nap in the ERGO!  He woke up later in the middle of Turtle Trek 3-D adventure and was very happy!

Pottery Barn Style Pine and Burlap

During Thanksgiving I was looking at some of the logs in our log pile and thought they might be useful for winter decorating so put some out on the steps but didn't know yet what I was going to put on them.  After Thanksgiving we ventured out to the mall as a family and perused Pottery Barn and I got so excited when I saw the small pine plants rapped in burlap.  I don't think they were for sale but were used as decor in the store, it gave me a great idea for my front porch/steps.  I'm all about DIY frugal/free decorating if you haven't noticed!  We live in the woods with tones of baby pine trees growing out of the ground like weeds out here so I pulled up a few, put them in the plastic containers that were holding my dead mums (that I killed within 2 weeks because I suck)  that's why I need to do frugal plant decor because if I did expensive flower filled planters...oiy!  So anyways, popped those little pines into the planters, wrapped some burlap and tied with ribbon and there ya go...simple and wintery!  I after went back and added some bricks inside th burlap with the plants because they were blowing over but now we're good!  Anyways, nothing super fancy but I like it..simple, wintery, easy and free!

 
Since I had the camera out thought I'd snap a couple of the rest of our christmas set up....I didn't do much, we have 2 trees because we inherited the second one with the house along with the garland going up the stairs.  The kids decorated the trees and my mom gave us the christmas village in the dining room.  It feels Christmasy and cozy and it's not over the top or anything but I am really enjoying the cozyness of it!

Turned out kitchen eating area into a keeping room/sitting room.  and just are sticking the kids crafts up on the windows...oh and yes I'm in the middle of doing laundry as you can see...Life is always happening...the house will never be perfect :)  And I think it's a good thing :)  We live here!

Chalkboard Pedestal Table Makeover

Chalkboard Pedestal Table Makeover

So about 2 weeks ago I was driving to the dollar store and as I drove past the thrift store in the same strip mall, they had this octagon pedestal table out on the sidewalk.  I decided we hadn't looked there in a while so we stopped and I walked up to the pedestal table and saw that it was marked down from $10 to FREE.  Suddenly I hear Jordan squealing because she found a princess scooter parked out front too and has been wanting one for a long time.  It was a whopping $2.98.  So we got the princess scooter and I heaved that pedestal table quickly into the trunk of the minivan (yes I love having a minivan now...never say never!!!)  I didn't look at it more than a few seconds, long enough to see it was free and so I just grabbed it, we were in a hurry.  Later, I realized the table was pretty gross looking, but kept it in the back of the van for the rest of the week (I couldn't get it out myself this thing is SOLID and HEAVY!)

When My husband finally saw it, he was like what in the world!?!? Why is my wife driving around with this nasty disgusting table in the back of her van all week?  We were all together in the van that weekend and I didn't know what to do with it and we are already busy trying to sell our house...so I said "fine lets just drop it back off at the curb on the way home...but when we got close...I couldn't do it and said "give me a week to figure out what to do with it and if I don't know we'll dump it back off".

When I FINALLY took the pedestal table out of the minivan, I knew even LESS what to do with it at first...I had originally thought it could go in the dining room with a vase of flowers since we have no table and it's pretty empty, I was thinking to paint it with the dark espresso paint we used on the cabinetry in the bathroom.  But once I stood next to this octagonal pedestal table, I realized it was not only disgusting and filthy, it was a really weird height...too tall for a coffee table...too short for any adult to sit at.  I also realized the top swivels around.  What in the world was this table EVER used for?  I thought okay, well I have to take it back, no wonder it was free....it's the weirdest table ever!  And went inside.

Let's spin it around to a new spot

Later, when I was in the garage with my daughter riding her scooter, I realized the table was a great height for kids and decided to keep it and make it into a fun activity table.  I've been wanting to try a chalkboard paint project for a long time so this was my chance.  A gave the table a good soapy wash down and lightly sanded the table top but not the base.  I let my daughter pick out the spray paint for the base of the pedestal table ( After I told her no pink or purple...)  I even let her help roll the chalkboard paint on the top!  It was a pretty simple project, did a quick coat of spray primer BIN 123 (i think it's called) all over.  Then spray painted the base turquoise which took no time at all.  And got a good enough covering in 1 coat with 1 can.  The next day I taped around the edges of the table top and we just rolled on our Rustoleum Chalkboard Paint and repeated 2-3 times throughout the day...but each coat only took 5 minutes to roll on with a foam roller.  So, I'd say the most effort put into this free pedestal table was getting the heavy ol' thing into the back of my car MYSELF!  I noticed people driving by slowly, watching me struggle probably either laughing or contemplating helping me before I broke my back but I managed.

The kids L-O-V-E their new pedestal chalkboard table!  We put it in the den in our basement so the lighting isn't great in the pictures but it's a good spot for it.  The kids love drawing in one spot, then spinning the top around to get to a fresh spot and then wiping it down with rags when they want to start fresh.  I put some sidewalk chalk in these cute little metal buckets I had picked up at the $1 section at Target for them to use.

J was drawing Caillou and his family for B...he kept asking someone to draw Caillou...Rosie, Cat...Caillou mommy and Caillou Daddy and J was more than happy to meet his request.

Freebie Friday! Halloween Printable

Ok, well I know I'm not venturing out too far here, but I have another Halloween printable for ya that would make a great Halloween poster. Sticking with the Keep Calm Carry On rip offs.....

Have your pick between purple or black and white...

Click HERE to download from google docs

and click HERE for the black and white version

And if you didn't catch the last halloween printable, here is the zombie version

Freebie Friday! Keep Calm...Eat Brains

I was having fun playing around with the popular Keep Calm Carry On theme and decided to make some free printable Halloween decor to share with you all.  Maybe I'm just a dork...(ok well that's already been confirmed) but this makes me chuckle every time I look at it.  If you like it, just download it through google docs using this link (for personal use of course :).

Watch out...the zombie bathroom people are coming!!!

Don't know what to make your family for dinner tonight?  Chicken didn't defrost in time? No worries....Keep Calm...Eat Brains!  you know sometimes I feel like someone already DID eat my brain....that would explain a lot...hmmm.....

See ya tomorrow for Scrappy Saturdays!

Milk Jug Bath Toy Scoop

Reduce.Reuse.Recycle.....Here is a great way to recycle and reuse that milk jug you just finished up! Simply cut the top off like this......



Then poke some holes in the bottom like this.....





And now you have a super useful toy scoop for picking up all those toys in the bathtub and keeping them from getting mildewy! Some things are just TOO easy not to do! I saw this in my most recent issue of Family Fun magazine and it works great! It makes for a fun bath toy too as my daughter likes to use it like a net to catch her toys while in the tub...and she likes when I fill it with water and let it "rain" over her. And to think I almost BOUGHT a turtle bath toy scoop at the store the other day!!!