Seaworld, San Antonio

There is a lot to do in San Antonio with small kids in addition to Sea World. There is a children's museum, and the Witte Museum, which has lots of fun activities for kids, too. I think San Antonio is a great choice for vacation!

Yes Sea World is age appropriate for your children. We went several times one year when our boys were 3 and 5 (Season pass).
Tips: Go early, pack a large bag and don't forget the swimsuits/sunscreen and a towel. When seeing a show you can take the bag with you as you have to leave the stroller outside the show area (You can stuff your valuables in there). Also put a colorful scarf on your stroller to help find it after the show.
They really don't allow you to bring food/drinks inside the park and they don't offer a picnic area outside of the park to eat at. As always with places like this, the food is pricey and not too tasty. We did get a few uncrustable PBJ's in my husband's cargo shorts one time ;)
We ate there once and the other times we packed a lunch and ate the the van and after eating returned to the park.
Of course the summertime is crowded and I would recommend going through the park in the opposite direction as the crowd. The park is like a circle and going in on the different direction can help with the crowds.
The best time we went was a week before Thanksgiving. Just about had the park to ourselves but the water park was not open.
The boys loved it though I was not too hip on the whole having whales in captivity thing and probably won't be going back. A week after our last visit a trainer was killed and kind of made me rethink the whole park's intention.
C.

I was wondering the same thing for my 2 year old

Seaworld is great for young children. Even in the established waterpark you could easily handle your toddlers in the water.. The new one sounds perfect.

Yes the Hilton Hill Country is awesome and again great for young families..
Happy Vacation..

San Antonio has so much there, so I would vote for it. Here is a few local basics to help navigate you around. Riverwalk is touristy area, but great sight seeing. Most people walk around down there as traffic is horrendous & lots of one way only roads. There are multiple pay parking lots though & I have yet to have any problems. There's the alamo, ripleys believe it or not wax museum, guiness book of records, for the adults & a great children's museum, buckhorn bar & grill (which has a little museum of it's own of all kids of animals that have been stuffed) You literally can stand side by side to a polar bear that is real size, gorilla, moose, lion, etc...riverwalk probably has 50 plus restraunts. Our favorite is the rainforest cafe, they have huge fish tanks & robotic animals that move & make noise every 15-30 minutes. Place is loud so if kids are, you can't tell, but our ticket is always about $75-100 for family of 4, so it is very pricey. As for hotels, those near seaworld are nice, and might be helpful with traffic. Fiesta TX is also a neat place for kiddoes, but again, expensive. North side is best for shopping & hotels even though it is close to airport area. There is a place called funtasticworld I think on san pedro & it is an indoor playground. It has 4-5 forts, a pirate ship, castle, basketball, train, bounce house etc... & they stamp the kids hands so they can't leave without a parent with matching stamp! So you can sit back & relax a bit while kids play. They even have an infant toddler section too. They have concessions. Perfect for rainy day or if it's too hot or kids are burned already. Not too much on price & you can leave & come back throughout the day too. Other great places near downtown riverwalk is the zoo or the witte museum. East side is mainly commercial & south side san antonio is pretty rough. But both Fiesta & Sseaworld aare hits with the 3-5 year olds. The shows are fun, the touching tanks great, the water parks cool. Rides are hit & miss depending on your child. My daughter who is big enough physically to ride, won't cause she is scared and my son, who is 30 pounds with wet clothes on @ 4 isn't big enough to ride and would love them. Best of luck & hope you guys have a blast! Otther ideas for you are Houston/Galveston area, houston has an awesome Childrens museum & zoo too and then Galveston has moody Gardens where you have an aquarium, rain forest exhibit, and water parky area nearby for little ones with sprinklers in the ground and knobs to turn and redirect the water in the sprinklers. Also a small mini beach where the pool isn't bigger than 3 feet. plenty of covered chairs and fun to be found there too. Ironically, we took our vacation up in your neck of the woods at the Great Wolf Lodge & Indoor water park. My kids 4 & 5 could go on everything but the four big slides and they had a blast. Hotel was awesome and they enjoyed getting their puppy paws that let them get a stuff animal, color their own book bag, take a 5x7 photo and play in the arcade, get an ice cream, and they loved the nightly storytime held in the lobby where kids are asked to come in their pj's!! They also have a game that includes a magical wand where when you pass certain pictures or statues all over the hotel, it makes them light up or talk. Kids thought that was amazing! This is the best hotel for kids as they encourage exploration. I had never gotten so much excercise as I did on that vacation!! Me & my daughter got matching mani/pedis. Her first salon experience and it was great! Hope this gives you some insight, but hands down, San Antonio has more for kids for sure. Just depends on how much you have to spend. LOL.

Our last vacay was my two & a friends daughter. We ate at Mcd's where they climbed all over the playground. Then off to the hotel where we swam in the pool. then supper at Chucky cheese and we palyed till late. Slept in and ate at hotel, off to seaworld by 10:00 and saw & did all we possibly could. then back to hotel and ordered room service in. kids crashed. We enjoyed a pay per view movie. next day we did the zoo in the morning while cool and ate at the rain forest cafe and then headed to funtasticland for the afternoon, adults crashed here, lol. Supper was chicken taken to the hotel to be eaten with movie. Then next day was breakfast at hotel, fiesta Texas where we did all we could and back to the hotel for room service. Next day was swimming at the hotel and then check out and on our way home. Kids had a blast and we did too. We stayed so busy that the next two days at home kids played so nice at home as they were wore out! LOL Have fun.

We went 2 times in the summer with twins 18 months old and they. Love it we get the anual pass and you have 20 % off in food and stores ...they really love touching the dolphins and the waterpark and then in the evening we went to see the shows I highly recommend you go there and there's only 5 hr drive...we just went to the hotel to sleep around 11pm everynight

We took our kids at 4 and 1 and I think they would have enjoyed it more if we had waited a year or 2. I have stayed at both the Hilton and Hyatt Resorts. We loved the Hyatt. It was so much fun. My kids(and my husband and I) loved the lazy river. The restaurants are pricey, but you can eat elsewhere. We will definitely go back. We hated the Hilton. It had bad reviews on TripAdvisor and we should have heeded the advice. Both our beds in the room had hair on the sheets. They had obviously not been changed. It nearly ruined the trip for me. I'm a clean freak and that almost sent me over the edge. They changed them immediately, but it was still gross. I will never go back there.

We ALWAYS stay at the Hilton Hill Country(used to be Radison). when we go to San Antonio. We drive to the riverwalk, zoo downtown(huge), etc...

It has 3 pools including a zero entry, walk-in toddler pool. It has the van to Sea World which we never took. They have a core staff of amazing workers who will do whatever it takes to make your stay easy and enjoyable. I love that about their attitude. There are shopping plazas and restaurants nearby now so you don't have to get back on the major roads.

We did pay double and stay next door at the Hyatt once. We lasted 24 hours before I called the Hilton and asked if they could squeeze us in. I liked the HIlton's lazy river, but kids have to be 8 to use it safely and it is very pricey. Plus, the food was AWFUL compared to the Hilton. The beds were not as soft and luxurious, the staff lacked skills you expect at a high end hotel, and it was less kidfriendly.

I would REQUEST a room facing the pool(unless you are a light sleeper) and pay more if you can afford it. Do NOT get the CORNER rooms as they are smaller and crowded unless you get a discount to offset it. The in-room jacuzzi bath tubs and showers are awesome.

Also, don't forget to do the drive thru zoo. It is so cool to feed the animals by hand and they will never forget it. They are also the perfect age for the children's museum.

Hey -
I think the age of your kids is fine for Sea World. I took my son when he was 2/almost 3 and he LOVED it. We went back again when he was 5 and he loved it more. He is now 7 and has a 3 year old sister and we are planning on going back again this summer.

Sea World has a small area for small children with water that comes up out of the concrete - your youngest ones will really enjoy this. Take a bathing suit every time you walk through the gate - even if you are not planning on going to the water park. We divide the trip up to doing the Sea World shows one day and the water park another day.

There will be several rides that your youngest one will not be able to go on, so you will want to plan on one of you (you or your husband) standing around with the youngest while the other of you takes the other on rides. Or, you can skip the rides and just do the shows. We did not do too many rides when my son was 3.

We stayed at the Hilton - which I LOVED the first time we went. They have fire pits at night and you can do smores. They also project a movie onto the side of the hotel. However, they have since changed management and the last time we went, the hotel was HORRIBLE. First, they gave me a room key and when I tried to walk into the room, someone else was in that room. So, we hauled our luggage back to the desk and they gave us another room key, when we got to that room, it only had a king bed (we had reserved two queens), so we walked back again (toting kids and luggage this whole time) and tried for a third room - and it was fine.

The next day, when we took the shuttle to Sea World, only half the seat belts worked in the van. Technically, my son should be in a booster seat. So, at the very least, I wanted him in a seat belt - even though it is only a few minutes ride. The driver asked me to pick him up and have him ride on my lap so he chould shove more people into the van (one more person?). I said no, he was going to stay where he was - seat belted in.

Then, the toddler pool with beach front entry turned green over night and they roped it off so that no one could swim in it (god forbid they clean it). So, needless to say, our stay there was miserable and I have no plans to go back there again.

Good luck!
L.

I have not been, but from what I hear it would be a great choice. I also heard to do the 2 or 3 day pass to get your money worth.
Fiesta Texas is also great. We took our two oldest when our 2nd was just 2.5 and she could ride almost everything because it is so kid friendly. What she couldn't, the lines were not bad so I waited with her while my husband rode with our then 6 year old.
We got the 2 day pass. We spent one day at the water side, and one day on the other side. The night show was fantastic both nights. We could have easily got a 3 day pass as there was so much to do with all the shows and everything! I don't remember if they have a 3 day pass though. Oh, and we got the refillable drink container. Worth the price, so much cheaper than if we would have bought drinks all day.

We went last year with an 8 year old and almost 3 year old. We had a wonderful time at SeaWorld and Fiesta Texas. We bought our tickets online with AAA and got a discount that saved us money. We didn't ride the rides at SeaWorld because we did all the shows. At Fiesta Texas, we rode all the kiddie rides and they wore themselves out. We also spent time in the waterpark area.

My three year old still talks about the dolphins and Shamu. Now the trainers did not get in the water with the killer whales but it was still an awesome show. This was our second trip and we still believe it is a great place to go.

We went last summer when my kids were barely 5 and 2 1/2- they both loved it! I think your kids ages are perfect to enjoy it. We did 2 days and spent one day in the water park. Also, I highly recommend the children's museum near the riverwalk. It's also fantastic, and if you have an extra day to do something, it would be a great place to go. Also, if you do Sea World, they have a night show for Shamu that I would recommend; it only shows one time, and it makes for a long day because the show is at 7:30 or something like that, but we all liked it a lot better than the traditional Shamu show ("Believe") which had lots of video clips interspersed throughout that were slow paced and frankly pretty boring (although it was still a great show when the whales were doing their tricks). Also, the dolphin/beluga show was a favorite for our whole family!