Sea World San Antonio is great little weekend destination.  It's a fun place for roller coasters, cute animal shows, and a nice water park.  We had lots of fun when we went back in October.   We took a long weekend to enjoy our Sea World visit.
We took one day just to watch all the shows and ride the roller coasters.  We took a second day for the water park.  Our 3rd day was just for our special your!  While there are some great rides and shows to enjoy when visiting Sea World, what really made this a MEMORABLE experience was the Ultimate Animal Experience.  This is a separate tour that can be booked regardless of whether the park is open or not.  It's on the pricey side, but it's a unique experience  worth looking into.

We entered the park through the employee entrance and hopped into a van.  There are a surprising number of back roads that wind throughout the park and that's how our backstage tour really gets around.  Our guide tried to plan our tour for the best parts of the day, but feeding schedules and show times can shift your tour around a little bit.  We were in the park before it was officially open and got to interact with some very lively sea lions.
We were the only ones there, so the kids got to go around the entire area and look at these beautiful creatures.  All the while our tour guide gave us more details on the shows and other things the park had to offer.  That's when the real magic begins.

We got to have our own personal sea lion show.  Yes there is a sea lion show at the parks, but this one was just for us! 
Our sea lion did some great acrobatics for us and then we got our own time to meet and greet him.  We each had our turns taking pictures with him and getting to pet him.  He felt almost rubbery in texture.

It's hard to argue with that smile!  The amount of interactions we got with just the sea lions was fantastic!  Our sea lion was quite the ham and gave us quite the vocal display.
Next we rode over to check out the Beluga Whales.  I wasn't ready for this next part.  Thankfully Niko was the minimum 48in for the experience.

We went to change into our wet suits before we could enter the beluga tank.  It's odd squeezing into one of these suits, but necessary.  Belugas like their water VERY cold!  A few belugas did flips and jumps for us.  And then we got to take turns petting and getting a high five from our friendly beluga.  Their fluid filled heads felt odd and squishy.  The kids loved it, though they did complain a little about how very cold the water was.

After a quick shower and change we drove over to the penguin enclosure.  If you've ever been to a zoo with penguins, it's a similar feel of seeing them behind glass swimming around.  But when we walked out our guide walked us to the back of the building into a small side room.  We were very surprised to be greeted by a rockhopper penguin.

Niko's favorite animal is the penguin so he was over the moon to get to meet and pet one!  We thought that was the end of the tour, but then another employee grabbed us and took us to the back of the enclosure where the king penguins just walked up to us to say hi.  It was pretty amazing how comfortable the penguins are around people.  

The flipped and jumped, showed us just how awesome they are in the water.  The splashed us and then even sprayed us with water.

It's hard not to be cheerful about dolphins.  They are just a fun animal to play around with.  The kids just loved it!

Our last stop before our tour was over was the Shark Tanks.  I didn't know what to expect but we got to see the Sharks pretty close in their tanks and got to pet a small shark in a separate tank up above the tanks.

​The sharks weren't the most exciting encounter, but it was still pretty cool to touch one.  We drove back to the employee entrance to end our day at the park.

I hear people asking how much to budget for souvenirs when they visit Disney and that's an almost impossible question to answer.  Some people WANT IT ALL and other people buy maybe one item as a keepsake of their trip.  We typically fall into the first category, but we can tell you what things are more hassle than they are worth.  Luggage space is limited, so it's hard to bring it all back with you.

​DON'T First of all, Balloons!  They'll either fly away or become deflated before your trip is over.  Starting at $13 a balloon, they are SUPER cute but we all know balloons don't last.  If you have to have one, I get it, but I'd spend that money elsewhere.

DON'T ​ Bubble Blowers and Light up toys.  I know the kids instantly fall in love with these, but hear me out.  Bubble wands and blowers are immensely annoying to pack.  They run out of bubbles quickly, are expensive to buy and refill, and you never can tell how dry they are inside before you pack.  The light up wands wow the kids while they are in the park but then are forgotten about in the back of their closet once you get back home.

DO Refillable Popcorn buckets!  If you love popcorn and easy snacking these are for you.  It's only $2.00 for the refill and it'll keep the hunger sated till your next meal.  Plus many of the refillable buckets just look cool.
The holiday buckets can be set out as decorations. We set out our Halloween buckets in September and replace them with Christmas ones in November.  The refills are even given to you in a separate package so you don't even have to get them dirty.

DON'T  Sipper cups.  These may look cool, but they are horribly impractical.  They barely hold a can of soda worth of beverage and are nearly impossible to clean. 
​They will inevitably take up space in the back of your cupboards.  They can make cute decorations, but are terrible for drinking out of.  And they are definitely not dishwasher safe.​

DO  Instead consider buying some of their special drinking cups.  They are all solidly built, most of them look really good, and some are even made by brands like Tervis who are know for their quality Tumblers.
Not all of them a dishwasher safe, but their normal shape makes them a LOT easier to clean than the oddly shaped sipper cups.
I drink my daily water out of these two.

MAYBE  When the heat is absolutely killing you, it may be worth buying one of these misting fans.  In the Florida humidity though you'll often just feel uncomfortably damp.  Plus if the kids get a hold of them, you've now just armed them with a squirt gun.

I recommend buying a battery powered personal fan before your trip.  These little guys usually clip on to your shirt or hang around your neck.  They do an adequate job of keeping you cool for less money.

DO Exclusive clothing choices.  Some shirts and clothing items you will only find at the parks or Disney cruises.  You can always find time wear a shirt or a hoodie, so it won't go to waste.
And many of these are never sold online, so if you don't buy it while you are there you will have a heck of a time trying to find later on.  There's a plethora of cute designs for everybody.