Last year, SeaWorld rolled out a brand-new annual pass system much more similar to Disney’s with different tiers, or levels, of passes for their parks. Since we already had annual passes, I didn’t look at it too closely until it came time to renew. There are four tiers of passes, and several different combinations, depending on which parks you want. The way the website explains it is a little backwards in my opinion, so I wanted to break down all the options. SeaWorld also has a Fun Card, which is a different kind of pass. You can read about it here.
SeaWorld actually has a total of two theme parks, SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa, and two water parks, Aquatica Orlando and Adventure Island (not to be confused with Universal’s Island of Adventure). You can choose a pass to just one park, you can choose a theme park/water park combination, or you can choose all four. If you decide to go with a theme park/water park combination, you have to stay in the same city. You can either get SeaWorld and Aquatica, or Busch Gardens and Adventure Island. There’s no way to pair SeaWorld with Adventure Island, and honestly, I don’t know why you’d want to.
We have always had the SeaWorld and Aquatica combination, and since mid-2014, we have had Busch Gardens as well. With the new pass system, there’s no way to get all three of those without Adventure Island. That’s fine with me, as I’ve always wanted to go there!
Adventure Island is the least expensive option on its own, but it’s also not open year-round. It starts at $95.88 for the lowest priced tier. Aquatica on its own starts at $119.88, SeaWorld starts at $131.88, and Busch Gardens also starts at $131.88. All four parks at the lowest tier starts at $191.88.
There’s no additional discount for Florida residents on these passes, but residents can use EZpay and pay monthly instead of paying for their pass all at once.
Once you know which parks you want, now you need to decide which tier level you want. All annual passes include twelve consecutive months of unlimited admission, and access to all of SeaWorld’s special events like Inside Look, Spooktacular, and the Seven Seas Food Festival.
The Bronze Annual Pass is the lowest price point, which are the prices I mentioned previously. It is subject to blockout dates, comes with discounted general parking, and includes 10% off dining and shopping.
The Silver Annual Pass is roughly $40-$50 more than the Bronze Pass depending on which parks it is for. It has no blockout dates and comes with free general parking. It also offers 10% off dining and shopping, and comes with one free guest ticket. (The guest ticket IS subject to blockout dates however.) You can also purchase three additional guest tickets at half price.
The Gold Annual Pass is less than $40 more than Silver for any park combination, except Adventure Island on its own. For some reason the Adventure Island pass jumps $48 from Silver to Gold, although I can’t imagine many people would be buying a Gold Annual Pass for just Adventure Island in the first place.
The Gold Annual Pass has no blockout dates, offers free preferred parking, when it’s available, and raises the dining and shopping discount to 15% off. You also get two free guest tickets, (subject to blockout dates), and half off six additional tickets. In addition, the Gold Annual Pass comes with an annual PhotoKey (SeaWorld’s equivalent to Disney’s Photopass) for all parks except Adventure Island, and a free animal encounter. You can choose either the Serengeti Safari at Busch Gardens, or the Dolphin Encounter at SeaWorld. I’m of the opinion if you’re paying the extra for both parks, you should get both, but no one asked me.
The Platinum Annual Pass jumps to a total of $359.88, which is a jump of $144. What do you get for that price? A whole lot actually! The Platinum Annual Pass gives you access to ELEVEN theme parks and water parks around the country. It includes SeaWorld Orlando, SeaWorld San Antonio, SeaWorld San Diego, Aquatica Orlando, Aquatica San Antonio, Aquatica San Diego, Busch Gardens Tampa, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Water Country USA, and Sesame Place. It also gives you all the benefits of the Gold Annual Pass in addition to reserved seating at most of the shows, and ride again privileges at some of the roller coasters.
The Platinum Annual Pass is still almost $200 less than what I pay for my Disney Gold Pass. You’d have to do a bit of traveling to really maximize those benefits, but hitting one park outside of Florida would almost get your money’s worth.
I haven’t actually purchased our new annual passes yet at time of publication, but I absolutely know Jay and I will be getting the Gold Annual Pass. Originally, I was just going to get the Gold level for one of us and Silver for the other, until I realized the price difference is basically what we would pay for the other to go on the free Animal Encounter, and then we get a total of four guest tickets instead of three between us. Plus, this way we both have the same level of discounts on shopping and dining so we don’t have to worry about who pays when we’re the park. Mom and I still have to decide if she’s getting Gold or Silver this year. She wants to save money, I want to take her on the Serengeti Safari.
If you’ve got a large family and you’re trying to be budget friendly with the Bronze Annual Pass, I HIGHLY recommend someone in the family getting a Silver Annual Pass for the free parking. Theme park parking is currently $25 a day, and quite frankly, I expect it to be up to $30 or more by the end of 2019. That means the Silver Annual Pass will pay for itself in two visits. If you have kids, make one of them the Silver Annual Pass. It is rather unlikely you will go to Seaworld without your kids, but it is likely they might go with a friend’s family at some point.
My mom actually taught me this trick when I was a child. As soon as I was old enough to be an “adult”, I had the Dollywood Gold pass that came with free parking, instead of her. I had a lot of friends’ parents bringing me along for this reason!
Dollar for dollar, the SeaWorld family of parks is the best value you will find in Orlando. A two-day Disney base ticket in the slow season is $213 after taxes. For $266.87 after taxes, you can have a whole year of fun at SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, Aquatica and Adventure Island. Don’t get me wrong, I have a Disney Annual Pass and I always will, but my mom doesn’t even live in the state of Florida, and she has a SeaWorld Annual Pass.
Protip: Before you go to SeaWorld’s website to purchase your Annual Pass, sign up for Ebates and go through their website*. You’ll get 2.5% cashback on your purchase! That brings your Silver Pass for all four parks down to $260!
*Disclaimer: If you use my link to sign up for Ebates, I get credit for referring you, but you also get a $10 bonus for signing up!
