If you're looking for a unique date idea to celebrate a birthday or anniversary with your sweetheart, consider a meet and greet with an animal at SeaWorld Orlando! Meet animals like Penguins, Sea Lions, Killer Whales, and many more, up close and personal!
We were lucky enough to attend a Dolphins Up-Close Tour and have gathered all the details you'll need for a perfectly adorable dolphin encounter full of lifelong memories!
What is an Up-Close Tour at SeaWorld Orlando?
SeaWorld Orlando has a plethora of animal encounters, up-close tours, and experiences, so many that you wouldn't be able to do them all in a week!
For the Dolphins Up-Close Tour, you are treated to an intimate behind-the-scenes experience with these amazing marine mammals and learn about their behavior and individual personalities from the Animal Care Specialists at the Dolphin Nursery.
You'll also be able to touch and feed the animals with the assistance of the animal experts, and a professional staff photographer will take your picture so you can have the memory forever!
This hands-on experience is perfect for all ages and is an amazing way to connect with dolphins in their habitat!
What can I expect with the Dolphin Up-Close Tour at SeaWorld Orlando?
If you've come with friends or family, you may be divided into small groups for everyone to have equal time interacting with the dolphin. During the Close-Up Tour, our group of three was paired with another three, to make us a group of six. Most groups are between 4-6 people.
Since dolphins are extremely intelligent and social animals, you'll get to see their different personalities shine with this tour! Some of the dolphins are very vocal, while others love to play with toys or do tricks for delicious fish treats.
The tour lasts about 30 minutes in total.
Their trainers know them best and will be able to show and tell about what tricks or activities are their favorite. Our dolphin, Bree, love to chat and play fetch with one of her floating toys. Each person in the group got to throw the toy for her to retrieve.
We also had the chance to direct our new aquatic friend with some of their learned hand signals for designated tricks!
Did you know?
Dolphins don't have functional taste buds and have lost the genetic ability to taste things! During our tour, some of the dolphins received clear Jell-O as they love the texture. Not having taste buds means that dolphins in the wild aren't particular about the flavor of fish they eat, and instead, they care more about the texture!
Here's the crucial information you need to know:
The Dolphins Up-Close Tour starts at $69 per person and can go up to $99 per person. The cost varies depending on what day of the week you select your tour, and prices usually increase around major holidays.
Annual pass members can get up to 50% off of tours or encounters depending on what annual pass tier you have. You can check your rates by logging into your account. Up-close tours are available every day of the week, but the safest bet is to book your tour in advance to prevent the possibility of a sold-out day.
Outdoor Location
The Dolphin Nursery is located outside. You'll be directly in the sun for the entire tour, so make sure you bring plenty of sunscreen! We would advise avoiding a midday tour, as the sun will be directly above you.
All up-close tours check in and depart from the Sky Tower Tours Welcome Center in the center of the park. Fifteen minutes before your scheduled tour, you'll meet your guide at the designated meeting place for the Dolphins Up-Close Tour.
Your guide will explain the safety rules and requirements before heading to the experience.
You'll get to pick one of two poses for your picture with the dolphin! For one of the pose options, you can cup your hands, and the dolphin will rest its chin in your hands. This pose requires you to lean quite far down; if you're shorter in height, this might be a bit difficult, and you might end up in a more awkward position for the photo.
The nose touch pose will be best for shorter guests and those who don't want to bend down or lean over. For this pose, guests just stick their hand out over the pool and the dolphin will come out of the water to meet your hand!
IMPORTANT NOTE: No loose items are allowed along the Dolphin Nursery pool! The animal caretakers will designate a place for you to leave your personal items, which is behind marked line near the pool. Dolphins love to play and will take any items dropped into the pool, it poses a choking hazard for the animals, so be sure to put all your personal items away. Sunglasses and hats are an exception as long as you are wearing them.
What other animals can I meet?
SeaWorld has some of the best encounters and Up-Close Tours, with so many different animals that you and your special date can hang out with!
Here are some of the other Up-Close Tours that they offer:
SeaWorld Close-Up Tours
Beluga Whales
Penguins
Killer Whales
Sea Lions
Sharks
Trainer for a Day
SeaWorld Rescue Tour
Feature image by SeaWorld Orlando
Looking for more ways to meet animals? Consider Unique Animal Encounters in Central Florida, Gatorland Capybaras and Gatorland Alligators!
