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Is the All Day Dining deal at SeaWorld worth the price?

By Brian Miller

ORLANDO - FEBRUARY 24: The sign at the entrance to SeaWorld February 24, 2010 in Orlando, Florida. A female trainer who presumably slipped and fell in to a holding tank was fatally injured after she was attacked by an orca. This is the third human death associated with the killer whale according to the Humane Society of the United States. (Photo by Matt Stroshane/Getty Images)
ORLANDO - FEBRUARY 24: The sign at the entrance to SeaWorld February 24, 2010 in Orlando, Florida. A female trainer who presumably slipped and fell in to a holding tank was fatally injured after she was attacked by an orca. This is the third human death associated with the killer whale according to the Humane Society of the United States. (Photo by Matt Stroshane/Getty Images) /
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SeaWorld has an All Day Dining package that really hasn’t gotten many reviews. On a recent trip I paid the price for the package.

I have been to SeaWorld probably more times than any park in Orlando and for the first time, I opted to treat my family to the All-Day Dining deal. The deal is $39.99 for anyone over the age of 10 while 9 and under are $19.99. Throughout the year, there are deals that SeaWorld will give out that lowers those prices. Check back around Black Friday as those are some of the best deals of the year.

For the money, you get an entree, a side dish, and a drink and you can swap out the side for a dessert if you so desire. You can do this every hour from the time you arrive until an hour before closing.

So is it worth it? I will tell you why, below, but I will answer this question here, now. Yes. Absolutely. It is one of the best investments I made at SeaWorld and would not question doing it again.

Our day at the park started off way late in the day as we had a guest who was sick and ended up not going so my oldest son stayed behind and gave up his day. My wife, my 9-year old, and my 12-year old headed to the park around 2:00 and arrived in the park about three. Our ADD (all-day dining) was already six hours behind and the park would close at 10 that night. With a two-year-old also in tow, I knew my window as about 8:00.

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Unlike Aquatica, which you can read here why not to buy the ADD, SeaWorld has plenty of restaurants to choose from and the lines are nowhere near as bad at Aquatica. At the smokehouse, we had about a 20-minute wait but that’s to be expected, it’s a very popular place and the food is really quite good.

You can knock off almost half of your $39.99 here. There are two entrees, one a sampler, that would normally cost $19.99. It comes with ribs, brisket, BBQ chicken, a side, and a drink and it was both filling and enjoyable. While I wasn’t hungry an hour later, my kids wanted pretzels and guess what? Mama’s Pretzel Kitchen is included in your ADD. An hour after that, I was getting a little hungry again.

SeaWorld food kiosk
A look inside one of the cooking huts at the 2020 SeaWorld Craft Beer and Food Festival. /

I kept track of what it would have cost me to eat out of pocket and by the time I had my last mean at Waterway Grill, my third stop of the short day, I had made my money back and my kids did as well. Had we stayed the entire day as expected, we easily would have exceeded the cost of the ADD.

Typically, most people don’t eat every hour but you can get a drink if that is all you want or grab a couple of cookies to just munch on but the point is you can eat without really much of a worry.

If there is a downside to the ADD at SeaWorld it would be that in the Key West area which is where the dolphins exhibit and show is located, there is only one restaraunt, Captain Pete’s Island Hot Dogs and because of that, they are pretty packed. You almost need to go over to the other side of the park to find food.

At the 7 Seas Food festival, croquettes are on the menu at SeaWorld. Photo by Brian Miller
At the 7 Seas Food festival, croquettes are on the menu at SeaWorld. Photo by Brian Miller /

The other issue I have is the beverage option can wipe out your hour entirely. What I mean is that if your hour is reset and you stop at a kiosk to grab a drink you have to wait an entire hour again before you can eat or drink on the plan. The beverage portion should be unlimited to be honest but that really is just being picky.

So again, is it worth it? We were at SeaWorld that day from 3:00 to 7:30 give or take which technically would have allowed us to enjoy five meals. We didn’t. We ate at the Voyager’s Smokehouse, Mama’s Pretzel Kitchen, and had a dinner salad at the Waterway Grill. Between those three stops, we had made our money back and then some.

Related Story. SeaWorld: Is the food festival worth it?. light

I calculated that overall, the meals my family would have eaten would have come to about $180.00 in cash and our price for the ADD came in at around $130.00 and tax. I can’t imagine how much we would have saved had we been there all day like we had planned.

In the future, the ADD will 100% be a part of my families daily plan. The kids loved having their own options and my wife and I never really had to argue over where we were going to eat or take the kids to.

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