New Attractions at Sea Life Park

From new attractions to familiar favorites, we have 9 tips to enjoying Sea Life Park

I was surprised to hear that Sea Life Park turns 50 this year. A half-century birthday seemed like a good time to revisit a classic from small-kid-time, before the hordes descend this Saturday, November 8. On that day, park admission will cost $2.64, like it did when the park first opened its gates in 1964. We got to preview some of the new, and the more familiar, attractions.

The Basics:

Who: Three girls, ages 3, 8 and 9. Three adults.

When: We were there when the park opened at 10:30 a.m. on a Saturday.

Here are our tips from our day at the park.

–       Timing is everything: Your kids get up early anyway, so get there first thing if you want to take advantage of the full roster of shows and exhibits. We didn’t think we’d need the whole day, but the kids were there from 10:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.. Many of the exhibits close for a long lunch hour from 12-1:30 so the animals can rest, so there’s not as much time as you think.

–       Must-pack: a water bottle. With a purchase of lunch at the café, they let us fill our bottles to the brim with cold water at their soda machine. And though there’s plenty of shade, the park can get hot.

–       Best of Sea Life Park, kid version: Two out of three kids voted for the “dolphin show.” It’s pretty much the same one they’ve always had, minus the whaler/native maiden storyline, but with the same exuberant dolphin tricks, and the “world’s only wholphin.”  The girls were whooping and hollering along with the rest of the audience. Three-year-old’s wistful verdict: “I wish I was a dolphin.”

–       Best animal encounter for families: Hawaiian Ray Swim. The park has rolled out a variety of animal encounters, ranging from the interesting turtle feeding ($4) to very pricey ($99 retail) dolphin and sea lion swims. The ray encounter costs $14.99 per kamaaina, and for that you get 20 minutes of snorkeling, ray-petting and fish feeding with knowledgeable, trained staff. Be warned: there’s a tame baby shark swimming in the ray pool. For us, that was the highlight. Our eight-year-old daughter went in Jaws-phobic and came out totally jazzed and wanting to do it again. With animal encounters, pay close attention to the minimum age (for the rays, it’s 4 years old).

–       The Unexpected Attraction award goes to the park’s aviary, opened in 2012. The flocks of lovebirds and cockatiels that populate this spacious, fenced-in outdoor area are neither sea life, nor Hawaiian. But the aviary has an unlimited supply of little birdseed-covered popsicle sticks, and a whole bunch of colorful and friendly birdies that like to nibble the seeds while sitting on the sticks—or your head. The kids all loved this one, and so far, it’s free with the cost of admission.

–       Best way to cool off: 3-D SEA Interactive Marine Life Experience. The park’s newest attraction, also free with admission, is a standalone building that houses an interactive 3-D show about some of the ocean’s largest creatures. Grownups, don’t expect DreamWorks-level animation, but if you go partly for the show itself and partly for the arctic air conditioning, you won’t be disappointed. (Did I say the park gets hot?) The showing we attended was packed with children, and they all seemed engaged. Be on time for your screening; there are no late admits.

–       If you have to skip something: The sea-lion feeding is the one to miss. It costs $10 and is over in five minutes (don’t be six minutes late, as two of our party were). If you grew up coming here, it’s also different from the sea lion feeding you remember, where you toss your fish to the one you liked best. The way they do it now (behind wire mesh, each person assigned to their own sea lion, who is a foot away) is probably better for the animals, but it felt a little underwhelming for the adults. To be fair, the kids gave it the thumbs-up.

–       Off-menu insider tip: There’s an ice cream stand steps away from the Ocean Science Theater, which is shaded and has plenty of seating. If you get lucky, like we did, they’ll be training animals between official shows, and you’ll get the place all to yourselves, with ringside dolphin-training seats for the ice cream break.

–       Best bonus for adults: The view. From almost anywhere in the park, you can see the Pacific Ocean across the street, with a panorama of Rabbit Island and Goat Island.

SeaWorld it ain’t, but maybe that’s a good thing. Sea Life Park filled a day with memorable fun without being overwhelming for little ones. And although it’s small, it’s clean and well-maintained, and my (grownup) friend said she liked it that way: it was easy to let the 8- and 9-year-olds roam around together, consulting their map, without worrying that they’d really get lost.

Was it worth the price? Though it’s not something you’d do every weekend, Sea Life Park is a fun and memorable day out for families. It’s back on our weekend-activity roster, as a special treat.

Sea Life Park is located at 41-202 Kalanianaole Highway. 259-2900. sealifeparkhawaii.com