San Antonio: Family Fun at SeaWorld and River Walk
Overview
Whether you live in Texas and looking for a weekend getaway or you are on a long family vacation, San Antonio has something for all.
Table of Contents
On the Independence Day long weekend, we planned a trip to San Antonio, particularly SeaWorld and River Walk. We came to know about the amazing Fourth of July fireworks along with the fun we can have in SeaWorld by our friends who visited San Antonio before. We were all super excited about the trip.
San Antonio
San Antonio is the second most populated city in Texas after Houston. It is a beautiful city and hence a popular tourist destination in Texas. The main attractions of this city are SeaWorld, River Walk, Alamo, Six Flag City Texas, and San Antonio Missions National Historical Park.
The Drive
San Antonio is a relatively short drive from Houston - only about three hours. Since July 4 was on Friday, we left Houston on July 3, Thursday at about 1:00 PM and arrived at the hotel a little after 4:00 PM. We decided to visit River Walk the same night.
San Antonio River Walk
The River Walk is San Antonio’s most popular attraction with beautiful stone bridges and rich landscapes. It is a pedestrian street along the banks of San Antonio River. The river flows through the city center, providing visitors each year with easy access to the city’s cultural hot spots, historic sites, and other attractions. River Walk provides a serene and pleasant way to navigate the city. And just steps away from the River Walk is Main Plaza - ‘The Heart of the City.’
The River Walk neighborhood is the perfect place to stroll around in the evening. You’ll find everything from artists and craft vendors to street musicians to food trucks. There are also many restaurants and hotels lined up along the river. We took a boat ride with a tour guide and through this 35-minute excursion, our guide narrated us about the rich history of the San Antonio River Walk. The rides cover one and a half miles of the beautiful San Antonio River Walk. It was warm and humid, but we still enjoyed looking around the shops and restaurants of the River Walk. Visiting the River Walk is a must for anyone who visits San Antonio.
We stayed there until 10:00 PM, and after having dinner in one of the restaurants at River Walk, we went straight back to our Hotel as we had a big day ahead of us next morning.
SeaWorld San Antonio - Day 1, July 4th
Sea World, San Antonio has a lot to offer. It has everything including a water park, rides, and shows.
Be sure to grab a park map with the show schedules at the front entrance of the park to plan your visit.
There’s plenty of walking and everything is spread out. It was extremely crowded because of the long weekend. My daughter was almost 2 years old so we brought our own stroller - without strollers it is difficult to manage kids. But you can always rent strollers from there too. I would advise planning your day around the shows and do the other things in between.
After a little walking around, we headed to the Azul Dolphin Show. The Dolphin Show was a blast! Although we had to wait for a long time to get a seat for this show, it was worth it. After some time, we went back to the hotel to get some rest as Pakhi was getting tired and needed some rest before the fireworks at night.
We came back for fireworks at around 9:00 PM. There are separate tickets for this show which we had already bought online. I must say, the fireworks were one of the best fireworks that I had seen. The fireworks are shot from ski lake and it usually begins at 9:45 PM. If you arrive little early you’ll get to enjoy festive live entertainment and family-friendly activities in the hours leading up to the fireworks as well.
SeaWorld San Antonio - Day 2
The next day we went straight for the penguins as we missed them the first day. My daughter was very excited to see the penguins as this was the first time she had seen a real penguin.
After some strolling around and lunch, we decided to go to the Splash Park. To our surprise, there was an extremely long line to get into the park! It took us over two hours to enter the Splash Park! By then we were too tired to have any fun. We just sat in the water while my daughter enjoyed in the kid’s area. There is nothing much to write about the water park as we did not do much here. We concluded that we should have arrived earlier if we wanted to have any fun in the water park.
Conclusion
The River Walk is an amazing place to be in the evening as it looks even more beautiful in the evening lights. You can take a stroll, shop from the street vendors, dine in great restaurants, take a boat ride and get to know the city during the ride and discover for yourself why visitors in San Antonio never miss a chance to visit the River Walk.
On the other hand, SeaWorld is a great place where you can go at least once every year. The shows don’t change often so you will get bored quickly. But they are great for all ages. Make sure you plan ahead if you planning to see all the shows. The shows get packed quickly so arrive early or you won’t get good seats especially on the weekends or holidays. I recommend going in the morning or during off season. We were there during the long weekend and because of overcrowded shows and long waiting lines, we did miss some shows. We will definitely plan again to cover up rest of them.
More Information
- River Walk, San Antonio
- The Official Website of SeaWorld, San Antonio
This blog post is part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and **Noor Anand Chawla in collaboration with VoxBox. **
See Also
- Bangalore: Why do I Miss This City?
- 9 Must Visit Places in Karnataka, India
- A Road Trip From Bengaluru To Wayanad, Kerala
