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[BethC]

has anyone been on the penguin tour lately? Was it good and worth the time and money?

[BarryH]

Here's a trip report of the tour when I took it a few years ago...

In a recent Sea World trip, I chose to go on the Polar Expedition tour.

Our tour guide was Lisa and on this tour, she was being evaluated. The tour was maxed out at 20 people. Before the tour, we had to say our name, where we were from, and what polar animal we liked. There were a lot of people from Florida in the group. I couldn’t think of my favorite polar animal, so I said polar bears for the heck of it. Lisa noted that she could probably answer every question we have. If she can’t, we can fill out an Ask Shamu card. An Educator will research the issue and get back with us on an answer.

The tour began by bringing us backstage. We passed by the Special Events building and to the back of the Wild Arctic exhibit. Our first stop was the beluga whale tank. The tour guide showed us a big mural of a beluga whale and explained the features of the whale. We saw the beluga whale tank through a window. The animals in the Wild Arctic exhibit have three areas to swim in. One is the main tank in the exhibit. The other two tanks were behind the scenes. Lisa explained how they obtain blood samples, examine the whales, and get urine samples. Sea World has a padded bed where they’ve trained the whale to stay still on as they draw blood and do an examination. They’ve even trained the whales to give urine samples.

We entered the building and we had to scrub our shoes on a mat with some cleaning solution. We passed by a tank with some harbor seals. When we passed by them, they stuck their heads out of the water. I think they were looking for a fish! Lisa showed us toys, which Sea World called EED (Environment Enrichment Devices). They were essentially toys for the polar bears. We were also shown the wetsuit area and the food preparation room.

Lisa asked us who wanted to pet a polar bear. A few hands went up. Then she showed us a bucket before a polar bear played with it. It was round and new. Then she showed a bucket after the polar bear got it. It had a big dent in it and lots of bite marks. No one wanted to pet a polar bear after that!

We exited the room and walked by the water filtration tanks. Huge tanks convert over 900,000 gallons of fresh water into salt water. Shamu Stadium has similar tanks and they convert over 1.2 million gallons of water! Water is filtered every 15 minutes, so if a whale goes to the bathroom, the water will be clear again in 15 minutes.

Our next stop was the polar bear area. Before we entered the area, Lisa talked about polar bears and showed us a big mural. The polar bear was quite tall. They range from 10 to 15 feet tall. I stood by the polar bear as a point of reference because I was pretty tall. She also talked about how the Denver Zoo found their two polar bears, Klondike and Snow, and how they came to Sea World.

We scrubbed our shoes again and went into the polar bear area. We saw a polar bear playing with his EEDs. Lisa explained more about polar bears and let us feel a polar bear pelt. The fur on a polar bear is actually transparent! She also talked about the bear’s big feet and how its used to walk around in the snow. She showed us a polar bear tracking collar, which tracks a polar bear for about two years.

We hopped on a bus and took a 35 second drive over to the penguin area. We scrubbed our shoes again. In this area, we got to touch a penguin. We entered a behind the scenes penguin holding area. It was pretty cold. It was about 45 degrees! I was glad to be in the cold because it was so hot outside. A family wasn’t too happy because they were soaked on Journey Into Atlantis before they came on the tour. A Sea World employee held a penguin as one by one, we touched the penguin. We used to fingers and petted the penguin along his back. The penguin felt like silk. The penguin has over 70 feathers per square inch!

After our penguin encounter, Lisa took us into a room and talked more about penguins. She noted that they sometimes use wooden eggs if a penguin abandons her eggs. She noted that a snake once swallowed two wooden eggs and needed surgery.

We were escorted out of the room and dropped off by Shamu Stadium. Lisa noted that at 2:00, an Educator would come to the Penguin Encounter and talk about penguins. Then he would ask a question about something he discussed. The first one to reply would be escorted backstage and would be allowed to pet in penguin in the exhibit area.

[BethC]

Wow! Sounds like fun. Thanks for the report. I am really suprised more people have not done this. My DD6 will be studing penguins in Jan. for a month long project. I thought it would be fun if she actually got to touch one.

[Tink and co.]

We did this in July, and didn't have quite the same experience. Our guide was not very knowledgeable, in fact, my DS (6) answered questions for people on the tour. We were disappointed in how little time was spent on the penguin portion of the tour (which is mainly why we booked it). It was only about 10 minutes, and the rest was spent at the Arctic Expedition area. We only saw two seals in a small holding tank, and they were listless, and the tank small. It was kind of sad-looking. When we asked about the seals the guide didn't know what kind they were or if that was where they were always kept. I learned more from reading Barry H's trip report than I learned on the tour! (Thanks for sharing) That was the tour I thought I was booking! I guess it really depends on which guide you get! We learned a whole lot more from questioning the guy at the penguin encounter exhibit. We were told he would be giving a "talk," but he didn't. He did answer all our questions though. We were pretty disappointed.

[statelady01]

I hate to keep plugging my trip report here but we did the penguin tour on 21 December and I did a hearty review. I'll move the TR in here when we get to the Sea World part. I thought it was absolutely wonderful, even though I felt a little bit rushed with the penguin petting part- but as many Passporters know- just being able to pet one was a dream come true for me! For the price, I thought it was great.

[Fortissimo]

She also talked about how the Denver Zoo found their two polar bears, Klondike and Snow, and how they came to Sea World.

Did she tell you how there was a group here in Denver who tried to get a court order to stop the moving of Klondike and Snow? There were some very, umm, crazy people here about K & S.

This is making me want to spend a day at SW on my next trip.