SeaWorld the once Jewel in the West Coast Theme Park Crown has become somewhat maligned in recent years, but the part is undergoing something of a resurgence of late and visitors are heading back to the park in their droves, fuelled by post-pandemic (well mid pandemic) pent up demand. We still love the Park, its ever-growing line-up of roller coasters and thrill rides, amazing animal shows, and fantastic aquatic aquarium exhibit the park holds a special place in our hearts despite the slightly guilty feeling we get from knowing keeping Orca CAptice is quite wrong in today’s climate.
We go into great detail about our feeling on this in our SeaWorld San Diego Review here, and we take an in-depth look at all of the park’s current and upcoming Rides here. But We are assuming if you have found your way to this page you have already decided you want to visit the park and are looking for ways to reduce the cost. We have you covered and will show you exactly Where to Get Discount SeaWorld San Diego Tickets. We look at buying direct, investigate the best Online Ticket Resellers, Point out where to avoid, and give you our Number-One tip on saving hundreds of $dollars when visiting SeaWorld along with dozens of other San Diego Attractions!
Our Guide to Getting Cheap SeaWorld San Diego Tickets could save you hundreds per family on your San Diego Adventure!
How Much Does SeaWorld San Diego Cost?
First up let’s take a look at the basic costs, right now the park is really great value! Prices start from $59.99 for weekday Tickets and $75.99 for Weekend Tickets. When you compare this with other SoCal Themeparks it’s a really low entry price.
Weekday Ticket – $95.99 Gate – $59.99 Online
Weekend Ticket – $95.99 Gate – $75.99 Online
Two-Day Ticket – $191.98 – $89.99 Online
Front Of The Line Pass – From $15
Obviously, you can see it pays to book in advance! Gate prices are silly really when you can save so much just by booking online first. We are sure some people still do this but as you have found this page, we are sure at the very least you will make use of the online booking option.
Currently, you need to purchase tickets for the actual day you intend to visit. This is due to restricted numbers due to Covid, and may ever back to the simpler two-tier system of just weekday and weekend pricing.
Naturally, Visitors from out of town can often make use of the much cheaper weekday prices with the added bonus of the park being much quieter.
SeaWorld San Diego Annual Passes
SeaWorld Anual Passes also off seriously good value for people wanting to visit regularly. Naturally, these are usually locals (and some of the passes are restricted to Socal Residents) However an annual Pass can be only a little more than a 1-day ticket and come with quite a list of Perks!
2022 Funcard – $99.99
Valid for the rest of the year and right through 2022 the SeaWorld Fun Card gives you unlimited visits to the park, any day of the week with only fairly limited blackout dates. It is great value but does not come with the same Perks as the slightly more expensive Annual Passes. These come in 4 Tiers:
SoCal – $108
- 50% Off General Parking
For residents only and the cheapest option but with limited perks and no free guest passes there is little value to be had here. General Parking is $25 or $12.50 with the SoCal Pass, we assume you want to come twice if you are buying a pass so just the parking benefit makes the Silver better value, plus the Free Guest Passes, in-park discounts, AND free SkyRide and SkyTower!
Silver – $126
● Free General Parking
● 2 Free Guest Tickets
● Up to 20% Discount on In-Park Offerings
A great value Pass with a host of benefits, it’s not hard to make this pass Pay for itself many times over if you live nearby the park!
Gold – $156
● Free Up-Close Parking
● 4 Free Guest Tickets
● Up to 30% Discount on In-Park Offerings
The Gold pass is only a little bit more expensive and comes with a host of nice perks, but really they are probably not worth the extra $30, unless you can use the Free Guest Passes. If you can use up these then they easily make the extra cost worth it!
Platinum – $237
● Free Up-Close Parking
● 6 Free Guest Tickets
● Up to 50% Discount on In-Park Offerings
The Platinum Pass is even more expensive and while the perks go up another level they nowhere near compensate for the huge price hike! However, the Platinum Pass not only gets you into SeaWorld San Diego but also into all 11 SeaWorld Parks across the country!
- San Diego – SeaWorld
- Orlando, FL – SeaWorld
- San Antonio, TX – SeaWorld
- Tampa Bay, FL – Busch Gardens
- Williamsburg, VA – Busch Gardens
- San Diego – Aquatica
- Orlando, FL – Aquatica
- San Antonio, TX – Aquatica
- Philidelphia, PA – Sesame Place
- Tampa Bay, FL – Adventure Island
- Williamsburg, VA – Water Country USA
So it’s incredible value but only if you are planning on getting about to quite a few parks!
Where to Buy SeaWorld Tickets?
So Far we have looked only at Direct Prices from SeaWorld themselves. Often this can simply be the best option. Booking Direct cuts out any middlemen and often gets you the best prices. We often find Ticket Resellers often advertise cheaper prices but when you Drill-down the actual prices are often more expensive, they also sometimes do not keep up with the latest prices and discounts.
This can mean booking direct is often the easiest and simplest way of going around things. It is certainly the case with certain tickets that are simply only available direct such as some Multi-Day Tickets and some Annual Passes. You can also set up monthly payments for Annual Passes which helps spread the cost.
<<< Book SeaWorld Direct Now >>>
There are however some really good resellers out there, and these can not only offer better prices but as much, and sometimes more, customer support than Booking Direct.
Best Ticket Resellers USA
Undercover Tourist
Undercover Tourist are the Titans of ticket Resellers and are really our go-to site for booking. They do not offer staggering discounts but are always cheaper than going direct and often as cheap as anywhere else. They also have incredible Buying power and can often resolve issues that SeaWorld themselves are unwilling to sort.
Discounts are not always huge, but every little helps and there is very little reason to not book through Undercover Tourist. They also never add hidden fees and the price you see is what you pay. SeaWorld adds a sneaky $9.99 booking fee on top, not so with Undercover Tourist.
Overall as far as Resellers go Undercover Tourist is the top of the tree. It couldn’t be more reliable or respected and really is the go-to site. The only downside is the n;y slight savings available and the more limited options than going direct.
Note – The Pandemic has like for so many of us, has caused us to have many trips canceled. This has been not only a terrible disappointment but also an incredible headache. Canceling trips arranging and chasing Refunds and everything that goes with canceled trips.
We had a number of Park tickets booked through Undercover Tourist and when it came to refunds they came through in glorious fashion. They first offered to extend tickets, which would work for many but was no good for us. When we told them this was not an option for us, they simply arranged a swift and full refund. Of all the companies we dealt with recently to get refunds for cancelations, Undercover Tourist we one of the best!
Where to get the Absolute Cheapest SeaWorld Tickets?
Let’s start with a Caveat First. This is only the best option if you want to visit other San Diego Attractions. If you JUST want to Visit SeaWorld then either buying Direct or using Undercover Tourist. However many visitors to San Diego and the Socal Region, in general, are looking to visit quite a few different attractions.
If this sounds like you then an Attraction Pass could save you hundreds of Dollars off entry fees. Our Favorite Pass for the San Diego Area is the Go San Diego Pass. This Pass feature a host of top San Diego Attractions such as SeaWorld, San Diego Zoo, LEGOLAND California, Harbor Crises, USS Midway, Knotts Berry Farm, and Belmont Park.
On top of these, there are a ton of smaller attractions such as Museums, Whale Watching, Paddle Boarding, Kayaking, and Bike Rentals. You can even Take a Speedboat tour! It’s an incredible offering and only costs between $91 – $295 depending on how many days you purchase. This can easily save 50-60% on attractions, which racks up to several Hundred Dollars per person.
It’s a big outlay so we suggest you take a look at our full review to see if the Pass is a good idea for you, but on the whole, we find They not only save us money but also really open up the City and allows us to see far more than we would have otherwise, which is a bit of a holy grail for Travel
Read our Full Review here
And if you want to save EVEN more then we have discount codes for the Pass here!
Just Visiting San Diego Zoo, Sea World, and Legoland more than covers the Pass cost and anything else is technically free! It really can be a great way to visit San Diego and Save.
Where NOT to get SeaWorld Tickets from?
Shark Tank Moray Eel Beluga Whale Sea Turtles SeaLion Walrus Emperor Penguins
So we have covered where to get tickets from but you may have a different idea or have seen some really cheap Tickets Elsewhere. There can be some big problems with Buying from certain places.
Other Ticket Resellers
There are a lot of Ticket Resellers on the Internet. And some may seem to offer even better prices than Undercover Tourist or Direct. However often they have hidden fees and by the time you get to the Checkout, the price has inflated. However, Undercover Tourist is not the absolute cheapest every time and can be beaten.
Many people do secure good deals through these Resellers and have a great trip. However, problems occur when things go wrong, such as needed a refund for a canceled trip. Some of the less reputable Resellers can be a bit of a pain to deal with and getting refunds is sometimes challenging.
We can’t vet every reseller and for the tiny amount you might save it really isn’t worth the risk.
eBay, Craigslist or Facebook
If you see tickets for sale on the second-hand marketplaces you really are dicing with trouble. Sometimes there are real bargains to be found, other times it’s a pure scam. We just don’t think it’s worth the potential disappointment of arriving at the gate with fake tickets and having to pay the full gate price or leave disappointed!
Be especially careful with part used passes, these will almost always be fake, as passes are photo-ID’s to the first user!
Hotel Concierge
Many people still wait until they get to town before booking tickets, and ask their hotel Concierge if they can hook them up. While they certainly will and get you a “great deal” it is almost certainly worse than you can get online yourself! They will be valid genuine tickets but pricey, maybe slightly below Gate, but not much!
Timeshare Sharks
This is not a huge problem in San Diego but it does still occur. These sharks will accost you in the street offering you FREE tickets to SeaWorld, the Zoo, even Disneyland. All they ask is you partake in their short presentation.
These are never short, instead, they are a high-pressure sales pitch trying to coerce you into buying a timeshare condo you don’t want and probably can’t afford. The Rewards are NEVER worth the time they rob you of. If someone randomly approaches you in the street…Smile and walk-on
Too Good To Be True
As ever, if you see a deal or offer that is just too good to be true, it probably is. The one exception this is the Go San Diego Pass, which really can seem too good to be true but is 100% Legit!
Have Your Say
Where do you buy your SeaWorld San Diego Tickets from? Do you have a recommended Seller, do you just go Direct? Maybe you have a horror story? Whatever you have to say just fire away in the comments below, we would love to hear from you.