SeaWorld San Antonio: AdventureCon 2013

Earlier this month, my family got the chance to attend SeaWorld San Antonio: AdventureCon 2013, a family-friendly blogging conference hosted by the SeaWorld team.

It was my first time visiting SeaWorld San Antonio (and Andrew’s too!) and we were both *really* excited. I’ve been to a few blog conferences this year, but this was the first that readily welcomed my family. My conference admission fee included tickets to the park, meal passes and quick queue passes — and I was able to purchase discount tickets for each member of my family.

That meant that my family got to enjoy the awesomeness of Sea World San Antonio, while I got to listen to some pretty great speakers and learn some tips to improve my blog. It was the perfect balance!

One of the things that can be frustrating about blogging is that while I get to experience a lot of fun and unique things, my family is often left out of the mix. SeaWorld San Antonio recognizes that and made an effort to make sure they were included in all that we did.

One of the best things about SeaWorld San Antonio: AdventureCon 2013 was getting to hang out with some of my best blogging girls: Courtney and Jamie. This time, our families got to know each other a little better, which made it even more awesome!

During the conference, we got to hear a lot about SeaWorld San Antonio’s mission to promote marine life and allow us to interact with them in a safe way. Throughout our time there, I really felt how much the park employees cared for the animals.

The really unique thing about SeaWorld San Antonio is the live shows. We got to experience several, and my absolute favorite was Azul, where beluga whales, Pacific white-sided dolphins, colorful birds and human acrobats come together in a celebration of sea and sky. It was so awesome, and Andrew loved every minute.

There is so much to do and experience at SeaWorld San Antonio. Some of our highlights were:

1. The Sesame Street Bay of Play: This toddler-friendly area of the park offers splash pads and fun character appearances for little ones. It was hard to prise Andrew away from here!
2. Aquatica: A waterpark inside SeaWorld San Antonio, Aquatica offered sand to play in and water slides galore! Definitely a fun place to spend the day!
3. Pets Ahoy: The newest show at SeaWorld San Antonio, Pets Ahoy is a hilarious show featuring dogs, cats, rats and even a pig or two doing fun tricks! Bonus: It’s in an air-conditioned theater, so you can get away from the heat for a bit!
4. Dine With Shamu: My family paid extra for this up-close experience with some of the killer whales, and it was awesome!
5. Dolphin Cove: This was one of my favorite parts of the park. You can watch the dolphins eat, and even get close to their tank. The dolphins loved the attention and would often come over to children splashing in the tank!

Here are a couple of things I learned during the blog conference:

1. When taking a photo with your iPhone, put your finger on the shutter, hold it, compose your photo, and let go to take the picture. If you press the button, you can shake the phone and get a blurry picture! This prevents that.
2. I *really* need to set up an editorial calendar. I think my life would be a lot saner if I had one.
3. Evernote Smart Notebooks. Need.

I’ll be sharing some more from our time at SeaWorld San Antonio: AdventureCon 2013. Be on the look-out!

Disclaimer: I was offered discount tickets to SeaWorld San Antonio as part of this invitation-only conference. All opinions are my own. Photos copyright The Nerd’s Wife. All rights reserved.