Photo courtesy SeaWorld
Each year, SeaWorld hosts their Halloween Spooktacular featuring a yummy Trick or Treat Trail, groovy dance party, colorful characters, and lots of swimmingly beautiful fall decor. But with the opening of Sesame Street Land earlier this year, the 2019 event offers a brand new Halloween themed parade. Showing multiple times each Saturday and Sunday during the season, this parade features your favorite Sesame Street characters wearing their Halloween finest!
It’s a little different from your traditional parade. Instead of entering the park and continuing to progress through the parade route until exiting, this parade is designed to perfectly fill the entire route once it has all entered the land. So, the parade enters until the first float gets to the exit gate, stops, and performs a short “show stop” musical number before continuing on its way. This makes for a very different experience depending on where you stand. If you have a favorite character, you may or may not be able to see them during the show stop. Additionally, if you’re sitting near the exit gate, you’ll watch the show followed by the parade. If you’re sitting by the entrance gate, it’s the opposite.
Watch the video below for a taste of the show stop and parade.
After enjoying the parade, my family and I visited the Trick or Treat Trail. This was our first time bringing children old enough to understand Trick or Treating and what was really happening. They were both super excited about the candy (of course), and my daughter LOVED seeing all of the characters – especially the “princesses.” We noticed that some of the advertised candy was no longer available, but the selection was still pretty impressive, including Airheads, Twizzlers, and Skittles. In the past they’ve given out Trick or Treat bags as part of the event. They don’t do this anymore, so be sure to bring your own or purchase one of their reusable bags for $2. Otherwise, Moms, you’ll end up holding everyone’s treats in your purse. Candy gets really heavy really fast!
This year SeaWorld is also offering a Meet A Mermaid opportunity and special Halloween themed Pets Ahoy! show. We didn’t participate in either of these, but we did walk past the mermaid experience. It was simply a photo opp, but it did look like team members were taking pictures with cell phones as well as more professional equipment.
Spooktacular is always a fun event, but I’ll admit I’m not sure it’s worth paying for a day’s ticket. If you already have an annual pass/happen to be visiting during the Spooktacular season AND you have kids of the appropriate age – it’s a great option. Spooktacular runs every weekend until the end of October.
