Blue Horizons: Dolphin Show

i would have paid a separate fee to see this amazing show.

Pre-​show was fun! Singing songs and keeping us entertained before the show. NOTE: make sure to get there early for the first show or get there to get in line. Afternoon shows filled up quick and people where turned away until the next show. Fun watching all the dolphins jump, swim and play with the trainers. If you want to get wet, sit in the «splash zone.» I enjoued the show from up top AND stayed dry! Loved it!

More about the performers instead of the dolphins.
The show lasts about 20 minutes, but I’ll take 10 minutes if that meant just showcasing the dolphins — since it IS called a «Dolphin Show».
That all being said, if you want a center seat you need to get here at least 30 minutes prior to showtime — even more if it’s crowded at the park. There are seats in which you’ll get splashed on, so if you don’t want to get wet sit past the «soak zone» seats.
There is a pre-​show entertainer that comes on about 10 minutes before showtime usually singing and making some light jokes. He wasn’t bad.
They have merchandise sellers all over the place before the show starts coming in waves, so if you have children with you there’s almost no escape. My (least) favorite is the bubble machines and of course as soon as the child gets it, there are bubbles all over the place.
On a hot day, the sun can be real overpowering when there is no protection in the stands, so make sure you apply that sun screen.
The show itself is… ok. Nothing greatly special. Not taking anything away from the performers, but I didn’t come to see a Disney-​type musical that only features dolphins in a supporting role. The show is 20 minutes and maybe dolphins are featured in less than half of that time. I don’t need to see dolphins as a backdrop to something else. As another reviewer mentioned, I’d rather have someone talk about the dolphins and showcase their jumping and/​or swimming abilities. Plus the show minus the dolphins was just poorly written and nothing special.
Another focus is on the «bird woman», which kinda ran it’s course in the first minute. Again, not dissing the performers, but I didn’t come to see people dive into water and ‘dance’ on a bungee cord.
If you want to leave the show during, you need to leave out the back and they block anyone coming in when the show starts — I kind of wished they did this for the Killer Whale show.
So if you have about 45 minutes plus — about 30 minutes waiting time and 20 for the show — then by all means. Kids should enjoy the show.
I don’t see any evidence of animal abuse here as some others (not from this site) have complained about. Dolphins are very intelligent animals and at parks like this they’re treated very well — better than in parts of the open ocean where humans ruin everything.
I can respect those who like the show, but it’s something I’ll never do again. They have a smaller dolphin area near this stadium where they do talk about dolphins and you can see the real stars of the show up close without all the hokey humans without sitting there and waiting.

This was a really good show, Dolphins were awesome, they did some crazy tricks and were fed a lot of fish, although they seem to feed them enough, I can’t help but think they are being mistreated behind the scenes. Some of the animals looked like they had some scars on then, maybe from each other? Regardless it’s hard to get around the fact that that are stuck in a cage instead of being out in the ocean where they belong, I hope this isn’t the case with these animals

Cute show, my kids loved it. We parents were ok with it, especially with the sun beating down on us, it was hard to sit still. It was nice to hear about the dolphins and their background, it brings you comfort to know that they were raised at SeaWorld and are taken cared of.

The preshow singer was enjoyable and fun. The show was somewhat entertaining. The divers were great. Trainers and animals did well and it is always fun to watch people get splashed. I was not a fan of the story line.

Some of the other reviews leave me wondering if I happened to watch a show that was cut short or adjusted due to technical (or animal) difficulties.
The show I watched only had the dolphins showcased for a brief moment and focused more on the lady who performed aerial acrobats while dressed as a tropical bird. A little bit into her routine, there was some sort of safety issue related to the harness she was using or the bungee cord that was attached to it so they briefly paused the show. Once she finished her routine, a beautiful pilot whale appeared and did some splashing.
I would’ve preferred it if the dolphins and pilot whale (s) had more of a role in the show.

It was very fun to see… and also the acrobats… however, the splash was not as exciting to see, maybe I had such a high expectation. Overall it was a very fun show to see.

The only show I saw at Sea World, and it was great!
When I saw that it going to start, I rushed my group of about 6 to hurry and go see it, but with two toddlers that takes a while. So when we started to unload the the strollers it was starting to fill up.
But by the time we made it onto the bleachers, it WAS PACKED! We ended up having to walk all the way to the very top. We were out of breath and everything!
But once we settled, the show was amazing! My toddler actually sat still and watched the entire show, even from all the way at the top! And even sweating through our clothes!
I’m glad we watched this show above all the others we missed!

— Locale Destination —
It’s in Sea World, San Diego.
It’s located North East side of the park, behind the «Sesame Street Bay of Play». The stadium is a lot bigger than the sea lion, a lot smaller than the Shamu one. 12 rows from the pool are the «WET ZONE» — you’ll get wet. Trust me, you better get the seat above the «wet zone» if you don’t wanna get wet.
Show time: Check the time on the back side of park map. It’s handy.
— Gluttony Expedition —
Great show! They offer not only dolphin show but also the circus-​like show — people dive from the freaking high posts into the pool rolling around etc… Quite fun show.
— Conqueror’s Deduction —
If you were familiar with Disneyland like me, you would think «everyone else does the half ass» unlike Disney. I do think Disney is over the top when it comes to «entertainments» — the parades, shows, fireworks etc. They DO spend a lot of $$$$ on those and make them look «fantastic» and «professional». «Fantasmic»? — it’s FANTASTIC!!! The show by Legoland is a joke — high school kids next door kinda dance along with music… It looked very cheesy and terrible. It was almost «painful» to see compared to the ones by Disneyland. Legoland isn’t so cheap for what they offer. Disney really doesn’t do half ass on entertainments, not so much on rides like «Monster Inc» and «Pooh ride» etc.
So I expected a lot less here. It wasn’t as good as the ones by Disney, but you could see the facts that SeaWorld TRIED at least ;p They made it more interesting than just a «dolphin show». Kudos for that. It was better than the ones I’ve seen before — just a «dolphin show».

First and favorite show currently at SeaWorld SD– good combination of animal tricks and human performances, in the form of acrobats and cirque-​esque tricks suspended in the air.
Most of the animal performers are dolphins, who do various flips and jumps before splashing the audience with a thorough soaking. Brief interlude of human performers, most of which are dressed up as parrots, featuring a cameo by a group of macaws.
Animals rejoin the picture in the form of a trio of black Belugas! Beautiful and gigantic, they do many of the same antics as the dolphins.
One of the longer and more engaging shows here at SeaWorld.

Very fun engaging show… Dolphins, pilot whales, birds, acrobatics and good musical pre-​show. This show is packed with lots of action and fun moments. It’s wonderful to see the entertainers get to swim with the dolphins. The pilot whales are apparently the only ones on the world trained in this manner for a show. The aerial acrobats never get old for me. It’s a big stadium too, so it’s not hard to get a good seat.

The show was fun, but it felt very short. I also didn’t quite get the story that they were trying to force upon the audience. I wish they had just decided to show off the animals’ abilities and perhaps educate the audience on things instead of making it a stage show.
I feel like Sea World is in a great position to educate guests about the sea & animals and this show, while impressive in tricks, does absolutely nothing even close to that. Instead it simply relies on «oooohhhs» and «ahhhhhs»

Fantastic show!!! I wish I could go again but there is so much more to see.

This is an «interesting» show that becomes confusing REAL QUICK! I actually liked this performance BUT the title states that it’s a dolphin show. Well, the dolphins were there, entertaining spectators for about 5 to 7 minutes and then they quickly exited to the other side of the pool, past the barrier.
Suddenly, they had a Cirque du Soleil-​ish type of performance going on. I was like, «UGH, what happened to FLIPPER?» The performers had on brightly colored costumes and they dove into the water multiple times. One lady was dressed as a large parrot and she was suspended in the air to emulate a parrot flying through the sky. These people were quite talented but I was still missing the dolphins. Then, toward the end of the show, pilot whales joined the performance. The splashed people and jumped out the water multiple times.
I really liked the show but I was disappointed to see that there was way too much going on and the dolphins were not a significant part of the performance.

This is a performance of man and the dolphins, a cohesive orchestered ballad of sorts as man, birds, dolphins and a whale come together to knit a yarn and to build that spark of curiosity in a child when it wants to feel one with the elements around them just like the princess in pink does, and yes there are components in the performance that symbolically portrays the victory of good over evil. however, I minus that one star cause making this interpretation requires thinking and is not seamless/​obvious by being a spectator, and I am certain a child will be left wondering about all the men and women in those colorful costumes.
I love this show and will go back to this show because it is harder to ensure that man n animals included have to perform on cue (based on script) and the dolphins exercising that level of control is truly deserving applause as it automatically leads us to wonder about the intelligence of the animals involved in the performance and their ability to do their part well.
There are lots of good dolphin moments, when the humans ride them and enter the stage, to the dolphins somersaulting, to the dolphins floating onto the deck to the dolphins showing their hunger and commitment to their trainer as they follow them around seeking sm fish. The birds are used appropriately in the story when the bird woman is flying around they add the authentication by flying about at the right time. The whale does it’s splashing and boy! how excited the children are. Just a very happy feeling and finally the dolphins say goodbye swishing their fins. mmm doesn’t that sound like a good enough performance to you! Dolphins are animals, they are performing for the duration that they can, I think the narrative takes into account how much dolphins can do vis a vis their other needs — food, appreciation and more practise or simply swimming around. Let us not forget, we have trained them to entertain us and expecting them to do more is just part of human greed :) Well I know I sound preachy but I love them Dolphins.

I couldn’t understand what the story was supposed to be. There were princesses, demons, acrobats dressed as birds, and dolphins. There were villains, and I assume heroes. I couldn’t tell them apart. The costumes were well done for what I thought I was going to see at an oversized aquarium. Usually it is just trainers in wetsuits of various colors.
That aside, you will be entertained for about 15 minutes just trying to figure out what is going on, so you should stop by and see it. Some of the acrobat feats are super cool and it’s obvious that they are hardcore. Yay dolphins.

Usually I love the dolphin and whale show, but this newest reincarnation is just plain weird.
They still showcase the dolphins, pilot whales and some birds, but they have added more acrobats than I would like. How many acrobats and divers dressed like birds flipping and flying all over the stage and into the water do they need? I know it’s probably geared towards children, but I think if they focused on the animals, that would be enough.
I do wish Sea World would gear their shows a little more towards animal and environment education, like they used to.

This was the third show we saw during our day at Sea World, and oddly enough, if I had to rank them that’s where it would have finished. The Shamu Show and the Sea Lion shows were both much better shows.
Not that it was a bad show. Seeing the dolphins was great and seeing them interact with the trainers was a treat as well. Than all of a sudden all these fools in bird costumes started popping up everywhere. Buff fools in tights started doing dives off the top of the stage into the pool as one of the creepier looking «birds» just kind of sat atop of it all looking wierd. It was very Cirque du Soleil-​ish. I just thought this was rediculously out of place here. I mean, we came to see the animals. If I wanted to see a Cirque show, I’d see a Cirque show.
That being said, they obviously worked hard on the show and it comes off as completely professional and well executed.
I just wanna see the freaking dolphins.
3 stars

This was such a weird show. I wasn’t sure what they were trying to get at. It seemed like a Prince and Princess theme that wasn’t executed very well. It just wasn’t convincing enough.
There were people in bird costumes doing Cirque du Soleil stunts and some performers that just dived in the water. For a while there, I felt like i was watching a Cirque du Soleil show. It just just weird.
I wanted to see more dolphins.