Quick guides
SeaWorld San Diego All-Day Dining Deal
一日食事パス
I bought one dining pass for myself and treated it like a timer: a real plate every hour and a half, then back to the shows. It paid off on our visit because I started hungry and stayed at the restaurants that actually take the pass.
Photographs for this guide are still being added.
At a glance
90 min
One scan, then you wait
Side or dessert
Not both
$59.99
Adult price to recheck
Watch it in action
What is in the film
- 0:00Whether the dining deal was worth it
- 0:11About $40 then, and the higher listed price
- 0:26Why we skipped the child dining plan
- 0:37The phone code and the 90-minute rule
- 0:52First meal, and water without a code
- 1:15Drinks the pass does not cover
- 1:53Tri-tip, and ordering in one trip
- 2:12Sharing one pass
- 2:26Shipwreck Reef Café and the orca show
- 2:41The dessert that cost extra
- 3:07Fried chicken and a Dole Whip
- 3:10Ocean of Dreams
- 3:36A later plate at Explorer’s Café
- 3:44The math on our visit
- 3:58What to watch next in San Diego
Quick facts
| What one redemption is | One entrée, one side or one dessert, and one regular non-alcoholic drink. The side and the dessert are a choice, not a stack. |
|---|---|
| How often | Once every 90 minutes, and all of it in a single scan. You cannot take the entrée at one stand and the drink at another. |
| Who it is for | The adult deal is a full plate. Ages 3 to 9 have a separate child deal that is one kids’ meal each window. We did not buy the child plan. Children under 2 are the exception the park names for sharing. |
| Price | Ours was an add-on of about $40. The park later listed the adult deal from $59.99 and the child deal from $29.99. Do the math again with the price on the day you buy. |
| Not included | Alcohol, bottled water, and the specialty drinks we asked about, including boba. Carts, stadium vending, souvenir cups, Dine with Orcas, and Breakfast with Orcas are outside the deal. |
| Water | Ice and plain water from the fountain station did not need the one-time drink code. The fountain drink on the pass was not a free refill. |
| Restaurants | Explorer’s Café, Calypso Bay Smokehouse, Hibisco Modern Mexican, Manta Pizza, The Chicken Snack Shack, and Shipwreck Reef Café. Menus move. Ask before you queue. |
| Dessert | A pineapple upside-down cake listed at $7.99 was not fully covered. I paid about $4 out of pocket once tax was in. Ask what the dessert allowance is before you order. |
Prices, hours, and house rules change. Use the official link before you go.
Short instructions
1Start the clock early
We reached the park around lunchtime, so we lost windows we could have used. Scan the first meal, even a smaller one, as soon as you are inside and hungry.
2Order the whole redemption at once
Entrée, side or dessert, and the drink have to be in one transaction. My second meal was a tri-tip sandwich, potato salad, and a fountain drink at Calypso Bay Smokehouse. That was the plate I would repeat when we wanted real food, not a snack.
3Skip the carts
A turkey leg from a cart, a bag of churros, and a hot dog were not on the pass. My daughter and my wife bought that leg themselves. If the stand is a cart, assume you are paying.
4Sit near the show you already came for
Shipwreck Reef Café is beside the orca stadium, which made the handoff easy. Later we had fried chicken and a pineapple Dole Whip before Ocean of Dreams, the drone show.
5Buy a pass for each person who wants a plate
The written rule says not to share, except with a child age 2 or under, and not to take food out. One entrée was barely enough for two of us. Splitting what was already on the table still left us waiting 90 minutes for the next scan.
6Leave time for the park
Five plates we would have priced around $30 each were about $150 of food, on a pass that cost us about $40. That math was the win. Chasing a sixth scan and missing the show would not have been.
Questions parents ask
What does the SeaWorld San Diego all-day dining deal include?
Each scan is one entrée, either a side or a dessert, and one regular non-alcoholic drink. It is not an entrée plus a side plus a dessert.
How often can we order?
Once every 90 minutes, in one transaction, until the participating restaurants close. We could not split the order across two counters.
Can one pass feed the whole family?
The park says sharing is not allowed, except with a child age 2 or under, and takeout is not allowed. One adult plate was tight for two of us. I would buy a pass for each person who needs a full meal.
Do the snack carts take the dining plan?
Not the ones we used. The turkey leg, churro bags, and hot dogs were separate purchases. Ice and plain water from the fountain machine were the thing we could take without a drink code.
Is the dining deal still about $40?
That was our add-on. The park later listed adult dining from $59.99 and the ages 3 to 9 deal from $29.99. Run the “two or three meals and it pays for itself” math with the current price.
Which restaurant was worth using the pass on?
Calypso Bay Smokehouse, when we wanted meat and a side instead of a snack. Shipwreck Reef Café was the convenient one because it sits next to the orca stadium.
Did dessert come free?
Not when it was priced above the allowance. The pineapple upside-down cake was $7.99, and about $4 of that was ours after tax. Ask at the counter before you commit.