Here comes Christmas!

Today is December 1st which means we are officially in full-blown Christmas mode for the rest of the year! We LOVE the holiday season for the obvious reasons, but, we also love the holiday season for theme park reasons!! Seeing our favorite parks transformed for the holidays is one of the best parts of Christmas for us! There are new holiday shows, seasonal food and beverage offerings, and beautiful decorations spread throughout the parks and we can't help but be filled with cheer when visiting! To kick off our Christmas theme park tour, we decided to visit SeaWorld San Antonio first. We definitely have a soft spot in our hearts for SeaWorld (hence the frequent posts about it) so it just made sense to start off here. 

SeaWorld San Antonio features the largest light display in Texas this year with over 8 million lights! The park was absolutely gorgeous and such a joy to just walk through and enjoy the views. 

As soon as we walked through the gates we were greeted by a Santa mariachi group! 

Nothing screams "San Antonio!" like mariachis

We decided to grab a map and make our way into the celebration!

We had to be sure to study the map so we wouldn't miss a single food stand!

The first area we hit was " Coca-Cola Lane." The food stand offered themed Coke products as well as classics like hot chocolate and holiday cookies. The stand was, unfortunately, out of the deep fried bacon and Coca-Cola cupcakes (the voice in my head screamed 'nooooo' while I politely said 'no big deal' to the employee.) We decided to just get the souvenir hot chocolate cup because we had big plans for refills all night!

The next area was "Land of the Sweets"

Who wouldn't love an entire section of a park dedicated to candies, cookies, and all things DESSERT?!
​ It was the best part of night, hands down!

Giant cupcakes FTW

This cute stand offered some sweet treats and cocktails!

We tried the "Chocolate Candy Cane" and the "Chicken and Waffles"
​The cocktail was STRONG! Be warned. They use a peppermint vodka (which they make themselves) and hot chocolate to create this delightful adult-themed beverage. At first sip we were a little worried we wouldn't be able to finish it since it's pretty large and it was heavy on the vodka, but we added a little more hot chocolate to it
​later and it was perfect! We recommend it!
And the Chicken and Waffles were a huge surprise to us, as well! We didn't have very high hopes, but honestly, they ended up being our favorite snack of the night!! They use a chicken strip and cook it into a home-made waffle pressed right in front of you. Very cool!

You can add as much syrup and powdered sugar as you want!

If you're looking for a fun sit-down dinner you can check out "Dine with Rudolph and Friends." Make sure you book your dining reservation ahead of time, though!

Such a cute Rudolph-themed area!

Next we stopped by Shamu's coffee shop and picked up a hot chocolate refill and a holiday cookie. The shop is located right next to the new beer garden that overlooks the lake. It was a gorgeous spot to stop and take a break to enjoy our snacks. 

Isn't this seating area gorgeous??

We walked through the Shamu stadium area-equally gorgeous. So. Many. Lights. 

These cute trees said "Merry Christmas" in several different languages.

We walked through to SeaWorld's Christmas Market area. This is where you can see real reindeer, meet Santa, and do some great shopping!

Have a Merry "Texas" Christmas!

Another sit-down dining option in the park is to have dinner with Mr. & Mrs. Claus. If you prefer this cheerful couple as dinner companions over the Rudolph gang, here is the menu for the all-you-can eat buffet at "Home for the Holidays." Once again, we recommend booking this in advance if you plan to enjoy this dining option!

We decided to check out the food stand next door to the restaurant and load up on some more sugary options. Who needs a balanced meal?? It's Christmas!!

So many delicious options here! But, we finally settled on the Cinnamon Sugar Apple Nachos.

SUCH a good decision!

By now it had gotten dark enough to fully enjoy all of the park's lights! We walked through Christmas Cove, grabbed a hot chocolate refill and enjoyed the light show!

And, of course, we had to stop by the Beer Garden Patio to listen to the live Christmas music.

SeaWorld's Christmas Celebration was everything we hoped it would be and more! It offered so many new and exciting food and beverage options, updated shows and entertainment, and of course the most lights in Texas! How could you not love it here?

We have a few more stops on our Christmas Theme Park Tour (as I've just officially dubbed it),
but we're going to try to make it back to SeaWorld San Antonio one more time
before ​the end of the season! 

Let us know if you've attended or plan to attend any Holiday Theme Park Events this year! We love hearing from you. Until next time, Merry (almost) Christmas!