The Beluga Interaction Program at SeaWorld
Orlando is a wonderful experience that places four guests at a time side
by side with two SeaWorld handlers and two Beluga whales, which have got
to be some of the sweetest animals on the planet. As guests arrive at
SeaWorld, they make their way over to the Guest Services Counter to
check in for their adventure. Standard medical information forms are
given to be filled out prior to the Interaction so it is advised that
you check in at least one hour prior to the start of the experience.
After the simple forms are filled out, guests of SeaWorld’s Beluga
Interaction Program make their way to the Wild Arctic exhibit at the
southeast corner of the park. Once there, you are greeted by friendly
member of park staff who escorts you backstage to the prep area which
includes the “mud room”, a room full of wetsuits and other equipment,
and men’s and women’s locker rooms equipped with lockers for personal
belongings, bathroom facilities, and showers. After you are fitted for
your wetsuit, you are then escorted back to Wild Arctic where the
adventure takes place. There you will be taken behind the scenes to the
kitchen where the meals for all the arctic animals are prepped.
Call
1-866-966-7508 to make your Reservation Today!
Pay only $158.69 (all ages)!
These whales along with the walruses and polar bears eat approximately 140 lbs
of food per day! That’s a big order to fill, and all the animals are
fed regularly and on well balanced diets that cater to the individual
animal and not just the species. A view of the dive room where SeaWorld
divers collect their equipment to feed the different animals and
maintain the tanks and attractions of the park is also given briefly.
As a crowd accumulates at the Beluga tank, you and three other guests of
the Interaction make way to a tunnel that leads to the tank that holds
the two Beluga whales of the show. Two guests team up with a handler to
show the Beluga’s ability to interact by the use of hand signals and
body language. Occasionally, the paired teams will switch spots to
obtain different vantage points for your loved ones out in the crowd
documenting the experience. This also helps keep the Belugas interested
in the interaction by keeping them moving. Beluga’s have the ability to
spit a large stream of water out of their mouths which is demonstrated
with a little splash of water to the whales face by the handler. The
whale then spits this large stream of water at the handler and guests as
part of the show. This show is interactive which means that guests also
participate by giving signals to the whales at the handler’s
instruction.
The whales give kisses on the cheek, hugs, rise from the
water to touch your hand, spin around, and make a wide range of noises
with different hand signals. These noises come from the blow hole at
the top of the Beluga’s melon, the thick layer of fat on top of the
whale’s head, which is manipulated with a combination of air to produce
different tones and sounds with different hand signals. These sounds
are the communication used by the whales when interacting with each
other. To keep on top of the whale’s progress in interacting with their
handlers, a member of the staff may use a slap target which could either
be a hand or a pole with a rubber buoy attached that is slapped onto the
water which makes the whale stop what it is doing and retreat to the
slap target’s location. This shows the attentiveness of these amazing
animals. To describe the feel of these animals would be to vision a
marshmallow covered with a slick durable rubber mat. They love to be
rubbed and scratched so you are encouraged to pet and rub them at the
handler’s instruction. It’s not very often that you get to pet a Beluga
whale, so when the opportunity is presented, why not give it a go? One
vantage point for the guests of the Interaction program is a little
shelf where when sat on, the water sits about waist deep. To be
forewarned, the water in the Beluga tank is a cool 52 to 54 degrees to
simulate the animal’s natural habitat. The wetsuit provides some
comfort, but the water is a bit chilly. The experience of interacting
with these wonderful animals surpasses the temperature of the water and
should definitely be experienced at least once in one’s life. After the
experience, guests are brought back to the building that houses the “mud
room” and locker rooms to begin cleaning up from the salt water of the
wild arctic tank. At the end of the Interaction, guests receive a video
about whales and other sea life through SeaWorld and a picture CD of the
Interaction which can be picked up at the Guest Services desk at the
same place where the check in took place. The entire experience is a
total of two hours long.
While at
SeaWorld, visit all the other animal habitats including the Shark
Encounter, a look into the most feared creatures of the sea, Pacific
Point Preserve featuring SeaWorld’s sea lions and harbor seals, the
Penguin Encounter, and so many more exhibits. All the exhibits at
SeaWorld are educational and interesting to view. Also, visit Manta,
Kraken, and Journey to Atlantis, SeaWorld’s action rides and roller
coasters. With so much to see, you’ll find it difficult to see it all
in one day, but you’ll be glad you came out.
