As a SeaWorld Wildside Blog Ambassador, I recently had the opportunity to have my daughter enjoy swim lessons at SeaWorld’s Aquatica Water park in San Antonio, Texas, complimentary lessons.
Who wouldn’t love to learn how to swim at SeaWorld, right?
Here’s a bit about the swim classes:
The swim classes are taught by American Red Cross water safety instructors who can teach several skill levels, so your children can easily build confidence in the water.
Little swimmers will love learning basic aquatic skills like blowing bubbles and treading water. Advanced classes focus on specific skills like arm strokes and leg kicks, as well as some emergency assist techniques.
While a SeaWorld and Aquatica Fun Card or Annual Pass is required for entry to the park (and not included in the swim lesson cost), the swim lessons themselves are quite inexpensive, especially when I compare them to the lessons I paid for last year.
For San Antonio specifically – each session (5 classes) is $60 for each student and $48 for SeaWorld + Aquatica™ 1 Year or Platinum Pass Members. (I’ll link below to the other SeaWorld parks).
UPDATED 2014 Dates – Sessions available from June 6 – August 22
This is the first year that Aquatica in San Antonio is offering swim lessons. The water safety team has been practicing and getting ready. In fact, they’ve been using lifeguards as their “kids”……that is, until we showed up.
Yes, my daughter was the first child EVER to take swim lessons there! That’s something she was very excited about when she learned it. 🙂
Right now the plan is to have 1 teacher for every 4 children. They begin every lesson with 5-10 minutes of safety, before ever getting in the pool. That’s yet another perk of swim lessons at Aquatica – safety is a huge concern, and they want to educate children about that.
The lesson is held in a sectioned off area near the entrance of the water park. During our lesson there were two lifeguards specifically in charge of overlooking that sectioned off area. They made sure that other children did not get in.
Not only is the area sectioned off, but my daughter could stand up in all places with her head above water. That helped with her fear – a ton!
**I loved that there was a sectioned off area for the swim lessons. I had my daughter in private lessons last year in the Dallas/Ft Worth area. The lessons were in a general area of a pool, and if it happened to be a busy day, it would interfere with the lesson itself. I’m sure it interfered with my daughter’s confidence as well. Too many splashes!
Parents are not in water generally, unless it’s an absolute necessity.
**One of the main reasons we wanted swim lessons to be at Aquatica was because our lessons last summer didn’t go well. My daughter was 4 yrs old at the time, and she really was fearful. There were plenty of tears. 🙁
SO, we thought SeaWorld would be a great location. Safe and fun. If we could combine swim lessons with a backdrop of one of her favorite places, maybe the lessons would be a bit easier. Maybe the promise of petting a dolphin later in the afternoon would work/help. Some might call it bribery, but hey, a child needs to learn to swim. It’s a safety thing. 🙂
I was absolutely surprised when she thrived and enjoyed swim lessons. There were no tears. Maybe a bit of fear, but she overcame it.
We still have plenty of work to do, but we’ve actually been given some great tips to help her with breathing. These tips have made a world of difference.
The team at Aquatica utilizes a number of props and games to help kids during the lessons…….from noodles to ping pong balls (yes, she had to blow the balls across the top of the water)!
Each class is 45 minutes with a 5-10 minutes safety talk and the rest actual swim time in the pool.
Each child is given a “book” to take home. Ours was called “Raffy Learns to Swim” and was created by the American Red Cross. It contained a cute story with characters going to swim class. There was also an achievement card where instructors can check off what the child has learned….and also give parents a heads up about what is to come in future lessons. Safety lessons and helpful tips for parents are also included.
What a great resource!
Sometimes at the end of a lesson, they try and do something fun for the kids…..which could be a walk over to one of the smaller water slides. I wish I could tell you that my daughter went down the slide. She didn’t. That’s okay by me. She attempted, yet the fear got the better of her. We’re working on it, and thanks to SeaWorld’s Aquatica, we are off to a great start this summer.
A huge thank you to Drew, who was so patient with my sweet little girl. If you are lucky to get him as your instructor – YAY!!!! He is wonderful with children and quite prepared if they are a bit fearful.
Another big thank you to Rochelle, who heads the water safety leadership team. You can tell she is passionate about what she does!
For more information:
SeaWorld’s Aquatica Swim Lessons – San Antonio
SeaWorld’s Aquatica Swim Lessons – Orlando
For extra fun, be sure to check out some of my other SeaWorld posts:
- SeaWorld Scavenger Hunt Tutorial
- SeaWorld’s Official App
- Top 5 Reasons I’m heading to SeaWorld’s Aquatica
- Getting Wild Again as a SeaWorld San Antonio Wildside Ambassador
Enjoy!
(I am a SeaWorld Wildside Blog Ambassador and have been provided annual park passes for myself and my family in addition to other perks throughout the year. I was not asked to write this post. All opinions are my own.)
That is so cool! I had no idea! And it is such a great price.
Wow, I wish we were close by to take advantage of this. Swim lessons here are so expensive and most places require you to be a member. Love that they have small groups, in sections, and everyone is using the Red Cross method.
Yes, Sara……it’s an amazing price! Much less expensive than what I paid last year too!!! And the lesson was much better at SeaWorld as well!
I’ve thought about this several times – but hadn’t looked into it because I thought it would be way out of our budget, but $40-50 is an AWESOME price! (We paid $100 last year – and that seemed WAY too steep for what we got.)