gulf world marine park Reviews

My 3 year old didn't enjoy everything but the rest of the kids had a great time. Good way to keep kids busy on a rainy day and everyone loved the dolphin show. Really push the keep the ocean clean agenda and the message is repeated in every program.

My family was on a weekend trip to PCB. We've never been to Gulf World before. I thought there would be a huge aquarium. I was wrong. The birds were very pretty, and the penguins were fun to watch. The alligator pond was absolutely neglected and barely had any water in it. The stingray area was interesting, but we could barely reach the water without leaning way over. The dolphin show was fun and entertaining but didn't last as long as I thought it would. The sea lion show was only about half as long, and we only got to see one sea lion. It would have been awesome if the shark tunnel had been open. I probably wouldn't go back, not for $30 per ticket.

A fun place for the family and the dolphin experiences are outstanding.

This place should be shut down. Absolutely disgusting behaviour towards animals and customers.

Horrid we payed 500 + dollars to get in there and do 2 events then they wanted 165 dollars for a couple of pictures. Also my sister was bitten by a dolphin they barely trained that had been put out there for a swim with the dolphins event his name was "Striker". All in all this place is a joke.

U pay 99.00 a person to get in the water with the dolphins and u barely get to interact with them and then u have to pay 25.00 for each photo or for us we bought a disc and it was 119.00 bc we had 3 people in the photos. Which after paying 99.00 I think the photos should be free. To me it's ridiculous. Yes it was fun but it really irked me that it was so expensive

Very pricey. Photos VERY PRICEY and you are not allowed to even have your phone visible during dolphin swim. But not a bad way to spend a rainy Saturday.

It was the best place for my two sons they loved it their 12

Facilities seem a bit dated but the experience is pretty awesome! Definitely recommend the swim with dolphins!

VERY VERY VERY OVERPRICED!!!!! Needs a great deal of updating!! Not worth the RIDICULOUS price!!! Dolphins did not perform as well as we had seen in the past. The place has not changed in at least 25 years. VERY Disappointing!!

Good experience, really fun. A lot of nice, and really fun shows.

It is overpriced.
I get it they need to make money but it is not that big of a park. 3 shows. You can be done in 2h.
I love the sting ray pet pool.
Dolphins are cool. Sharks and Turtles too. But it is overpriced in my opinion. But so is everything now a day.
Definately a good day activity for couples with kids.

We did the royal swim worth every penny. Snack bar food was good. Very nice place. We will go back

The place was clean, staff was friendly, and exhibits were nice. I took the whole family and we loved it. Pricing is about what you d expect to pay at an ocean themed park with live animal exhibits. We did the dolphin encounter and it was AMAZING!! We got to meet a 2 year old rescue dolphin named Samira. She was adorable. The trainer and staff was very patient, friendly, and accommodating. They had a photographer (Katie) there that made every effort to get lots of great pics of our family, during a 45 minute encounter she took about 150 pics of all 5 of us. The animals seemed very happy and, fro what we could see, VERY well cared for, they got lots of one on one time, group playtime, and treats. PrIce was about what you d expect to pay for getting to play with a dolphin (especially when you figure in all the training, medical care, food, and habitat build and maintenance costs) and it was TOTALLY worth it! The pictures cost a little more than I expected for 5 people, but again, TOTALLY worth it! The only thing we didn t experience was the food ( we went in the morning and at before we got there) but if it s anything like the rest of the park then I m sure it s good as well. Overall I would recommend EVERYONE go experience the dolphins and other exhibits while in Panama City. It s been a week and my kids STILL haven t stopped talking about it. And in this age of technology that s rare. We will be going back next time we re there.

The shows were good, but staff in general were rather rude and unfriendly. Very little attention or detail to customer service. It's as though they were pained to have to interact with the public... I understand this when it comes to staff working directly with the animals. Obviously the animals are priority number one. But even the front desk/gift shop workers seemed bothered and impatient with customers.

Also, it would be nice if a live person answered the telephone! Very frustrating when you have questions that aren't answered by the website or messaging service.

The animals do seem happy and content.

Absolutely love this small aquatic tourist spot. I went there as a child and was fortunate enough to take my grandson. He had a blast between the sea turtles, flamingos, seals, and whales. Very interactive for the guests and super helpful answering any questions.

Always a pleasure to go to Gulf World. Even better to find out locals get 50% off encounters on Sundays! Guess I know where we'll be in a couple weeks.

I absolutely loved loved loved the swimming with dolphins experience and I highly recommend if you love dolphins like me! The dolphins were so cute and fun to enjoy. The trainee for the dolphin was great and very helpful as well. The people who work in the front need more better customer service skills though.

Very cool place for the whole family. You can tell the animals are very nicely taken care of. The trainers and staff were very knowledgeable and eager to answer any questions anyone had. If you can, order your tickets online so you can bypass the long waiting lines. I believe we also got a little bit of a discount with the online tickets.

Very disappointed!! Not much to see for what you pay for. I would not recommend it!

Dirty.....shark and turtle area....smelly murky water...couldn't see through windows. Same with the Coral reefs area. Shows were only 20 minutes. The whole place was outdated and in bad need paint. Manta Rays and birds were good.

Best place to swim with dolphins ans have a wonderful time great place to bring kids and family

Not worth the admission price at all. The furry friends and feathers show was AWFUL. Not only did the people on stage mumble and giggle due to stage fright, but the "tricks" they had the animals do were mediocre at best. The sea lion show was decent and informational, but the rough tooth dolphin show was totally hokey. I really wish they would either hire better entertainers or just make the shows educational. I would much rather watch someone give out information than sit through someone trying and failing to act out a skit. It made me embarrassed for them. The other dolphin show was decent, but the whole park is definitely a C-list SeaWorld wannabe, and I went during Spring Break! You would think this would be the week to see the best stuff.

My husband and I had a AweSomE time. We had a blast doing the royal swim with the dolphins.

We swam with the dolphins, it was a wonderful experience.

We were excited to visit Gulf World again after our first visit 3 years ago. Three years ago the shows were awesome and the exhibits were beautiful. We were so disappointed in the visit this year. The exhibits were faded, dirty and too small for the animals kept in them. Nothing seems to have been updated since our last visit. The dolphin and sea lion shows were not nearly as good as before. The dolphins and sea lions failed to follow cues. The trainers constantly smiled at the audience and shrugged their shoulders when a cue was missed. The theme of the shows was about cleaning up our ocean and beaches. I understand how important this is but I felt like 75% of the shows were trainers talking about that topic and not actually doing anything with the animals I paid to see. We will not waste our money here again.

I attended all three major shows while here. The fur and feathers show was most entertaining. But during all three shows the crowd was warned about the dangers of tossing your trash on the beach or into the water. A good message but a bit overkill in my opinion. I understand the concept of taking out everything you bring in but it was a bit overdone here. The burger shack is well done and a nice place to grab a burger and lemonade. In the building housing the fur and feathers, and dolphin shows, take the scenic walk. The birds and stingray petting pool are very much worth it. The sting rays will come up to you if they want attention. Good way to spend 2-3 hours.

We went with our 9 month old girl. We only paid for general admission but she enjoyed getting to see the birds, sharks and the sea turtles. We lucked out and got there just before they started feeding the turtles and sharks and we all got to watch. There really isn't a large variety of animals to see. It was a great way to get out of the heat and enjoy a slow paced afternoon.

The young lady in the reptile part was very knowledgeable and professional in her presentation.

Was crowded even during non peak season. The doors open up to the gift shop which has a standard ticket line and a online purchase line. When tickets are purchased your provided with a hand stamp that allows all day entrance and a map of the grounds. The park is in my opinion medium sized really enjoyed the sting ray petting. They dont have a dolphin viewing area other then a daily show unless you purchase the swim with dolphins. Bathrooms are really small and crowd easily.

Sooooo much smaller than I expected. My friend swam with the dolphins and that experience seemed to be well worth the money. But, $30+ just to walk around their tiny exhibits was not the best value.

Great location to see dolphins and other ocean animals.

Let me start by saying that I don't normally review something unless I think it's necessary, and this is one of those times.

I just recently visited here on a field trip with my daughters class, and I'd love to point out both the good and the bad to help people decide if they want to visit, because it is very expensive for what you get.

PRO:
- The animals are precious and well-trained.
- The staff (for the most part) were friendly and helpful.
- The sea lion / dolphin show was great.
- Feeding the stingrays is a lot of fun.

CONS:
- The price. The park is very small. You can see everything in 30 minutes easily, and if you miss a show - well - you've just missed out.
- The obsessive amount of promotion of things they sell. All of the shows have about 10 minutes where you're sitting there listening to them preach about what you can buy, and how.
- The main dolphin show. Let me explain this one. The most popular attraction here has the longest spill about spending money and the encounters with them that it takes up almost half the show, when you are sitting there wanting to watch the dolphins. The prices for these interactions are also rather high, ranging from $90-$200 per person.

During the show with the Dogs, Cats, and Birds the microphones were not working. Instead of taking a moment to fix that issue so everyone could hear the birds talking and the host - they continued and 80% of the audience didn't get to hear anything. I was a little disappointed with that.

Over all if there are promotions going on where tickets are cheaper and you're looking for something fun for your family to do it's a nice plan. It is very clean.

Had a good time but it could have been better. Meeting the dolphins was pretty awesome but if I wanted pictures it was way way way too expensive.

Nice place to visit if want to have some fun and emotions for your kids. Tickets are a bit pricey though considering that not much can be offered comparing to let's say Miami SeaWorld.

3 adults and a 5 year old. Cost was $115, it was ok but your better off to go to your local zoo. This was very crowded and in a very small space.

Over the years a lot about this place has changed. The pricing needs to be reviewed. For a family of 3 it was $65.00. We stayed maybe 2 hours.

My kids loved it here. Great dolphin show. Love the animals. Friendly staff.

Was pretty disappointed that the only animals I saw were a few turtles, and some parrots. The only way to see the other animals( dolphins, sea lions, penguins etc) is to go to a show or pay 70 bucks per exhibit to see them privately).

A great time to go and see the animal shows. They serve soda and snake food so it s easy to go and make it an entire day they also Have a really nice gift shop on the way out to buy souvenirs stuffed animals necklaces stuff like that they have an extra part that you can actually swim with the dolphins with different levels of Park admission.

It was fabulous! The dolphins were fun to watch and very entertaining! It was really fascinating to observe the sea turtles!

Small but very informative the dolphins were pretty fun to watch

Friendly staffs and have nice burger but have some trash in some spot.

This was an overall wonderful experience! From the rep on the phone to all the staff everything went great! I did the royal swim! It was amazing and a dream come true. I was worried about some.of the reviews but I chose to go into it with perspective and a great attitude ready to have fun and fun I had! Do you get 30 minutes alone with the dolphins? No... but you are in a pool with dolphins experiencing joy and watching others do the same! My entire group seemed to love it and have a blast. The trainer was amazing and the photographer as well! Yes the pictures are expensive but omg so worth it. If your gonna spend the money for the experience get the photos! I highly recommend doing the royal swim! Such an incredible feeling being lifted by your feet by dolphins!

My wife and I did the penguin adventure and we had a blast. Everyone on staff is very friendly and the animals there are well taken care of.

My experince at Gulf World was tragic; the animals are kept in cages that are too small, the environment is filthy, and the animals themselves look terribly sad. The best part of my trip to Gulf World was when I got to leave. Honestly, I think they only try to take care of the dolphins and seals, as those are their main attractions, and even then the seals are pitiful in their too small aquarium. The birds at Gulf World look as if they have been drugged, and although I never thought I would pity a snake, I proved myself wrong. Needless to say, Gulf World left me disgusted and saddened by the horrible state in which they keep their animals.

Staff excellent, experience awesome! You have to visit this place.

i don't think this place is worth the money i spent! you cant see the dolphins unless its during a show time and its definitely very small you basically see the entire exhibit in about thirty mins and just have to wait around for a show! i was very disappointed as well as my kids!

Such a fun experience. I thought it would be a cheesy tourist attraction, but it was not. It was a great up close experience with lots of different birds, reptiles, and marine life. We spent a good 4-5 hours there and watched all 3 shows. The shows were so fun and very entertaining.

Even though the size is not that big, I think overall the shows during the day and the petting zones are great for kids to go and enjoy the fun.

I hate to give it this low of a rating but I really struggled here. I know that it's not Sea World, I get that. However, for the price, I felt like there should have been more. We truly enjoyed the dolphin show and the stingrays. The kids loved touching the sting rays. However, it was super crowded and with limited seating, we didn't even try for the sea lion show bc the dolphin show was packed. I really feel like the dolphin show and the sting rays were really all there was, which is the reason for the low rating. I can't say I'll be back.....

Extremely small! Not worth the price at all... the shows were very short but pretty good.. I feel like I should mention again that the price is an extreme rip off because I cannot stress that enough

Just not worth the money and they don t allow strollers in the shows.

Overall the visit was enjoyable especially with the Dolphin encounter. Ashley (a photographer), trainers with the dolphins and feather & friends show staff were good. However, the attitudes of most of the staff (smiles were rare) made the experience a little less enjoyable. I'm big on customer service and customer friendliness and they were lacking in that department.

Great place for the family, it's a little pricey to get in but the dolphin show makes it worth it.

I enjoyed the tiny sea lion, and dolphin show they offered. However, for the money the consumer should get more of the wow factor. At the very least they could upgrade the space instead of wasting so much of it on stuff that isn't in use. I would rate 2 1/2 stars.

We loved Gulf World and our 14 month old had so much fun. All of the employees were knowledgeable and you could tell they truly cared about the animals they were caring for. It's so up close and interactive and the discount for military and their families was so appreciated. I took one star off for the experience we had at their snack bar. The food wasn't good to begin with but the employees attitudes are what really bothered us. They were out of absolutely everything by 12:30 including cups for icees so you had to buy ridiculously expensive souvenir cups instead (no I don't know why they wouldn't just use a drink cup), marinara for mozzarella sticks (which were not good at all) and they charge .25 for each packet of ranch. They completely forgot a ladies order after she had paid in cash and had no receipt to show. We're not nitpicky people and never leave negative reviews but the entire experience at the cafe was terrible. Overall I would definitely recommend this place I would just pack a lunch or plan around it so you don't waste your money on bad food there.

Such a fun place great experience for the family
I went on a school trip I was a chaperon and loved it

God's creatures are beautiful to behold. Sting Ray's, parrots, albino snake ( made me weak in my knees) literally weak . Awesome staff Kudos to you for training the dolphins with those amazing tricks.

Awesome place to see dolphins and sea lions for the kids

Love this place all be it...it's not a large area but over all a very nice

This is one of the best places to take your family. Laid back and easy to see everything that they have to offer. Staff is the best! Perfect place to spend a day.

Great time swimming with the dolphins. Chick at the photo selection booth was arguing with us about how to select our pictures. She was not knowledgeable on how computers work and very unprofessional.

Good day out for the family. Bit pricey but the annual pass for locals is good value.

Omg! Absolutely love it Feeding the stingrays was just so hands on and awesome! My nieces and nephews had an ultimate blast. I got to get a selfie with a seaturtle and the dolphin show was breath taking. Sit in the splash section to increase the experience

Nice experience swimming with the dolphins, enjoy family time

We had an absolute blast here!! The dolphin show was awesome and the Sea lion and harbor seal show .... They have a bunch of beautiful macaws and two Gators... You can feed sting rays... They have sea turtles and penguins.... We loved the dolphin encounter where you can pet them and play fetch and do tricks with them... One downfall though was the ridiculous cost for pictures... $160 for digital pictures and most of them were eyes closed, same pictures, weird poses etc... Other than that definitely do the shows you won't be bored!!

Shows were great! We did the dolphin & seal encounters & while it was a great experience, they made it more of a photoshoot, & then charged outrageous prices for the photos & wouldn't allow you to take your own. Definitely worth a visit, though.