gulf world marine park Reviews

Neat exhibits and nice shows. Something fun to do in the PCB besides the beach!

Would love to give 5 stars but it was extremely hot in all of the buildings. If you have anyone who is elderly or has health problems, this would not be the place to go! Swam with the dolphins and was very impressed with the quality and friendliness of the trainers! We had a great time!

We went during October and it was a perfect team, as there were minimal crowds so we got an up close and personal experience with the dolphins and sea lions. Although the park is small, the shows in itself were what did it for us! You will also have an opportunity to meet and greet with a dolphin or sea lion for $10, complete with a photo to take home. I did both and loved it.

They have 3 shows,for me and my kids dolphin show was the best.They also have parrots stingrays...We loved it.

I booked a swimming with dolphins experience on expedia. I received a confirmation and voucher for the desired date of the event. Gulf world sends me an email saying they overbooked and need to offer another date. A date that I would no longer be in florida. I say no, i just want a refund. They tell me to ask expedia. I ask Expedia for a refund and then the customer support team tells me that Gulf world denied my request for a refund...for a trip that was cancelled by gulf world in the first place. This company will steal your money, do not go here. Nobody at customer support will contact me back and I basically just lost out on $340 for no reason.

Not as advertised. Overpriced. Not what we expected. Website shows more than what was actually there. Very disappointed. It was a waste of time and money! Would not recommend.

Just a little cold the day I went but was fun anyway

My daughter swam with the dolphins and had a blast. Be ready for heat if you do the dolphins swim stadium is quite hot in the summer time.

Love this little place. Lots of educational and entertaining programs to keep you busy. The birds are entertaining, the stingrays bay was wonderful and the dolfin show was amazing! You can tell they really love working with the animals.

Nice to be able to see sea life so close. However, to get your money worth out of your visit (it's pretty pricey) you need to stay for many hours to catch all shows. There isn't enough to do in between shows t I stay occupie, especially children. The dolphin shows are really neat to watch though!

A bit pricey. We had 2 senior adults, 2 adults and 2 children who we paid for the "Meet and Greet" dolphin show. Total was $275.
No pictures are allowed but they will gladly charge you $75 to $95 for a picture download or CD ROM (36 Pics).
Very hot during the summer of course. Food and drinks are fairly reasonable though.

Outdated and boring. The dolphin show was great but their show pool is smaller than I expected and lasts about 30 mins. The sea lion area stinks and is super small, they just look sad. I had always wanted to go here since I was a kid but it just did not live up to my expectations. My teenager however said he enjoyed it. I heard other guests complaining as well that they were bored, it wasn t worth it etc. The staff was super nice.

Love to take all my grandkids here when there old enough to love it

This place needs to have the trainer interact more with the guests after the shows to answer questions.

did the Dolphin swim with the family, fun time and a unique experience

Super awesome place to see ocean animals. Dolphin and sea lions show was amazing

Surprisingly fun time, especially if you are an animal lover.

Really cool! Dolphin and sea lion shows are Awesome!

Due to its infrastructure it is a little neglected, the rest is good

love the experimence but the tanks were like you can barley see through them. the only clean tanks are the dolphins tanks

Our family really enjoyed gulf world we had 10 as our group to go loved the grandkids being able to get pics with the dolphins, birds and seal ,snake one on one and touch

The dolphins are very well trained and their trainers and staff seem to have an educated understanding of them.

This is certainly a great place to visit while in Panama City Beach! Certainly worth the money! The animals were very exciting and amazing! Atmosphere was very family freindly!

A nice place. I'm glad they house animals that can not be placed back into the wild.

Great place to spend the afternoon expecially when it's hot and humid out. The shows are timed so that you can get to each one of them but there is not much time between the shows to make it from one to the other.

Both my friend and I are older and I wanted to do something special for her since she just lost her 94 year old mother. The dolphin adventure did just that! We both enjoyed getting to interact with the dolphin and our swim! Yes, there were 4 other people who were also at the encounter with us, but I felt each of us had ample time to interact. The trainer made sure that each of us got to do each of the planned activities. This certainly isn't inexpensive, but does include admission. It was the highlight of our trip!

Not happy with Gulf World. We were on a Family vacation from Colorado and thought it would be exciting to swim with dolphins. Well, we bought our tickets online, ahead of time .. as suggested by the website .. to only get there and find out they were doing 50% off walk-ins. When we asked if we could get credited back, we were told unfortunately no. Most of the exhibits were closed for construction, so grandkids didn't get to see much. When we finally got to the swim with dolphins area, the gal at the desk was very rude, not helpful at all, didn't expalin anything about changing clothes or what to expect, put our bands on and said go have a seat. BTW, there are no dressing rooms, you have to change into bathing suits in the bathroom and walk back to waiting area. And you observers only get 1 warning to not be on phones, if they pull them out, they will get kicked out. Since it was an off season, my Daughter in Law and I were the only ones in the pool, which was amazing. After the swim, you get sent back to waiting area for pictures to be done. We asked about towels, got a very annoyed response, "you can buy some in the gift shop" which is on the other end of Gulf World. As I explained to the lady .. nothing was posted in your website about towels, only to bring a bathing suit. So another nice employee called someone and they said they are bringing you some towels to dry off. Got attitude when she showed up with them and handed us 2 towels. Used the bathroom again to change out of bathing suits and dry off. We then proceeded to leave and asked where we should leave the towels and were told, you used them, you buy them. Will NEVER recommend this place to anyone we know. Please Beware!!!

We went to Gulf World yesterday February 15th 2020. It is off season so it's discounted prices. But for 3 people it was close to $120 for meet and greet. The greet was very short. Very rushed. Then you pay $35 a pic or almost $80 for all. This place for what you get is crazy high.

I did the Royal Swim and it was one of the best things I have ever done! Shelby the trainer that did our class was knowledgeable and really great with the dolphins! If I could give it 10 stars I would!

My family and I had a great time. My daughter and I did one of the dolphin encounters and it was a very nice experience.

These people took away Cajuns food because he wouldnt do exactly what they said. There is leaked audio and video of them of talking about restricting the dolphins diet (Cajun and a few others) by 10, sometimes 15 percent until the dolphins listened to them.

Not worth the money! I paid for the vip pass for my children $299.00 for each of my children. The dolphin swim is a joke. #1 supposed to be social distanced from other people and lined them up with people we did not know shoulder to shoulder in the dolphin water. #2 rode the dolphin for a couple of seconds. Most time was spent watching everyone. #3 they are mostly concerned about getting pictures than people enjoying the experience. Then we come to the penguin encounter. They stood in the penguin water listened to a lady talk about penguins. Posed with a stick with a ball on the end for pictures and very briefly touched the penguin for a picture. Once again not worth the money. Then came the sea lion show. I'm disabled and walk slower then my kids(who are 14 and under). When I got to the show gate I told them my kids were holding my seat with my 1 year old grandbaby. They refused to let me in with my children because they already met their number of people. I was outraged. The only reason it got 2 stars is because the only thing worth the money is the harbor seal encounter. They interacted with the seal the whole time and the staff was excellent with the seal encounter. I will never return and waste my money again. Most staff were very short with their words and not very friendly.

Expensive for what it is, 1/2 of the attractions are closed for renovations. We went mostly to swim with the dolphins, my youngest son did the adventure package and my two daughters did the royal swim. I will say, don't waste you money on the lesser 2 packages. The royal is much much better, it's worth the money. Less people in the groups and much more time with the dolphins.

We had an amazing time with our trainer Shelby. This was so worth the money. My husband had a blast.

Such a great experience. The dolphin and Sea Lion shows were fun and we'll done! The family had a great time. We will try to do the swim with the dolphin experience next time we go.

amazing experience next year I hope to return a highly recommended place to spend family time

I was expecting bigger and was sad to see they no longer have their flamingos (which were listed on the map).

Ok so everyone says that this place is amazing and all but there is literally nothing amazing about . I wanted to go see dolphins and all that but this place is soooo small i mean it . We saw a show and it lasted 12 minuets and we saw everything they had in less then 20 mins. The tickets are 30 something dollars each so its not really worth it .

Gulf World Report.
Positives
Clean restrooms.
Not crowded (probably because its the beginning of March)
Informative shows.
Dolfin show was good but short and the sea lions werent a part of it.

Negatives
Most exhibits were empty or shutdown
Not much to do
Not a good variety of animals
Not clear viewing windows of sharks
Bird show was basically a puppet show/skit that didnt compare to the dolfins on any level.

Now i get that it has been effected by the hurican but to charge full price for half the experiance is shameful.

Definately not suitable for even an interested 14 year old. I wouldn't sugest going unless you only have relatively young kids.

Gulf World is a School Field Trip standard in Bay County Schools and it's one of my favorites. I was never able to attend when my boys were in school, however, I have been able to enjoy the experience with my grandbabies.
Seeing the looks on their faces during the show's and especially when they get to take a picture with the animals is priceless.
Although, Gulf World may be small it does deliver a great time for it's guest because of it's talent animals and it's friendly and knowledgeable staff.

Nice little place to spend a few hours. We saw the bird show and it was cute! The kids did the dolphin experience and swam with the dolphins. They really enjoyed it!

The boys enjoy their self, but it was hot.....long lines....

My family of four had a great time visiting the gulf world. We have young kids (2&6) and they both enjoyed the experience. My husband had a good comparison for the experience - it's the poor mans seaworld. I will say the price tag was not poor. He was just meaning the scale. For a family of four, we did the general admission and dolphin meet and greet. $200. This does NOT include $155 for your pictures. That's a total rip off. I would love to suggest giving people the option to take their own pictures for a fee. Their pics won't be as good but it gives families that cannot afford million dollar pics to have their experience documented. I think that would be a very good customer service option.

The sea lion educational portion was really great, the rough tipped dolphin show was so cute. All the skits we saw were not professionally done but they were approved by my kids and had a great time.

I will say the fish encounter was really lacking. Honestly, it was a waste. The building that houses the sting rays basically has four birds and two small unimpressive fish tanks. They could make this a lot more exciting.

My family and I had a blast. I dont have any negative thing to say about gulf world. The staff was great and the animals was to! 5 stars all the way!

Loved the interactions with the animals. The staff was extremely nice especially Toni.

Great place the park is wonderful clean family-friendly awesome

Very hot day. We thought the place was inside from the outside appearance but it is not. We really enjoyed the shows. Very informative in regards to beach etiquette and safety of species.

They actually had a nice and wide selection of aquatic animals, I'm not going to spoil it but they do train their animals really well and some even do some cool tricks.

Not worth the price of admission. We were done looking at everything within about 30 minutes. The dolphin show was good. We weren't able to see the other shows because the sea lion show filled up and the shows are so far apart I can't imagine what people do to kill time between them. Bathrooms are disgusting and about 100 degrees inside. You can go to much better places for similar cost.

The front staff was so rude about everything we asked. Also, we had a child in our group that is 8, in MO where we're from it is not mandatory for a child under 10 to have to wear them. They were very rude about this. We had an extra mask it was no big deal just the way the handled it was not good customer service at all.

If was just rating the adventure swim that my grand daughters did I would say 5 plus. But the experience of the rest was not good at all. Appearance overall was not very well kept. No sting rays or sea lions for us to see. No afternoon shows. Realize it was during the winter but when I called that should have all been shared information. And there should have been a greater reduction in admit price for us.

Half of exibits empty, can't pet sharks or stingrays, no birds. Not worth the money

What an amazing trip we had to Gulf World while visiting Panama City Florida. My wife is gone there when she was a little girl and really enjoyed it herself. I'm so glad she told us about it and we were able to go. The animals are so talented and the trainers are very talented also. They have a great dolphin show that you can't miss. A lifetime of memories was made while we are there.

If you love dolphins, you should go here. Kind of a mini-SeaWorld.

The chou of the dolphins is very good and very beautiful

Great time, not everything was open when we went but it was still fun.

Excellent learning experience for Kid's & Adults...

Loved the dolphin show though I wish the actual show lasted longer than it did, it was more educational which is great just not what I expected. They are such beautiful and talented creatures, I'm so glad I finally went.

What a fun place. The shows were amazing. We got the picture package for the kids and it was so fun to see there faces light up with the anamils. Everyone that worked there was super nice and helpful! We will be coming back!

The Royal Swim made me feel like a real life aqua man! With 2 dolphins under my feet pushing me above the water, it was a great experience! However, I do think more people would buy the photo package if it was less expensive.. $45 for 28 photos, no way.

Loved sharing the day with my oldest daughter at Gulf World. Loved the birds, flamingos, and dolphin show.

This place is really great. My family has been coming to Panama City Beach for many years and we always take people there. The sea otter demonstration is worth seeing. Also the dolphin show is in an almost intimate setting. There is a ton to do and look at here. Definitely recommend

My husband and I had the most amazing time swimming and interacting with the dolphins! =)

Fun for adults & kids. The shows were fun and educational. The animals were well taken care of, everything was very clean.

Amazing experience! Definitely recommend to tourists. Life jackets are provided for swimming with the dolphins, but you must wear a bathing suit underneath your clothes.

Fun little spot, quick informational presentations on dolphins and sea lions. Dolphin shows, stingray petting/feeding, very very family friendly. There's a couple of exotic bird exhibits, and opportunities to take pictures with select animals.
There's also a viewing area to view sharks, sea turtles and a couple variety of fish.

Good upkeep of the facilities and care of the animals pricing of the on grounds food is about like a movie theater. In and out of the parking lot is fair. Over all enjoyable and entertaining.

The staff was rude, the ONLY nice one was the guy taking pictures. They did have two photograph. So I'm not sure who took which picture I will discuss in a minute. I didn't realize you can get a wristband for pictures . If you get a wristsband its $30 and you can take a pic with all the animals. And if you don't purchase the band you will have to pay$15 each time to take a pic. They do not tell you about the bands and I think that's horrible customer service. It wasn't really pack when we went and when we were taking pics with the animals, they were rushing us. I can understand if it was busy but it wasn't. And the picture aren't good. In one picture an employees'hand is in the way and my dad held my son for a picture with the parrot. They could of told him to lower his arm because the parrot was in the way of his face. But No. My niece did a meet and greet with the Dolphins and paid good money for it and the pictures doesn't come with it. It cost $90 for a cd with her buying the meet and greet. It should come with it. Disappointed. Also the girl who was doing to the meet and greet whisper to the photograph saying this one should be delightful.(but being sarcastic) They need to all take a class on how to treat customers and not try to be greedy with people's money. Hope they look at the pictures ,to make sure it comes out ok before the customer gets up. The only thing I can say that's good about the place is the shows.

Can't hardly wait to swim with the dolphins! This gift shop is full of items to purchase.

This was probably the worst experience I have had at an aquarium/tourist attraction. It was $30 for one ticket and everything was closed! This was not disclosed on the website!! The Shark tunnel closed, the aquarium room closed and no sea lion show. My son was begging to see the dolphins and the only time to see them was during the one show. There was only one step at the stingray encounter and even with that you couldn t reach the water! What a disappointment! Never coming again.

Had a great time with the family here. For 45 dollars both of my kids had pictures taken with birds, snakes, dolphins and a kiss from a seal and sea lion. For 30 my son was able to swim with the stingrays. It was a blast. The shows were nice and if you start early you can easily hit them all since they run twice without feeling rushed. They offer a Military discount and other discounts if you book online. For an entertainment park the food was actually pretty good and not overpriced. The staff was also amazing, taking the time to answer questions and very approachable. If you're looking for something to do for a day in Panama City Beach I'd recommend checking out Gulf World. The only downer was that the stingray encounter was not covered by the photo wristband.

Very very dated. It was sprinkling rain and not only did most of the floors hold water but there were buckets in the lobby catching water. The staff did not seem happy to be there and there were several attractions closed. If it weren t for the dolphins this place wouldn t be open at all. Worst experience in PCB

This is a great aquarium and sea show. It is a small walking park. We enjoy the park every time we go to Panama City Beach.
When you get to the park be sure you get the schedule so you can plan and avoid dead time between shows.

Our 2 year old daughter loved it! Laughed with excitement for the sea lion and dolphin shows. They make their money with photo ops and encounters with the wildlife but it was great just to look at the animals as well. They are very socially responsible.

Amazing place dolphin show was awesome..when they say splash zone they truely mean it we where soaked head to toe but enjoyed every moment