gulf world marine park Reviews

We have made a reservation online but have questions and have called and left several messages over the last 2 weeks with no return call... And it seems like they would want to receive business by answering the phone!

Great family friendly atmosphere. Fun for the whole family kids and parents alike. Hours of stuff to do.

It's just OK. The exhibits are far better than the shows.

The dolphin show was the best part! A must see for everyone!

We may have went on a day when the front staff were off or overwhelmed. They came across as annoyed, which unfortunately set the tone for us early on. We did the dolphin experience -- make sure you are more than the 20 to 30 minutes ahead of your tour. I'd say shoot 45 minutes ahead, especially in the summer when traffic is heavy. If you're not there ahead of your appointment, you will be charged a rebooking fee. Additionally, I was a bit depressed by the state of sea turtle/shark tank that you can go under ground and look in the tank. Could hardly see in due to algae/dirt on the windows. It makes it seem like the windows are not based for.

The truth is this is the second time I went and I was disappointed since they did not have everything they offered. Very empty, no birds to see. And very dirty ponds of the mantarallas and sharks. What we liked was the dolphin show

Very expensive for a small amount to see. Best part was dolphin show, which was amazing! But otherwise nothing exciting to see. Stingray exhibit was dirty. Underground viewing of sea turtle and shark was dirty. Penguin house was small and dirty. We paid $86 for two adults and one child. Not worth it

Was ok my,my son paid over 300.00 for him & his daughter to just stand in the pool w the dalphins more n less just 2 have their pictures made. we were Not aloud to take our own pictures with our cameras which I thought was all all about the money ,then to buy a picture was crazy, extremely high unless u buy a digital copy then all u get is a piece of paper w a web site on it you have to down load (no CD )for the money u pay for that they could still provide a CD copy and still make a lot of money and have a lot happier customers..

Once in a life time experience, the staff is super nice and makes you feel like your apart of the group when you do the Dolphin Encounter. Very affordable and fun!

It was fun, but attempts to transform the park & shows for Halloween/October were cheesy and seemed unrehearsed.

Staff was very knowledgeable and enjoy their jobs. Training session with the Harbor Seals was an unexpected bonus.

Had a great time seeing and interacting with the animals! Place is the perfect size for a vacation stop. The staff were all exceptionally friendly! Our 4 year old Loved it!!

I really wish there was more to Gulf world than what it is just a tiny little place to see a very few sea animals

Very disappointed. My son was so excited to see the dolphins but freaks out on loud noises and shows. The only way to see the dolphins was to watch a show, and he would have not sat through that. I think the park is very small but I think that it is crap that you have to watch a show to be able to see something you would expect to see paying admission price. My son was so disappointed. We checked everything out to see in less than an hour if you don't watch the shows (which we would have loved to do if our son would have allowed). We got done and were like, "this is it?" we kept looking on the map thinking we had missed something, very small for the price and what you get to see - if you watch a show. You guys should take this into consideration when people have kids with special needs or anxieties to loud noises and big crowds. Not everyone can watch a show.

Swimming with the dolphins was a great experience for the kids, and the dolphins show was really good, wasn't impressed with the rest of the place.

Abusive. Keeping large animals in dog crates with no food are water. They beat animals and dint feed them if they don t cooperate. Shut this place down!

Was amazing swimming with the dolphins had a blast must try!! Thank you Maddie u were great!

Dolphin show was really good!! Trainers are Awesome, hope they are paid well? I did the adventure dolphin program and really enjoyed it. I would have liked to have touched dolphin more it felt like everything was just for pics which by the way is very expensive! I didn t give 5 stars cause the life jackets were falling apart scratching my neck. They were nasty need to work on that I know it is a lot of money to take care of animals but the dolphins is what makes a lot of money and jackets were black and ripped up.
For 3 of us total of $519 plus $135 for pics .... But I LOVE dolphins they are awesome animals.

It was amazing but it was like any other's including shows and swim with dolphins you don't do much but still amazing

The dolphin show was nice. But I wanted to help the sea turtle escape back to the ocean.

Very fun and low key aquarium. The show's are worth the ticket cost alone. The birds are gorgeous and you can get some beautiful photos of most the animals. I've never been able to see these types of animals so close at a regular zoo. The sea lion kiss was great and the photo and experience was only $5. Good money spent for a half day of fun.

Very crowded. Only got to see one show. The sea turtles and shark were cool. Got to pet a sting Ray.

Don t waste your time or money. It s really not worth it.

The experience left us very disappointed. It was expensive, dirty and small. One display you actually couldn't see anything because the windows were completely filthy. Additionally, you were standing in puddles of water. The birds were very cool and seeing the large turtles were nice. We did not eat there so I cannot comment on the food. It was quite small and we were done in 30 minutes. It was a waste of our time and money.

It was too late when we arrived to buy a ticket and go in. We still got to look at some dolphins from the gift shop viewing Windows. I plan to go back when I can plan for more time.

Great fun if you have small fries. Staff is very friendly and informative.

Great little place to spend some time with the family. Not overly huge but has a lot to see especially with a little one.

My family spent over $750.00 for admission, an interactive dolphin experience and pictures (because they won't let you take your own). We purchased tickets online but had to stand in line for 30 minutes when we got there. Once we got inside we immediately had to stand in another line another 45 minutes for the dolphin experience (this is after getting other customers to show us where to stand because there's not enough people working there to help so it's total chaos). Keep in mind that its 100 degrees and there's no air or breeze in this place so it's unbearably hot (although they will sell you a $1.00 paper fan because apparently spending $750.00 wasn't enough to get one for free).
After doing the dolphin experience we stood in line another 30 minutes to view and spend $140.00 for a CD with pictures (only to get home and find out they gave us some other family's pictures).
We left after we got the pictures (not knowing they weren't even ours) because we were hot and exhausted from standing in line for 2 hours with crying babies who didn't understand why we weren't able to "have fun" (we never got to see anything else they have to offer).
Since returning home and realizing we have someone else's pictures I have called numerous times to ask them if we can still get our pictures or get a refund and NOBODY calls you back. This place is a ripoff and has the WORST customer service EVER!!!

This was an awesome show and thoroughly enjoyed the Meet and great for the girls.

They advertise that the dolphins will rise you above the water surface by pushing you from the soles of your feet. Foot push, Dorsal tow, Kiss, Hand target, Handshake, Hug and Caresses, Free Time. My grand daughter was not offered the foot push put to hold onto the fins and a ride. she was unable to catch the fins on the first time and they would not let her try again. I do not expect them to try "all day" as they put it but a second chance would have been nice especially for the cost. They really ruined what could have been a fun memory and made it disappointing for her. I would not spend the money to do this again.

The shows were nice but wasn't allot to see for the price you paid.

Swimming with the dolphins was awesome but a bit pricey. I do recommend top package if you can afford it. Get the picture package. Fun place to spend a hot day. get your picture taken being kissed by a Harbor seal. Dolphin show was good. Feed the rays. Everyone was nice and helpful. Has food and drink too.

We always love to visit Gulf World while we are in Panama City. The shows are great and staff is friendly. They have a lot of different animals and shows to see while there. They are open rain or shine which does make it flexible as an entertainment option while in Panama. Also if you buy tickets on time ahead of time you get a little bit of a discount. Everyone should go at least once.

Very nice attraction for such a small town . The dolphin show was terrific, and it is wonderful to see the graceful dolphins underwater through the huge glass walls of the pools. Our grandchild enjoyed her swim with the dolphins, a once in a lifetime type of experience.

Absolutely my favorite thing we did our whole trip here! Great shows and beautiful animals!

We loved this place. This was the best money we spent in PCB. The staff was great. You could tell they really loved their jobs and the animals. Fun for the whole family.

Was a little disappointing. Was expecting more interaction with general admission. Shows are very short. Building is in need of repair!

i absolutely love this one! simple easy to see and get in and out i loved that .the show was cute and i loved the shark tank!! highly recommend

Tourist trap with a dolphin show. Way too crowded and not enough to see for the price we paid.

Fun place for a few hours. The shows are cool, and they have the opportunity to swim and interact with some dolphins, seals, and stingrays. We had a good time. The staff is very friendly, knowledgeable, and dedicated to the animals they have.

Went to this place so many times as a kid and loved it. Now they seem to be more interested in money than education.

Amazing show, but feel bad for animals living in a small pool.

Awesome experience for grandkids swimming with the dolphins

It has been one of my biggest dreams to get the chance to swim with dolphins, and the gulf Coast dolphin experience did not disappoint. It was worth every penny, and the trainers were awesome as well. I was VERY skeptical about going here based on all the negative reviews. I almost didn't go based on the negative feedback, but I am SO glad I went. In my opinion these people with the negative comments probably have nothing good to say about anything. From the Staff, go the park itself, to the dolphin encounters was absolutely wonderful. Don't listen to the bad reviews, you are missing out if you don't go! :) I made sure I got the pictures afterwards also. Thank you Gulf Coast for such an amazing experience that I will remember forever. :)

A must see for children. My grandson wanted to go back the next day. I felt the prices to swim with the dolphins were reasonable. Staff was great, especially our photographer (pictures turned out amazing)

Let me say the actual Dolphin experience with Sandy was incredible and 5 stars. But I m extremely disappointed with how it was run. First off you are not allowed to take photo or video yourself. They have a photographer who does that. And the pictures are more expensive than the Dolphin swim. That s all fine except they were short staffed when we went on Wednesday. After our time was up they said they would be back in a little while To show us our pictures. After a half hr the photographer showed them to us but he had to go do the next group so he went to do his job. Nobody else in that whole building would help us to buy our overly priced pictures so after over an hr we left and figured we d come back
later. Another member of my party went back late Wednesday afternoon and when he found an employee her exact words were you re still here?!? And then laughed in his face. Then said There s nothing we can do about it they ll be online tomorrow The twist is they are available the next day but at twice the price. So we end up paying almost the same
Original price but we got half the pictures. Pretty disappointing since I spent almost a weeks pay check there. I loved meeting Sandy the dolphin but I would never go back due to the staff. And to be clear the trainer we worked with on Wednesday was fantastic and so was the photographer for the 10 am show.(He got some amazing pictures) Everyone else who was working August 12 should be ashamed of themselves for how they treated my group. There s more things that upset us but we ll leave it at that.

Loved the shows however the place could use a makeover .. worth it to go .

I felt 159 dollars for the dolphins ride was so not worth it.

I brought my kids here for their birthday in June and we loved it! I think I was more excited than the kids lol They have very entertaining shows, a variety of animals, animal feedings, food vendors and so much more. My favorites were the bottlenose dolphin show and the stingray feeding. I would definitely recommend Gulf World!

Dolphin show was good. A couple of the exhibits were still closed after hurricane Michael. Stingray pool was really neat to experience. Laid out nicely. Would like to visit again when restored.

Wonderful performances! Beautiful creatures! Thank you!