gulf world marine park Reviews

Nice but limited amount of attractions for the price. The dolphin swim was expensive especially when you consider your not allowed to video or take photos. They upsale photo packages for a high amount.

Not only was the experience here absolutely amazing but you can tell the staff loves these animals very much! I had such an amazing time swimming with the dolphins! Highly recommended and I will be returning here someday.

More of a photo shoot than a swim with dolphins!!! We paid a lot for 4 people to swim with the dolphins. It was not a swim with the dolphins it was one dolphin and we posed with him for 30 minutes then paid $160 more for pictures. It is only a money gimmick! Waste of a lot of money!! Would never do it again!!! We spent almost $1000 to get pictures made with a dolphin!!!!!!

Wanted to swim with dolphins because they are my favorite animals and I did but the price was high and then if you wanted pictures of your experience it was even more money which I found to be disappointing

My daughter really enjoy the sweam with dolphins but I got the royal swimming and she got the adventure swimming, I'm very disappointed, I wanted her to have the best experience and I payed for it.

The best Marine Park in the area by far fun fun fun for everybody and quite educational

Gulf world Marine Park deserves kudos for the excellent rehabilitation and rescue they are involved in for marine animals along our coastline. Hence the one star.
The profit part of the park is where guests can pay to watch shows and can pay extra to swim with the dolphins. It's quite old, outdated, and despite some improvements nowhere near state of the art. Some parts are even look like they need to be bulldozed.
When we first moved here we loved this little place. It was family owned and we adored going and feeling like family. Over the years it's changed- like all businesses- while some has been good and other changes not good at all. It's currently owned by a large company based out of Mexico. Mexico has little to no protections for marine mammals in human care.... do a little research if you wanna know where your dollars are going.
The current programming includes shows and over 400 individual swim with the dolphins a day. Why- because people will pay $$$ to hang with dolphins. The almighty dollar wins over ethics again.
I was an observer when 3 of my family members did a swim. It started innocently enough but my niece and her mom both received bruises and a rake mark that drew blood before they switched dolphins. I can only assume the dolphins were pretty sick of doing programs that day. It was laughed off as a cheeky little dolphins hijinks.
I love dolphins too, and I used to be this parks biggest fan but they have sold out and the animals are the ones who will pay the ultimate price.
Is that worth your money? Not mine.
And the fact that one of their dolphins was caught many years ago in the wild (a practice that's illegal now) just seems so cruel. I can't imagine how much better off she would have been left as healthy breeding stock in the Gulf of Mexico instead of breeding stock for overpriced tourists programs. It's quite sad.
Lastly my friend's daughter did trainer for a day due to her interest in the career, going backstage all over the park made her decide to become a nurse. What you see as a guest is not the reality for the animals.
There are many amazing aquariums and animal educational facilities all over the place- my advice go to one of those instead.

Fun and entering place to spend 1/2 the day. The marine animal shows are great. For an extra fee you can touch and take pictures with dolphins and sealions. Lots of pretty birds and chessy but great magic show. May seem a little pricey but your little ones will enjoy it.

Loved this place so much to see. Great staff & swimming with Dolphins was exciting. Will do it again!

Buyer beware! This place is little more than a WAAAAAY overpriced tourist trap. Now on the surface you might say, Obviously, look where it is . I have been to many tourist beach/ocean attractions in many places, but this one stands out, and not in good ways.

The reality is... where else can you go swim with a dolphin? The opportunity is rare and not many will be able to ever say this. We have been coming to Panama City Beach for years and I finally relented to letting my three kids (two 18 and one 15) to go swim with the dolphins. I figured that all the packages were really expensive, so for the difference in price and the extra you get, I went with the Royal Swim . What they said they would do on the web and what they actually did was correct, but, there is an implied idea of personal interaction with an animal. My kids were in a very small tank (sad really, and I m not a militant animal rights guy, but I felt sorry for ALL the animals in the park). Everything they do is very robotic. Ten people, 30 minutes, and two dolphins. I think that each person MAYBE had a minute of total dolphin time, for $190 dollars. The rest of their time is standing in knee deep water waiting for their next 10 second turn to pose for a photo (that s coming).

My kids had an experience they will never forget. It is amazing to experience the sheer power of these beautiful animals. Their smiles were big and eyes were wide. They were disappointed at how little they actually had any contact with the dolphins as the expectations and ads portray something different. There was no real swimming with them . As I said, where do you go for this experience for cheap? You don t. But, again, $189 for 30 minutes per person? This is an individual call and mine is that it is way too expensive for what you get.

Now to photos. This is the BIGGEST RIPOFF I have ever seen! After already paying $189, per child (over $700 after fees and taxes), I had to pay another $140 to get a disk of poorly taken pictures by some kid they handed a camera to. This to me was outrageous! Why did I buy them? Because you are not allowed to take pictures of your own with ANY device. NONE! How do you walk away from a life event and not get pictures for them to share and look back on someday (I know I have. I SWAM with Dolphins in the Florida Keys in the 60 s). I was really angry, but said nothing, what s the point?

The park is small. It IS a pleasant place. A bunch of parrots on stands, and some sadly small exhibits (mentioned above). Some turtles, a ray exhibit, a couple gators, a shark Tunnel with very small sharks. It was clean the day we were there and the animals appear to be well cared for. Teens will be bored of the park 15 minutes after they re out of the water. Little kids might get an hour before they ve had it. Overall, the hour we were there cost a little over $1,000 for three kids and one parent to join them. God bless capitalism and this place takes it to the extreme.

Was it worth it? In my Opinion, no. Their smiles during and after are priceless and I feel guilty saying this. But $1,000 is a lot of $$$$$ that I don t have to get them a very limited, one minute experience with anything.

My daughter and school enjoyed their end of the year trip. They loved the dolphins

Was the highlight of our vacation kids loved it and so did us parents dolphin show was my favorite

If your ever in the Panama City Beach Area with your Family, this is a must stop if your worn out from all the Beach going stuff. While it is comparably a small Aquarium, compared to Sea World I m Orlando or the Georgia Aquarium, it is spread out fairly well. They have a lot to offer in this small space. From the bird watching path, to many shark and fish aquariums they is a good bet to for a day trip.

They do offer a fair Military Discount which will save you some cash, the Sea Lion and Dolphin show is full price (at least when I visited). My kids did enjoy that show, and we even stayed for individual pictures at the end. They got to get a kiss from the Sea Lion and also shook hands with the Dolphins. Something you would never be able to do any place else for that small price.

I give this place 5 stars because it s worth the trip and time to visit here, and you do get a good return. We haven t been here in a few years, so I don t know what has been added or changed, but from what I can remember it worth it.

Great shows, staff was very friendly. We love that the majority of the animals are rescues. Would have been 5 stars but the sea lion habitat was under construction so we weren't able to attend the show.

For what you get, the pricing is way too much. Exhibits are small and the whole viewing experience took about 30 minutes. If you are looking for an aquarium this is not it; there are more parrots than fish.

I wanted to say I give the dolphins and their trainers 100 stars However Jacob the supervisor in the shop when you first enter well let s just say he is very rude and when i say Very it s an understatement! They way he spoke to me and to his co-worker was down right ignorant! The staff was very unfriendly (not the trainers or my cashier and i forgot Her name) anyway I spent a lot of money to leave there feeling like I was completely disrespected. Only reason I m giving two stars is because the trainers and dolphins!

I had a great time, definitely make sure you go to the shows thats the best part

It is a very small, but well kept park. Worth the cost (we went during a 1|2 price promotion) if you plan to attend all of the shows. Its educational for kids and does fund animal rescue projects. It was a nice experience, but we were disappointed by the size of the park.

The shows were descent, but the facility needs an update...the ceiling was leaking water into buckets!

Loved this place. Keepers are fantastic and informative. Hands on is incredible. Will never forget our experience!

A little too high priced for what they have to offer but still had a nice time.

We visited in December 2018. Dolphin show was the best in my opinion. I don't think it's worth $80 a ticket as there was not much to see during this season. Maybe summer they may offer more.

The dolphin and sea lion shows were definitely kid approved. My kids also loved feeding and petting the stingrays. Staff was super friendly and informative. Love it here!

This was a god way to kill a couple hours of the day. If u want to take a break from the beach. My only complaint is i wish there were more exhibits, and that they were a little better. Went in thinking it was like a seaworld. All in all the kids had a ball and that all that mattered.

Phenomenal experience getting to swim with dolphins for my three kids (ages 12, 10, 7). With the "royal swim" package they got to touch the dolphins, and got both a dorsal fin ride and got pushed by their feet. The dolphin show was great and there was plenty to do. Check out some pics...love this place. My kids are still talking about it.

Love it I've been coming here for about fours years and I love it more everytime especially the dolphins they are the best attraction and next year I'll be old enough to be trainer for a day

Great place to take the kids!! A smaller, more personal facility. They are fun and you can tell they love what they do. My kids loved it. Takes about 4 hours to see all the shoes and talks and food and souvenirs are priced reasonably. The only issue we had was the ventilation in the Rainforest building was poor so my husband and I were getting bad headaches but not a reason that we won't be back! This place is definitely worth the trip again and again!!

Great place to take the family to learn about wild life with valuable knowledge about the marine animal life. While still remaining reasonably priced

We went around to a few of the shows and paid for some photos to be taken, one of the photos came out a little blurry which we were not too happy about, but the staff and, I believe manager of the photo booth resolved the problem and even acommendated for the slight inconvenience, no questions asked. The entire experience was pleasant and we will definitely be returning to gulf world again.

Lots of fun for the grandchildren, but it sure was HOT.

Took our 3 kids here aged 1,3,5 and they loved it. It's a small park but super clean and well thought out. The animals are really up close which was neat for the kids to see. The sting ray feeding area was reply fun for the kids. All the shows are great too. We'll be back if we're in PCB again!

THE WORST EXPERIENCE EVER!!!!!!! Do not waist your money or time. The exhibit is very small and dirty. When my wife and I went we didn t buy an encounter or go to a show. We literally were able to walk around the exhibit in 5 mins. If I could give this review zero stars I would.

Lots to see and learn! Sharp-toothed dolphins were unique to see and learn about. It was nice to have the option of coming here since we had some double red flag days on our trip. The kids loved seeing all the animals. It can easily be done in a half day if you follow the schedule of shows. Only complaint is that it was hard to hear some of the speakers at the smaller exhibits, the Penguin talk for example, but part of the issue is they re so busy! Definitely worth visiting and learning about the Gulf!

Royal swim was an awesome experience!! But pics costs 90 bucks!!! That was a lot after paying for two royal swims.

Lots of interesting animals, great shows and informative staff.

This is the place you Must visit whether you are a local , or just visiting. Delightful staff, exotic indoor entertainment as well as the awesome outdoor events! Family fun for all in any type of weather. I give this my highest recommendation and hope everyone enjoys as much as my family & I have!

We had so much fun here! At first I wasn't sure how much you could see or do outside of swimming with the dolphins, but I watched a YouTube video and learned there's so much to enjoy! My kids, ages 1 and 6, had a blast walking around seeing and learning about the animals. The sea lion and dolphin show was hot and miserable so we didn't catch anymore shows but it was very entertaining! You can tell they are well taken care of and the employees love what they do.

Wonderful place for kids! Dolphin show makes it the best. Their food is cheap yet tastes great, freshly made!

Alex did an amazing job with picture line up and offered us a great deal on our photos.I highly recommend the royal swim Ashley the dolophin trainer and her associates were very professional.Johnathan the photographer was on top of his game taking the photos.Bethany went above and beyond by helping us to download our digital photos to our phones.The three shows that we attended we're very entertaining birds feathers,sea lion rough toothed dolophins and the bottle noise dolophins.Thank you'll for all the great memories for my son's 13 birthday .

This was our first time visiting PCB and found this to be one of the best attractions offered in the area. The staff was very friendly, going over and beyond to accomodate our family on such short notice. My daughter along with family friend and myself chose Royal Swim with phenomenal Dolphin trainer Jenna T!!! I just loved her bubbly and welcoming personality. Our photographer Cierra captured some great shots and those photos will definitely make for some great memories to look back on. Lastly, I want to send a special shout out to Katie (Aux) for assisting with going over different photo packages, thoroughly explaining the best options. She was very kind, personable and thanks to her we decided to come back for more keepsakes from our encounter. It was Simply the Best!!!

I did not like the fact that the animal did not have enough space, but the dolphy show was good though.

Beautiful birds and the dolphin and sea lion shows were so cute! Definitely worth the money. The whole place is handicap accessible but bring sunscreen and sunglasses for the shows because they are all outside...I got sunburned while there....im superwhite..lol...Still worth it.

Amazing experience!!! We got here right after Hurricane Michael and were not sure if we would be able to do the dolphin swim, but the staff was there and even though they were operating with limited resources and still dealing with the aftermath of the storm they were incredibly friendly and positive. My kids loved the dolphins and our trainer, Halle! This is definitely worth your time and money if you are in the Panama City area!

Had so much fun, my family and I learned a lot about the ocean and our planet as well. The bird's show and play was awesome.

Instead of visiting "wild animals" put on display like Victorian Circus dancing bears for your entertainment at Gulf World, may I suggest a sail in our fabulous Gulf waters where the porpoises come right up to your boat and look you in the eye, or visit Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park which is a Florida State Park in Wakulla County, Florida. The manatees swim near you in their home, bumping your boat for attention in crystal clear waters which spring from the ground magically to form a river as if from nothing. The largest fresh water spring in the world.
Visit your fabulous native creatures where they are free and in the wild. You will love it and will have learned something valuable about Florida's nature.

A little hot- nothing to complain about. This is Florida. Kids enjoyed it for awhile, loved the dolphin trainers. A bit rude about masks when it was clear we were trying to already get them on.

Nice way to spent a morning and seeing some marine animals.

I let me start out and say go to alot of amusement parks, animal parks, refugees, aquariums, and alot of different attractions. GULF WORLD is way overpriced and not worth it. The price to get in this place is about the same as Seaworld and is so small and not impressive at all. A lot of the staff had a nasty attitude, I don't think they cared about customer service because they know everyone is visiting and don't think anyone will be a repeat customer so no need tl be nice and police. The whole place isn't put together very well and has very limited information on their exhibits (no educational information or staying what type of animal it is). Several exhibit's were EMPTY. The exhibit's that were open were mediocre and not that great. The turtle/shark tank looked bad and wasn't very clean. The "swimming with the dolphins" was a joke. $100 and all you do i touch the dolphin for about 1 minutes combined time. We expected the price to be high but the quality of the facility was poor. We seen every show and wasted time just sitting around waiting on the swim with the dolphins. The shows really preach about recycling but we didn't see one recycling bin around. So tell all these kids and people you need to recycle, reuse, and reduce but you can't even give them a space to recycle while they are there. We recycle at home and our child asked us why the facility talks about recycling but doesn't have recycling cans. Hmm good point little one good point. The bathroom by the turtle/shark tank was nasty my daughter didn't even want to go in. The animals didn't seen very happy and did not corporate very well with the trainers. We did find it interesting to see the "dinosaur" dolphins. The trainers in the sea lion/dolphin show seemed to be the best other than the young girl in the beach party themed animal show that worked with the birds. The young petite girl with short hair seemed to be very informative and nice to everyone, she really seemed to care. Also the Hispanic guy working the photo center desk "cashier" window was very helpful. The guy cashier at the photo desk came around the front and helped us explained everything and was very caring and nice to our whole family especially our child. He helped find something to wrap our mug in so it wouldn't break, because the facility doesn't provide anything for the mug.

Its was ok i enjoyed every show they had. But very long line for concessions.

Swimming with dolphins was the best thing I have ever done. They are not slimy and are very friendly. The park has a handful of shows and they are awesome. I recommend to swim with dolphins and go to the marine park it is a experience both you and I will never forget.

Visit only worth if you like animals get tortured! Horrible and disgraceful.

Too high didn't even go past front registration 2alked back out need better family packages

The facility is outdated and needs much attention. The dolphin show was the only thing worth the admission price.

Don t waist your money. This place is VERY run down. The shows last 20 mins and are a joke. The dolphin show was decent. Half of their exhibits are closed or being remodeled. The animals look poorly taken care of. Exhibits have one to two of each animal. The touch pool is also a joke with about 20 sting rays and nothing else. Small children can t reach the touch pool. Overall experience made me feel bad for the animals. This place either needs a major remodel or needs to be shut down and animals relocated to a decent home.

Not bad. Some attractions under construction. Glad they sold food

Great place to take the kids to pet the stingrays, get up close with the birds, penguins and have a dolphin experience. A bit on the pricey side but they put the money to good use caring for animals who are injured, endangered or can't survive in the wild. Overall a wonderful once in a lifetime experience and would highly recommend.

Loved this place. My daughter did the swim with the dolphins and she didn't stop smiling the entire time. We will go back and would recommend it to anyone.

My daughter and I did the dolphin encounter and had a blast. It was a lot of fun. My daughter is two so her ticket was free, however be mindful that if your kid can't have both feet flat on the ground that you must hold them at all times (which is kind of hot in the summer heat). I loved that with our tickets we got $20 in dolphin bucks that we could use in the park. Our $20 bought our entire lunch for three of us plus two popcorns. The dolphin show was awesome and it warms my heart to think that the animals are truly cared for. However, the one thing I was disappointed in is the lack of fish in the aquarium. The aquarium potion was small with few "fun" colored fish - in my eyes, not even really worth seeing.

Had the best time! Swimming with the dolphins was phenomenal - would do it again in a heartbeat. Employees were friendly and very knowledgeable. Thoroughly enjoyed all the animals.

We loved this place. It wss amazing. The people are super friendly.

It was great but it was so hot we couldn't stay very long

Disgusting,
When will people learn that these beautiful creatures need to be free, not used as slaves in captivity.
Educate yourselves about the cruelty and pain they go through for your entertainment,

A++
We had a blast, we were able to get in for general admission cost of $65 for 2 adults and 1 child. Go online to get discounts. What s important to know: show up about 9:15 and get in at 9:30 so you can make all of the show times . The dolphin show isn t until 12:30, so you can actually watch all the other shows leading up to it with time in between. It s a half day kind of deal- if you want to get the most bang for your buck. You could come at any time and just browse at your leisure , but you ll miss the best parts. Loved the sea lion show, which included rough toothed dolphins ( they are talented) . This was the best spent money highly recommend !!! Our daughter had the best time . % you won t regret it.

Had a great time, saw the bird show, dolphin show & swam with seals.

Starters, I called to ask a couple questions. The lady answered the phone "Gulf World" in a rude tone. I proceeded to say I needed to ask a few questions. Her response was "what?". I wanted to just hang up. I went ahead and asked my questions. The next day we arrived. The front desk girl was very rude to the older lady working behind the counter. The whole process at the front desk took forever. Once we purchased our tickets for the dolphin meet and greet we went in. It wasn't the best looking inside. The areas seemed small for the turtle(s) and sharks. The sea lions area was tiny. Nothing looked like it was well maintained. We got into the meet and greet area and I was super disappointed with how it was set up. I have small children and it was VERY hard for them to touch the dolphins. They had to get on their bellies and reach down into the pool to try to touch. I thought that was pretty dangerous. In the advertisement it showed kids reaching over a pool wall and being able to easily touch dolphins (kind of how they do at SeaWorld I believe). The staff ladies during meet and greet were very nice I will say though! Pictures were outrageous, 200 for a group of 5. Stingray area was so cloudy looking you couldn't even see them much. Once we went to leave, I noticed walking through letting my kids pick out a toy, how many buckets were on the ground from a leaking ceiling. Not one to complain much, but I was very disappointed on the maintenance of this place and how little spacing these animals had.

Great experience. A little pricey but it's nice to see the animals.

We could hear the dolphins crying across the street at our hotel. Those poor dolphins better be taken care of.