gulf world marine park Reviews

Loved our time at Gulf World. It's a nice small place that the kids enjoyed. We really enjoyed the Dolphin Adventure swim!!!

If I could give this place 0 stars I most definitely would. Waited in line for a sea lion show and they only let a few people in. They let way more people into the building than they will allow to see the shows. You have to wait in line just to see a show for an hour or two and then aren t promised to see the show.

I couldn't get my children away from the stingray exhibit for anything! They ability loved the whole thing!

Family had a good time, shouldn't have charged so much for pictures,facility needs upgrade

My family enjoyed swimming the dolphins. Thank goodness, there was only 6 people in their group so they were able to spend time with the sweet dolphin Angel. We were sitting there cooling off for a minute (it was 95 degrees) and watching the dolphins swim after the show and asked to leave. Apparently you are not allowed to sit and watch the dolphins swim? The photographer for the swim adventure was very rude and snappy to my 8 year old daughter. I realize they deal with the public alot but this is a very exciting time for younger children. Also, at 4:30 they start putting all the animals up so you have to get there early to see the animals.

Kids loved it!!! Dolphins, Sea lion shows are good especially for first time watchers. Dolphins swim is exciting activity but we didn't do it due to cold weather.

Gulf World is a great way to a day with your family when you need a break from the beach. My kids love the Interactive Programs such as the Harbor Seal Encounter and Sea Lion Meet N Greet.

Last time we did the Swim with The Dolphins "Royal Swim" and it was a lot of fun. The trainer that ran the interactive swim was really friendly and it was thrilling as the dolphins push you through the water. If you have older kids then the Royal Swim is awesome. If you have young kids then the "Dolphin Encounter" would probably work best.

There's so much to see at Gulf World in Panama City Beach. You can easily spend a full day at the park and it's fun for people of all ages. So when you need a break from the beach and want to do something fun as a group, Gulf World PCB is a great option.

Paid almost $100 to swim with dolphins for birthday party. 2 minutes late and wasn t allowed in after traveling a great distance and small traffic accident. Neisha, the manager, was rude, belligerent, and racist. Supposed to be part of a birthday party and she refused to let me in. Gulf World needs to hire a more mature manager who knows what customer service is.

We really enjoyed our time there. We went on a Thursday in September; there was not a lot of people so we got to see everything and not feel hurried. The kids really loved the sea lion and dolphin show! For $20 they both got to take home a sea lion kiss photo.

We loved it!!! We swam with the dolphins. The royal swim and it was worth every penny!! The trainer Caroline was amazing and so friendly. And we fell in love with Capri the dolphine!!!

The dolphin experience was truly amazing! However, the staff was rude and unreasonable. The price of entry and especially pictures was not worth the trouble honestly. It was a bad experience up until we saw and interacted with the dolphins, which is the ONLY reason i gave 3 stars.

Great place!
Not very big but still worth it.

Okay so this place is crazy expensive, but I found the experience so worth it. My fiance is in love with penguins, and we got to swim with them for a couple of minutes. I wish it would've been a little longer for the price, but there are very few places that even let you get in the water with penguins. The handlers were all super nice, and the shows are great. I love that the animal shows tried to push environmental issues, like removing plastic straws and littering. I was kissed by a seal, which how many people can say that in their lifetime? Overall an amazing day, but it is super expensive, especially if you want pictures.

My son and I did the VIP package today and it was the BEST time EVER and SOOOOO worth the money!!!!! If I could give it a MILLION stars, I would!!! We got to swim with penguins, bottle nosed dolphins, and our FAV were the harbor seals and the rough toothed dolphins (SUCH an AMAZING species that we hadn t even heard of before today....it was love at first sight!). The animals were obviously our FAV part of the day but the humans there all rock too! Specifically trainers, Ellen, Destiny, and Ashley, along with the photographer Hannah....thank you to each of these ladies for making our special day THAT much more special! You can tell how much they love the animals they care for, and they went ABOVE and beyond to answer my sons questions, and make sure he was having the best time EVER!!! PLEASE visit this place, they are a 501c3 that does so much to help marine life and your ticket price counts for a lot....if you re on the fence about whether to just do a dolphin encounter or upgrade to VIP, DO THE UPGRADE! When you add the value of the picture package, lunch, and super cool souvenir cups, it s actually not THAT much more to upgrade and you ll NEVER forget the extra encounters you experience! If I only had to pick ONE encounter....we DID love Comet and Cuban (our bottle nosed dolphins), BUT that encounter always seems to be full (the royal swim is the smallest group and we had 9)....when we swam with the AMAZING Katana (rough toothed dolphin), and her trainer Ellen, we had them ALL to ourselves! I m shocked more people don t want to meet the awesome PINK bellied rough toothed dolphins....we ALMOST missed this one too and I m SO glad we didn t....book it! Also, Flounder and Sheldon (the seals) were the SWEETEST! So I m summary, DEF visit, do an encounter, and if feasible, do more than one encounter! While the bottle nosed dolphins rock, don t forget so do the rough toothed!

I've taken children in my family here twice we love it.

We interacted with the dolphins and had a fabulous time! The staff was great and the show was impressive!

The encounter with the animals, birds and sea life was wonderful but with all of the push for photos opportunities, which cost a small fortune, the whole experience ended up being pretty much ruined. After my husband and granddaughter 'swam' with the dolphins we were talked into spending close to $100.00 for a disc containing photos of the swim. After returning to our home 1000 miles away, we discovered that many of the pictures were repeats or just random photos of animals. We ended up feeling duped. Would definitely not recommend this place to anyone!

Great time show was incredible and fun.
Take your children fun family fun.

I love places like this! Yes it's small, and the crowds made it hard to move around, but still fun. The dolphin and sea lion shows are the best. We didn't do the dolphin encounter because it was so expensive, but the ither exhibits and shows were fun.

We swam with the dolphins. There are different packages so be sure to check out what you are paying for. Also the photos are expensive! They are priced by the number in your party. Party of 4, $180 for all of our pics.

Fun place to take the family. A nice change from shopping when you're not enjoying the Gulf.

My husband and I really enjoyed this place. It's a great price because they do multiple shows and the shows are pretty good. The food wasn't too expensive. Friendly staff.

We swam with the stingrays, it was a cool experience and the ladies were super friendly. All the shows were great!

I love the dolphins, that's why we come here every once in a while and watch the shows
Other than that, it's a very small place. Not too much to do here and the tanks the animals are kept in are very little which is kinda sad to see that they dont have much room to swim around

Great experience for the kids and adults! The only thing I would request would be more parking.

The dolphin show was really good! Honestly I feel like the price you pay is for that show so definitely don't pass it up!

Family did the dolphin encounter and sea lion meet and greet. I thought it was excellent. Lots of on hands interaction with the animals. They have a sting rat touch pool. Lots of exotic birds. Really a nice place. Ohm! They have Sharks!

Overall experience was good. I feel that for the price for the Royal Swim was really high for no more than what you got to do with the dolphins. Also charging my husband an additional $5.00 to be a spectator was a little ridiculous. Plus you can't have a family member take any pictures. You have to buy theirs. I did really enjoy the Dolphin Show and Swimming with the Dolphins, just wish it would have lasted longer.

It's okay place to go, not alot to do but they were working on it when we came here.

Great place for a family outing. Wide range of animals to see and the dolphin shows are amazing!

The shows were good but it felt smaller than I Remember. I would visit again, but it is pricey for what is provided.

The best part was the dolphins shows. The rest to me was meh. But if you have a child that's super into fish and sharks and turtles they will like it alot.

Made for a younger crowd for sure. Looked to need lots of updates. Didn't offer as many exhibits and was much smaller than expected. For the price and what they offer not impressed too much. The dolphin show was the best part.

Great park. They keep it up nice and not crazy expensive. Kids loved it. Will be back.

Really nice trainer for a day program. Price is actually reasonable for the amount of experiences you get to do. The park was pretty busy, as it was the 4th of July, and was definitely slower in the morning.

Wonderful experience! Kid friendly! Family approved!

Great time really enjoyed Swimming with the dolphins

Terrible terrible place to take the family. Staff is rude. Exhibits are filthy. I feel sad for the animals kept here. The "shows" are laughable. Dont waste your time or money.

Small but nice. Not to the scale of Seaworld but with all the fun.

We did the dolphin encounter, watched the dolphin show and walked around to see the rest of the exhibits. Meeting the dolphins was a fun experience and I truly enjoyed getting a kiss from Meeko! However, the whole experience felt very slow and the instructors were rather unenthusiastic. My 7-year old niece was getting antsy while we waited our turn. I do understand that the dolphins were young and still training, so that might have attributed to the lack of attention to the guests.
The dolphin show was entertaining and pretty impressive! The theme of the show was taking care of the earth by reducing, reusing, and recycling. Upon leaving the show with my empty plastic water bottle, I was very disappointed to find that there wasn t a single recycling bin in the whole park.
Furthermore, the prices are outrageous for the small size of the park. The photo packages are also overpriced and the app doesn t let you download photos after you ve left the park.
Swimming with the dolphins was a highlight, but I would recommend that this company make a LOT of improvements to guest experience.

It's a small interactive aquarium that includes a dolphin show. Timing is everything, make sure to check show times online. It's a bit overpriced for what you get but if your on vacation with 3 to 8 year olds I recommend it. Not fun for most teens

We had fun! A great place to go with kids and fun for the adults too!

This place and is amazing the dolphin rides are very enjoyable for older kids and the dolphin encounter is great for younger children

Our daughter thoroughly enjoyed the dolphin experience. Seems to be a very good and safe way to educate children on Marine life and activity possibly leading them towards good stewardship of the earth that God has let us borrow from generation to generation. The next person may think that the animals are in captivity but from what I saw they had plenty of room to live their life and we're in good hands.

Gulf world was a great day for my family, we watched several shows that showed amazing interactions between trainer and animal. Then my wife and daughter swam with dolphins and both said it was the most fun they'd ever had.. highly recommend taking your kids there!!

It was so much fun to watch my kids during the Royal Swim!

Dolphin and sealion shows are really good. The ability to get so close to the animals was nice also. Going in the morning is recommended. Especially in the summer months. Save yourself some money and time and purchase the tickets online. The shows are good, the bird show could use some upgrading. The food is good for a park, and wasn't as expensive as I expected. The reason I'm giving it a 4 star is because of the unorganized mess they have when taking pictures with the kids after the shows. It's a mad house at first, then they don't really take the extra few seconds to get a good pic. They just run them through like an assembly line. Other than that it was a very good experience.

Family vacation/birthday celebration

Great family place to visit, and see marine life and Interact with them as well. Highly recommend this place! You will get to see seals, parrots , African penguins , Nerf Sharks , Hugh sea turtles , puffer Fish , touch and feed Manta Rays and much more. Then there is a dolphin show you must see! Overall great place to come kids and in-laws really enjoyed it! We are from Dallas Texas and will be recommending this place to everyone back home who is heading down here.

It's a small park and there isn't a ton to see but it's still a beautiful area. The Dolphin Encounter was amazing and the trainer was great at making sure everyone had time with the dolphin. Being a family of 4, our photos were $150 which seems high for the amount you pay for the Dolphin Encounter. Overall, our family enjoyed the experience.

kind but not very worth the money especially without telling you nost of it is under construction and not having all animals out and not giving much explanation. Basically paying 60 for a dolphin short show or true animal slavery

Great place to go to be interactive with Dolphins !!!

The best dolphin and Aquatic experience I've ever had! I am so happy I got to visit!!

They made the place seem so large with alot of animals to look at....denied. Other than the dolphin show it was just a few birds and stingrays to look at. Definitely not worth the money.

Better spend your time and money somewhere else. Everything is outdated. Each building had leaks coming from the ceiling. Pictures online were deceiving.

Kids enjoyed the time here. However everything is structured to extract more money from you once you are through the gate.

Oh how my family and I LOVE this place. It is my dream to be a dolphin trainer!!

this place is actually terrible. everything is small and the dolphins are sad.

It was ok. It seemed like a lot wasn't open and we weren't informed of this when entering. The dolphin show was nice.

Amazing.. amazing.. Amazing! Dolphin show is the best! All the other animals are awesome.. Enjoyed watching the shark tank, with the turtles.. There is so many to name.. My family loved it.. Plan on going back!

Loved this place. Great price and good fun. Took whole family and everyone had a blast.

Our experience at gulf world was incredible! I started speaking with Leeann over the phone a few weeks prior to my trip and booked the encounter. I told her I was hoping to propose to my girlfriend and she was beyond helpful! She got us booked and handled the leg work. The week we arrived we made a last minute change to our booking and again, Leeann and her team were very accommodating. When we arrived we watched the dolphin show and toured the park before starting our swim. The show is awesome and a must see! Afterwards we got into the pool and began our encounter which ended with one of their dolphins assisting in my proposal. I won't spoil the details but the entire staff was awesome and Leeann went above and beyond for us! I'd certainly put my trust in them again and I'd leave a higher rating if I could!

Cool place. Arrived late and missed seeing some of the animals. Son did the Royal Dolphin encounter and loved it. Everybody there was very helpful and knowledgeable.

Very nice , we had a great time
Very personal experience the team was great
The kids had a blast ..

Great place. My kids loved it. A little pricey if you do all the things, but awesome place

Absolutely Love this place! I've been twice. The swim with dolphins is a once in a life time experience.

If you don't plan on doing any of the swim events, don't waste your time or money.

You can swim with & interact with the dolphins ,pet stingrays, see shows & more!

Love their shows and the pictures with the sea lion and dolphin was so worth it. My daughter is still talking about the sea lion kissing her