Starting on August 28, SeaWorld San Diego kicks off their new “Zoo Days: Bayside BBQ & Brews” experience. The park joins the list of California theme parks that found creative ways to partially reopen this summer. California still isn’t permitting theme parks to fully open, but earlier this year Knott’s Berry Farm opened a limited capacity food festival, and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom opened their outdoor animal exhibits. SeaWorld San Diego is pulling from both those ideas.
Zoo Days: Bayside BBQ & Brews will be a limited capacity, ticketed event with reservations required, similar to “Taste of Knott’s” at Knott’s Berry Farm. The park says it “will provide guests with the opportunity to not only delight their taste buds with an exciting variety of refreshing craft brews and mouthwatering BBQ, but also explore 40 acres of the park’s expansive property to enjoy outdoor animal exhibits and fan-favorite marine life animal presentations with physical distancing measures in place.”
Tickets to the event come with entry to SeaWorld, access to all the animal exhibits, and a tasting lanyard. The lanyard includes six food or drink “tastes,” and additional lanyards will be available for purchase. The food items include things like beer-infused BBQ Brisket Sliders, Shrimp Tacos, Grilled Fish, and much more. Expect lots of local Southern California craft beers to go along with the food (for those not from the West Coast, San Diego is a fantastic beer city).
Indoor animal exhibits won’t be open, but the open air ones as well as outdoor shows will be. You can also purchase tickets for more interactive experiences like animal feedings.
As with all openings these days, expect lots of similar new safety and sanitation procedures. You can learn more about the safety procedures and requirements on their website.
“We want to thank our guests for their continued patience and support, and are beyond excited to announce the launch of this unique zoo experience, in a limited capacity format, as we safely welcome everyone back to the park for Zoo Days: Bayside BBQ & Brews,” said Marilyn Hannes, president of SeaWorld San Diego. “We have enhanced our already strict health and safety measures to implement best practices in health and safety protocols that will promote an outdoor experience for families and friends that is fun, memorable and safe.”
Right now the event is slated to run Fridays – Sundays, from August 28 through September 27. Everyone needs to purchase a ticket and make a reservation, but pass-holders will get a big discount on them. Head to the SeaWorld Tickets site to get those. And, if this proves to be as popular as the Knott’s event, make sure to get your reservations early!
Have any of you been to one of these “partially open” events at a park? What’d you think? let us know in the comments below!
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