Gulf World Marine Park, Panama City Beach

This was an overall wonderful experience! From the rep on the phone to all the staff everything went great! I did the royal swim! It was amazing and a dream come true. I was worried about some.of the reviews but I chose to go into it with perspective and a great attitude ready to have fun and fun I had! Do you get 30 minutes alone with the dolphins? No... but you are in a pool with dolphins experiencing joy and watching others do the same! My entire group seemed to love it and have a blast. The trainer was amazing and the photographer as well! Yes the pictures are expensive but omg so worth it. If your gonna spend the money for the experience get the photos! I highly recommend doing the royal swim! Such an incredible feeling being lifted by your feet by dolphins!

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.