During the week that we were in Florida, it pretty much rained or was
threatening to rain most of the week. The best chance of having a dry
day was the Thursday & Friday before we left, so on Thursday we took
the girls to SeaWorld. I remember visiting SeaWorld when I was very
little and really enjoying it. We were pretty sure the girls would
enjoy it, since they both love animals (seeing the fish tank at
Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney the day before was their favorite
thing), and there would be a lot of animals there that they hadn't
necessarily seen before. It really was a big hit!
As
we were making our way into the park on the first day, we saw a bunch
of pink flamingos, then some big sea turtles and other birds that like
to stick close to water. No, I have no idea what kind of birds they
are. But apparently there are some native Florida birds (i.e., not
owned by SeaWorld) that hang around and try to snatch any fish you try
to feed the animals. One even tore into a bag of trail mix that was in
our stroller while we were in a show - we discovered the evidence
afterwards.
Stringray Lagoon
After
the flamingos and turtles, we visited the stingrays. It's a giant,
shallow pool full of stingrays. There were some huge ones in there. You
can pet the stingrays as they swim by - they feel like wet mushrooms.
Anna said she wanted to pet one, but then changed her mind when she had a
chance. Beth chose not to pet them, either. You can buy trays of little
fish to feed the stingrays, so I got a tray. You're supposed to hold
the fish in the water so the rays swim over your hand and suck the fish
out. So I did that while Anna watched. Then she actually tried to feed
them, too - she dropped the fish into the water, basically, but I was
impressed that she even touched and picked up the fish.
Dolphin Cove
From
there, we went to the dolphin cove. In hindsight, we should have
gotten in line to feed the dolphins on Thursday, but we didn't, and the
line was way too long on Friday when we went back (you get a 2nd visit
free with your tickets). That would have given us a better chance to get
to pet the dolphins, too. But we just stood by the edge and watched
the dolphins swim by, play, and jump. Anna got startled a couple times
when all of a sudden a dolphin would come out of the water right in
front of us unexpectedly, but she still liked watching them and trying
to pet them.
Pets Ahoy!
SeaWorld's
shows are actually pretty good. I remember loving them as a kid, but I
still enjoyed them going back this time. The first show we went to was
one where cats, dogs, ducks, other birds, and a pig are doing all kinds
of scripted things on a stage. I know I do it no justice with that
description, but it was very cute and very well produced. For example,
one of the props is a hot dog cart, and a dog runs up and cranks the
handle, causing a door to open, and 5 or 6 weiner dogs run out. It was
definitely the girls' favorite show - they had big smiles on their faces
and clapped all through the show. Of course, I couldn't get a good
picture in there.
Penguin Encounter
From
the pets show, we went to the penguin encounter. It's basically a
large, enclosed area that is really, really cold inside, with a big
glass front where you can see penguins both on "land" and rocks and
underwater. There's a slow-moving walkway that you stand on while you
observe. There were lots of penguins standing, jumping in the water,
zooming through the water, looking at you through the glass…
This
was Anna's absolute favorite exhibit. She wanted to go back to see the
penguins again and again. Since she loved it so much, we got her a
stuffed penguin, and her famed kitty and blankets were rejected when we
got back to the car. She even slept with penguin instead of kitty that
night. We wondered if maybe the penguin would be the "new" kitty - and
for a day or two, it was, but as much as she loves penguin, she
eventually remembered kitty, and now holds both of them all the time.
Pacific Point Preserve
We
then went to the area that held the seals and sea lions. This is
another exhibit where you can buy trays of fish to toss to the animals,
which are in a very large pool with rocky cliffs to climb on, on the
other side of a glass fence. I got some fish, and the sea lions
definitely knew when someone had food, because they would all swim as
close as they could and even prop themselves up on the barrier and ask
for it. Anna wanted to try feeding the sea lions, but these fish were
much bigger than the ones for the stingrays (that is, much slimier,
too), so Anna quickly changed her mind, but enjoyed watching.
Shark Encounter
We
then went to the shark encounter - a very cool exhibit where you
literally walk through the tank of fish & sharks, looking up and
around through very thick plastic. There is semi-creepy music playing,
as if something's going to get you. When you first walk in, you're
looking at a variety of fish, amongst some rock formations with many
holes for moray eels to hide. Here, Anna told me that she was scared of
the holes. Who knows what lurked inside - maybe the giant dead lizard
from our villa! I told her not to look at the holes.
Next in the exhibit was a tank holding a lot of scorpion fish, other
tropical fish, and an unusual-looking stingray that had purple spots
all over it.
Across from that was a tank full of pretty large
barracuda. Anna and Cara referred to them as the "cookie monster
fish." Anna really liked watching the barracuda for some reason. Then
we saw a tank full of sea dragons, which I found pretty amazing.
They're just like sea horses, only they have lots of appendages sticking
out of them that look like leaves - and it really hides them. You have
to look kind of hard to see all of them among the real plants.
Next
was the main attraction, the moving walkway through the shark tank.
Very cool! As you approach the tunnel, you walk past several sets of
shark jaws. Anna wanted me to walk as far away from the jaws as I
could. In the tunnel, both Anna and Cara stared and pointed at all the
sharks.
For some reason, Anna kept saying to me, "It's not scary! It's
not scary, daddy!" I would point out a shark to her - "look, there's
one!" and she'd respond, "Yeah! And it's not scary!" I don't know if
she was reassuring herself that it wasn't scary, or if she was so
relieved to be away from the holes that she really didn't find it scary!
Horses, whales, and walruses
SeaWorld
is owned by Anheuser-Busch, so they had a stable with several of their
clydesdale horses. They really are pretty large horses. After seeing
the clydesdales, we went to the Wild Arctic exhibit, where we saw beluga
whales, a polar bear, and a 2 walruses. We got a better look at the
walruses swimming underwater on the lower level - they were HUGE. The
picture we got doesn't really give you a feel for how big they were.
Whale & Dolphin Show
We
then went to see another show involving lots of dolphins, false killer
whales, some acrobats, high divers, and birds. This was a very good
show - Beth & I's favorite. It of course had the dolphins and
whales jumping and flipping, and it was cool seeing two dolphins push a
trainer along the surface of the pool by his feet. But the coolest move
was when a trainer was being pushed by his feet underwater by two
dolphins, while simultaneously twirling him around and around as they
pushed him.
Manatee Rescue
After
a quick meal and Shamu cookie which turns parts of Anna's face black,
we went to the manatee exhibit. Very fat animals that don't do much but
swim slowly through the water and maybe sleep at the bottom of their
lake for 20 minutes at a time before they get a breath. This turned out
to be Cara's favorite exhibit. Both girls referred to the animals as
"Barbara Manatee," because there's a Veggie Tales silly song where Larry
the Cucumber is watching a soap opera about a Barbara Manatee. We got
Cara a stuffed manatee, which she loves to carry around, calling it
"Matee!"
Shamu
The
last thing we did at SeaWorld the first day was see the killer whale
show. It was 5:30 by this time, and Cara finally gave up and fell
asleep on mommy. The show didn't go as smoothly or as quickly as usual,
because apparently the killer whales that were performing decided they
were done halfway through the show, and the trainers eventually had to
get them to go back to their holding area and get some different killer
whales to finish the show. The whales really threw the trainers high
into the air in this show.
The weather cooperated with us perfectly that day - it only rained
(and rained hard) twice, and both times it did, we were sitting in the
stadiums watching a show, so we never got wet.
Back for more
Since
your 2nd visit is free and Friday was a sunny, we went back the next
day. Anna squealed "Yeaaaaaaah!!!" when we asked if she wanted to see
the dog & cat show again. She, of course, wanted to see the
penguins again, and again. And although she wanted to see the sharks
again, she did tell me before we even got there that she didn't want to
see the holes.
We saw the sea otter show, the dog & cat show, and wanted to
catch the whale & dolphin show again. I got a little video of the
whale & dolphin show - the girls still really enjoyed it, but were
clearly much more tired than the previous day, so Anna, while she's
clapping, isn't smiling like she was the first day. I should have taken
the video when she had her big smile on. Oh well.
As we were leaving the park, I got a little bag of gummy bears and
gummy gators, which you can see below was very popular with the girls.
Cara again couldn't stay awake in the car on the way to Titi Toni's and
took a power nap with her manatee.
I think the girls had big fun at SeaWorld, and even though we didn't
make it to Disney's Magic Kingdom this time, I think it may have worked
out better. We don't think the girls would have like standing an hour
in lines for a ride - especially the 2nd day. Anna may have done OK
with the TVs and cartoons I hear they have playing as you wait, but Cara
definitely wouldn't have been able to stay still that long several
times in the day. We'll come back when they're bigger - it wasn't our
last trip to Orlando!
All our SeaWorld pictures and videos are in our photo gallery, under
Vacations and Trips, 2007 Family Reunion, Seaworld.
Across from that was a tank full of pretty large
barracuda. Anna and Cara referred to them as the "cookie monster
fish." Anna really liked watching the barracuda for some reason. Then
we saw a tank full of sea dragons, which I found pretty amazing.
They're just like sea horses, only they have lots of appendages sticking
out of them that look like leaves - and it really hides them. You have
to look kind of hard to see all of them among the real plants.
For some reason, Anna kept saying to me, "It's not scary! It's
not scary, daddy!" I would point out a shark to her - "look, there's
one!" and she'd respond, "Yeah! And it's not scary!" I don't know if
she was reassuring herself that it wasn't scary, or if she was so
relieved to be away from the holes that she really didn't find it scary!
We
then went to see another show involving lots of dolphins, false killer
whales, some acrobats, high divers, and birds. This was a very good
show - Beth & I's favorite. It of course had the dolphins and
whales jumping and flipping, and it was cool seeing two dolphins push a
trainer along the surface of the pool by his feet. But the coolest move
was when a trainer was being pushed by his feet underwater by two
dolphins, while simultaneously twirling him around and around as they
pushed him.
No comments:
Post a Comment