2018-01-04: Sunny with a side of SeaWorld

A slower start to the day today… No one moved until 7:45a.m.  Back to Contempo Café for a quick breakfast with Jim and Linda before we organized to go our separate ways.  We have had an amazing time with Mom and Dad and we are really sad to see them go but we will be really busy over the next couple of days to follow…

Darrell grabbed a shuttle over to the Disney Car Care Centre at 10a.m.  Amanda and the kids ended up hanging out at the hotel until he could get back with the car.  Jim and Linda packed and due to all the inclement weather ended up changing their plans. Amtrak was delayed by a few hours in New York, which would have delayed them for a late night arrival, turns out the train was 8 hours late.  Instead they picked up a rental car and made the four hour drive to Fort Lauderdale.  They will embark on their Panama Canal cruise tomorrow.

Darrell made it back to the hotel about 11a.m. just in time to say good bye to his parents in the lobby.  Then it was a quick pack up and out to the car for our trip to Sea World.   We took the half hour drive to the park, easily found parking and made our way in.   Sea World is still celebrating Christmas until January 6 so the Christmas decorations were still all up and the carols were still playing throughout the park.  Darrell and Patrick decided to do the Manta roller coaster, Michael was a few inches too short, so he and Amanda decided to tour while they waited.   We toured through the Manta Aquarium and enjoyed the view of the rays as they swam above us.  We spotted Octopus, sea horses and Leafy Sea Dragons.  We decided to go to Turtle Trek next.   Along the way we found Stingray Lagoon. A big pool filled with a few different kinds of rays you can actually feed.  Michael really impressed one of the interpreters at the park with his calm, brave attitude towards feeding the rays.   Amanda purchased a tray with 4 shrimps in it.   Michael go nervous with the first one but did much better with the second and third one.  By the time Amanda took a try the rays had realized someone was feeding at our spot and the crowding and pushing and shoving was real my friends…   We carried enjoying the ray tank and the interpreter came over, complimented Michael on his brave, calm feeding job and gave him a real stingray tooth!  Not every kid gets to bring that memento home.  Super proud mommy moment for sure.   The Dolphin Cove was next along our path.  We stopped to watch trainers introducing families to the dolphins and the dolphins doing hi fives and showing off their fins and flippers.  Finally, we made it to he Turtle Trek, an exhibit dedicated to sea turtles and manatees.  Lots of interesting fish in those aquariums along with 4 manatees and 4 sea turtles swimming around.  We watched a movie in the round about the life of a sea turtle and just as the show started realized the other guys were done their ride so after the show we quickly checked out the manatees, called Darrell and figured out where to meet them.

Michael was very eager to show his brother the tooth.  Patrick was equally as excited to tell us about his ride.  He finally found a roller coaster that scared the pant off him!  Even Darrell said it was an intense ride and crazy because you couldn’t see where you were going or what was coming up on the track because you are strapped in and soaring kind of like a bird under the ray.  We checked out the Jewel of the Seas Aquarium, with it’s jelly fish and Green Moray Eels and tank that you can walk over.  We made our way into the Antarctic area where the boys got a picture with penguin guy!  Then it was time for lunch.   There were lots of options in the Expedition Café, Italian, Asian, American and the food was decent.  If I was planning on being at the park all day I would consider doing the All Day Dining plan next time.   We got in line to see the penguins, but the line didn’t seem to be moving much and we decided we can see penguins at home so off to find other creatures we can’t find at our home zoo.   We made our way over to The Kracken rollercoaster, but Patrick was a little shy on that one… one crazy roller coaster was enough for him today.  Into the Pacific Point Preserve to see sealions, where the boys fed California Sea Lions and laughed and giggled as they got barked at!  Very cheeky creatures. Each sealion eats about 50lbs of fish a day!    We made our way into the Shark Encounter building and spied some very interesting fish and of course Sharks!  Amazing creatures and so many different kinds.

Time for the Clyde and Seamore show!  These crazy sealions and otters were a lot of fun to watch and we had a few show stopping moments… literally, Seamore decided he wasn’t interested in preforming, dove in the tank and wouldn’t come out…  His trainer and did he ever have her number.    The next time we saw Seamore, he had gained about 80 pounds, that’s right they replaced him.  The kids laughed and enjoyed all the shenanigans going on as Sea High… including the janitorial little otter, always cleaning up behind one of the actors.  In the end the show was a fun way to spend 20 mintues.   Now we needed to hustle, it was almost 4pm and time for the last Shamu and Friends show.  We made our way to the stadium just as the show was starting and found some seats.   The shows sure have changed from when we were kids.  The trainers don’t ever enter the water with them, most of the work is done from beside the tank or on platforms.    The orcas jumped, and tail splashed the audience, even a group in the centre got a good soaking and boy did they seems surprised!

The kids wanted to do some rides but with only and hour and a half left before park closing we decided to grab a quick snack of fresh hot pretzels and then made our way back over to the Turtle Trek so Darrell and Patrick could see them. We got side tracked at the Stingray Lagoon, where Patrick, Darrell and Amanda each took a turn feeding the rays.   I think Amanda could have spent hours at this one spot.  We made it over to Turtle Trek in time for the last showing. It was starting to get dark by the time we made it out of the exhibit.  We went to check out the manatee tanks.  They have one that houses the critical patients and the other tank houses the ones they are hoping to return to the wild shortly.  The conservation and recycling messages through out the park were very impressive.  It is very clear what impact our waste can have on all creatures and how we can change our impact to a positive one with a few simple steps including cleaning up behind ourselves and others, recycling as much as possible and not being wasteful.

The kids wanted to stop at a store, where they each picked out one more new stuffy.  Patrick picked an Orca and Michael selected a bamboo shark.  We stopped to buy a couple pictures from our day and then it was back to the car and back to the resort.  We made sure to call Melissa and wish her a happy birthday on our ride home.  Contempo Café was our dinner option.  All the restuarants  on grounds were booked until at least 8p.m.  Once the food was ordered, Amanda and the kids went back to the room and Darrell brought the food when it was ready.   A quick in room dinner and a Facetime with Granny made for a good end to our day.  Time to put boys to bed and get some rest.  Legoland tomorrow, where everything is AWESOME!