Wet and Wild

Wednesday was a wet one. We got up at six, had pancakes and sausage for breakfast, with a few pieces of fruit and then packed into the van for the two hour drive to Sea World Orlando. Last year we got a rain check to make up for the wet day we experienced. The expiration was April 1, so I was determined to use them.
Once we finished our trip, after loosing our GPS and having to do a little naviagating without the phone, we arrived and had to go to the guest services to get our tickets.

Waiting for our tickets

We sat down and decided what shows we wanted to see and when we would see them. We had seen most of the shows last time, except the dolphin show. We knew the Shamu show was going to be different as they had announced that last year. As Xela and I took numerous pictures, I will upload them and add captions in effort to walk you through our day.

SHARK ENCOUNTER

Graigry and Dory

Neta looking for a baracuta,
or something

Graigry - Great White Bait

Aurora fighting back out of the shark's mouth

Two for one bite

Xela dived right in!
How many people can say they've been eaten
by a Great White Shark.

Real shark babies in their eggs.
There are lights shining behind the eggs
so you can see the sharks swimming inside.

SWORDFISH
This guy swam right above us
just as we walked into the tube.
So cool! 

Five little monkeys in the shark tube

STING RAYS

One of the first things we stopped to see and we revisited them several times during the day. The kids had a great time touching the rays, when they swam close enough (they being the rays, not the kids).

Ro and the Rays

Hanging out at the sting ray pool

Sting ray row.
Scott zoo with hands in the pool
waiting to touch the silky sting rays.

CLYDE & SEAMORE

This was the same show as last year. There is a mime that welcomes and makes fun of people as they walk in. He made fun of us, not sure what he did, but I heard the audience laughing as we went walking by. Our yellow hat and shirts made an easy walking target.

Seamore talking to the captain of the ship

The captain & Seamore with
the marrooned & Clyde.
Both searching for the buried treasure.

Winston the walrus brought out the treasure.

Last year I had a picture of Eric with the kids in their ponchos walking in front of me.
I had to get another picture like it on this sun shiny trip.

Yellow ducklings hand in hand with Papa.

Walking to the Shamu show

SHAMU SHOW

(without Shamu, but still AWESOME!)

Jumping in the air, away from our side.

Swimming by us

Trainer guiding whale.
The tank is HUGE.

We loved watching the jumps...

...especially when they were up close and we got
SOAKED!!!
This obviously is a before picture, then I had to quickly hide the camera.

Here was another jump that got us some sprinkles.
The whales came around and splashed us with their tales as well.
It took us an hour to dry off.

Trainers and whales

In 2007, when Eric and I first saw the show, trainers got into the water with the whales. The two shows we've seen since then, trainers do not get in the water with the animals. I think in early 2010, maybe 2009, a trainer got pulled down and was drown by one of the males. I wonder if the final show, called Shamu Rocks (which we didn't see) has the trainers in with the whales.

DOLPHIN VIEWING
We watched dolphins from above and below.

Saying Hi to the crowd

Up close and personal with the dolphins

Nate & Graigry


PETS AHOY!

(This was one of the favorite shows from last year)

This is the set for Pets Ahoy.
Cats, dogs, pigs, a rat, ducks, birds and a skunk
make their way in and out of this set.

Yes, I did say skunk.

Can you jump rope with your dalmation?

WILD ARCTIC

(it wasn't as cold as I remember it being last year)
We took the ride through the arctic and then walked to see the animals.
They had beluga whales, a sleeping polar bear, and a walrus.
The kids had more fun climbing around the polar bear "den.
"

There is our youngest cub.

Graigry holding up the fort.

Aurora sliding out

Xela's high five to a polar bar paw print.

 They also had a scale that the whole family stood on, together.
We don't weigh as much as one polar bear.

ON OUR WAY TO....

I had to stop for a quick photo...

Eric had to stop for some ice cream pops...

and then there was a red headed woodpecker.

...THE DOPHIN SHOW!

This was the best show of the day. Dolphins, divers, trainers, bunjee cord performers, macaws, a vulture and what they call a False Killer Whale all took part of the show. It was AMAZING!! I wish I could have caught it all on video and upload it to show you how cool it was.

I became a hat rack before the show.

Dancing with the dolphin.

Divers and flyers
There were people on bunjee cords flying
dressed as macaws and vultures.
Real macaws and a real vulture flew over the audience
which was AWESOME!



They called this a false killer whale.

Making waves while riding the whale.

The trainers came to the exits so I had to take a picture.

We made a brief alligator stop

We are in Florida, after all.

and lastly, we waited and snacked before the last ride of the day

popcorn and sprite
was a before dinner (two and a half hours late) snack

Nate was just a little thirsty.

JOURNEY TO ATLANTIS

(The kids went with Eric and LOVED it!)



Eric & kids finishing their journey.

One last splash for the day.

Heading back up to unload passengers.

The kids came off the ride and wanted to get back on.
They all LOVED it, even Neta who at first didn't want to ride.

Our day came to an end. One last shot...

...and we packed into the car and made our way back to Uncle John's and Aunt Diane's. We, without GPS again, directed ourselves a little amiss before Eric called Xela's cell phone into service. I wrote the directions down, which proved to be of benefit as her cell phone battery died before we got "home."

Once "home," there was pizza waiting for us, which was very welcomed as we'd had pretzels and popcorn and ice cream during the day. You can't take food into Sea World, and their food prices are horendous ($10 for a small plate of chicken and fries). We woke up Nate enough to start a pizza and say the prayer. We had to help him finish the prayer as he was too tired to got the words out alone. That is exhaustion; poor kid.

I don't know when we'll get back to Sea World again, but I'm thankful for the memories created over the last two years.