SeaWorld take three

In August 2011 I took Nadia and Ian to SeaWorld. In May 2013 Paul's parents, Paul, and Oliver joined us. This resort is only five minutes from SeaWorld, but if I had to do it over again we would have left the resort about 30 minutes earlier than we did. Our first stop was Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin. This attraction opened several days after our last trip to the park. Oliver and Paul's parents opted for the mild ride, and the rest of us took the wild ride. It was very well done. At the end of the day Nadia and Ian both said it was their favorite part of the day. In fact Nadia asked if we could ride it again later, but when we returned in the afternoon the line was MUCH longer. It said there was a 30 minute wait. It looked like the line was actually longer than that, but we weren't interested in waiting 30 minutes. Paul's parents and Oliver waited while the other four of us rode the flume. The flume was Paul's favorite part of the day. We had NO wait whatsoever. It was Ian's first time on the ride as you have to be at least 42 inches tall. It's definitely more intense than the flume at Knoebels. Paul and I then rode Kraken (a rollercoaster that includes many loops). It was his first time on the ride. My first time was in 2013. I had hoped to also ride Manta (the other big roller coaster), but we didn't have time. Hopefully the next time we go I will ride it. Nadia can't wait until she's tall enough to ride both of them, but she has to be at least 54 inches tall, so it's going to be a few years I think. Paul's parents took the kids in an aquarium while Paul and I rode Kraken.

Our first show of the day was Pet's Ahoy. I will never forget how much Ian loved that show in 2011. Next we went to Wild Arctic which includes beluga whales, walruses, and seals. Paul's parents and Oliver took the walking tour. Ian was tall enough to join us on the ride portion (helicopter simulator) for the first time. We took the kids on two kiddie rides before heading to see the killer whale show. As a child I remember really loving that show. Now that the trainers don't go in the water with them (not since 2010) the show isn't nearly as impressive. The whales do a few jumps and splash people, and that's about it. My favorite show is the dolphin show, which was the fourth show we saw yesterday. Oliver put his hands on his head when the parrots flew over our head. Our third show was the sea lion, otter, and walrus show. That show had changed the most from our last two trips. It had a school theme instead of a pirate theme. In between the last two shows we walked through the shark aquarium. After the last show we went on the Sky Tower for the first time. They used to charge for that attraction, but now it's included in the admission price to the park. Ian said "I can see the whole earth". That cracked me up! We went up 400 feet and were able to see the whole park plus some of the surrounding area. We ended the day with Nadia doing the net climb while the boys rode the Flying Fiddler and went down some slides. We skipped the splash pad because we had planned to go swimming at our resort (and use our much bigger splash pad) after dinner.

We were at the park for eight hours. The park was open for ten hours, but staying any longer would have required buying dinner. Paul's parents had purchased their lunch, but I had packed food for the rest of us. All of us were also very hot as it was 93 degrees out. We couldn't wait to get in air conditioning or the pool! We came back to our resort and had tuna noodle for dinner. Usually on vacation we eat out once a day, but since we've been in Orlando we've only eaten out once thus far (and used gift cards for that meal). Our SeaWorld tickets were free, and Paul's parents paid for the parking so our special day at the park didn't cost us any money. Today we're just staying at the resort as tomorrow we plan to be at Hollywood Studios!

I had bought VeggieTales t-shirts for everyone as Christmas gifts, and we wore them for the first time yesterday. I had gotten Nadia a "Bob" shirt to match me, but hers was WAY too big. Ian had a 3T Bob shirt years ago so Nadia wore Ian's 5T shirt, and Ian wore Oliver's 3T shirt. We got lots of comments. :) I took tons of pictures. I'll share more later this week!