Surprise Second Helpings August 2013 Day 3: Seaworld and SmokeyBones

[WileyCoyote]

The previous day is HERE

I know Seaworld is a bit of a marmite park – we are in the love it camp .

I wake up around 4.30 with a raging sore throat and full of gloom that I have a cold. Happily, its turns out that its just me adjusting to the aircorn and not a dreaded lurgy.

Having packed most of Boots pharmacy in our first aid kit, I find some suitable remedy to soothe my hypochondriac self and a coffee and krispy kreme donut soon have me restored.

We settle in to the morning routine of watching Wesh news eagerly awaiting the adverts for removable catheters, drugs with lists of side effects that seem nothing short of fatal and all the lawyers holding up their dogs in the hope it somehow makes them look more appealing – seriously , what’s with all the dogs in the ads ?

Love how the weather and traffic can be so dramatic. Michael Fish, nothing on these guys ( or gals as they are on Wesh)

The daily routine also consists of uploading the previous days photos to photobucket and backing them up on the hard drive , charging camera batteries and posting messages home on facebook to check that MiL and pooches are all ok. All terribly organised

Andy makes us a packed lunch for the cooler – rolls, crisps, cookies, cans etc along with the nicely frozen water bottles.

We make up the waterpark bag – with towels and swimwear and it stays in the car so that anytime we want to stop at a waterpark, its always on hand. The bag of ponchos also goes into the boot. I can happily report that they were never used. Can you tell I was Girl Guide - Be Prepared and all that !

The boys are up at 0745 and we are on our way by 0820.

A new daily routine emerged that we had spend at least 5 minutes then sat in the car in front of the villa while Andy found something new to fiddle with all the while I am drumming my fingers and being impatient for the off. Today it was radio tuning that was the cause of the delay. Why I couldn’t do it en route remains a mystery.




We arrive at the park at 0850 having followed the road signs rather than the satnav. As was to be the case most days, we end up in the spot that is furthest possible from the entrance, having always struck out and got the end of a row.

No park day is complete without the arty bird shot




First time use of the tix goes smoothly and the boys hotfoot it off to get onto Manta



The excitement is almost too much for this one



And this one must have had one krispy kreme too many for breakfast








I embarrass myself by being the only adult to have my pic taken with Shamu – whose fur still hasn’t shrunk despite all that time in the water.








We admire these fellas on the way in




And pop into the aquarium beneath Manta






These leaf dragons were amazing





We chatted about the rays to one of the employees and there is a funny moment when a young kid shouts out “hey, there’s Nemo and Dory” and the employee shouts back – “no, that’s Disney, this is a whole other park” – the kid is well confused.

Manta is up and running now



We have arranged to meet the boys by Atlantis



– assuming it will 30-40 minutes before they get there as the Manta wait board says 25 minutes as we leave so we have a nose around here

[WileyCoyote]

Its totally rammed at 0930



I had said we wouldn’t do the Penguin attraction after reading about the horrendous wait times . As we approach the front , the wait time says 10 minutes but its pretty much a walk up

We queued up in the several different chambers , choosing the “wild rild” – all the pics we took inside were just rubbish with no flash. The ride , it was ok , a few turns and twists but nothing wild about at all and most definitely not worth above a 20 minute wait, IMO. In the end it probably took us 15 minutes from arriving at the entrance to exiting the ride.

At the end , you come across these fellas






But it gets pretty crowded as everyone gets off the ride here and tries to crowd up to see the penguins, it’s a bit of a bunfight.




I walk out to see if the boys are Atlantis and as luck would have it I walk straight into them – they have been on all 3 rides already – apparently being on the first load to get on Manta, then walking on to Kraken and walking on to Atlantis so they have been hanging about for 10 minutes. They scoot off to do the Penguin ride ( its now 0945) while we wait for them in the nice air conditioned gift store.

They are back by 1015 so we stop for a drink and some snacks before heading off to the Seaport Theatre at 1030 and settle in for the 1045 Pets Ahoy show as its one we have never seen. As we pass under the netting that is underneath Manta we marvel at the phones, wallets and sunglasses that have fallen out of people’s pockets already ………

Its whimsical good fun and we all really enjoy it – and its indoors, out of the blazing sunshine , even better !





How they trained a rat, pot bellied pig and a skunk to do their bits is a mystery !
Good fun

A short walk across to do the SkyTower, which again is something we have never done. Andy is a bit dubious as he hates heights, but so do I and I am determined that this time we will try some new things so he reluctantly comes along.

The wait is outside with no shade in scorching heat




and some grumbling through heat, hunger and possibly still some tiredness does ensue. It also appears that I burned my shoulders in those 15 minutes ( that felt more like 50 at the time). It’s a very slow loading process which is baffling given its two tier capacity. But finally we are seated and the views are brilliant






Manta



Manta, Atlantis & Arctic Empire



Kraken



Across the road to Aquatica



Ok who thought these whales were real ?



It’s a really gentle experience and we are back down to earth by 1130. There is not much more that is on our must do list, but Andy wants to see the Manatees so walk across via the Dolphins where it was feeding time






The manatees looked as peaceful as ever

[WileyCoyote]

Turtle Trek was showing as only a 10 minute wait so we go in but the boys opt to sit this one out

This turtle lost a flipper in a shark bite



This one had paralysed back flippers due to a boat accident



We listened to the talk about the rescued turtles and then opt to exit as the actual 3D thing made me feel quite queasy last time

We find the boys playing a turtle race game at the exit



Our final stop is at the Ray Lagoon which is always a favourite



Its 1240 now, we have had a lovely morning and decide we will eat our packed lunch at home as we fancy a bit of chill time.

The SatNav has other ideas and no one is quite sure what happened but we took a wrong turn and at 1pm we found ourselves back at the exit off the I4 for Seaworld – oops. So address re-set and we eventually are home at 1.30.

We have our sandwich lunch and laze about . We are due to be at House of Blues at 6pm but as time passes, it looks clear that no –one really fancies venturing too far so around 4pm I cancel our ADR, confident we will re book for later on in the holiday.

We decide to visit the resort pool but the by time we have changed and gathered up the requisite goggles, splashproof cases for ipads, flipflops , kitchen sink, blah blah, huge dark clouds have formed so we sit it out thinking a storm will come and go – but we sit for an hour – big black sky but no rain until finally just after 5 and the heavens open. So no pool time tonight then.

The rain lasts for around an hour – Looks like I did take a picture of the outdoor lanai area after all.




It really was a torrential downpour and it was funny watching people running for cover from their cars (look at the house across the street in the second photo)



Yup, it was pretty wet





At 6.40 we decide to take the very short drive to Smokey Bones




As its about all we have the energy for . There is a lively atmosphere and it’s a good menu

we order the cornbread to start



which no one else apparently wanted but somehow I was only left with a quarter The honeypecan butter was divine.

Dinner was sadly a bit hit and miss.

My nutty chicken salad was excellent




Chicken, salad, caramelised pecans, cranberries, strawberries and crumbled cheese– it was yum . I had it without the dressing.

Jamie’s 1/3 rack of ribs were very nice



Andy had the impressive looking smokestack




BUT doesn’t enjoy it – the onion rings, slaw and pulled pork he did enjoy but when asked how he wanted the steak patties, he had mistakenly thought it would be steak as in steak, not minced meat patties – so he asked for it to be rare, which they did and it was awful – just squelchy raw mince steak.

Not their fault, they cooked what he asked but being a stubborn mule he wouldn’t just order another one but pushed it round his plate and made the rest of us feel a bit guilty for enjoying ours.

Declining donations of ribs and wings from the boys, it put a bit of a downer on the meal as we all felt a bit guilty for enjoying ours and the lesson was that if its not right – either send it back ( if it’s their fault) or just order something else ( if its your fault!)

Connor had wings – which were “ok” – a bit on the dry side



Given that Andy had not enjoyed his at all, we didn’t feel in the mood for a dessert so paid the bill of $90 – which included our drinks and a beer for Andy – and made our way home.

Early night for everyone – the travel day had caught up with us today so it was just as well that we hadn’t ventured out to HoB – I don’t think we would have made the most of it.

We all need a good night’s sleep tonight as it’s a change of plan for tomorrow and as we haven’t got lashed on cocktails at HoB , we now won’t need a leisurely day to nurse hangovers and no –one fancies a waterpark yetso we decide to bring forward Epcot from next week and that means we need to be up sprightly

A great morning at SeaWorld, a quiet afternoon , and depending on what you chose, a dinner that was either or

Yay, its Disney in the morning ………….

The next day is HERE

[mick]

Good morning shame about the rain

[Eeyore rocks]

Really enjoying your trippie.

Krispy Kreme's really is the best medicine.

[mossyflossy]

Ahhh love those dragon sea horsey things, shame about OHs meal at Smokey Bones, it looks a bit insipid, rest of it looks good though.

[SammyScotland]

Sounds like an enjoyable day. Pity the rain stopped you from getting to enjoy the pool. It is almost always DH who chooses the wrong thing to order when we are eating out.

[Wozi]

Hi Amanda

We got some wicked rain whilst over there, it really does come down doesn't it? Sounds like you had a good morning at Seaworld, but shame you didn't get to go in the pool and also that Andy's burger patties weren't so good. Why is it if men make the mistake they won't just get it sorted and instead make us feel guilty ... that's just what Simon would do!

Looking forward to reading more

[itsrachelhere]

Great day . I love Seaworld too. I don't think I could go to Orlando and miss it out to be honest!

Have to admit, I am feeling a bit ill now at the thought of the burgers! Lesson learned hopefully

[jocat]

I love Seaworld too. Great that you all got so many of the rides done so early.

Had a giggle about people being caught in the rain. We've all been there haven't we, caught in a torrential downpour, but can imagine how funny it looks watching others whilst you are nice and dry.

I know what you mean about feeling guilty having a lovely meal when your hubby has a bad one - that happened to us this year too. Even though my DH is really easygoing, it made me feel a bit anxious at other reataurants as I didn't want him to experience a bad meal again.