It's Been A Long Time Coming: Day 5

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Brace yourselves for about a million photos today!

Right, so, got up did the usual, no breakfast this morning as I was preparing myself for some roller coaster action at SeaWorld. Got the shuttle at 8:50, same driver again with the same Aquatica "bus every 5 mins" confusion :angry:. Arrived at the park about 9:30 and were a bit disappointed that it seemed to be very very busy (we had been a wee bit spoilt yesterday.) We had to check in for our Penguin Tour before 10am and were given a time of 12.10 for our tour. Now, I knew there were 2 coasters at SeaWorld and had decided that Kraken looked like the less scary of the 2 so, being the big woos that I am, I had convinced myself that I'd leave out Manta. It wasn't to be Ryan had worked out that I was bravest in the mornings so marched me straight over to Manta "oh look at that, only 35 min queue, we have to go" :angry: So I gave in, the queue area was great and looking at the fishys took my mind off my impending doom. Unfortunately we were at the front of the line within about 15 mins (I know, actually wishing for a queue to take longer, I must have been scared.) We had to stand for a little while just watching people being loaded onto the coaster and I was shaking watching them all being turned over but I soldiered on, convinced myself I had too much pride to turn back now. All I have to say is AMAZING, I'm so glad I did it, the upsidedown bit was really weird, very strong G force. As it turned out Ryan felt a bit sick serves him right. We had a look at the ride photo and I was just a mass of hair *note to self- tie my hair up for all other coasters.* We grabbed some breakfast (churros) and I had to get my pic taken I was so proud:



We headed to Shamu stadium for the 11am showing of Believe and stopped at the dolphin nursery along the way:



I remembered this show from before and it has definitely upped the cheese factor. I still enjoyed it but Ryan wasn't so keen


:pop:



Our time for the penguin tour was nearing- cue much squealing from me, so we wandered in that general direction and happened upon the shark encounter. We are both big geeks and totally fascinated by sharks so we thought this was really good- but it didn't last long enough. We saw a couple of people going down in the cage, I would love to do this but I think Ryan wound need some convincing, he wasn't keen on their teeth:



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Now, for the important part...penguins. We still had a little time before our tour so we went into the penguin exhibit, I could stand there all day and just watch them. I should explain here that at some point in my life, probably due to excitement, I had a little slip of the tongue and called them pengwengs and it has sort of stuck so in order to make this report more realistic that's what we'll refer to them as.


Time for our tour so we went outside to meet our guide, can't remember her name but she was lovely. We went back inside and she told us all about the pengwengs and puffins, very informative. I especially loved the part about the projectile poo, they stand facing the walls so that when they poop, they're not going to stand in it, they just do it on the other penguins below. Self preservation at its greatest lol. Now for my favourite part, we went behind the scenes to meet a penguin! I didn't really know what to expect from this as I had read that someone just sits with it on their lap and you go pet it and get a photo. Well, I got far more than what I bargained for They brought this little guy out and he waddled around for us and we got to pat him as many times as we liked:




Then we got to go into their enclosure-very loud!


And! They brought another pengweng out for us- Toby. This is a horrible photo of me but I do think it conveys my happiness:




We then got to go and meet the puffins, who were very naughty, they kept trying to push the pin board over and we chewing everything, but very adorable:


I absolutely LOVED this tour, it's a must for all lovers of pengwengs! It was $50 each and I'm really glad we did it. Ryan wasn't all that fussed before we went and was really only going to keep me company but he said it was one of his favourite things we did!

So, off we trooped to Journey to Atlantis. Along the way:


Queue time was showing 40 mins so we settled in for the wait, unfortunately the ride went tech and our wait was more like 80mins so we missed the 2:15 Sealion show. We did like Atlantis but thought it was poor compared with Splash Mountain, again I think I avoided getting wet, yay! After this we didn't really know what to do as there was a couple of hours before any other shows. Ryan wanted to do Kraken but I wasn't up for more queuing at that present time so we dandered over to Wild Arctic (which everyone seemed to forget about? ), stopping on the way for some lunch at the Cypress Bakery which was delicious (not a very healthy day.)There was only us and 4 other people in our "helicopter." Now...I had decided that after the Simpsons fiasco, maybe simulators and me didn't mix but I was willing to give them one more chance so Wild Arctic it was- I hated every second of that helicopter ride and was so so glad to get off- that's sims out then! We loved looking at all the animals here and spent ages taking photos:



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By this time we were able to make it to see the 4:30 show of Blue Horizons:




Really enjoyed this and thought the acrobatics were brilliant. Straight over to the 5:30 Sealion show. We nearly didn't go to this as Ryan wasn't a big fan of the shows but we're glad we did as he said it was his favourite of the day:



At this point I said I would go on Kraken but Ry said he had a headache, so no Kraken today then...oh well, good reason to come back! We had aaaaaaaages to kill until Shamu Rocks at 9 so we went to Seaport Pizza for, well, pizza. It wasn't very good but it filled a hole, still had room for some ice cream though

We took some more photos and had a look at dolphin cove and the alligators. A lady dropped her sunglasses in to the dolphins and one swam off with them and was bouncing them up and down on his head lol I don't think she was impressed.

Some more photos:




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We had a good look round the Waterfront and the Clydesdale Hamlet and then nabbed some seats for Shamu Rocks:





I'm getting very adventurous: A wee video: (watch it right to the end! )
s690.photobucket/albums/v...t=SNV31952.flv
This show was brilliant, so so much better than Believe, even Ryan was clapping along!
Big rush after to get some seats at the Bayside Stadium for Reflections fireworks, these were really good and it was great to have a seat right at the front for them but still no Disney fireworks!




Long day but really good, I feel like there was loads more we could have done at SW given the time. Got a taxi home and in bed for midnight! Tomorrow- Animal Kingdom (Yay- Disney I've missed you! )

[Juliemack]

aw, the penguins are soooo cute...you have some great photo's

I hope I'm brave enough to go on Manta when we go - my kids will go bonkers if I back out...

[summersun]

a very great day and fab pics

[Guest]

thanks...what great pics...and im gona do that penguin tour next year,looks great

[woolamstiger]

Another great day, looks like you really enjoyed the penguin tour we did the shark tour last year and that was fab too. Some great pics.

[voddygirl]

Well done on being so brave to face Manta !..how cute is that wee penguin the tour looks a lot of fun, another great day for you both

[Guest]

Excellent report - great photos.

I really like the look of the penguin tour but we're not doing Seaworld this visit - something for next time maybe.