The Pumpkins: Day 7 - Monde de la Mer (Aug 11)

[Mrs Pumpkin]

Our trip report index: The Pumpkins Pop to Florida for the First Time! August 2011
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The Cast
Me - Mrs Pumpkin online, Michelle in real life - 34 years old and a plus size chick who is on the shrink, having lost 5 stone this year (so far). From my perspective, I'll be giving other plus-size dibbers my experience as a plus-size guest.
Him - Steven19720 online, Steve in real life - 38 years old and I think even more excited than me about going to Florida! Wants to try many American delicacies including catfish and corndogs (among other things!) So there will be lots of pics of food in our report!
The boy - my son and Steve's step-son, Liam - 12 years old and very excited about visiting Orlando.
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I love photography and take a LOT of photos, so my trip reports will be as photo heavy as a post allows! Most of the photos in my trip report were taken by me on my iPhone4, which I used the most because it was easy to carry around with me. Some days I did use one of the 3 Lumix cameras - the DMC-FZ18, the DMC-TZ18 and the waterproof DMC-FT2 - that we also took with us! Full sets from each day can be found on my Flickr. You can also follow my photos on Instagram - @cherry_o or if you don't have an iPhone, online at Statigram.
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Day 7 - Monde de la Mer
SeaWorld & Shark's Underwater Grill
All photos from this day can be found on my Flickr!

(Now that we are in the parks, I'll be adding in a plus size rider guide for those that are concerned. I'm 5' 4" and a size 26/28.)

Another rainy start today, but we had SeaWorld pencilled in for today and didn't want to waste [another] day like we did yesterday. So ponchos added to the backpack, we set off for SeaWorld.

Stopping at McDonalds on the way for a breakfast on the go, Liam had a bacon muffin and I had a sausage and egg biscuit. Steve didn't fancy anything. I felt like we had to visit McDs at least once whilst in America to 'see what it's like' and because my dad refused to let me go in a McDonalds when I went with him in 1994 :P My biscuit breakfast was very salty. 7-eleven was next door, so popped in there to take out some cash with our Citibank card (it's free to withdraw in 7-eleven) and we were on our way (again!)

The rain had an effect on the traffic, which, according to my diary was a slow crawl, but eventually, of course, we got there. Rain was pouring, so ponchos were donned and we parked right next to the entrance to the park. I was surprised - by now it was about 10am - perhaps the rain was keeping everyone away? Anyway, e-tickets scanned, we were in.

A quick photo of Shamu (we didn't bother to wait in line as we had shows to see!) and then a reservation made for Shark's Underwater Grill for 5pm at the service desk as you walk into the park. We hoped that it would be better than the rather disappointing (for us) Mythos.

Grabbing park maps - which annoyingly at SeaWorld (and Busch Gardens) are huge A3 size affairs which you have to fold up yourselves, and with having to swap from front to back to see show times and where things are on the map, I personally, didn't find them very user friendly.

SeaWorld was definitely one of the parks I was really looking forward to, so with the map surveyed, our plan of action was to 'watch all the shows', starting with 'One Ocean' at Shamu Stadium at 11:30am.

We took a casual walk over to the stadium, passing a bird exhibit on the way. I wondered what they were, when I spotted a sign and said "Oh look, they're Geese Obese"….as my voice trailed off and I got closer to the sign.

Shouldda gone to Specsavers methinks!

Carrying our walk around the very quiet park, we saw some dolphins in the dolphin nursery pool and I got excited at the thought of our swim with the dolphin at Discovery Cove.

By this point, even though it was still raining, the 10p ponchos that I bought in Tesco years ago were starting to make both Liam and I hot, so we took ours off and put them away. Steve however was quite content not to get wet lol.

Taking note of the only time for Shamu Rocks we followed the sign and eventually we got to Shamu Stadium.

We walked straight in, no lines and barely any one in there. We chose not to sit in the splash zone, but sat a few rows back from it. Scanning the show times on the back of the map, I started circling the times of the shows to fit as much as we possibly could, and deciding what to do for the day passed the time as we waited for the show to start.

When the show started, we were all in awe. I remember the killer whale and dolphin shows at Windsor Safari Park when I was a kid, and watching Shamu and his friends really took me back. The music was wonderful and interaction between the trainers and the whales was amazing - I didn't even notice that they didn't go into the water with them.

When the star of the show, Shamu, came out, there was a big cheer and a big build up as well.

And when he launches himself on top of the platform, you realise just how big he is!

A final leap from the whales and a thunderous applause from the audience brought the show to an end, and I have to admit to wiping a few tears from my eye. Music always gets to me, and the music for this was lovely.

Up next was the 12:45 showing of Clyde & Seamore Take Pirate Island at the Sealion and Otter Stadium. Along the way we walked through Shamu's Happy Harbour

And passed an ice-cream shop and decided that we must eat one of these delights!

Continued in next post….

[Mrs Pumpkin]

We walked through the Sea Garden to meet some of the birds as part of the animal encounters they have there.

We spotted Sharks Underwater Grill - Liam said that he wanted to see the sharks, but I told him he could see them later as we were coming back here for dinner.

Eventually we found the stadium for the show. We were quite late in arriving for this so were sat up quite high, but it didn't spoil anything and it was a very funny and entertaining show.

Our next show was Pets Ahoy at the Seaport Theatre at 1:45 so we made our way in the general direction passing some animal exhibits

and Manta long the way. With me wishing I could go on it, but I knew it would be no-go for me size wise. I asked Steve if he was going to have a go, but he declined!

We really seemed to struggle to find the Seaport Theatre - I don't know why - we knew it was near Manta, but couldn't seem to get our bearings at all. We did find it in the end and went into the lovely, air-conned auditorium.

The Pets Ahoy show was very good, made us laugh and we all marvelled at how well trained all the animals were. Made me miss our cat, Pumpkin; especially when we could pet the animals at the end of the show.

By now, the sun had made an appearance and after a squirt of sun cream and a drink break, we were off toward the Whale & Dolphin Theatre for Blue Horizons.

Now this show was simply breathtaking and I would go and happily watch that again and again. Amazing. With the trainers, the story unfolding, the dolphins, false killer whales (as informed by my son), the birds (what *is* that huge bird that flies across - I thought it might have been a condor - does anyone know?), the acrobatics and high-dives - all very impressive and well worth watching if you visit SeaWorld.

Continue in next post….

[Mrs Pumpkin]

We didn't have too long now till our reservation at Shark's Underwater Grill, so we walked around the back of the Whale & Dolphin Theatre to view all the animal exhibits -manatee rescue, alligators, garden of discovery, dolphin cove, stingray lagoon and turtle point.

Found Nemo…sorry, wrong park! :P

We passed through the penguin encounter and it made me wish we had booked the penguin up close tour.

We got to our reservation a little early, so went through the shark encounter, promising Liam we'll go after dinner to feed them as he had requested.

We then went into the restaurant and were seated straight away. It was a lovely restaurant, very dim lighting, but very tranquil with the aquarium in front of you and the fish and sharks swimming around. We were sat in a booth at the back with a great view of the tank.

After reeling in shock at the prices, we decided what to order.

I had the shrimp cocktail ($9.50) which was 'just' 4 king prawns on a bed of lettuce with Marie Rose sauce on the side for dipping - succulent prawns, and not the 70s prawn cocktail I was expecting like we get in the UK!

Steve had the stuffed mushroom trio ($8.00). I can't remember now what they were stuffed with, I think one was cheese, and they all sat on top of crostini. He enjoyed his starter.

Now whilst I reel in shock again at the price of the filet mignon surf & turf that I had ($35), let me tell you, it was the most amazing piece of steak I have ever eaten in my life! (and I've grown up living in restaurants as my dad was a publican). It was cooked to perfection (if your perfection is medium rare) and completely melt in the mouth. It was accompanied by a skewer of shrimp, garlic mash and asparagus - all that paled in comparisson!

Steve opted for a blackened seafood trio of shrimp, scallops and salmon (or was it crab?) cakes. ($25) The little parcel you can see is actually a half a lemon to squeeze on your seafood (I thought it was clever to be wrapped in muslin to catch the pips). It was served with a coleslaw type salad which was very tasty - as was all the meal which Steve has commented about over my shoulder as I type this!

There wasn't a great choice for kids and Liam ended up having a hot dog with fries ($9.00) - no photo of that (for once!) I felt quite sorry for him as if you don't like mac n cheese you seem to be screwed with kid's menus in the USA.

But he made up for it by pretty much eating all the dessert we had ordered to share, the brownie shark ($8.00).

I also had a cappuccino which brought our total bill to a whopping $109.89 plus tip. BUT, it didn't cost as much as the abysmal (in the future) Hollywood & Vine meal, and we would gladly pay that again for a meal here. As I said, not much for kids - and if your children are fussy, even less. Other than that, everything about this experience was wonderful - the surroundings, our waitress (who served us everything for a change!), the food. Definitely a restaurant to pay a visit to, in our opinion.

By the time we came out of the restaurant, we discovered that the shark feeding was over and Liam was very disappointed. I felt so bad as I hadn't noticed a time limit for it.

We then walked off our dinner around the park for a bit and joined the queue for Journey to Atlantis. A 50 minute wait, which seemed a heck of a lot longer…but the ride was wicked! I think we got more wet from the splash on the second small drop than on the first big drop! Part coaster, part log flume - a great ride! Would have done it again had it not been for the long wait.

Plus size ride guide: lap bar, enough room for me!

Shamu Rocks was on at 8:30, and we figured it would be very popular and wanted to get there in enough time to get a seat. So after riding Journey to Atlantis, we made our way back over to Shamu Stadium, and am glad we did as a hefty queue started to build up behind us. Whilst waiting, Steve bought a drink and a pretzel in the shape of Shamu…it was dry and salty and horrid! We chucked it after one bite!

Whilst waiting patiently for them to allow us into the stadium we encountered some pushing in which didn't please us or the other Brits around us, and I said quite loudly, "obviously people have no manners if they think that pushing in is okay whilst others have been waiting in line", but it fell on deaf ears. It didn't matter really, as there was plenty of room, but I hate pusher-inners! We decided this time to sit in the splash zone - we sat in row 12.

Splash zone we were sat; splashed we were not! I was gutted in a way since it would have been cool to get drenched lol, but also because I didn't take any photos for fear of my iPhone getting wet and broked!

There was a great build up to the show with music and you could hear singing and clapping along which really added to the atmosphere of being at a rock concert (one of my loves!).

Shamu & Co. at night was just as awesome, if not more so, and being that much closer to the front, I was in awe at the sheer size of that famous whale! I don't have many photos from this as Steve video'd it on our waterproof camera instead. Which I've uploaded to my YouTube account and can be found

This particular video just makes me weepy, one because it reminds me how fantastic our holiday to Orlando was, and B) because the track - The Animal Song is by one of my favourite bands, Savage Garden.

And this photo, Steve took on the same camera.

I'm pretty sure you can hear a lot of 'wows' and 'woos' of delight from us every time a whale leapt into the air! Liam loved it, I loved it and Steve loved it. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but for us it was amazing!

I will at some stage (when I have the time!) upload other videos we took throughout the whole holiday, so please feel free to subscribe to my channel on YouTube to keep up to date!

Shamu Rocks was only on for a few more nights, so I'm glad we got to see it.

Everyone piled out of the stadium and headed toward Atlantis Bay Stadium for 'Reflections'. We decided against staying for it (for some reason that escapes me now) and walked in the direction of the exit to find that, that path was closed off - we don't know why. This forced us to walk all the way back around the park to find our way out.

We stopped along the way for a Shamu Sundae - which for some reason, I don't have a photo! So you'll have to make do with sprinkles. I really only bought it because I wanted the Shamu sundae dish to keep lol!

We also bought some gifts - I couldn't visit SeaWorld and not by a plushie Shamu! We also pressed some pennies, which we loved collecting throughout our trip.

Asking for an indication of the way out, because it felt like we had been walking forwever, we finally reached the exit.

It was a LONG way round! If there was a quicker way, we didn't find it! If there is one thing I'll moan about SeaWorld, it is that whilst there are signs, they don't seem to help that much! As we got muddled a few times trying to find things. :/ Or maybe I just can't follow signs lol!

It was quick and painless to get out of the car park, and I think all in all, we did everything we wanted to do. We unfortunately missed the Sealions Tonite show because of the time it was on and wanting to make sure we got into Shamu Stadium for Shamu Rocks, so in hindsight, I wish we had made the effort to go back to SeaWorld again. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I've got lots of that at the end of this whole trip report!

As I've typed this out, it really feels like we didn't do much at this park, but was there all day long! Although, for us it was more of a shows/exhibits park, rather than rides. I think wanting to get to see shows, and walking from place to place took up all the time. I am glad we took that moment to plan out the showtimes.

I think if you factor in the two big coasters it might be pushing it to do it all comfortably in one day, but it probably is do-able. Two days I think would be better so you don't feel so rushed.

All in all, SeaWorld was brilliant, and I loved every minute of this day!

Tomorrow - new car and our 1st Disney park!

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Read the next day:
Day 8 - Hooray for Hollywood!: Hollywood Studios, Hollywood & Vine and Cracker Barrel

Read the previous day:
Day 6 -It's A Breeze!: Bahama Breeze, Super Target & Michaels

[WileyCoyote]

Asking for an indication of the way out, because it felt like we had been walking forwever, we finally reached the exit.

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This made me laugh- we did THREE circuits trying to get out after seeing Shamu Rocks - we were like - how hard can it be to get out of here !

What a wonderful day - we loved seaworld and you have captured those shows so well

I had thought about the Sharks dining for us but have 2 fussy eaters ( not mac'cheese fans at all) so maybe we will give it a miss

Thank you for posting - I really enjoyed this day so much ! I want to go back - NOW

[Mrs Pumpkin]

WileyCoyote - this is what's on the kids menu at the moment:

Pasta Marinara
Jumbo Grilled Hot Dog
Shark's Chicken Tenders
Mac and Cheese

so not much if your kids don't like any of these, and for my little man, a jumbo hot dog really didn't touch the sides! Everything else was fab though!

I'm glad we wasn't the only ones trying to find our way out - it was a nightmare!

[Milner]

Lovely day at Seaworld and excellent photos.

[MFras23]

Sharks underwater grill looks really nice. Think it will be put onto the shortlist for our places to eat. Bet your feet were burning by the end of the day!

[asdageek]

great read and pics as always thanks for sharing!

[tonymc]

We always manage a full day and another afternoon and evening at Seaworld as we find you can't fit in all the shows in a day!

[Mrs Pumpkin]

Originally Posted by tonymc

We always manage a full day and another afternoon and evening at Seaworld as we find you can't fit in all the shows in a day!

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I totally agree - It's a struggle to get them all in one day - we didn't manage it and felt a bit rushed - will definitely make this a two day park next time!