Disney and the Doubletree - Aug 2014 - Day 12

[Nimbus]

Previously: Day 11 - A Day Off

Day Twelve - Wednesday 27th August 2014 - Back to Seaworld and Dine with Shamu

Today we'd booked to Dine with Shamu later in the afternoon and so we decided to visit Seaworld again. After a quick breakfast of bagels, a walk through the gate at the back of the hotel and a saunter across the carpark, we were at the entrance of Seaworld.



In general, it was something of a repeat of Sunday's visit although we did experience a few attractions we'd missed the first time round. Like Pets Ahoy...



...the sealions at Pacific Point...





...and Blue Horizons, which is still probably the best show at Seaworld (in my opinion, of course).





Of course, we also revisited a few favourites such as Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin.



Note the large penguin shape made out of snow-covered rocks. We had another set of Quick Queue tickets from our hotel so we didn't have to wait in the standby line. Although the queue was only around 15 minutes long when we arrived there (it looks longer in the photo below).



Like last time, it was bloomin' freezing inside. You'd think they could've got the penguins acclimatised to Florida weather by now. We loved watching the penguins swimming and waddling around but we couldn't stay in the building for very long due to the chilly temperature.





We did meet another friendly (and not so smelly) penguin outside though:



Of course, we also had to go on Journey to Atlantis and see the turtles at Turtle Trek again.





At one point during the day, we did attempt to ride in the Sky Tower, skipping the usual queue using our Quick Queue passes. We'd never tried this before because you used to have to pay. However, just as we were waiting for the pod (or whatever you call it) to arrive and be the next ones to ride, the thing broke down! Luckily we weren't inside it because the circular vehicle thingy (?!) stayed stuck about a third of the way up the pole for a good 20 minutes or so.

Not surprisingly, we decided to give this a miss.

A bit disappointed after wasting time waiting for a malfunctioning ride, we cheered ourselves up by trying on some good old funny hats:



Sharks this time!

Moving onwards, we strolled over to the area near Shamu stadium a little before we were due to eat with the orcas. Again, Hannah went on a few of the smaller rides in Shamu's Happy Harbour.



And she met "Shamu" who was just wandering around the area looking lost:



Finally (well, at 4:15pm or so) it was time to Dine with Shamu. First we had to go and sign in/register near the underwater viewing area. When we arrived we were surprised to see a very long queue for this. The number of people lining up to dine was a lot more than I expected.

Eventually we registered and received our table number. We then joined another queue to have our photo taken. Unfortunately in front of us was an extended family who wanted the photographer to take every combination of their group; parents and children, parents and grandparents, grandparents and children, etc. Finally we did have our photo taken.



We thought we'd have to pay extra for this but it's included in the price of the dining experience. And, I have to say, it was a very good photo.

Then it was into the small dining area. It seemed to take a member of staff ages before they directed us to our table and before we could go and get some food. We were one of the last people inside which meant we joined the end of yet another long queue. By the time we actually made our way to the food, some of it had run out. Not that the choice was that great anyway.

It didn't help that whilst getting our food Hannah and Michelle had a bit of a run in with that family we'd been behind at the photographer. Like I said, some of the food had run out but at one point they started restocking some salad. Hannah wanted some (she likes tomatoes) so she went backwards in the queue to get a helping. However, the woman in this other family accused her of pushing in - not that it made any difference to her.

Anyway, that aside, a little while later the Seaworld trainers came out and they started going through their training routine with the orcas whilst we ate our (frankly average) meal. Between bites, I managed to take a few photos...









I'd expected some audience participation or questions from the diners to be answered but there was none of that. It was interesting to see the orcas up close - and if you love these magnificent mammals it's worth trying out at least once - but not quite as amazing an experience as I'd thought it would be.

I then helped myself to some dessert - a slice of delicious chocolate cake that was the best thing about the meal - and also picked up a couple of cookies for Hannah. She didn't want them so, of course, I started to eat one instead. But after taking a couple of bites I encountered a hard bit inside. Spitting it out I thought it was a small white stone and was not impressed. However later, back at our hotel room, I discovered it had actually been a chunk of one of my teeth that had broken off.

So, overall, not the best dining experience we'd had. Dine with Shamu was over-subscribed, it was a bit like a cattle market, the food was average (except for the cake) and we'd had something of a "to do" with another family. It wasn't exactly terrible but not brilliant either. We probably wouldn't do again.

Once the show was over, we collected our photo and left the dining area. As we were right next to Shamu Stadium and the next show was about to start, we decided to watch One Ocean one last time.





Another good show and a better end to the day.

By now it was around 6:30pm. We followed the crowds through the park towards the entrance looking in the shops along the way. Then, after the short walk back to our hotel, we settled in our room to relax for a while - at which point I worryingly discovered my partially-missing tooth I mentioned earlier. I think some rain may have come along in the evening but we were happy just to rest inside until bedtime.

Next: Day 13 - Islands of Adventure

[juliab]

What a shame dine with Shamu was so disappointing, never done it and probably never will. Hope your tooth was ok?

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by juliab

What a shame dine with Shamu was so disappointing, never done it and probably never will. Hope your tooth was ok?

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Lots of other people seem to enjoy Dine with Shamu so maybe we were just unlucky?

As for my tooth, I kept expecting it to really hurt. There was a large hole in the side of it. But, surprisingly, it didn't - it just felt unusual. And I didn't want to eat on that side of my mouth in case it made things worse.

Anyway, after a bit of drilling and filling back in the UK, it's now okay.