I woke at 7:30 and kieran was already up. Sorted the washings, got my coffee and out to the pool. No sign of Mr Hawk today, but the geese were on top gun training and did multiple flypasts really close 😃
Kevin was out by 8:30 and we started to get ready. Left the villa at 10am thinking with Seaworld being quieter than Disney and Universal we could afford not to rush for opening. Looked like it was going to be s scorcher today. It was 90 degrees at 10am.
On the way along the 192 there was a wee black cat lying right in the centre of the junction. It was lifting its head and tail so was very much alive but not getting up so must've been hurt 😳. The kids were screaming and getting all upset as the cars drove around it. Including us. I felt terrible but what could we do? Even if we stopped and picked it up where on earth would we take it? Oh it was horrible start to the day 😢. I'm telling the kids that a local person would definitely stop as they would know where to take it. I know I would if I was at home as I would know a vets. I hope to God I'm right as I feel awful. The only good thing is where it was lying it was definitely safe from being hit again. The kids were inconsolable as we carried on to Seaworld, so not a nice start at all.
Arrived at Seaworld to find a huge queue to get in
it was 11am by the time we were through this. It was sooooo busy! We originally weren't doing Seaworld or Busch this year then these 2 park tickets popped up on groupon for a decent price. She scanned them all and took our photo with each. We checked we could leave later then re-enter the park and she confirmed we could.
Manta was already a 60min wait - ooft no thanks! Hannah wanted us to wait but we persuaded her to walk to the back of the park to Mako as we suspected it might be quieter for now.
We were right. This was showing a 10m wait and we walked on it the first time, then waited 10mins the second time. The boys went on a tummy lurching third time
while Hannah and I got the stuff out the locker. Lockers here are $1 for the first hour, then $2 for each additional hour. Or, you can pay $10 for a multiple use locker which you then move from locker to locker throughout the day. Cash or credit card swipe.
We bought a cup for today knowing we would need a lot of drinks. This cost $14.99 with free refills all day. Then when we do Busch gardens we can activate it for free refills all day for $6.98. For the first fill I chose vanilla ice chill which tasted just like Barr's Cream Soda. Mmmmm!
We watched the sharks and rays for a while before walking round through Antarctica. The penguin ride was mobbed. I didn't see the Q time but the queue snaked round and round outside.
As we passed Atlantis the queue time was 80minutes! 80 minutes! I'd never seen queues like that in Seaworld before.
We were aiming for Kraken and when we got there a queue came from the gate all the way past the lockers and down almost to the Atlantis entrance. I wanted to know how long the wait time was so walked to the top to see. The machine said 0 which I knew wasn't right so I asked the guy. He said he had no idea. Helpful.
Hannah by this time was insisting we just locker up anyway but even that was a problem as you have to pay in advance so have to select 1hr or more. How was I supposed to know? 😡
Kevin and kieran had joined the big snaking queue which was now flowing in past us. Hannah and I had a big ding dong at the lockers now as I'm standing there balancing my bag, everyone's caps, sunglasses, the drinks cup, with my purse out, typing on the locker screen and what's she doing. Left hand on hip, right hand Snapchatting. Aaarrghh!
Finally got lockered up and we went in through the queue gate, which now showed 30mins. When we got to the twisty queue kieran and Kevin let people pass till we caught up. None of that skipping malarkey for me.
We did wait 30mins in total. They have removed all the Virtual Reality nonsense from this Thank God. It just spoiled a good ride. The voiceover thing does still say ^if you choose to ride virtual reality please place the headset securely blah blah^ but the wee black boxes fixed in front of you are now cable tied shut. And all the screens that showed the VR film around the loading bay are now just turned off. Enjoyed this one but wasn't waiting 30m for another go. Quick loo stops and drinks refill and we decided to go check the q time now for Manta. Thankfully this was down to 10mins so we lockered up and on we went. I had forgot how much this one whips your head around. My neck was killing me when we came off.
I consoled myself with my favourite dippin dots. Any excuse
It was time now to cut back across the park towards Mako as that's where the Nautilus theatre was about to show Pop - the bubble show. I had seen this on Tim Tracker and was desperate to see it. I love bubbles, always have. They're just one of those things that make people smile eh? I wasn't disappointed. I LOVED this show! It was so pretty and sparkly 😍 we arrived at 1:35 for the 1:45 show and only just got a seat at the side.
leaving here we were heading to the 3pm Dolphin Days show. We spent some time at the Dolphin nursery first where they were on fine form showing off and playing
we went into the stadium at 2:40 and again only got seated to the side. It was sooo busy today.
we enjoyed this. It's back to just the old fashioned Dolphin show all about what they can do. They still have the parrot flybys but no more acrobats and all that.
Out and a quick visit to the dolphin cove. We passed the Sky Tower on the way and were going to go up on that til we saw this
since when did you have to pay extra for that? Ridiculous!
As nice as it was to see the dolphins it was standing here I had a bit of a realisation. I had been so much more thrilled by seeing the dolphins away in the distance in the sea at Anna Maria than I was standing here with them just 1m away from me in a pool.
It was now 3:30 and given how busy the stadiums had been so far we decided to cross the park to the Shamu stadium for the 4pm show. Just as well we did as it was mobbed. We had a good 20mins before the show started which let me type up a chunk of todays report on my phone notes
😄 and enjoy a bit of shade. Even I was struggling with the heat today. It was melting hot.
Saw these two pensioners lovin life and rockin some colourful hairdos. Gotta love it
Show was good. I'm not as fond of the Orcas as I am the Dolphins. I always feel the dolphins are enjoying it, whereas the Orcas I am less sure of. Kieran loves the Orcas though and clapped his way all through it.
We left the park at 4:30 as the clouds darkened and I ran - yes RAN - to the car as the rain started as I didn't want soaked before restaurant aircon!
We drove the 15mins along the road to Hash House A Go Go for dinner and a park break. I had bought the Travelzoo voucher when princess allie posted that it was back on so we had $50 to use.
parked up and in. It was empty! There was only 2 other families there.
I had earned a huckleberry sin cocktail. Ok maybe it was 2. Did I tell you I ran to the car?
They brought the biscuits with syrup out that you get automatically
We ordered grilled salmon
Black Skillet ChIcken
And slow cooked BBQ ribs, but substituted the veg for a salad.
My god these portions are HUGE! The salmon was just ok - not as tasty as others I've had here.
For dessert we ordered the red velvet waffle to share.
Paid the bill with our $50 off and put the 3 uneaten biscuits in a box to take home. No doubt Kevin will eat these with Jam and cups of tea over the next few days like he did last year!
we were now going back into Seaworld for the evening entertainment. I had seen this on Tim Tracker too and it looked like fun. We showed the parking ticket from earlier to get in. Then back in with our groupon tickets again.
This is in the Bayside Stadium for Club Sea Glow at 8pm to be followed by Ignite at 9:30.
We arrived back in just before 7pm. Kieran wanted a go on Manta which was showing a 10min wait but the rest of us were too full of tummy, so the bold boy just went on himself.
we walked to the back of the park and Kevin agreed to go on Mako with Kieran.
Hannah and I flopped onto a bench to wait.
It showed a 25min wait and that was what we waited.
We had a wee look at the new ride they are building that opens in summer. Looks like you will get a right soaking on it
Then we went to the Bayside stadium where the dance party thing had started. If you have kids who like a good dance they will love this! Lots of good dance party tunes and folk dressed up as lighty up sea creatures. It was now 8:30 and Hannah and I were quite happy sitting here enjoying the music and people watching, but Kieran couldn't believe he was expected to sit here the rest of the night while there were perfectly good roller coasters still running.
So his poor dad trudged away to do some rides with him until they would come back at 9:30 for the Ignite show!
And there were dancers and fancy laser dancers
Ignite was really good. Water, fire, lasers, fireworks all set to a banging dance track. Lasted 15 mins and I really liked it. Knocked the socks of AKs rivers of light anyway.
This finished about 9:15-9:20 and they announced that the dance party would continue to 10pm. We made our way out of the park which was all lit up with different coloured jellyfish and things hanging from the trees. It was lovely.
Drove home. Some wahoo cut straight across the lanes right in front of us when he changed his mind about turning left and decided he needed to be going straight on. He was flying. Thank god kevin wasn't going fast coz he missed us by inches and we both near enough had a heart attack.
As I post this we are 5 minutes from home and there is a hot tub and a beer waiting with our names on 😃