A Very Angelic Christmas

[ANGEL]

Day 4

Wednesday 19th December

Sea World

Wake today at much more respectable 6.45 so its light by 7.15 and I can see to write up yesterdays notes, you’ll be pleased to know…no ‘nesting’ today;)

The sleeping beauties still sound asleep by 8 (well it was a late night for the poor things) so I have a noisy shower and make coffee so they wake up.  Can’t decide what to do (what, no plan?) as it looks really nice today, lets check the forecast….

Hmm, says it should be 76 deg today (only day they almost got it right by the way…..) so I give the troops a choice, we can do Blizzard Beach, Sea World or Islands of Adventure?  A choice…wow, they are so lucky! They both opt for SW as I knew they would, its not top of my list, but I grit my teeth and give in gracefully (well, not actually graceful but you get the picture)..I think we should really be making the most of the sun, but there you go, and it was the right choice so I accept defeat!;)

Leave the hotel by 10am (Spotty did you hear that?) and arrive at SW by 10.20 and park right by the entrance. Great! Make sure the green ribbon is flying high and make our way to the entrance.  Interestingly we found that security here was much tighter here than at Disney or USF.  They even asked me to open my glasses case!  Good!  Get discounted tickets due to the AAA pass, what a wonderful thing that is! Take a photo of Shamu dressed as Father Christmas…….only in Florida…..what a strange sight!! As we browse in the shops (well you have to) the sun comes out it looks like its going to be a beautiful day.

Stroll past the flamingos (lovely colours) and Ibis on our way to Journey to Atlantis.  First time for this as it wasn’t here when we came in 96 and we haven’t done SW since (sorry DH).  Wow! This is a great ride! I’d heard there was a twist at the end but didn’t let on to DH/DD so it would n’t spoil it for them.  You must do this…it’s a water ride that turns into a mini-coaster…(“Leaving so soon…I think not!”…..)not scary though.  You do get wet, but the theming and ride is wonderfulJ We much preferred this to Splash (sorry folks) and especially loved the little sea horse….went on twice as there was no queue.  Sat in the sun to dry off a bit while Vince headed for the Kraken to spin dry his clothes. (yes we’re scaredy cats) He loved this and had a CM sitting next to him pointing out alligators sunning themselves and other interesting things!!!  He did it twice and said it’s a real winner, but Becky and I preferred the shops!!;)  Couldn’t help noticing that most other people here are British too, so many British accents, must be some other Dis-ers too!

We’re hungry now, as we had no breakfast (well, not counting some Ritz crackers) so search for food is now on.  On the stroll round….and this really is a beautiful place to stroll round…we see some lovely decorations.  There is a beautiful silver and gold Angel we have our pic taken next to, wish I had a digital camera!  Find the chicken and biscuit place;3 big pieces of fried chicken, fries, roll and butter for $7…wow! 2 of those please, 2 corn on the cobs, some water melon and 3 sodas….$23!!! We share it all between us as we’ve discovered theres no point ordering 3 meals most of the time, it just gets wasted.  Even the sodas here are lovely!  Sat in the sun and watched the cheeky birds on the tables, I’m sure I’ve seen that lady before over there, perhaps in a Dis photo? Probably just imagining it!  Very full now, so walk round the lake, looking up at the Sky Tower, we would have done this but were annoyed they charge extra now, it was free last time.  Walk all around, then over to see the wonderful Clydesdale horses (ok and for free beer).  Laughed a lot as all the people getting free beer were EnglishJ  Lovely little foal in the stable so that made becky’s day!

Queued for ages for the Wild Arctic ride, which seemed better than last time but very long wait, not sure its worth it.  Feel sorry for that polar bear in there.

Spent some time at the Coral reef, then at the Dolphin Nursery where the staff were trying to teach the young dolphins to play with a ball.  Lovely!  Then on to the Dolphin Reef and the highlight of our day.  Last time we came here, we had no interaction with the dolphins, but this time…they could n’t keep away!  We stayed and petted them for ages, then it was feeding time, so we bought some very smelly fish and Becky and Vince fed them.  I could n’t quite get the bravery up to do that I’m afraid so I just took loads of photos with my little throw away camera (which came out brilliantly….$5 in Walmart, what a bargain).  We spent ages here, ‘chatting’ to the dolphins, they love posing for photos!  Vince had such a brilliant time, he could n’t stop talking about it and becky and I kept giggling because we had a surprise treat for him booked the next day…..;)  One word of warning…one very silly American lady fed the dolphin then allowed it to take the box from the fish and eat it!! How stupid, they warn you about this all the time…we did have words!  I know they are probably made from something edible but even so…..

How could we top this, well we went in to the Dolphin Show after that and the entertainer/singer was quite funny, even though he made Becky groan (OK Becky I know he wasn’t quite Nirvana)   especially when he got everyone to stand and cheer when he asked where we all came from….mostly Brits in the audience so there was the loudest cheer!  The American in front of us turned and said “Weather not so good out there right now I guess?”…Yessir, you could be right there!;)  We loved the show, the dolphin are so graceful, as are the Senorca whales, they jump so high!

After this DH & DD went off to see the manatees while I sat by the lake and watched a bit of the water ski stunt show, the sun was going down and although it was getting cooler, it was still lovely.

Off to the Shamu stadium for Shamu Rocks America, which we hadn’t seen before.  Beware the cameras that zoom around the audience before hand, they had Becky hiding under her seat. We loved it, great music (yeah ok Becky), light show and Shamu & friends were wonderful! Managed to embarrass DD (not difficult) by clapping and cheering along.  They choose someone from the audience to help light up the sky tower as a Christmas Tree at this time of year, it was really spectacular and could be seen for miles. Lovely!  Left with the rest of the crowd after the show and thought we’d mosey on down to Citywalk for a look around.

You park for free here after 6pm which is good.  We were hoping to exchange our vouchers for the Aps but it was too late in the day unfortunately, never mind, we’ll be back!  Wanted to see lord of the Rings but only one late show left so decided against it, walked all around and looked in the shops.  Loved the Fossil shop and the ‘surf’ shop (Quiet Flight?).  Sat out by the Big Kahlua Pizza munching enormous fresh slices of pizza ($2.95 not bad) and listening to the sounds around and just people watching.  Could have sat there forever, but would probably have fallen asleep.

What a lovely day at Sea World, an unexpected pleasure, very relaxing, lovely weather.  The colours are amazing, all the flower displays, Christmas trees made of Poinsettias, and those wonderful creatures (the dolphins not the Brits with free beer!) How have we not done this every trip?

Back to hotel after 9, a Smirnoff ice, some M & Ms and Ritz crackers…we really know how to live you know!  Watched Drew Carey on TV then  fell asleep……tomorrow’s Vince’s big surprise at EPCOT…can’t wait!J

[Guest]

love SW
would love see SW all dressed up for christmas
think it will still be there on our trip in Jan?

[ANGEL]

not sure when they take the decs down Anita. I bet Dave FM knows though!