The 3 Mouseketeers Non-Stop WDW Adventure (Aug 2018) Day 2 SeaWorld/ Hoop De Doo

[Custancia]

Day 1 can be found here

A small confession and apology first – I know the trip report title is non-stop WDW, but we ventured off site just a couple of times! Today we went to SeaWorld, for our first time ever. We had originally booked a 14 night holiday, but then we found out that Mickey’s Not So Scary Hallowe’en Party was almost certainly going to take place on the day we were travelling home. So, in a moment of Disney-addiction, we extended our holiday by a couple of nights.

However, we didn’t extend our tickets so we needed to spend today not going into any WDW parks, so that we could still use them at the end of our holiday. We had booked a day at Discovery Cove, which also gave us access to SeaWorld and therefore this seemed the perfect day to visit.

We got up at 6am – all wide awake, thanks to our bodies only just starting to adjust to Florida time. We got ready in a very leisurely manner, and headed out of our room at 7.10am. And put one of the new hairbows we'd ordered into DD's hair. She chose an Ariel themed one since we were off to SeaWorld...

As we had plenty of time, we went over to the Food Court for breakfast. DH and DD both had the Bounty Platter with Mickey Waffle.

I had the Bounty Platter with pancakes. I asked for it without the sausage and bacon, and was asked if I’d like an extra pancake instead. We all got bottles of Orange Juice.

Once we’d finished, we rinsed out two of the bottles, and having re-filled them with water, put them in our rucksack for later. We headed out towards the main entrance and after a chat with Birdie, the ‘greeter’ Cast Member, he summoned across a taxi for us.

The journey took about 20 mins, and we arrived at SeaWorld at about 8.20, and it was due to open at 9am.

It was very quiet, with only a handful of other people waiting.

DH had decided that we should prioritise the larger Roller Coasters first. I’m not really a big coaster fan, but DH was really keen and I wanted to keep him company so that was going to be our plan of action. We had no problems getting through bag check (no queue how different to WDW) , and using our home printed Discovery Cove/Seaworld tickets to get in.

We’d not anticipated the National Anthem being played as it opened however, and stood around feeling, and probably looking, a little awkward whilst the US Citizens around us looked very patriotic!

It really wasn't very busy!

First ride was Manta. As we were used to the WDW way of doing things, we were a little thrown by needing to put our rucksack into a locker (and having to pay for it!). However, we quickly figured it out (it wasn’t hard, and it was all clearly signed!). It was a short queue and DD queued with us, but wasn’t too sure whether she wanted to do it. As we were about to board she decided against it, so we agreed she’d meet us when we got off. The staff were really helpful and showed her where to go. It’s nice that she’s 14 now, so we can split up like this and not feel one of us has to stay with her.

Once we got onto the ride it was obvious that the locker was really needed, as there is nowhere to put any bags. You sit in the seat, feet dangling as there is no floor and have an over the head restraint (and if I recall correctly a leg restraint), and then the seat tips forward so that your chest and face are facing the floor. The ride swoops you around the park and even though I wasn’t really expecting to, I loved it.

DH however hated it and felt sick! He said that he knew he was making a mistake as soon as the seat tipped forward, but it was too late at that point so he just had to suffer the ride. And that was the end of our “doing Roller Coasters early on” plan!

Then we went to Antarctica Empire of Penguins. The ride was broken at this point, so we were offered the opportunity just to walk through the exhibition. The penguins looked rather over crowded, but it was amazing being able to watch them dive and swim through deep water.
I was sure we'd taken pictures of this... but apparently not!

As we were leaving, the ride was just starting to run so we doubled back and went on. It went tech a few times whilst we were on it, so maybe we didn’t see it at its best. We weren’t that impressed though. (There were two options – ‘mild’ and ‘wild’ and DH insisted we did ‘mild’ as he was still recovering from Manta!) Because it had gone tech, as we left the ride we were each given a Ride Re-entry ticket for all the big ticket rides, except Kraken.

We decided to have a sit down at this point and let DH properly recover. DD and DH got a blue raspberry slushie to share, and I got an Apple Juice. DH was feeling a lot better and so we retrieved our bag from the locker, where we’d stowed it pre-Manta, and DH and I went on Journey to Atlantis using our ride re-entry tickets, whilst DD looked after the rucksack and browsed in a gift shop.

DH enjoyed this ride much more. There were a couple of drops on the ride, the first drop was quite big, and despite the many warnings before we started the ride we didn’t get too wet. However the second drop, which was very small by comparison, soaked us completely! Probably not helped by being sat at the front! We were SO wet – but it was a typical hot August day so we soon dried off.

Next we followed the map to find the Dolphin Theatre to see the Dolphin Days show. We got 3 ice-creams (Heath Bars) on our way in.

We enjoyed the show and it was lovely to have a sit down in the shade.

After a bit of a detour due to DH (very unusually for him) misreading the map, we wandered through the Stingray Lagoon. DD was really brave and reached in to stroke the Stingrays. She had been really scared by these when we had visited Discovery Cove a couple of years ago, and since we were going back there she was determined to try to get better at coping with them.

Then we went over to the Shamu Stadium for the One Ocean show. It was clearly very popular.

But I’m not really too sure about it. It mainly seemed to focus on getting the whales to splash the audience

and it felt like there was quite a lot of justification (apology, even) for having these animals on show, which just made me doubt even more whether it was appropriate.

I cannot believe we were hungry at this point, but we called in at the Pretzel Kitchen and got a Bacon Cheeseburger Pretzel (definitely a new experience, and one which DH and DD enjoyed!). This is what it looked like when we bought it

And when we'd cut into it

and some sugar cinnamon nuggets (which I liked much better).

Then we went into the Nautilus Theater to see Pop! This was a bubble show and was unexpectedly really good.

It was essentially just a guy in his 20s, doing amazing things with bubbles. Because bubbles can be a bit temperamental sometimes his ‘stunts’ worked perfectly, and other times it took a few tries. I tried to take a few photos, but the light effects meant that none of them came out

DD wanted to spend more time increasing her confidence with the stingrays, so we headed back there.

Then, we bought two Manta Soft Serves (pineapple swirls in cups).

After this, it was 2.45pm and it was approaching time for us to go to the Hoop De Doo Revue, so we left Seaworld. It was an enjoyable visit but since both DD and DH were not interested in any big rides, I’m not sure that we really made the most of it.

We headed out of the park, and turned right towards the taxi rank where there were lots of taxis waiting. Not sure how long the journey took, but we arrived at Fort Wilderness at 3.25pm. After a little bit of uncertainty we found the bus stop to take us over to Pioneer Hall.

As we arrived, a photopass photographer was just setting up so we had a few photos taken, and as we finished another photographer arrived, so we had a few more!

We were still quite early for the 4pm show, and were feeling a bit thirsty, so we went over to the Trails End bar and got 3 pomegranate lemonades, then sat outside to drink them. We had asked and apparently we could use snack credits for them, but we later (much later) realised that we’d been charged for them instead. I thought I'd taken a picture of them, but apparently I only took one of the floor (I'll not bother uploading that one!)

It was finally time to go into the Hoop De Doo Revue. We were Category 2 seating, as we were using 2 dining credits. It's a set menu (although the table next to us had an allergy, and whilst we tried hard not to eavesdrop it was evident that the chef was really good in suggesting alternatives)

We were sat near the front on the very far right side, just by the Kitchen entrance. I like the location as we had a good, albeit sideways view. DH was less sure.

This was our first dinner show at WDW and we really enjoyed it.

Rick our server was excellent, and made sure that we didn’t run out of drinks. DH had beer whilst I had the Sangria and it was very nice!

We all really enjoyed the food. There was salad and cornbread (which was very nice!)

There was fried chicken

and beans

And there was corn and very, very nice mash.

DD particularly liked that there were intervals in the show whilst the food was served so that she didn’t have to split her attention between eating and watching!

DH particularly enjoyed the Strawberry shortcake (and the introductory song).

I hadn’t really known what to expect, and we all really enjoyed the audience interaction and getting to play the washboards.

Afterwards, (feeling very full!) we got the boat from Fort Wilderness

over to Magic Kingdom area, which was busy, the slight downside was that we had to go through bag check getting off the boat, even though we didn't actually want to go into the park, but just to catch a bus back to Port Orleans Riverside.

It was only about 7.30 by this point, but we were starting to flag as our bodies were still convinced that it was 5 hours later. We got off the bus at the main bus stops, and had a quick browse in Fultons as we strolled through. We called into the Food Court to pick up something for breakfast the next morning (there was a relatively limited choice, since it was the evening!).

DD and DH went for a swim in the quiet pool near our room, and noticed that there are now towels at the quiet pools as well as the main pool. I collapsed in the room and tweeted a #castcompliment as Rick our server had been brilliant, with an amazing high kick in the can can on stage! Even after showers, we were all in bed by 9.30!

Day 3 can be found here

[Palm trees]

What a lovely day, shame your husband felt poorly after the first coaster though.

[Ivegottadream]

Great report. I'm really glad you've reviewed Hoop Dee Doo. It looks fun, glad we've got it booked!

[lil mousketeer]

Apart from your hubby feeling a bit iffy after Manta, sounds like another great day was had by all.

We haven’t done Hoop De Doo before, but from your pictures the food looked yummy and you had a pretty good view of the stage too.

[Goldia]

I loved your description of Manta this was our first ride at Seaworld a few years ago, when you are facing the floor it's kind of intimidating. I think I spent the whole ride saying oh my repeatedly!

The dinner at Hoop Dee Doo sounds fab, we're going for the first time this summer and I'm really looking forward to it.

[Custancia]

Originally Posted by Palm trees

What a lovely day, shame your husband felt poorly after the first coaster though.

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It was quite unexpected DH feeling poorly - it's usually me that gets travel sick! He'd been so excited about trying out the 'big' rides, so I felt quite sorry for him. He recovered and still had a good day though, so all's well that ends well

Originally Posted by Ivegottadream

Great report. I'm really glad you've reviewed Hoop Dee Doo. It looks fun, glad we've got it booked!

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It was lots of fun! I'm sure you'll really enjoy it. We're QSDP on our next trip, otherwise we'd probably be heading back there (we still might if the exchange rate ever improves!)

Originally Posted by lil mousketeer

Apart from your hubby feeling a bit iffy after Manta, sounds like another great day was had by all.

We haven’t done Hoop De Doo before, but from your pictures the food looked yummy and you had a pretty good view of the stage too.

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I thought we had a good view, DH was a bit 'meh' about it (our location, he loved the show!). The cast move about the hall, interacting with the audience, so I don't think there are any really bad tables.

Originally Posted by Goldia

I loved your description of Manta this was our first ride at Seaworld a few years ago, when you are facing the floor it's kind of intimidating. I think I spent the whole ride saying oh my repeatedly!

The dinner at Hoop Dee Doo sounds fab, we're going for the first time this summer and I'm really looking forward to it.

See more...

I'd never been on anything like Manta - and to be honest, I really wasn't too sure about it but wanted to keep DH company. But I loved the sensation of swooping through the park.

Enjoy Hoop Dee Doo - it's a great experience!

[Leia77]

I think Manta looks pretty scary, you're much braver than I am! Really enjoying your report 😊

[Custancia]

It does look scary, but I was surprised how much I enjoyed it! DH is reading over my shoulder and has just commented “it was horrible!”.
Thank you so much for reading and commenting.

[jothp]

A great day, you did well to get so much done with the jeg lag and early start.