5-week Split Stay in Florida, Feb/March 2020 - Day 08: SeaWorld

[nothingless]

Day 08: SeaWorld
February 17, 2020
[-- Trip Index --]

We woke up just before 7AM and relaxed in bed for a while, Myla snuggled up to me while we watched some iPad. I got up around 8 - Michael did a workout while I did some work on the laptop, and Myla played games on the iPad. When I was finished and had my breakfast, we got ready to go back to SeaWorld, to check out the Sesame Street area. In spite of already having been to SeaWorld twice already, we hadn't yet set foot on that side of the park yet!

It was a bit of a struggle to get Myla dressed this morning. She was quite grumpy and didn't want to do anything, least of all put on some clothes and brush her teeth! I did my best to keep my patience and we finally managed to leave the house around 9:30. Myla actually fell asleep in the car for a bit, which did a world of good for her mood! When we parked at SeaWorld, she woke up, and was instantly happy when she saw where we were, yay! She wanted to walk again today, which she did for most of the day and even though we had the stroller with us, we ended up barely using it.



We walked on into the park and stopped at the dolphin nursery first to look at the dolphins.


Then we walked on to Sesame Street via the big bridge across the lake.


Myla spotted some ducks, which of course was very exciting and she made me photograph them lol.


Then further on a squirrel crossed the path in front of us - she was absolutely squealing with delight at this.

For some reason, we rarely, almost never, see squirrels at home, but we see them everywhere in the US!



Finally we reached the Sesame Street Land and had a little look around. I remember watching Sesame Street as a child myself in the 80s, but it's not on TV anymore in the Netherlands, so Myla has never seen and doesn't know any of it. That didn't really dampen her enthousiasm though, luckily!

We thought the area was quite nice and new looking, but it is *very* concrete-y with very little shade when walking around - a bit unpleasant because it was pretty hot by now, 29-30 degrees.


Myla spotted the Elmo's Choo Choo train ride and recognized that it's basically the same as the little train at Disney Springs, so she asked to ride it by herself again. We waved at her and told her good job for being such a big girl!


I was super hot by now and keen to go inside for a little while. Across the street from the train ride was an indoor and air conditioned meet n greet for Elmo and Cookie Monster, so I asked Myla if she fancied it and she practically ran in! Keeping in mind she doesn’t know who they are - she loved it anyway and kept referring to them as the red one and the blue one haha! 😂


We spotted the Sea Carousel next, and Myla rode it with Michael - she loves a good carousel. There were no queues for any of this, by the way - this whole area was pretty quiet and chill, and we could walk right on to anything Myla wanted to do. Very toddler friendly!


We found a space to sit down in the shade and have a few snacks next to the Harmony Hills playground - Myla alternated playing and snacking.


After spending a good 20 minutes there, I pointed out the remaining kiddie rides to Myla and asked if she wanted to do any of them - she said no to 2 of them but wanted to do the little pink roller coaster with me. Okay then!

We walked on over and for the first time she was 37” tall so allowed on these types of rides! She was very excited and such a big girl! I took a video of us on it - she looks like she finds it horrible, but as soon as it finished she said, “THAT was fun! ” We'll see if she turns into a roller coaster junkie as she gets older!

We let her play in the water play area for a few minutes next to cool down, but she was starting to get tired now after all the walking and playing, and hungry too so she climbed into the stroller for the first time that day to eat some Goldfish crackers and relax with the sunshade over.

Michael and I fancied iced coffees so we strolled around for a bit looking for these. We figured we'd walk further into park instead of back to the Starbucks, as we hadn't been to these areas yet and we assumed we'd be able to find something somewhere. Turns out we were wrong! We walked towards Infinity Falls, which was closed for renovation and so was the big quick-serve restaurant beside it. We passed lots of little kiosks and food carts, and all were closed too. It was pretty quiet and a week-day during offseason but still - reminded me of being in Disneyland Paris in February when so much is closed too!

[nothingless]

So we basically ended up back at the park entrance after doing a whole loop of the park, at the Starbucks. We enjoyed our Frappuccinos and an accai bowl in the shade, and Myla enjoyed some of my frapp too. 🙈


It was around 12:30PM by then, and when we asked Myla what else she wanted to do, she asked to see the Pets show again. That started at 1pm so was handy enough. We walked over to the theatre and enjoyed it in the air conditioning- it was as good and funny as last time!


I'm a bit of a sweaty mess haha!


After the show, we let Myla pick what we were doing next, and she asked to go home to the pool So that was fine, we headed back to the car and drove home. She nicked Michael's hat at some point, it actually looked super cute on her lol.


She closed her eyes in the car for a bit, but didn't fully fall asleep.


As soon as we got back, she crawled onto the couch with the iPad for some down time. We really noticed that sometimes all she needs is a bit of chill time like this for half an hour or so, instead of a full blown nap.

I took the opportunity to finish the rest of my work while she chilled, and we all headed over to the pool around 3:30. It was 30 degrees outside now, so really lovely in the water. Myla made friends within minutes and we alternated watching her and joining in with her new pool balls.

Also during this pool time, Myla needed to pee twice, and told me in time each time and peed properly on the toilets there! Which are as noisy as any American toilets (although not busy at all so maybe that helped), so we were really proud of her! Slow progress on the toilet front again - it's ridiculous how proud I felt of her when she did that first pee haha!

We headed back to the villa just after 5PM as we were all hungry, and did the usual baths/dinner/playing around in the villa until bedtime - Michael and I fell asleep watching HGTV again lol, such a luxury to have a tv in the bedroom! 😁

[mick]

Another lovely day and lots of great photos


Joan

[Jessika]

I love the Sesame Street pictures, it used to air in the U.K. ( my childhood favourite) also but hasn’t for a long time. Myla is doing well with the US toilets, I remember my kids also having this fear when they were small.

[Michyloulou]

Another great SW and pool day. It’s lovely when the kids make friends easily.

[jothp]

Another great Seaworld day. It looks like Myla is going to love all the rides as she grows up.

[HakunaMatata]

Shame a few areas were shut, but seems you managed to do the rest!