Sea World Careers Camp

[Guest]

I am writing this on behalf of my 13 year old who is attending a Careers Camp at Sea World (Orlando)

Monday - flying as an Unaccompanied Minor to Orlando from Charlotte.
Flight was 2 hours late leaving due to the airplane needing to be
de-fuelled and it appeared nobody knew how to do that!
US Airways charge $40 each way for kids under 15 to travel alone
(other airlines end this at 12 years old). US Airways decided to
increase the price to $50 each way! This was due to the car
bomb attacks in London!

Camp officially started at 5pm. She got to Orlando around 4pm and was met by a Sea World Camp Councellor. The first night was spent sleeping in the Dolphin Display area at Sea World. Lights out at midnight. There are about 23 kids in her group. All are in 7th and 8th grade (12 - 14 years old)
The other group is the High School kids who are aged 14 - 15 years old.
My daughter is in Team Dolphin. Food was good - they had hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, etc. Got to go on the rides at Sea World before going to sleep in the Dolphin area. What an experience. Most of the kids want to be Vets or Marine Biologists. Mine wants to be a Vet.


Tuesday - awake at 6am! They have to go and clean out the Stingray Encounter. My daughter wins the prize for the kid looking like they are having the most fun. Her prize - a Stingray Tooth! She was not real scared of the Stingray as she had done the Stingray Feeding at Castaway Cay in April of 2006.
There are 2 rather large and by all accounts they are REALLY LARGE stingrays in the pool at Sea World. Daughter told me they tend to hang near the middle of the pool but a few times they brushed past her legs! She said that was just a little scary because they are so large.
Later on they went to see how the exotic birds are trained and they learned some training methods. A large exotic bird took a fancy to daughters head and decided to land on it and take a pick at her head full of braids (she got her hair braided before the camp). She was not scared at all - I would of passed out in fear!
They then went to visit the penguins and she got to touch a penguin - said it felt like a wet feather!
Another wonderful day and that night they went to the hotel - the Fairfield Inn. She is sharing a room with a girl from Wisconsin.

Wednesday - 4th July = She told me last night that they will be up at 6am and will be going to swim in the pool next to Shamu!


She is so excited about that and is also looking forward to spending the day at Discovery Cove on Friday and then sleeping there!

[Tartan Tigger]

Sounds like a fabulous experience.

[welshwiz]

Aaaaawwww what an amazing awe inspiring trip for her !

My 11 year old son would simply love to participate in a camp like that !

Thank you for sharing this story with us.

Hope your daughter has a 4th of July to remember too.

[Guest]

How fantastic.

Guess I should start saving for my 5 year old to go in a few years.

On second thoughts - do they take the over 40's too? lol

[Guest]

What a brilliant experience for her...

You are very brave letting her go on her own, my DD has just turned 13 and no way would she be able to do this.

Let us all know how she is getting on, wish they did one for adults too!

Best wishes
Sally

[Guest]

Wow what a great exprience for your DD.

[jandlsmum]

what a fantastic exprience
jayne

[Guest]

that sounds brilliant

[Guest]

Wow, what an amazing experience that sounds! Your daughter is so lucky.

[Guest]

Wednesday July 4th - the campers had to wake at 6am and head off for Sea World. They were given wet suits to wear (Daughter loved that) and they went in the pool near to Shamu. Got to take some underwater photos.

Watched the July 4th fireworks.

Not keen on her room mate as she is a year younger than my daughter and it sounds like she does a lot of whining! Still, she likes the other kids in her group. Seems to be the only kid who has worked out how to use a phone calling card too! She had to tell some other kids how to use them.


Thursday July 5th - am awaiting a phone call from her as I know she was excited about today. They were getting up at 6am to go and clean out the penguin display area. That sounds like so much fun.