Five Fords Fifth Family Floriday Aug 18 - Day 1- Seaworld & Walmart

[juliab]

Wednesday 8th August

Our first day in Orlando! Of course the first time I woke up was at 3.30, I think this was actually quite a reasonable time for me!
Anyway I managed to snooze for a couple more hours before getting up.

I went out onto the balcony, being careful not to wake anyone else up. I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was here and I knew then that we would enjoy it here.

I caught up with my notes in my journal whilst the sun was rising.

A little later Poppy came out to join me and we sat together and watched the gorgeous sunrise.

Scott was awake next and he popped over to the nearest Walmart to pick up a few essentials like milk, butter and bread.

Hayden and Jamie were awake by the time Scott had returned. I think we’d all managed to sleep quite well and we felt refreshed and ready for the day ahead.

We had breakfast, changed and set out for our day to Seaworld.

View from the front of the tower

Our car

The I4 was a little busy but we made it to the park just after 9am so didn’t do too badly.

We quickly went through security and was soon inside a fairly quiet park. We hoped it would stay that way!

Picked up a bottle for $13.99 and then purchased the refill code for $5.99 which then gave free refills for the day. Just decided to get the one bottle to save on carrying too much around with us. We also had plenty of water bottles with us as I’d sooner drink water or dilute.

It felt lovely and warm not overly hot but then I think it’s because we’d had such hot weather back home! Still had loads of factor 50 on us all though!

The boys headed straight for Manta which had a 5 minute wait – Me and Poppy looked at the flamingo’s whilst we waited for them.

They came off with the biggest smile on their faces and headed straight back on the ride. Might as well make use of those 5 minute wait times!

Next ride for the boys was Kraken – no way would I go on this so Scott did the deed and took the boys on.

Scott said it was quite an intense ride but it didn’t stop them from going on it again.

I then took the boys on Journey to Atlantis which we all really enjoyed. Poppy went on this once a few years ago but didn’t like it so Scott took her for a look in the souvenir shop whilst we were away.

Couldn’t believe that we’d been on a few roller coasters within the first hour of us being in the park.

Now time for Poppy’s first ride which was Empire of the Penguin. Me and Poppy opted for the less intense version as we both suffer a bit with motion sickness and we wasn’t sure how spinning was involved. Even though the queue for this was a lot shorter Scott and the boys were finished before us. It was a nice ride and at the end you got to see some penguins. It was very cold in the enclosure!

We stopped off by the Manatees for a little while before watching the show Sea Lion High which was really good fun.

The day was getting on and we started to feel a bit puckish. Had a late lunch at Mango Joe’s and we all thought the food here was ok. We waited a while to get served but there was plenty of seating outside for us after we'd picked our food.

Whilst we were in the area it made sense to go on Wild Arctic next. Now we have always gone on the tame version but this time we decided to be braver and tried out the wild version. I had to shut my eyes half way through as I stated feeling really sick. I’d forgotten to take some sickness tablets that morning.

As we walked through we saw the Beluga whales and also the Walrus that had been rescued.

Headed over to the Shamu Happy Harbour area next but because of the construction there was only a couple of rides open. Still, Poppy enjoyed her time on them and there was no wait for the rides in this area.

We walked past the bar where you could get a free beer. I picked up a couple – had both of them as Scott was driving!

Some kid friendly dippin dots!

Then we went in the stadium to watch the Shamu show. It was around half full when we arrived and there were still plenty of seats available when the show started.

Afterwards we looked at the Shark’s, really like this place i love it when you go on the moving walkway through the tunnel. The views of the sharks are amazing in there.

Looking at the programme for the day it didn’t say anything about another dolphin show but yet we saw a sign that stated there was one at 5.45pm?

The stadium was really empty but a show was due to start so we stayed to watch. It was strange that it wasn't advertised?

Really love this one and we were so near to the birds.
The show seemed a little shorter than the last time we watched it which was a good thing as the animals aren’t performing for as long.

We had a quick look at the sting ray before grabbing our last refill before exiting. We’d made very good use of the said bottle that day!

Called at Walmart on our way back and managed to fill our trolley up with lots of American goodies – mostly unhealthy, it's just got to be done.

We felt quite tired so decided to use our groupon voucher for cici’s pizza which was just a short walk away from the Blue Heron. This place is nothing fancy but the pizza/pasta was good and fresh and the kids were more than happy with this.

As we left the wind started to get up. Poppy really wanted to go into the pool but we good see lightning in the distance so didn’t hold out much hope of it being open. Sure enough the pool was shut probably due to the weather.

It was 9pm when we got back to our room. Whilst our balcony faced the lake the view from the lift balcony faced the other way and had views of Disney Springs. We looked over to Epcot but couldn’t see any fireworks then a bit later we heard the bangs and saw Illuminations. It might have been delayed because of the weather? To the right we saw the fireworks from Magic Kingdom so two fireworks show’s at once! What a great way to end our day.
We finally went to bed at 10.30 after a lovely first day in Orlando.

Thanks for reading

[ziggyzag]

You were actually out in Orlando the exact same time as us !

[lindylou46]

Sounds like you had a great first day. Brilliant view from your hotel room.

[juliab]

Originally Posted by ziggyzag

You were actually out in Orlando the exact same time as us !

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Aww how wonderful, hope you had a fantastic time too

Originally Posted by lindylou46

Sounds like you had a great first day. Brilliant view from your hotel room.

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We had a lovely day and the views were just stunning!

[Floridafour]

Sea World is such a chilled day out, great way to start the holiday and the supermarket shop of course, got to be done 😉

[juliab]

Originally Posted by Floridafour

Sea World is such a chilled day out, great way to start the holiday and the supermarket shop of course, got to be done 😉

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It's the only time we really enjoy going supermarket shopping

[Disneycraft]

I’ve not done sea world for 20 years ,you’ve made it sound appealing again I may have to revisit.i love the Walmart trolley pic ,we always do that

[juliab]

Originally Posted by Disneycraft

I’ve not done sea world for 20 years ,you’ve made it sound appealing again I may have to revisit.i love the Walmart trolley pic ,we always do that

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You can't beat a good Walmart shop

[josie112]

Thanks for your report. Our countdown is now below 60 days and reading reports like yours adds to the anticipation of gong back out to our favourite place.

[juliab]

Originally Posted by josie112

Thanks for your report. Our countdown is now below 60 days and reading reports like yours adds to the anticipation of gong back out to our favourite place.

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Thank you for reading!
Have an amazing time