2nd Holiday of a Lifetime -3 weeks of bliss - DAY 5

[00swan]

Day 05 - 07/05/07 - Seaworld (at last)

Me - Hayley - 34
Him - Justin - 35

So, after a disastrous start to the holiday, I'm starting to feel better, so we're now cooking with gas - today we will visit our first park of the holiday - SeaWorld.

Since we're car-less again, we're using the I-Trolley whenever possible. Tried stopping at IHOP on the way down, but found it to be so rammed and frankly, I wasn't in the mood for waiting around, so we continued on our journey and grab some breakfast in the park.

Last year we made SW our first port of call & since it's such an easy-going park we decided to follow the same pattern this year. We made the right decision, but why was it so busy? Can't believe the amount of people here today, you can hardly move. Certain it wasn't this busy last year - let's hope this doesn't set the precedent for the rest of the holiday.

Start with iced coffee (odd, so thick you have to eat it with a spoon) and cake (oh boy, that's good) at the Cypress Bakery - well, we have to fuel up before we start the mammoth park walking.

Since it's busy, we've learned to move on if an attraction is busy & return either later in the day, or try again another day. It's not worth the bruises you get from many charming elbows.

The dolphin nursery was surprisingly quiet though, but the dolphins didn't care - they were very happy to show off. Think sometimes people miss this, thinking that you won't get to see a lot - but I think it's better than the Dolphin Cove, especially since you can only really get anywhere close to the dolphins by buying them food - one change from last year is that they now rope off the touchy-feely part of the cove & you can only get close if you buy fish. Shame.



Sadly, the Turtle Point is closed for renovation - can't complain though - there is so much to see & do here and I'm grateful to see that they are forever improving the place.

Lunch at Voyagers on the Waterfront is great value for money - large pizza slice and fries for $6.99 each. Delicious and loads of places to sit.



Free beer at the Hospitality Center is always welcome, although Justin usually gets my share. Not today though, since I'm an idiot. I ordered the alcohol free version - oops ! Actually, not really a problem since it's a really light version and I enjoyed it.

Must admit that I bristled a bit here though - there are signs everywhere saying "Don't feed the birds" and what does everyone do? Yes, you've guessed it. I see one girl feeding the birds - she stops and then is surprised when it hops on to the table next to her and steals some poor blokes unguarded dinner. Amazing.



Must admit that we took the coward's route on Wild Artic and arrived by foot, rather than the simulator. My excuse is that my cough is still pretty bad and I just don't think I'd have survived the movements. It's interesting that you still get the same video experience, but you sit on static benches.



Highlight of the day has to be the lovely Polar Bear being very playful. Last year he was sleeping, but this year he was having a whale of a time (no pun intended) playing with a huge red ball - rolling on it in the water & out. Such an amazing experience to be there and see him awake, yet alone having such a great time. He apparently sleeps for about 80% of the day, so it was a definite treat.



Since we're planning to watch Believe with the in-laws later on in the holiday, we decide to try Blue Horizons today - WOW WOW WOW. What a fab show.



Not got a clue as to what the story was about - young girl fanatising about parrots? eh? That didn't matter though - the animals were just incredible. From the birds to the dolphins - truly spectacular - dare I say, perhaps even better than Believe? (I'm ducking now, in case of angry responses).



I hadn't told Justin that the show included human performers, since I wasn't convinced that it was his cup of tea, but he really enjoyed it too. Think he particularly rated the fact that there was so much going on at the same time, which made it so impressive.



No Kraken today - we missed this last year too. Despite loving roller coasters, we don't find them to be the biggest draws of the parks - we love to mooch around and literally smell the roses instead.

We've had a lovely first park day & decide to leave around 6pm. 30 minute wait for a Trolley was a bit of a bore, but not the end of the world. Next year, we'll probably walk across the car park and catch the trolley at the stop before SW - since it always seems to be so rammed when it picks up at the actual SW stop. I can't really understand how they manage to legally ram so many people in - too crammed for us, so we wait for the next one.

TGI's for supper tonight - have been looking forward to a steak with wild mushroom butter sauce and cheddar mash.

Have TGI's prices gone up? Pretty sure we got better value for money last year? Food good though - although not the best ever. Maybe we'd been looking forward to it too much?

[Guest]

Great report, but i have looked for your first 4 days report but can't find them anywhere

[cerigirl]

Great photo's! I can't wait to go to Seaworld.

[00swan]

Originally Posted by Laydee_J

Great report, but i have looked for your first 4 days report but can't find them anywhere

See more...

Hi - working on them now !

[Jools]

Seems like you had a good day at Seaworld. You must have as you mention next year's trip - lol

[Guest]

Sounds like a grat day at Seaworld

[Iloveflorida]

Great day at seaworld then, I love this park because you can really relax in there.

[jandlsmum]

glad you felt up to going to a park,i agree with you about Horizons think its a lot better than the new shamu thing
jayne

[grantasmic]

Hooray - glad you're feeling well enough to venture out to a Park. Seaworld is lovely - lucky you to catch the polar bears in playful mode!

[Guest]

Love the polar bear pic - you were very lucky to catch him awake - and playing!