1st 1/2 of 12/20 Day 2 of Coaster Christmas (Sea World)

[Motherfletcher]

We arrived in Orlando about 4:30 and had to find our hotel. The address was Presidents Dr. off of Sandlake towards the Florida Mall. I had purchased a stay certificate for 5 nights at Crestwood Suites on Ebay to benefit pets saved from shelters. I paid $100 which is $20/night. I have seen people pay $20 a night for rollaways so I didn't think I had gone too wrong. I got pretty nervous about the place when I read a scathing review in Tripadvisor. I asked for comments on the Orlando hotels thread and got a response that begged me not to stay there and said I would be putting my families safety at risk. I checked with a friend in the hotel business who said, "How bad could it be?" He warned that if they have full time residents I should consider going elsewhere. The traffic on eastbound Sandlake was gridlock as the signal timing at the intersection with John Young failed and it took at least 10 cycles the get through. It took 25 minutes to go 1/4 mile. Just beyond the Super Walmart we saw Crestwood. It didn't look bad on the outside and as we entered the lobby wasn't bad. The desk clerk was friendly but said that they did have many fulltime residents. We were given a room 3 doors from the exit and I was amazed as we entered the room. It was great. I couldn't find anything wrong with the room. It had a clean full size refrigerator, stove, microwave, toaster, pots and pans, 2 full beds and a loveseat with double recliners. The kids loved it. I kicked myself because I thought it was going to be so bad that I got ressies for 2 of the 5 nights at other hotels.
It wasn't the bed or anything but I couldn't sleep. I got up at 2 in the morning and took a hot bath. At 3 I went to Walmart and bought groceries. Can you believe that at 3 in the morning there was a line at the checkout? I got the groceries put up and still had 5 hours to worry about my first rollercoaster ride.
I woke the kids about 6:30 and we made breakfast ( I didn't eat). We were all excited about our first trip to Sea World. I sent the kids outside to see how cold it was (34 degrees) because they were putting on shorts. We all bundled up and left for SW at 8. I secretly ate a Dramamine. We parked and walked through the stores area to the rope and was ready to run at 8:30. When it opened at 9 we ran for Kraken. We followed some teenagers who had never been there either so we had to back track a little. I rode Kraken and described it in detail in the Coaster freaks thread.
After Kraken and buying the photo we headed to Journey to Atlantis. We missed the entrance and went to the gift shop exit which has a room off of it with aquariums on the sides and ceiling (worth a look). We scurried up the entrance and there was 2 people queued for row 3 of the 4 row 2 seater boats. At first the kids got in row 4 and I got in row 2. I had a poncho but still would have preferred the back seat. In the last second my son joined me in row 2 and my daughter got in row 1! We didn't try to follow the storyline but I was reminded of Weeki Wachee's mermaids at one point. We all survived the plunge unscathed but cornering to continue on the coaster type portion allowed a wave to soak DD10 from the waist down. It was still very cold and when we exited she just stood there shivering. We went and bought sweat pants and dry socks which weren't too expensive.
Our first show was Dolphin Fest and I totally fell for the volunteer's Mother trick which made it fun. It was a good show. We sat right behind the splash zone where a couple of kids got wet.
We left the show in search of Wild Artic. SW is about the size of Magic Kingdom and this was quite a walk. We saw the Norman Rockwell holiday display on the way but weren't too impressed. When we got to the arcade near Shamu's stadium a guy gave us free try vouchers for an impossible hand/eye coordination game. Walking out my son got sucked into the basketball game. He couldn't hit anything though but I kept feeding him $5 until he decided to quit.
We went on to Wild Artic and arrived with no one in the queue. We walked the maze of hand rails until we got to the ride attendants who told us there would be a 4 minute wait. About 2 minutes later a family was marching the maze but ended up on the attendants side and were let right in. My DD10 asked me why and I said "Fastpass, I guess?" The attendant said that we were in the line to not ride the ride. So we were let in. The ride is like a toned down Body Wars but I could feel the Dramamine was wearing off. After the ride you walk through a cave like tunnel with Balooga Whales and Polar Bears. First you see the top and later the bottom half or under water view.
We ate lunch at Mango Joe's which is nothing to write home about. The getting up in the middle of the night was catching up to me so I asked the kids and they surprisingly agreed to go to the hotel for a nap after the Shamu Show.
Shamu was my DD10's favorite show and it was entertaining for me as well.
We stopped for the Clyde and Seamore show on the way out. We got there early enough to fully enjoy the pre-show mime. I can't remember hearing my daughter laugh so loud. The show was corny but cute. The main characters were a couple of sea lions and an otter. They are joined by a huge walrus that I didn't know could be trained.
Back to the hotel to nap...

 

[Motherfletcher]

Back at the hotel I passed out and did not move a muscle for 3 hours. The kids could have burnt the place to the ground and I wouldn't have known it. They did find a BIC lighter under the couch in our No Smoking room.
We returned to SW by 4:30 and the only show left to "must" see for me was Pets Ahoy. I like that they use dogs and cats rescued from local shelters as the stars. I like the way the animals perform without a bunch of corny human patter. You need to get there on time because they shut the doors. We arrived too late and had seats in farside nose bleed section, but the view wasn't too bad.
Pets Ahoy is in the Waterfront area which was recently renovated to look like another Italian seaside village. I think this is starting to be overdone in Florida but most people must like it. They had street entertainers drumming on garbage cans who thought they were Ginger Baker clones, but the kids thought it was on/off the chain. Since we had seen everything on my list I asked the kids if there was any attraction that they would like to return to.
They proceeded to ride Kraken 5 times in a row. It was pretty much a walk-on. DD10 would run to where I found a place to lay down and say, "OK, this time without a coat."
After the 5th ride I stopped them so we could walk to the Shamu Holiday Show. On the way we hit the Shark Encounter which is an exhibit walk thru aquarium. DO NOT take photos in here because they don't come out. DS15 took at least 12 photos of black backgrounds.
As we passed the Arcade was calling DS15 and he was feeling the hours of practice shooting hoops and begged for $5 to try. I reminded him of what his Mom said right before we left home. "Don't bring home any stuffed animals. We just don't have the room!"
It was more than him begging for the $5. I had to show him that I believed in him. He hit 2 "nothing but nets" in a row which landed him a stuffed shark thats 4' long with a 3' diameter. DS15 carried this trophy with pride. It did allow us protection to sit in the Splash Zone at Shamu's Holiday Show. The show was a little girl's dream theme that was a little too mushy for me. There were some bright spots. I liked the coralers that walked down every aisle dressed in black, turned and sang Silent Night.
After this show there was a mass exodus to the stadium on the lake for the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra and Connie Kunckle singing. It ended with fireworks that seemed a little light but jived to the music.
We walked out lugging a shark that took up half of the van and was able to drive out without getting in any line. It was the best after fireworks exit that I have made anywhere. Sea World can be done in a day.
It was after 8 when we checked into Rosen Plaza. I asked for an upper floor and was given the 12th floor with a view of the Hulk in the skyline. I think RP gets a bad rap because it is a convention hotel. This time of year there aren't any and $57 on Hotwire was a good buy. The room seemed big at 340 square feet. Furnishings were stately with a big desk and a large TV armoire. The lamp on the desk didn't work so I looked under the table and saw that it wasn't plugged in. I remembered the reason we had children and had one crawl under the table to plug it in. She did and still no lamp. I stole a bulb from the lamps over the bed and viola. I hate that though. A good hotel should check that daily and not just unplug it.
They made up for the bulb with the bathroom though. It had an eye level safe above a nice bar level marble shelf next to a fancy framed mirror. And who wouldn't want to get busy with the oatmeal soap, the chamomile daily shampoo, aloe and honey conditioner followed by the ginseng body lotion. I took a bath but it was disappointing that it was a molded plastic shower/tub unit not quite big enough for a relaxing bath. Nice towels and plenty of them. The kids were checking out the movies, video games and the movie channels on the TV. Bedtime because in the morning we are off to RPR and makin' waffles!...

 

[Seahag]

WOW!! What a great report - such detail !!
Nicely done - I felt like I was there with you.
Thanks !



haggy

 

[highlander447]

Great report I agree great detail

 

[SpideyHulk24]

Great report!

 

[JessicaR]

Wow what a day!! I cant believe the "DSD" was'nt all it was supposed to be! The nerve to not fulfill your expectations. Not even a hint of pot huh? I guess this was a bonus after all and you helped out some animals...good man!

I wish I could have seen the kids faces when you told them you were heading to Kraken with them! Admit it...you just can't wait to ride every coaster you can now, right? NOT!

I need to get back to Seaworld next trip, we really enjoy its relaxed pace and the shows are great. Same for us...just a day will do it. Sounds like a fun trip so far!! Heading for the next day!