The lineup to enter was about 8 people deep. So it a couple minutes to get through the turnstiles.
Then of course although I had looked at the maps of sea world on the computer I didn’t actually have one in my hand so I had to find a map and ask somewhere where the check-in desk was.
About now, all the kids are getting hungry and are seeing all the ice cream signs at the shops at the entrance. So they are starting to demand some food. Of course some of us have to go to the bathroom as well (no names but let’s just say I was the only adult who watched my liquid intake that morning!) and I was left with hungry whiny kids, who had been stuck on public transportation all morning instead of Disney theme park rides.
We find the check in desk. It is past 10:15 by this point. I have lost my chance at the first polar tour. The check –in desk is not actually a check-in desk. It is just an information desk. So anyone can sign up for the tours that day. You don’t have to pre-book like I did. I started to feel kind of cheated or maybe just stupid for not going with the flow. Apparently that was what people did here at Sea world. No wonder I couldn’t find much information on this place in Tour Guide Mike.
There were two counters open and five people waiting. Both counters were occupied by people asking questions about possible tours. Lots of questions. This really angered me because as I mentioned I only needed to check-in. Disney would have had a check-in desk and an information desk. Disney would have known not to anger the customers they already had by making them wait like this. The people in line before and behind me both had pre-booked. We co-miserated together.
Finally a manager came out and started talking to people in the line-up. He didn’t do anything other than confirm we were in the right place. Eventually he left us to join one of the conversations at the counter with the people asking questions. Somehow they got on to state football. I was really getting fumed. At least the kids were with Dh and Poppa and I didn’t have to listen to them whining.
Finally I got to the counter. We rebooked our tour. Which also meant we had to rebook our lunch. I had us going to the backstage at believe lunch.
When I got back to the rest of my group I noticed that Dh gave in and bought everyone something to eat. He was suffering from sticker shock as being on the dinning plan at Disney had meant he hadn’t had to fork out $29 for ice cream and rice crispy treats. Now I wasn't there so this is from what Poppa tells me but I guess Dh was sending some of the stuff back when he found out how much the total was and the kids were crying so Poppa took over and paid for it. Thanks Pops! He even bought me a frozen coffee drink. I was glad I pre-paid for lunch when I heard this. I didn’t think Dh could take anymore menu prices. It's just best if he doesn't have to know.
So we packed everyone up and wiped the ice cream off them and headed to the meeting place of the arctic tour. Now just in case you haven’t been to Sea world you might not know but the place is quite spread out. You can go around the outside or on a boardwalk through the middle. Only it really isn’t the middle. It’s an optical illusion. We took the optical illusion first. I kept count because remember I wasn’t feeling so great. My core muscles ached from coughing and every step I took bounced me and consequently hurt.
There were about 20 of us on the tour. The bus could hold more so I am guessing that it wasn’t packed. We were the only Canadians. I should look up the tour to tell you the price but I’m too lazy to right now.
I had read about the tour on other people’s trip reports. It sounded like fun. You go back stage at the arctic exhibit, get some background information about the animals and get to pet a penguin. It all sounded good. In reality, it was kind of rushed and back stage is not much to look at so I wish I had of saved my money. My kids really enjoy shows and because we late getting to the park and had this tour we missed the shows.
Our tour guide was new. She was being tested by her examiner. She was really nervous and was even sweating in the arctic exibits. It is the penguin keepers who tell you how to act when you are with them. So I don't have any pictures of the guide just the penguin keeper.
Anyhow, here are the pictures. Notice who is missing. That’s right me. No one took any pictures of me.
I love the look on Eeoyre's face here!
Here the penguins are in their exhibit.
We had some time to kill before our lunch so we decided to play hide and seek with the kids and see if they could hide from us. At least one of the kids thought it would be funny to play this. Guess which one we lost at SeaWorld? Click here to find out
http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=30607393&postcount=642
I'm confident that you'll be able to pet penguins though!
Epcot is our favourite park so we go there loads 
Nobody else thinks Fay was so bad. I looked like a drowned rat all week. Not that it was a bad thing, we had a great time.... a wet time, but a great time
I ended up spending $40 on a giant umbrella and $8 on a Disney poncho and was still more wet then dry half the time 
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