Christmas whales and New Year's Mice-DAY 1 SEA WORLD- Christmas week 09

[ADisneyQueen]

Hello fellow Disers-
This is my first attempt at a real trip report, even though this was our 6th trip to the world. I will add pictures soon - my dd13 took a lot of photos and wants to put them on here.
Cast of Characters:
Me- 39, Disney fanatic since around age 5, SAHM
DH-almost 39, College professor,
DD -13 loves WDW and taking photos of it, first trip at age 5
DD-9 loves WDW and has also been reared this way since age 1
Our trip was supposed to be in June. We had everything planned - even got airline tickets for the 4 of us for $300 total ( we had vouchers and DH had ff miles for NW). Then I went and broke my foot at the end of April during my dd 6th grade field trip at a science center. I fell on a cement step while wearing some cute sandals. I ended up having surgery and being in a cast for 8 weeks and then a walking boot. It was very sad having to cancel everything, especially the buy 4 get 3 free promo for CBR. But, I did not want to be in the heat with a walking boot and and my foot still hurt a lot.
I woke up on June 23rd very sad, as that was the day we were supposed to fly out. We lost the $300 too and our free tickets as NW makes it very expensive to change your flights. I had read on the DIS that SW was releasing fares on this day for December and I thought I'd check just in case there was a good fare. I doubted there would be anything cheap for Christmas week and my dd13 did not want to miss school since she was starting middle school. So, I thought I would not find anything. Around 10:30 AM I got on and must have picked the exact time they released fares b/c it took a minute for them to come up. I had read it was cheaper to fly on a holiday and I think I hit the jackpot. 12/25 Pittsburgh to Orlando $79 and the same price to fly back on 1/1! I called DH and he said buy them so I did. I get so nervous when buying airfare and I felt kinda bad leaving on Christmas b/c we usually have a family party, but both flights were in the early evening. BTW, by Nov. these flights triples in price, so buy early for Christmas trips.
So then I began making more arrangements. I found a great deal on Avis in July to get us a full size car for the week for $253, again thanks to the Disboards transportation forum. I also booked our first two nights at Residence Inn Seaworld 1 BR suite. It came with tickets for us and a free breakfast for $593( the first night included the tickets and the 2nd night was full price). My dd9 loves animals and I really wanted to take her to SW. We went when she was 3, but she doesn't remember it.
I was also really lucky that I had a very unusual pin code from Disney. When I called and asked if I had any, they said I had a 40% off code from June- Dec. 31st no black out days. I have only found a few people on the boards with this code and it was never sent to me. So I booked CBR for 5 nights. I know all this is long, but I hope this helps someone booking a trip to save $. I guess I learned to call and ask if there are any pin codes, b/c we didn't receive this one by mail or email and none of the CMs I spoke to knew what it was called.
We decided not to tell our kids right away. They had been very disappointed when we canceled the June trip. In Nov. we gave them a wrapped box with a Mickey balloon in it and a sign saying "You are going to Sea World and WDW" with the dates. They were surprised, I think they thought at first it was a kitten.
My next installment will be our flight out and a review of Residence In Sea World.

 

[ADisneyQueen]

I don't know if I would ever plan another trip near Christmas, it was such a busy month. My kids are in activities and there were parties, shopping, wrapping and then packing for the trip. Too much excitement in one month!
We had a big Christmas eve party at our house in the afternoon. It seemed weird to be celebrating the day before and I guess I felt guilty changing everything on everybody. By the time the guests were leaving, we checked in on Southwest right at the 24 hour mark and got boarding passes A 24 and up or something like that. I was exhausted on Christmas eve and still packing. The weather report said it would be even colder than expected and we did end up packing too many shorts and capris that we never wore. I threw in more pants and sweatshirts at the last minute. We each had a carryon and then checked in 7 pcs. of luggage, some were small. I know, that is riduculous, but we don't pack light.
We opened our presents on Christmas and did some last minute stuff and soon it was time to drive to Pittsburgh. We live under 2 hours from there. We decided to do a park and drive at the Hampton inn, since our return flight would get us to Pitts. at 9 PM and we thought we would be too tired to drive and also the roads can be bad. We parked at the hotel and the driver took us to the airport. The airport was really quiet, it was about 3:30 when we got there. We ate dinner at the food court and our flight left at 5:30. A stupid mistake I made was that the girls and I sat in a row over the wing, and later found out the seats didn't recline since it was in front of the emergency exit row. We picked wing seats b/c they are less turbulent and I get scared flyng. My DH sat across from us and graded papers. He teaches physics and astronomy at a college and grades were due after the holidays. Luckily, this was the only time he worked during the vacation, which is more than I can say for other trips. In the end, we didn't need the reclining seats and the flight was smooth.
After we got our luggage we stood in line at the Avis car rental. The two families in front of us were having a lot of trouble. With one, they would not accept a coupon, and another family was trying to drop off the car somewhere else. We waited at least 15-20min. for them to be done. We finally got our car and headed outside where it was warm! I guess it had been 80 degrees that day and it was really nice outside.
We had brought our GPS unit with us. We call her "auntie Garmin". I don't know what we would have done without her. She got us to the Residence Inn Sea World. When we checked in , I reminded the clerk that I wanted a room not facing the traffic and I wanted it to be quiet. She told me it would not be near the busy street. If you read this trip report to the end, I will tell you more about this situation. This girl was really not with it. She handed us our room cards and said goodbye. I started to walk away and then came back and asked her where our Sea World tickets were. Oh, she forgot! She gave me a bag with the tickets and 2 stuffed whales in it. I took the bag even though she had already given my kids a whale. I gave the other two to my niece and nephew.
The room was OK. It was smaller than on the website photos, but bigger than a regular hotel room. It had a bathroom, room with 2 beds and a living room with a full kitchen, table and chairs and sofabed. The sofabed was small, my dd13 slept on it. I do not think two adults could ever fit on this. It looked a little wider than a twin bed. The kitchen had dishes and pans, but I wasn't cooking on this vacation. The room wasn't fancy, everything worked in it. We ate some snacks we had brought and got ready for bed. It was 10 PM and we were really tired. After the kids got into bed, I looked out the window and could see and hear the traffic going by. The desk lady had put us in a room facing the traffic. I guess we were too tired to notice when we got there and the hotel is large.
Once I laid down, I could not sleep. I am very sensitive to noise, and the cars going by were terrible. I think that was one of the worst night's sleep I ever had. I slept from 1-6, but not solidlyThen the traffic started up and woke me. It was not a great way to start a vacation.
We all got up at 7 and got ready for our day at Sea World. My dd came out of the bathroom dressed in capris and a t-shirt. I said, no way it is 42 degrees. We've always been in FL when it is warmer. THat day we wore shirts, sweatshirts and heavy fall jackets and gloves and still were cold. SW has a lot of outdoor stuff.
THe RI breakfast was great, they had a whole row of hot foods, pastries, toast, bagels, fruit and drinks. It was really great! Sausage, bisquits, hash browns, eggs,pancakes . I love not cooking during vacations. I am a stay at home mom and cook 2 -3 meals a day! We hadn't eaten a meal since 4PM the day before and were starved. We were done and on our way to SW a little before 9.
Next installment, Sea World in the cold and how to pet a dolphin w/o paying $14 per person!

 

[ADisneyQueen]

Day 1 Sea World

I forgot to add in the last post that I had read that the RI breakfast was really crowded and it was hard to find seating, but this wasn't the case for us ( but we were there early). The breakfast room was big and very updated. We looked outside at the pool, it seemed small. We never swam there b/c of the cold. There was a nice playground too.

We arrived at SW at 9AM, just as they were opening. Where were the x-mas crowds we had been anticipating? Really, it was empty. People on the boards had told me SW was a nightmare during Christmas week. We got right in and stood in a short line to get a picture with the costumed Shamu. There was also a very cute Dolphin girl character, but she left before we could get to her and we did not see her again. DD9 was really disappointed, so I asked a cast member where to find the dolphin girl and she didn't know. Well, I guess this isn't Disney!

We went over to the Dolphin petting area, since many of the shows don't start until 10 or 11.Tip- if you get there early you can interact with the dolphins for free. They had a group of people waiting on the side to feed the dolphins and it wa $14 each. We didn't want to spend the time or money doing this so we just put our hands near the water and some came up to us. DD13 got to pet one. Of course, this made dd9 very jelous and we were supposed to come back later to try again, but ran out of time. Once they started feeding them, the dolphins left us and swam to the other side of the pool. The stingray lagoon was next and no one else was there. We could touch them as much as we wanted, they felt mushy.

We strolled around the underwater viewing area for dolphins, it was warm there. I couldn't believe how cold it was in SW, even inside. They did not heat their gift shops or restaurants, either. Then we went to the "Blue Horizons" show and sat in the cold. It was OK, but we would have rather seen more dolphin tricks than the acrobats. Our next show was Pets Ahoy, which is always good and indoors. We were all shivering. I'm sure that accounted for the low crowds. We had lunch at the Seafire Inn, which was very expensive. They had a cute animal show going on in the stage area, but we only saw the last 15 minutes. The food was OK here, but the rest of the food in SW was not good and way overpriced. I guess we're used to Disney.
After lunch we went to Shamu's happy harbour and did a few rides. It was finally sunny out. Around 1 we headed back to our room for a nap and a trip to the grocery store. I bought some snacks and some drinks to take into the park. I think SW should improve on it's snacks and meals. BTW, when we came out of SW at 1, there were huge lines of people waiting to go in.

When we got back around 5, we went to a few exhibits and dd9 climbed the nets and then got seats for the Clyde and Seamore Christmas show. The stadium filled pretty quickly. You need to arrive about 40 min. early to get decent seats. The show was OK, not as funny as the reg. show we've seen. The preshow mime, however, was hysterical. He was a show in itself. Don't miss the mimes if you go!
After a yucky dinner at voyagers, we got seats for the Christmas show with shamu-Miracles. This was my favorite show at SW, the music and effects were great. I won't say much in case you see it, but the beginning just gave me chills. We looked at the penguin exhibit and then left, it was too cold and late to stay for fireworks. It was amazing how many people were not dressed for the cold weather. I guess everybody thinks FL is always warm.
We had tried to do the polar express ride/exhibit during the day, but the line was always long. We decided that it would be the first thing to do the next day.

 

[cmp1111]

Looks like a great start! Can't wait to see your DD's pictures.

I don't blame you for not wanting to be at WDW with a boot. Ugh.