I don't think anyone wants to read my l-o-n-g trip report I made for SeaWorld, but we got a lot done in one day and we did not have the Quick Queue/front of the line/whatever-you-want-to-call-it passes.
This was the order we did:
Manta (twice-the line was about 5 minutes
)
Stingrays
TurtleTrek
Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin (line 30 minutes)
Kraken (twice-I got a walkon the first time and one cycle wait the second)
Blue Horizons show
Kraken (wait 15 minutes)
Sea Carousel
Ocean Commotion
Flying Fiddler
Shamu Express
Swishy Fishies
Wild Arctic
Manta (wait 25 minutes)
Shamu show
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Ok, now for anyone who wants to read it, here's the TR:
We arrived just after the park opened. (yay!) I REALLY wanted to do Manta first because I'd read that there could be crazy waits for it. After convincing my mom (she wasn't quite sure she wanted to ride it), we got in line. (Not surprisingly, my sis wouldn't ride. Her loss!
) Surprise! At the end of the queue line, we only had to wait for ONE ride cycle. Total wait was about five minutes.
It was a little...odd, to be hanging face-down in the station before we started moving (I hadn't done a flying coaster before). But it was SO cool! I rode in the 4th row in the left outside seat this time, where at that one point, you get super close to the rocky waterfall. I thought the pretzel loop was fun, too. At the end of the ride, I immediately was like, 'Let's do it again!', especially since there was literally NO wait. My mom didn't want to do it again, so I did it alone. I wanted to ride in the very front or the very back this time, but no such luck; now they were assigning seats. Guess where I ended up? The EXACT SAME seat!
Oh well... P.S. Manta has swiped my #1 coaster spot.
Then we went and pet the stingrays in the lagoon, looked at the dolphins, and saw the turtles and watched the TurtleTrek show. The 3D show was nice, but it really didn't seem very '3D' to me...anyways...
We rode Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin next. This wait was longer, about 30? minutes, I think. The pre-show is cute, and we all liked the ride portion, but it IS a little short. We did the Wild Expedition one. The penguins are adorable.
Next we went over to Kraken; I knew my sis wouldn't ride it, but I DEFINITELY was going to, and I thought my mom might. My mom asked the guy at the entrance how intense the ride was compared to Manta; he said 'It's a little more intense because it pulls more g's and is a little faster. It might cause a little headbanging.' Now my mom didn't want to ride it, so I went and did it alone. Again, ZERO wait! Yay!!
I rode in the 3rd row because it had the shortest wait (nothing. The other rows were all pretty short too except the front row).xD
Ok, my verdict: If, and I say if, you aren't holding your head still, yes, Kraken will cause headbanging. At one point, I wasn't paying attention and I did bonk my head. BUT, if you're holding your head still, you'll get zero headbanging. As far as the g's, I personally think you feel it more on Manta's pretzel loop, even if Kraken's g's are greater. The speed-yes, Kraken definitely feels a bit faster.
And I happen to love going upside down, so those 7 inversions were great fun.
So I exited from the ride and was like, 'Oh, come on! Let's go do it! There's no wait and I only banged my head once 'cause I wasn't paying attention!' My mom came, but she wasn't too thrilled about it. But she liked it after the fact.
After she and I rode this time (4th row this time), we went over to the Blue Horizons show (I think-if I've mixed something up here, I'm sorry.) The show was really cool! Acrobats and dolphins and birds!
After the Blue Horizons show, we went over to the Sky Tower. We got in line, but after waiting about 10 minutes or so, they said it was closed because of 'technical difficulties'. So we went over to Shamu's Happy Harbor. On the way, I did Kraken again (wait time 15 minutes).
My verdicts on the rides in that section:
Sea Carousel~ It's a carousel. I'm not sure what else to say. It was fun. I liked the fact that the 'horses' were fish and other sea animals.
Ocean Commotion~This one's pretty fun. Definitely NOT intense or anything, just fun.
Flying Fiddler~WAY too short! And the capacity was horrible since they were only running one side, but it didn't matter really because the line and ride cycle were short. But it was fun. You get a LITTLE bit of that 'floaty' feeling when it bounces.
Shamu Express~ Ok, if you want to feel like you're getting poked in the back the whole ride, go ahead. Not fun to me, and it's not like you're going really fast or anything to make up for the owies. (I'm thinking of the inevitable red marks I get when I ride Vanish Point at Water Country. That ride is actually worth the owies.) Anyways, Shamu Express was ok, but not my favorite.
Swishy Fishies~A word of warning: If you're an older kid or an adult, don't bother. The teacups are very cramped. My sis and I barely fit; every time we switched direction spinning, we banged our knees. I think if you're a really little kid, it would probably be much more fun.
Jazzy Jellies was closed, so we didn't ride it.
Next we went over to Wild Arctic. The simulator ride is really fun; I enjoyed it. If you get motion sickness easily, it probably wouldn't be a good ride, though; you do jerk around quite a bit.
The polar bears and the walrus were sleeping, so we got to see only lumps. We didn't see the belugas at all; they must have been either very well hidden or else so far underwater we couldn't see them.
We'd planned to see the 5:30 Shamu show all day. There was a little time before the show would start; I wanted to ride Manta 'one more time'. So we walked back over to Manta. After unsuccessfully trying to get my mom and sis to ride, I got in line. This wait was the longest it had been all day, but it still wasn't bad: 25 minutes. Here's the rather amusing part: I ended up getting stuck in the same row as these three college-age guys. That would have been fine, except....these people freaked out. My goodness! They freaked out when the seats tilted up into flying mode (um, we all just saw that happen multiple times before boarding...). They worried the restraints were going to fail. They screeched on the lift hill (What for?! I mean, it's the LIFT HILL, for goodness sakes!). They cussed during the pretzel loop. They made weird girly-sounding noises the rest of the ride. (I am a girl, so I can say that without being insulting.) Then when we all got off, they were all like, 'Man, that was intense! I NEVER wanna ride that again!' Good grief!
I will say that this time I rode in the 7th row, and I do think the pretzel loop was a smidgen more intense than in row 4. Not bad intense, more 'Wow, this is cool!' Maybe the difference is more between the front and the back.
Then we watched the Shamu show, which was cool. The orcas are very interesting to watch. After the show, it was 5:55. I wanted to get ONE more ride in on Manta...as you can guess, I didn't make it. There were too many people walking slooowly toward the exit. If I could have run, I could have made it. Oh, well.
All in all, it was a great day.
P.S.
Sorry about my extremely goofy opinions...
We are planning on purchasing their front of the line pass, so that should help some. Anyway what order would you do things? Help us plan a day at Sea World where we don't miss anything, please.
