Let's refocus, shall we? Redirection....yes, that's a good idea....
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The Orlando Eye complex is very nicely laid out. Once inside the main building, you have Madame Tussauds to the left, Sea Life Aquarium to the right, then the Eye and the food court spanning the middle section. It’s bright and open and very, very spacious. So once we were done at Tussaud’s, we just headed straight across the concourse to the Sea Life Aquarium entrance.
I was excited to see that the Sea Life mascot, Magnus, was out greeting guests and posing for pictures. You know how I love a good character photo op!
As with the other Merlin attractions, upon entering the attraction a group of dedicated photography staff took various group photos that were available for purchase as you exited into the gift shop. Unfortunately, they were all the magic shots that used the green screen, and Steve’s green golf shirt “disappeared” when the digital overlay was applied to the photos (too bad too, because some of them were quite nice). Note to selves: wear any other colour than green when visiting iDrive360. You may recall, Steve had the same problem on the Eye when we visited in May, with all of our photos from their photographers leaving Steve to look like a floating head and arms with no torso
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Once past the photographers, the beginning of the exhibit gave special reference to the protection efforts of the Sea Life organization:
Then we were on our way to see all the underwater creatures showcased within the attraction.
I will apologize now for the quality of most of my photos here. The type of lighting used within the exhibit, combined with the fact that fish, by nature, move quite rapidly through the water, made my image quality less than impressive. All that said, I hope they will be good enough to give you a general idea of what the attraction was like.
Throughout the aquarium, there were lots of spots where you could crawl in or behind the glass…..the youngest guests, especially, really liked those little alcoves and pop-ups.
There were an assortment of sea creatures within the small aquariums, from fish to other ocean crawlies like these fellows……
…..and jellyfish:
Most of the aquariums were nicely adorned with fun underwater features, most giving the feel of a sunken shipwreck:
There were several sections of the exhibit which had large, floor to ceiling viewing areas:
The consistent theming was carried very well throughout the entire attraction. The subdued lighting, archways, and overhead aquariums gave a great “feel” to the experience.
Bigger guys, though, will find getting through some of the tunnels a little more challenging than us shorties:
There were a surprising amount of Christmas decorations within Sea Life, too. I hadn’t anticipated that it was a place where one could do much decorating, but they managed to give the place a festive feel that “fit” with the spirit of the attraction.
There was even a 360 degree aquarium, complete with a glass floor:
There was a special section devoted to turtles:
….as well as a small sting ray area:
One room featured an open area where you could put your hand right in the water and touch some of the less dangerous sea animals, like starfish. Aquarium staff were on hand to explain to guests what sea creatures they were interacting with, and to chat about their behaviours and give visitors some interesting facts about the animals’ lives in the ocean. There was a well-equipped little hand washing station adjacent to the area, so you could clean up nicely after your interaction was over.
Overall, we enjoyed this attraction very much. It was a little smaller than we anticipated it would be, and the exhibits were definitely not SeaWorld quality, but it was nicely presented nonetheless. Some of the other visitors were....um....not so courteous
(which definitely impacted our enjoyment.....letting their shreiking kids run amok, push, step on toes, beat on the glass
) but that's not the aquarium's fault. I think that's can be an issue no matter which attraction you visit. Of the trio of the Merlin attractions here, though, the aquarium did rank 3rd on the list for each of us. I don't know if we expected too much, or if SeaWorld has simply just spoiled us. Hard to say.
We weren't quite done at iDrive360. We had one more stop to make......
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Is it true what they say about the size of the feet?
I guess I forgot to pack it.....must have wanted to leave extra room for minions 
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. I'll leave the answer to your question up to your imagination. Steve's gotta have some secrets, ya know 
).
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. That's it. That's it for sure 
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. Some things just don't belong in Florida.....ice rinks being one of them!
