arieljasmine
<font color=magenta>Who says these things pass you
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2004
- Messages
- 6,098
Laurs and Andys Halloween Happiness Trip Day 2
Laurs 28
Andy 29
Thursday 20 September 2007
As is usual with first Florida days, I was awake at 4 am and 6 am, before getting up at 7 am. For once I wasnt wide awake in the middle of the night, which was a pleasant change. There was something strange flashing in the bathroom when we woke up properly, never figured out what that was, thought it was a bit early in the morning for alien experimentation though!
We had a couple of rice krispie bars each and a coffee. I was still feeling a bit bad, but am pleased to report that it wore off after an hour or so. We were on the road to Seaworld at 8.40 am, I was very excited as I was going to stroke a penguin today!
We arrived at 9 am, so it was fairly quiet and we got parked near the entrance. The opening ceremony was just finishing and when we went in they had Shamu walking around plus another character that I couldnt recognise, but he did blow me a kiss.
We checked in for our Wild Arctic tour and were assigned a time of 10.45 am. We had a wander round to look at the beautiful turtles and then queued up to get some fish for dolphin feeding. You get three little fish, and Andy was kind enough to let me have two (to feed the dolphins, you understand, not to eat!) It was such a lovely start to our holiday, throwing fish to the dolphins, reaching out to stroke them with the Florida sunshine radiating down on us.
After the dolphin feeding session finished we went over to look at the manatees, and then went off in search of some crisps as we were both getting hungry. Couldnt find crisps anywhere, but we did manage to get a bag of mixed candy at the shop just by the meeting place for our tour.
The tour group was around 15 - 20 people and was led by a woman called Angela. We started off by going backstage and looking at some harbour seals, and then moving into the Educational Enrichment Development room where they keep the toys that they use to play with the animals. One of them was a plush Shamu but Angela assured us that they dont throw him in the water rather that they run up and down with him to get the animals interested. In this room we also saw a beluga whale skull and the tusk from a Narwhal. I had not heard of this animal before but the tusk was truly amazing their tusks can grow to 9 or 10 ft!
On the way to the next room we saw feeding tubes in the corridor which they use to fire fish into the water so that the animals can catch it themselves. Angela said we would see a sight in the next room that we wouldnt believe and she was right a 50 cent a bottle Pepsi machine!
Before entering the polar bear enclosure, we were asked if we would like to stroke a polar bear. Strange I thought, but yes of course! I was one of few people who put my hand up. (Andy refrained, unsurprisingly, as he once balked at patting a frog on the head, long running joke in our house). Of course, we didnt really get to stroke a polar bear, but they did have a polar bear coat as well as a seal coat which we could stroke. These were donated to Seaworld and luckily, I think, they dont know the origin. Both felt a lot rougher than I would have expected. There were also fake polar bear feet that you could put your feet against to see how much bigger they were than your own there was some giggling from the group as I was straight in there.
We watched the polar bear for a little while and Angela regaled us with a story of how the staff once got a memo asking them to consider what they would do if they were on a tour and the polar bear broke through the glass despite the fact that it would take several elephants to do so! I guess everyones work is equally crazy when you get down to it.
Next it was time for the main event and I could barely contain my excitement at this point. From behind a glass we watched the tour group before us go in to stroke a Magellan penguin. We were shown how to use only two fingers to stroke the penguin and to avoid the head area and worringly to watch out because penguins can projectile poop up to six feet every 15 minutes! I was beginning to think the white pants were a mistake ..
Then it was our turn. The penguin keeper, Laura (good name that), put our penguin, Mario, on her knee and we lined up to take it in turns to stroke him. I am pleased to report that he was very well behaved and no one got pooed on! It was a magical experience and he felt so soft with feathers so tightly compacted you couldnt tell they were feathers. I think the photo shows how happy I was at this moment.
We used a hand sanitizer on the way out because of the oil on the penguins feathers, though to be honest I couldnt feel it. This was the end of the tour and I thanked Angela profusely. Think she probably thought I was a bit crazy because I was telling her how I wanted to keep a penguin in the bath but Andy wont let me! She did suggest a puffin as an alternative though ..
We went to claim some free beer from the hospitality center, a Bud for me and the new one, Bud Select for Andy. I grabbed us a table while Andy queued up to get us some lunch. We shared a hotdog and a turkey and cheese sandwich with potato salad and a wild cherry pepsi. It was very nice except for the dodgy plastic fork which I cut my gum open with, ow.
We were going to check out the Shamu show after lunch but it was already full by the time we got there, so we walked through the Wild Arctic instead to visit with the beluga whales, polar bear and walrus.
We went to the Blue Horizons show at 2 pm, making sure we got there a bit earlier this time. This was a new one for us as it was the old dolphin show last time we visited. I was disappointed that the singing guy was not on before the show any more, I thought he was great. I didnt enjoy this show as much as the last one. It was OK but I thought there was too little interaction with the dolphins and too much serious stuff. It was a shame for the trainers because there was a problem with the harnesses and a couple of the acts had to be stopped.
Andys lunch had settled enough for him to want to ride the Kraken so he went off to do that whilst I spent an enjoyable half an hour watching the penguins. We shared a dish of vanilla ice cream with rainbow sprinkles when Andy came back and watched the sea lions and seals for a while.
I am assured that they are cuddling together for warmth!
We had another walk through the penguin encounter and saw the manatees again, and I bought a manatee postcard and keyring for one of my friends. We watched the turtles again and saw the baby dolphin in the nursery and then headed back to the hospitality center for more free beer, this time we had a Bud Lite each. In the center there is a mock up of the new Aquatica water park and a short video so we had a look at that. Looks like it will be a lot of fun.
It was time for the last Shamu show of the day so we headed over to get seated for that. Again, the Believe show was a new one for us, and we thought they had made this too serious as well. To be fair, I mostly went to boo at evil Shamu for his penguin eating nastiness. The heavens opened shortly before the end of the show so we beat a hasty retreat as it felt very cold.
We got back to the hotel at 6.45 pm and had some cheese and crackers before showering. We decided to go out to Dennys for tea as we both love the homely atmosphere (it reminds me of the Little Chef!) and we got there about 8.15 pm.
I loved the fact that the waitress asked if we wanted chips rather than fries with our meal its little wonder as the place was lousy with Brits! I had a fanta and Andy had a diet coke, and we got a super bird sandwich (bacon, turkey and cheese) and a buffalo chicken melt with spicy sauce which we split between us along with our chips of course! We were both in a bit of a giddy mood and giggled throughout our meal I just hope the waitress blamed it on us being eccentric English folk and not that we were laughing at anyone in there!
We popped into Walgreens on the way back to the hotel to pick up a toothbrush for me as mine hadnt travelled well, some hand sanitizer and some shaving foam for Andy as his seemed to have gone astray somewhere during packing. We thought its name was very funny beard buster! I kept calling it beard basher by accident too.
We had a little walk around the resort, had a look at the bar area and games room. No air hockey though, so nothing to keep me there! We went back to our room and had a drink beer for Andy and a bahama mama for me, and watched Bridget Jones 2 on TV. Went to bed at midnight when the film finished.
Laur's
Laurs 28
Andy 29
Thursday 20 September 2007
As is usual with first Florida days, I was awake at 4 am and 6 am, before getting up at 7 am. For once I wasnt wide awake in the middle of the night, which was a pleasant change. There was something strange flashing in the bathroom when we woke up properly, never figured out what that was, thought it was a bit early in the morning for alien experimentation though!
We had a couple of rice krispie bars each and a coffee. I was still feeling a bit bad, but am pleased to report that it wore off after an hour or so. We were on the road to Seaworld at 8.40 am, I was very excited as I was going to stroke a penguin today!
We arrived at 9 am, so it was fairly quiet and we got parked near the entrance. The opening ceremony was just finishing and when we went in they had Shamu walking around plus another character that I couldnt recognise, but he did blow me a kiss.
We checked in for our Wild Arctic tour and were assigned a time of 10.45 am. We had a wander round to look at the beautiful turtles and then queued up to get some fish for dolphin feeding. You get three little fish, and Andy was kind enough to let me have two (to feed the dolphins, you understand, not to eat!) It was such a lovely start to our holiday, throwing fish to the dolphins, reaching out to stroke them with the Florida sunshine radiating down on us.
After the dolphin feeding session finished we went over to look at the manatees, and then went off in search of some crisps as we were both getting hungry. Couldnt find crisps anywhere, but we did manage to get a bag of mixed candy at the shop just by the meeting place for our tour.
The tour group was around 15 - 20 people and was led by a woman called Angela. We started off by going backstage and looking at some harbour seals, and then moving into the Educational Enrichment Development room where they keep the toys that they use to play with the animals. One of them was a plush Shamu but Angela assured us that they dont throw him in the water rather that they run up and down with him to get the animals interested. In this room we also saw a beluga whale skull and the tusk from a Narwhal. I had not heard of this animal before but the tusk was truly amazing their tusks can grow to 9 or 10 ft!
On the way to the next room we saw feeding tubes in the corridor which they use to fire fish into the water so that the animals can catch it themselves. Angela said we would see a sight in the next room that we wouldnt believe and she was right a 50 cent a bottle Pepsi machine!
Before entering the polar bear enclosure, we were asked if we would like to stroke a polar bear. Strange I thought, but yes of course! I was one of few people who put my hand up. (Andy refrained, unsurprisingly, as he once balked at patting a frog on the head, long running joke in our house). Of course, we didnt really get to stroke a polar bear, but they did have a polar bear coat as well as a seal coat which we could stroke. These were donated to Seaworld and luckily, I think, they dont know the origin. Both felt a lot rougher than I would have expected. There were also fake polar bear feet that you could put your feet against to see how much bigger they were than your own there was some giggling from the group as I was straight in there.
We watched the polar bear for a little while and Angela regaled us with a story of how the staff once got a memo asking them to consider what they would do if they were on a tour and the polar bear broke through the glass despite the fact that it would take several elephants to do so! I guess everyones work is equally crazy when you get down to it.
Next it was time for the main event and I could barely contain my excitement at this point. From behind a glass we watched the tour group before us go in to stroke a Magellan penguin. We were shown how to use only two fingers to stroke the penguin and to avoid the head area and worringly to watch out because penguins can projectile poop up to six feet every 15 minutes! I was beginning to think the white pants were a mistake ..
Then it was our turn. The penguin keeper, Laura (good name that), put our penguin, Mario, on her knee and we lined up to take it in turns to stroke him. I am pleased to report that he was very well behaved and no one got pooed on! It was a magical experience and he felt so soft with feathers so tightly compacted you couldnt tell they were feathers. I think the photo shows how happy I was at this moment.
We used a hand sanitizer on the way out because of the oil on the penguins feathers, though to be honest I couldnt feel it. This was the end of the tour and I thanked Angela profusely. Think she probably thought I was a bit crazy because I was telling her how I wanted to keep a penguin in the bath but Andy wont let me! She did suggest a puffin as an alternative though ..
We went to claim some free beer from the hospitality center, a Bud for me and the new one, Bud Select for Andy. I grabbed us a table while Andy queued up to get us some lunch. We shared a hotdog and a turkey and cheese sandwich with potato salad and a wild cherry pepsi. It was very nice except for the dodgy plastic fork which I cut my gum open with, ow.
We were going to check out the Shamu show after lunch but it was already full by the time we got there, so we walked through the Wild Arctic instead to visit with the beluga whales, polar bear and walrus.
We went to the Blue Horizons show at 2 pm, making sure we got there a bit earlier this time. This was a new one for us as it was the old dolphin show last time we visited. I was disappointed that the singing guy was not on before the show any more, I thought he was great. I didnt enjoy this show as much as the last one. It was OK but I thought there was too little interaction with the dolphins and too much serious stuff. It was a shame for the trainers because there was a problem with the harnesses and a couple of the acts had to be stopped.
Andys lunch had settled enough for him to want to ride the Kraken so he went off to do that whilst I spent an enjoyable half an hour watching the penguins. We shared a dish of vanilla ice cream with rainbow sprinkles when Andy came back and watched the sea lions and seals for a while.
I am assured that they are cuddling together for warmth!
We had another walk through the penguin encounter and saw the manatees again, and I bought a manatee postcard and keyring for one of my friends. We watched the turtles again and saw the baby dolphin in the nursery and then headed back to the hospitality center for more free beer, this time we had a Bud Lite each. In the center there is a mock up of the new Aquatica water park and a short video so we had a look at that. Looks like it will be a lot of fun.
It was time for the last Shamu show of the day so we headed over to get seated for that. Again, the Believe show was a new one for us, and we thought they had made this too serious as well. To be fair, I mostly went to boo at evil Shamu for his penguin eating nastiness. The heavens opened shortly before the end of the show so we beat a hasty retreat as it felt very cold.
We got back to the hotel at 6.45 pm and had some cheese and crackers before showering. We decided to go out to Dennys for tea as we both love the homely atmosphere (it reminds me of the Little Chef!) and we got there about 8.15 pm.
I loved the fact that the waitress asked if we wanted chips rather than fries with our meal its little wonder as the place was lousy with Brits! I had a fanta and Andy had a diet coke, and we got a super bird sandwich (bacon, turkey and cheese) and a buffalo chicken melt with spicy sauce which we split between us along with our chips of course! We were both in a bit of a giddy mood and giggled throughout our meal I just hope the waitress blamed it on us being eccentric English folk and not that we were laughing at anyone in there!
We popped into Walgreens on the way back to the hotel to pick up a toothbrush for me as mine hadnt travelled well, some hand sanitizer and some shaving foam for Andy as his seemed to have gone astray somewhere during packing. We thought its name was very funny beard buster! I kept calling it beard basher by accident too.
We had a little walk around the resort, had a look at the bar area and games room. No air hockey though, so nothing to keep me there! We went back to our room and had a drink beer for Andy and a bahama mama for me, and watched Bridget Jones 2 on TV. Went to bed at midnight when the film finished.
Laur's
