UPDATE HERE!!!
Sea World Continues~
So I left off where I was limping pathetically to Shark Encounter.
But on the way we stopped at Pacific Point Preserve which is the habitat for California sea lions and harbor seals. I have no idea what the difference is because they looked the same to me!
Here is one of the seals:
And here is one of the sea lions:
And here is a feeding frenzy!!!
OMG! Those sea lions were so loud! And then
. well, you know
the birds showed up!
Time to mosey on!
By the time we made it over to Shark Encounter I was in a lot of pain and decided I would sit this out while Tom took the kids to see the sharks.
I found a bench outside the exit, which over looked a large pool with lots of stuff swimming in it. There was everything from schools of smaller fish to great big groupers in there.
Tom and the kids really enjoyed the sharks. You walk through an acrylic tube that runs the length of the habitat. They must have been busy watching all the sharks because he only took one or two pictures! Cue the music from Jaws because here is one:
After that we decided we should head over to Shamu Stadium to get good seats for Believe. Plus it would give me a good long while to be off of my feet. On the way there we ran into Shamu himself!
Then I had to take this picture. This was the biggest wreath I have ever seen in my life! It had to be 12 feet wide! Very pretty!
When we got to the stadium there were already a fair amount of people in there but we found good seats. The boys really wanted to sit up close. See them sitting in row 2 of the Soak Zone!
Abby and I
not so much. So Tom sat with the boys and Abby and I decided to sit about 8 or 9 rows behind them. We figured wed still get a little splash but not completely drenched or anything and that was okay by us. Remember I dont care for wet underwear is now our mantra!
This is the stage at Believe.
While we were waiting Tom and the boys moved up a few rows because they could not see over the side of the tank (well
Evan and Owen couldnt!). We got to watch a few whales leisurely swim around in the tank.
I noticed a woman sitting at the end of my row had a really nice camera and she also had a garbage bag to stick her camera in so it would not get wet. I thought
we are way up here
surely you cannot think that your camera would get wet? But it was a really nice camera so she probably didnt want to take any chances! Yes, that must be it.
I also noticed people sitting higher than us were wearing ponchos! Seriously people! Ponchos?
So then the show began! I dont have pictures for you, Im sorry. I was trying to get some but I kept missing the shot and then I just decided to put it in the back pack and enjoy the show. (I know
very bad trip reporter!)
The show was amazing! Again, I was all teary-eyed watching it. As much as I loved seeing Shamu previously, as I sat there I could not help but think, We are not in Ohio anymore! Its a more impressive show than that one was. The facility is just so much bigger and that means much bigger whales too. I loved every second of it and did not want it to end! But every good thing must come to an end.
So the last part of the show is when the whale breaches and splashes the audience. They started at the far end of the stadium from us.
Breach! Splash!
Breach! Splash!
Breach! Splash!
Then the whale swam over to our section and the trainer had it wave at us!
Aw, our section all waved back!
Hi Shamu!!!
Then
it happened. She motioned at the whale again and it took its massive tail and proceeded to
catapult a wall of water right at us!
I turned my head just in time and looked at Abby as the water hit us! She was DRENCHED! I was drenched too
but only half my head
nice hairstyle for the rest of the day! We were stunned! I looked down at the boys and Owen was spitting water out of his mouth! We laughed so hard!
I guess when they say soak zone they are not kidding! We may as well have jumped in the pool with the whale
that is how wet we were. Our clothes were sopping wet. Our socks and shoes were wet. Our hair was wet. And, yes people, our underwear was wet!
We left the stadium in a stupor over what had just happened and found a bathroom where we could hopefully dry off just a little bit. Nope, no dryers!
The comedic value of it was wearing off and Abby was miserable and not shy about letting us know. She wanted new clothes to wear. We said we could see about getting a dry shirt but that wouldnt do anything for the rest of her. I doubt they sell dry underpants at Sea World
although if they did I bet they would make a fortune!
We walked toward the underwater viewing area for the whales. Here are the kids watching that big ol whale that splashed us!
Here is Tom cheesing it up for me. Can you tell how wet he is? The shirt he is wearing is a medium blue when its dry, if that helps at all!
From there we headed toward the Clydesdale Hamlet to see the horses. Abby was complaining relentlessly about how wet she was. And hungry. Yes, they all agreed they were hungry.
We walked through the barn to check out the Clydesdales. They are so huge! We used to live down the road from a Percheron farm. If you know anything about horses, those are also very huge! I thought they were supposed to be bigger than Clydesdales but I think they were not as big as these. Very cool!
Abby would have really enjoyed that if she had not been so obsessed with the fact that she was wearing wet clothes.
We thought maybe if she wasnt wet
and hungry that might help. We headed into the Hospitality Tent to see what they had to eat in there. Nothing the kids wanted. They did have something Tom and I wanted though! Free beer! Yes, please! Thank you!
We walked out of there, drinks in hand, searching for something the kids might like to eat. We were minding our own business, trying to be patient with Abby and her whining when we ran into a couple elves! One jumped out in front of us! His name was something McMittens! I cant remember what his first name was
but think Buddy the Elf, if you have seen that movie (which we have already established, our family gets a big kick out of!). He was funny and just the comic relief this family needed! I am downright ashamed I didnt take his picture!
(I know!
)
After our encounter of the elf kind we stopped at the dolphin nursery. There were 2 mamas in there each with babies ~ a 3 month old and a 1 month old. There was also a mama expecting to have her baby any day. Here is a pic I took there although Im not sure you can see that is a mama and a baby.
From there we headed to the front of the park. We were not really finding anything the kids wanted to eat. I think they were just sick of park food! We had seen most of what we really wanted to see, my foot was very unhappy, Abby was very unhappy. It seemed like a good time to call it a day. We walked out of the gates at 3:00.
We headed straight to the condo so we could all get into dry clothes. I had to blow dry my hair! At about 4:00 we decided to go out for an early dinner since we had skipped lunch. Somehow we ended back up at Applebees!
After dinner we stopped at
WalMart to replenish our water and adult beverage supply and headed back to the condo. The kids got into their swimsuits, Tom grabbed his laptop and we headed to the pool. I thought it was really chilly but the kids did not! I watched them swim for a hour or more while Tom went into the lobby to check his e-mail and make sure everything was okay at work (since our wireless connection was still not working).
We finally coaxed the kids out of the pool and headed back to the condo. We called it an early night because tomorrow was going to be a big, long day!
Up next
our last day at Epcot!
Good guess! 
Love SeaWorld, and Blue Horizons made me teary eyed too
I love your SW pictures. I bet the kids loved feeding the dolphins and rays. Which was their favorite? 
Glad you are back up to full speed (well typing anyway)
