Josh Hendy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2007
- Messages
- 1,294
We went to SW on our first day, because the combined SW/BG ticket was good for 14 days and the USF/IOA ticket was good for only 7 days - it was an 8 day trip and I had a feeling we'd want to end up in USF or IOA on the last day.
Sea World is nice. Not "themed" from top to bottom as much as the other parks but therefore a bit less plasticky and more real, if you know what I mean. The architecture is comparatively bland but the landscaping is very nice.
We used our large-sized printed passes the whole time and never exchanged them - we always had a small backpack in our group so it was easy to distribute and then collect them again before and after the turnstiles. The fingerprints worked well most of the time at all four parks, but once or twice it was annoyingly slow to read the print for one of the kids.
We got there before opening and joined the herd, such as it was, heading to Manta at rope drop (a staggered opening stopped us about 50 yards from the ride entrance). This pause allowed us to straighten out with the other guests exactly where the lockers were located. We fired the junk into the locker and rode the coaster within 10 minutes. The queue with the stingrays is nice, but they could use a bit more air circulation in there.
What can I say about Manta that hasn't been said? It had no breakdowns whenever we were around, loaded smoothly and is an awesome ride. The G force when you're flat on your back near the ground after the first loop is breathtaking. That said, my age (late 40s) is catching up with me, along with a bit of tiredness and upset tummy from driving and flying the day before. I felt woozy after the ride. Riding Kraken right away afterward was like getting kicked in the stomach and head. Kraken is also very cool, but it felt more violent than Manta. DD14 hated these two inverted coaster rides and refused to ride them any more for the rest of the trip, as did DW who like me was having a hard time with nausea and sore neck/head. So from then on they were the bagholders while I toughed it out and went with DD12 and DD15 on everything (even Gwazi, once).
I left Atlantis alone while the rest rode it, and when they were done it was only 10am and we had the whole day in front of us. It went something like this:
- Sea Lion show
- DW lined up to buy dolphin feeding tix while kids petted stingrays
- fed dolphins around 11am
- visited sea turtles, etc.
- lunch at Spice Mill
We went back to the hotel for a swim early afternoon. DW was still feeling wiped out from the the coasters in the AM so she stayed there while the kids and I returned for the 6:30pm Shamu show then visited more animals until around 8:30pm. The kids loved the stingrays, dolphins, baby dolphins, sea lions, etc. (ok so did I). Penguins and Arctic animals were a disappointment to us because of the small, dim, glass-enclosed display areas. The shark tunnel was kind of, meh, that was ok, next.
We returned to SW later in the week in the late afternoon/evening so DW could see Believe, and also caught Blue Horizons and Critter Castaways, all of which are great shows. We rerode all of the big rides (at least the people who had the stomach for them) without major crowds.
On a scale of 1-10 I give Sea World a
Sea World is nice. Not "themed" from top to bottom as much as the other parks but therefore a bit less plasticky and more real, if you know what I mean. The architecture is comparatively bland but the landscaping is very nice.
We used our large-sized printed passes the whole time and never exchanged them - we always had a small backpack in our group so it was easy to distribute and then collect them again before and after the turnstiles. The fingerprints worked well most of the time at all four parks, but once or twice it was annoyingly slow to read the print for one of the kids.
We got there before opening and joined the herd, such as it was, heading to Manta at rope drop (a staggered opening stopped us about 50 yards from the ride entrance). This pause allowed us to straighten out with the other guests exactly where the lockers were located. We fired the junk into the locker and rode the coaster within 10 minutes. The queue with the stingrays is nice, but they could use a bit more air circulation in there.
What can I say about Manta that hasn't been said? It had no breakdowns whenever we were around, loaded smoothly and is an awesome ride. The G force when you're flat on your back near the ground after the first loop is breathtaking. That said, my age (late 40s) is catching up with me, along with a bit of tiredness and upset tummy from driving and flying the day before. I felt woozy after the ride. Riding Kraken right away afterward was like getting kicked in the stomach and head. Kraken is also very cool, but it felt more violent than Manta. DD14 hated these two inverted coaster rides and refused to ride them any more for the rest of the trip, as did DW who like me was having a hard time with nausea and sore neck/head. So from then on they were the bagholders while I toughed it out and went with DD12 and DD15 on everything (even Gwazi, once).
I left Atlantis alone while the rest rode it, and when they were done it was only 10am and we had the whole day in front of us. It went something like this:
- Sea Lion show
- DW lined up to buy dolphin feeding tix while kids petted stingrays
- fed dolphins around 11am
- visited sea turtles, etc.
- lunch at Spice Mill
We went back to the hotel for a swim early afternoon. DW was still feeling wiped out from the the coasters in the AM so she stayed there while the kids and I returned for the 6:30pm Shamu show then visited more animals until around 8:30pm. The kids loved the stingrays, dolphins, baby dolphins, sea lions, etc. (ok so did I). Penguins and Arctic animals were a disappointment to us because of the small, dim, glass-enclosed display areas. The shark tunnel was kind of, meh, that was ok, next.
We returned to SW later in the week in the late afternoon/evening so DW could see Believe, and also caught Blue Horizons and Critter Castaways, all of which are great shows. We rerode all of the big rides (at least the people who had the stomach for them) without major crowds.
On a scale of 1-10 I give Sea World a
