keishashadow
Proud Redhead...yes, I have some bananas!
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2004
With apologies to Sam Eagle lol
I & DH are frequent visitors to Orlando. This trip was a mom-middle DS trip that we finally were able to firm up. One of the football teams he coaches had a national championship game in Daytona Beach. Seemed like a good idea to wrap a trip around it. He hadn't been to the area in some time due to life/work responsibilities, thusly, I wanted to cross off lots from his bucket list.
Was nice we were able to coordinate the trip to also meet up a few days @ Universal with my oldest DS & family who were @ WDW beforehand.
Starting off with pics just from iPhone, awaiting return of my camera memory cards from DS to upload lol. Will try to flesh out the initial posts @ that point.
January 5th
We caught last direct flight out of PIT into MCO. It started to snow on the way to the airport, was interesting as the salt trucks hadn't treated the roads yet. Plane needed to be de-iced a few times but we arrived on schedule. Unfortunately, Alamo had few vehicles available in mid-size category I booked. Wound up stuffing luggage into a Fiat 500. A poor choice as we wound up lugging in all our gear each of the four stops as I just wasn't comfortable with it sitting in a hatch back.
Stayed @ the newish Hampton Inn near Sea World. A very nice property, moreso as it was only $67+ a night and included a breakfast buffet and Sea World Quick Queue tickets! Note that the Quick Queue tix can be reserved the day prior to your visit to Sea World via inquiring @ the front desk.
January 6th
After breakfast we loaded up the car and headed over to Sea World. Was nice to be able to take advantage of their January AP promo of a guest free. Was able to print the tix @ home. Did need to visit the kiosks to exchange our printout for actual Quick Queue tix though.
Even though it was a relatively slow day there, the lines for Makko and Penguins (finally the ride was running when I was there - yea!) were long. Nice perk to have IMO.
We had a long day ahead of us, agreed to go slow and smell the roses. Poked around the exhibits then headed over to Arctic area. Was surprised to basically have the area to ourselves. Didn't pick up until the movie started to run @ 11 am.
When we came out of the building were suprised to see several helicopters hovering over the Shamu Stadium. It became rather irritating after a half hour and we started to wonder if something was wrong. Quick check of phone & were saddened to see that Tilikum had passed, despite knowing he was ill for some time. Politics aside, IMO it was incredibly ghoulish & possibly dangerous for the news copters to hover for so long trying to catch a glimpse.
Here are pics of two that were @ opposite ends of the stadium @ the same time. Just didn't seem safe to me.
Also, rather Surprised no statement was made to the crowd prior to or during the show
I & DH are frequent visitors to Orlando. This trip was a mom-middle DS trip that we finally were able to firm up. One of the football teams he coaches had a national championship game in Daytona Beach. Seemed like a good idea to wrap a trip around it. He hadn't been to the area in some time due to life/work responsibilities, thusly, I wanted to cross off lots from his bucket list.
Was nice we were able to coordinate the trip to also meet up a few days @ Universal with my oldest DS & family who were @ WDW beforehand.
Starting off with pics just from iPhone, awaiting return of my camera memory cards from DS to upload lol. Will try to flesh out the initial posts @ that point.
January 5th
We caught last direct flight out of PIT into MCO. It started to snow on the way to the airport, was interesting as the salt trucks hadn't treated the roads yet. Plane needed to be de-iced a few times but we arrived on schedule. Unfortunately, Alamo had few vehicles available in mid-size category I booked. Wound up stuffing luggage into a Fiat 500. A poor choice as we wound up lugging in all our gear each of the four stops as I just wasn't comfortable with it sitting in a hatch back.
Stayed @ the newish Hampton Inn near Sea World. A very nice property, moreso as it was only $67+ a night and included a breakfast buffet and Sea World Quick Queue tickets! Note that the Quick Queue tix can be reserved the day prior to your visit to Sea World via inquiring @ the front desk.
January 6th
After breakfast we loaded up the car and headed over to Sea World. Was nice to be able to take advantage of their January AP promo of a guest free. Was able to print the tix @ home. Did need to visit the kiosks to exchange our printout for actual Quick Queue tix though.
Even though it was a relatively slow day there, the lines for Makko and Penguins (finally the ride was running when I was there - yea!) were long. Nice perk to have IMO.
We had a long day ahead of us, agreed to go slow and smell the roses. Poked around the exhibits then headed over to Arctic area. Was surprised to basically have the area to ourselves. Didn't pick up until the movie started to run @ 11 am.
When we came out of the building were suprised to see several helicopters hovering over the Shamu Stadium. It became rather irritating after a half hour and we started to wonder if something was wrong. Quick check of phone & were saddened to see that Tilikum had passed, despite knowing he was ill for some time. Politics aside, IMO it was incredibly ghoulish & possibly dangerous for the news copters to hover for so long trying to catch a glimpse.
Here are pics of two that were @ opposite ends of the stadium @ the same time. Just didn't seem safe to me.
Also, rather Surprised no statement was made to the crowd prior to or during the show
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. This was our last nice day for nearly a week. 
