One Day at Seaworld at Christmas--Review with Tons of Photos

[cnjmom]

<p>After we walked quite a bit around the theater and realized that the dolphin show really was full, we headed over to see some turtles, alligators and manatees, since we had not yet visited this part of SeaWorld.

<img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7561/16136364427_eca259b4de_z.jpg" width="600" />
So many gators, resting.  Not in the sun, of course, because it was after 6 PM, but they look pretty peaceful.

<img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7477/16321357522_ccb62cfc6d_z.jpg" width="600" /></p><p>This one looks peaceful, too, even immersed in the water.

As we had been told, many (all?) of the animals are rescue animals.  Injured or not, these animals were fun to see and learn more about.

</p><p><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8611/16136030479_a0a8023044_z.jpg" width="600" />

<img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7462/16320432341_31443b1f6d_z.jpg" width="600" />

WIthin this area, there was a video game/Q & A thing which the kids really enjoyed.

<img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7515/15699802394_730a10aa47_z.jpg" width="300" /><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7541/16134674038_7bc70569b2_z.jpg" width="600" />

After we had looked around outside, we headed into Turtle Trek.  Prior to watching the movie, you can view the same animals underwater.

<img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8622/16296286026_f9af1c370f_z.jpg" width="600" />

<img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7527/16320432221_956f761f4a_z.jpg" width="600" /><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7467/16134673658_0cca74b785_z.jpg" width="600" /></p><p>Turtle Trek is a 3D movie which is shown in a 360 degree theater.  You stand for the movie, which is probably about 10 minutes or so.  It's fun to follow the journey of the turtle and there are so many times when you think things are going to come out of the screen at you.  It seemed so realistic that MIL had to sit because she felt a little nauseous.



</p>

 

[cnjmom]

<p>After Turtle Trek, we got MIL outside and she felt better, so we continued on.

By now, it was pretty dark, but we tried to go over to the dolphin underwater viewing area.  Although we couldn't see much, we did get a little glimpse:

<img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8601/15703131093_0f9067bc98_z.jpg" width="600" />
This would have to suffice for this visit, since, as I've already mentioned, we missed the show.

Moving right along...by now MIL was tired and was probably ready to be done and DD was still in a lot of pain from her earache.  Evidently, the Tylenol didn't do much for her ear.  We made one last stop, and we knew it would probably be the last thing, even though there were still Christmas shows to see. 

The stingrays!
<img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7570/16321225261_89ab048e16_z.jpg" width="600" />
</p><p>Everyone just loves to touch them, don't you?

</p><p><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7498/16321225621_9b701853d1_z.jpg" width="600" />

<img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7557/16135640600_202b656e57_z.jpg" width="300" /></p><p>We stayed here for about 20 minutes, and then made our departure plans.  I will admit I was pretty bummed, but with DD was so upset, we knew it was the right thing to do.

DH took the kids to the gift shop to buy our requisite magnet and MIL and I went to look at the photos from the day.  Although there were a few good ones, not enough to make me want to buy the digital copies, and because there were attractions missing from our day, my heart just wasn't in it.

I did get a few shots of decorations on the way out to the car.
</p><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8650/15700591824_b9743af899_z.jpg" width="600" />

And this lovely tree, which was pretty tall.

<img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8639/15700591504_500cabc16a_z.jpg" width="300" />

And then we were done.

We did try to take DD to a Minute Clinic, but they all closed (both CVS and Walgreen's) at 7:30 and it was 7:45 (why we didn't try to do this earlier in the day, I don't know).  We did buy some eardrops and Motrin and traveled back to the Villages, where she took a bath, which seemed to relax her.  Everyone settled in and that was our day at SeaWorld.

 

[cnjmom]

Despite DD not feeling well for a huge chunk of the day and MIL getting tired at the end, I'd say my family enjoyed themselves at our day at SeaWorld.

I would probably do the "All Day Dining" again. DH and I talked about it after and he figured that if we had stayed until the end, we probably would have had another substantial snack prior to our departure. Even leaving early, we definitely got our usage from the bracelets.

I have mentioned that we didn't do anything extra--no quick queue, no special dinners which allowed for early access to shows, etc. We knew we weren't doing these things going in and we also knew we were going on what was likely to be a very busy day. I think we did OK with seeing things in the time constraints we had.

And you figure, not getting to everything just gives us things to look forward to next time.

Thanks for reading along!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Awesome job, from start to finish! Thanks for sharing your day with us .

 

[cantwaitvaca09]

Great report!

 

[debsters41]

Thanks for the report! It has been very helpful