Queenie
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2005
- Messages
- 3,144
Sorry this has taken so long, so much going on here. Just so you know whilst the details of my feelings re: breakfasts and evening meals are accurate, the days they are attributed may not be accurate as it was so long ago. Sorry!
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We woke up in the morning freezing cold due to the air conditioning in the villa that I swear had been set at minus 30 degrees! Quick showers were had and super powerful sun protection liberally applied. Breakfast was had at the villa and I relished in the madness of Cookie Crisp cereal, it has no nutritional value at all Im sure true to the spirit of American dining! We ate quickly and were soon on our way to Seaworld.
~ ~ ~ ~
At this point I would like to take a short via away from the story to give you some back story; it wont take long, promise. I feel it is important for you to know that the biggest and best sea animal exhibit type thing I had ever been to before Seaworld was a place called Marine World or similar in Spain when I was about 8 (hence 10 years previously.) I barely remember any of it except some dolphins jumping through hoops. Therefore my main memories of sea creature related attractions are:
1. The Aquarium in Blackpool tower
2. Some research centre on Anglesey which had a tank of seahorses and some rays you could stroke.
The most recent of these happened 7 years ago. Please bare this in mind as I enter Seaworld!
~ ~ ~ ~
Well from the moment we arrived I was impressed. Even the car park was bigger than anything Id ever seen. The animal figures outside caught my attention and from then on I was staring wide eyed at everything. (More back story, the biggest theme park Id ever visited before this was Blackpool Pleasure Beach so just compare the two in your head.)
I wont bore you with details of all the animals I saw as I think we visited pretty much everything there. We visited the baby dolphins first and they were easily some of my favourites, so cute! The turtles were great; as were the sharks and the tropical reef (those eels are weird and freaky looking.) We watched three shows, Key West Dolphins, Clyde and Seymour (sp?) take Pirate Island (hysterically funny) and obviously Shamu but as Im not a thrill fan we didnt do any of the rides. Other animals I totally loved were the penguins, and the rays (especially the babies) which felt really strange when you stroked them. However my favourite two animals were the last we visited. The dolphins were gorgeous, I hadnt realised you could stroke them so I spent about half an hour at the poolside watching the attendants feed them, and then, saving the best for last, the manatees. My best friend, a Sea World regular, had often told me how wonderful they were and after seeing them I totally agreed with her. They were stunning animals and it was heart breaking seeing their injuries and thinking they could be some of the last on earth.
After visiting the manatees we did the final gift shop sweep (dolphin oil burner for me, manatee photo frame for my friend which she still doesnt have 10 months later!) and headed out of the park. We decided to eat on our way back to the villa and chose Golden Corral. This place became my utopia during the trip, the concept of all you can eat steak and shrimp is mind bogglingly genius! The desserts were something to behold too. I was stunned by it all having never been in an all you can eat restaurant before (even in the UK), watching (some) Americans in these places is entrancing, they have developed a gravity defying ability to pile food onto plates
On returning to the villa we again debated our destination for the following day and decided on Magic Kingdom. My first trip to WDW was less than 12 hours away and how I slept I will never know
----------------------------------------------------
We woke up in the morning freezing cold due to the air conditioning in the villa that I swear had been set at minus 30 degrees! Quick showers were had and super powerful sun protection liberally applied. Breakfast was had at the villa and I relished in the madness of Cookie Crisp cereal, it has no nutritional value at all Im sure true to the spirit of American dining! We ate quickly and were soon on our way to Seaworld.
~ ~ ~ ~
At this point I would like to take a short via away from the story to give you some back story; it wont take long, promise. I feel it is important for you to know that the biggest and best sea animal exhibit type thing I had ever been to before Seaworld was a place called Marine World or similar in Spain when I was about 8 (hence 10 years previously.) I barely remember any of it except some dolphins jumping through hoops. Therefore my main memories of sea creature related attractions are:
1. The Aquarium in Blackpool tower
2. Some research centre on Anglesey which had a tank of seahorses and some rays you could stroke.
The most recent of these happened 7 years ago. Please bare this in mind as I enter Seaworld!
~ ~ ~ ~
Well from the moment we arrived I was impressed. Even the car park was bigger than anything Id ever seen. The animal figures outside caught my attention and from then on I was staring wide eyed at everything. (More back story, the biggest theme park Id ever visited before this was Blackpool Pleasure Beach so just compare the two in your head.)
I wont bore you with details of all the animals I saw as I think we visited pretty much everything there. We visited the baby dolphins first and they were easily some of my favourites, so cute! The turtles were great; as were the sharks and the tropical reef (those eels are weird and freaky looking.) We watched three shows, Key West Dolphins, Clyde and Seymour (sp?) take Pirate Island (hysterically funny) and obviously Shamu but as Im not a thrill fan we didnt do any of the rides. Other animals I totally loved were the penguins, and the rays (especially the babies) which felt really strange when you stroked them. However my favourite two animals were the last we visited. The dolphins were gorgeous, I hadnt realised you could stroke them so I spent about half an hour at the poolside watching the attendants feed them, and then, saving the best for last, the manatees. My best friend, a Sea World regular, had often told me how wonderful they were and after seeing them I totally agreed with her. They were stunning animals and it was heart breaking seeing their injuries and thinking they could be some of the last on earth.
After visiting the manatees we did the final gift shop sweep (dolphin oil burner for me, manatee photo frame for my friend which she still doesnt have 10 months later!) and headed out of the park. We decided to eat on our way back to the villa and chose Golden Corral. This place became my utopia during the trip, the concept of all you can eat steak and shrimp is mind bogglingly genius! The desserts were something to behold too. I was stunned by it all having never been in an all you can eat restaurant before (even in the UK), watching (some) Americans in these places is entrancing, they have developed a gravity defying ability to pile food onto plates
On returning to the villa we again debated our destination for the following day and decided on Magic Kingdom. My first trip to WDW was less than 12 hours away and how I slept I will never know
I had also only been to a small sea life centre in chester called the Blue planet aquarium. You have seen the whole thing in less than an hour. 
