SeaWorld Trip Report: Fun without DH

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

A few months ago, DH told me he’d be out of town for 5 days on business. So I figured that meant the kids and I could take a mini-vacation without him. Whoo Hoo. I am probably one of the few wives who LOVES going on vacation without her DH. Then again, maybe not.

So I talked it over with DD8 (Drama Queen) and DS12 (Dude) and we chose SeaWorld since DH doesn’t like it and it had been 6 years since we’ve been there. Then I thought while we are in Orlando, the kids and I can have a do-over of our failed April 2006 Universal Vacation. Don’t ask. It was really, really bad. And so the trip was decided.

It would be myself- the Fabulous Mom who’s not telling her age.
– DD8 alias Drama Queen and DS12 alias Dude.
We would be at SeaWorld Wednesday, July 16 in the evening, Thursday, July 17 and part of Friday July 18.

This trip report will be the SeaWorld portion and there’ll be pictures. I’m still learning how to load pictures so please bear with me on that part.

After looking for a resort, I decided to pick the closest one to SeaWorld I could find since I have a bad sense of direction and didn’t want to drive more than I had to. So I found the Renaissance Resort right across from SeaWorld. After booking a room using my AAA discount – the only discount I could find for this resort, I also got the SeaWorld tickets through them and began planning.
I won’t bore you with the planning details but they involved the SeaWorld website and the Beyond Disney UG book as well as the Disboards. I also added a quick stop at Downtown Disney for the kids.

So after we finally got packed and double checking everything and dropping the dog at boarding, we hit the road. The drive from GA was uneventful except for our GPS sending us down several backroads to Downtown Disney during a bad thunderstorm. That was We got to Downtown Disney about 4pm Thursday.

We stopped at the Ghirardelli Soda Fountain for a yummy sundae

and then hit Once Upon a Toy for Drama Queen to put together a Mr. Potato Head set and Dude to make a Light Saber. He chose the Sith one. We also hit the World of Disney so I could get a few glow ice cubes and the Lego Store where we spent an arm and a leg buying a few Lego sets.

I tried to talk the kids into eating supper at the Earl of Sandwich but no – they wanted McDonalds so that’s what we ended up with. Due to the weather, it was packed but we managed to scout out a table and relax. It was alternating hard rain and drizzling so we skipped Goofy’s Candy Shop and headed out to our SeaWorld Resort.

We arrived at the Renaissance and my jaw just dropped. That place was gorgeous. I parked the car in self parking, the kids and I grabbed our suitcases and we checked in. We had to make one more trip to get the shoe bag (yes, the shoes have a starring role in the first morning. ), snacks and water.
We settled in and I tried to talk the kids into going to SeaWorld that night to see Shamu Rocks and Mystify since the weather had cleared. I had printed the schedule at home so I knew what show was when in advance.

Nope, they just wanted to relax in the hotel room. They didn’t even want to visit the pool. So much for getting my money’s worth out of the length of stay pass for SeaWorld. I wasn’t surprised though. My kids love hotel rooms especially ones as nice as this.
Since it was 7:30pm, I figured we could have an early night and get going early the next morning. I walked around the resort and snapped a few pictures while the kids played in the room.

They just wouldn’t go to sleep either. They goofed and giggled until 11pm even when I made them hit the bed at 10pm. No surprise there though.
Pics of our room: 1059.

Next up: Day 1, part 1 at SeaWorld

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

When the alarm went off at 7am, I groaned and hauled my tired self outta bed and got ready to hit SeaWorld. Then I got Drama Queen up and moving. She was excited at the prospect of feeding the dolphins so it wasn’t too hard.
Dude was another problem. He would sleep all day if I let him. I had to yank all the covers off the bed and threaten to throw cold water on him before he got out of bed. He moved pretty quick at the mention of cold water since he knew I wasn’t kidding. I have done it before. Does that make me a mean Mom? Well it sure works!

We went down to Tradewinds for the breakfast buffet. They had a chef who will make your eggs the way you want them, or make you pancakes or waffles. It was a great selection. I chose a ham and cheese omelet and Drama Queen went for her usual scrambled eggs. Dude decided on the waffles. Then we looked for bacon and looked for bacon and well you get the idea – they had no bacon. Only sausage – blech. Drama Queen and I had to settle for eggs and toast only. We also grabbed some delicious strawberries. Dude got the sausage much to his dismay later in the day. Dude didn’t like the waffle because it had cinnamon in it and refused to try anything else but at least he ate the sausage. They also had cereal as well as tons of other stuff that we didn’t pay attention to since we were in a hurry to eat and get to SeaWorld.

After our breakfast, we walked across the street to the SeaWorld parking lot. We had to be careful because there was a crosswalk but no traffic light. The street wasn’t too busy but it sure would’ve made me nervous if I had had younger kids. So we carefully walk through the SeaWorld parking lot at 8:30am, watching out for the cars who don’t follow the attendants directions and drive any way they want through the lot.

I already had my tickets printed on plain paper (I printed several copies of each at home so we had spares if they got wet) so we cruised through the gates. I went bagless and had everything we would need stuck in my cargo shorts pockets.

Most people were hanging right so we went left towards Dolphin Cove and were near the front when the park was opened at 9am. We boogied right up to the Dolphin Feeding area and waited for them to open at 9:15am. We watched the Dolphins play and watched the how to feed the dolphin video. Then we watched someone show you what to do and finally it was open. That was the longest 15 minutes with Drama Queen constantly asking me if it was open yet.
I picked up 8 trays of fish. 3 for each kid and 2 for me. Hey, you didn’t think I’d go and not feed the dolphins, did ya? They were 7.00 each and had 3 fish in them per tray. We had a great time feeding and petting them.

I had so much fun I forgot to take many pics. Good thing the photographers were there! : We spent an hour there between feeding the Dolphins and choosing which pics we wanted to buy. The pics were 19.95 for the first one and 5.00 for each additional. I ended up with 3 that we got out of 12 that they took. I liked more but just didn’t want to pay the cost. I had them send the pics up front to pick up later.

We tried to hotfoot it over to Shark’s Underwater Grill to make our reservations for either lunch or supper. But DQ started complaining about her footwear. No surprise there. That girl loves to complain about shoes. I had to bring 5 pairs of shoes for her because of it. That morning she had chosen to wear her Nike sandals. She’s worn them when we walk the dog for a mile and a half every day . You would think that she would be fine with them. Nope, they were hurting her feet and she couldn’t walk another step (insert whiney voice here). 8 year old girls sure can whine when they want.

Then she sits down and refuses to walk. So we have a discussion about how she chose them and we weren’t going back to the room to get another pair until breaktime and she was going to have to suck it up. She wouldn’t get up. Good thing DH isn’t with us this trip.

So I offer to buy her a pair of flip flops at the next store if she would just get up. Yes, I bribed Drama Queen which I usually don’t do. It worked. We wasted nearly a half an hour because of her shoes. We find a store and get her some flip flops. Unfortunately the came with a small SeaWorld cap that I’ll be giving away soon since Drama Queen doesn’t “do” caps. Then we have her sandals and the cap sent to the front of the park for us to pickup later. Suddenly she is all smiles.

We got to Shark’s Underwater Grill about 10:30am and they had a line of folks making reservations so we got in line. The kids chose supper since there weren’t any early lunch reservations available. We made them for 6:00pm because I figured the 6:15p Believe show would mean the restaurant would be quiet.

Then we went through the Shark Encounter area. That was sooooo cool. Dude really likes the sharks. I liked the Leafy Sea Dragons too.

Leafy SeaDragon

Leopard Shark in the area outside Shark's Underwater Grill

We were originally going to eat lunch at 11:30am but changed that schedule the night before when we saw there was an 11:30am Believe show. So after Shark Encounter we headed over to the Believe show. We went to the Clydesdale Hamlet on the way. Those horses are huge and beautiful. We stopped in the Arcade for 10 minutes for Dude and then headed to Believe.

We got to Believe at 11:15am. I sure wish we had gotten there earlier because it was packed. I put Dude on seat finding duty and he did manage to find us some pretty decent seats but I would sure recommend getting there 30 minutes before to get the great seats. Dude wanted to sit in the splash zone but I reminded him we weren’t taking a break till 2 or 3 so he would be wet all day so he changed his mind. Phew – I was lucky on that one. Believe was wonderful. Dude didn’t enjoy it. He said it was slow and boring and the music wasn’t good. Since he’s 12, I had decided it’s just his grumpiness coming out. Drama Queen and I loved it.

So after Believe we decided to hunt down some lunch. At this point Dude admitted he was having severe heartburn from the sausages so we hit the first aide center at Shamu’s Happy Harbor and got him some maloxx which helped him right away so I guess that was the reason for his grumpiness. He decided he was hungry so we ended up at Mango Joe’s Café. It was nearby and had food the kids would eat.
After dealing with the ridiculous line set up – the fajita station was first so the whole line was blocked while fajitas were made for someone, I was happy to get the kids their chicken fingers and my turkey wrap. The Turkey wrap was pretty good although the potato salad was dry. The kids ate their chicken fingers up quickly so I guess they liked those.

We actually found a place to sit under cover with fans running and enjoyed our lunch while watching other folks feed their lunches to the ducks that hovered around. There were signs saying not to feed them but lots of folks ignored them. We had 2 boxes of raisins leftover that came with the kids meals so I squeezed them into my bulging pockets for later.

Up next - Day 1, part 2 at SeaWorld

 

[tessieg]

I am enjoying reading your reports! We are taking our three girls to Sea World and Aquatica in October so will enjoy the rest of your log
Tessie

 

[TanaL]

love the trip report, where's day 2??

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

love the trip report, where's day 2??

Part 2 of Day 1 is coming up - hopefully today. I'm trying to get photobucket to open up so I can add pictures.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Whoo Hoo. Photobucket is working!!!!!

Here's Part 2 of Day 1

After lunch is where I made my first big mistake. I tell DH I’ll make a lot of mistakes over the years but at least I’ll only do each one once.
Are you ready?

I let the kids pick the next show. Yup – I let them decide. Do you think they’d pick one near Shamu Stadium? Or one that’s on the way out since it was almost our breaktime? Hah – not my kids.

They pick Blue Horizons at the Whale & Dolphin Theatre all the way on the other side of the park. And they picked the 2:30pm show. Now granted at this point it was only 1:30pm since it took forever to get our food but still it’s a ton of walking. So off we go.

We stopped by the Sea Lion area and checked them out but didn’t have time to feed them. We stopped briefly near the Penquin Encounter and grabbed some slushies and got to hear Drama Queen begin whining again because the 14.99 flip flops were now hurting her feet between the toes. I stopped and got a beer. It hit the spot.

So we listened to her whine the rest of the way to Blue Horizons and I tell her after the show we’ll head back to the room to have a break so hopefully she would stop whining. It didn’t work. I was very happy I was able to have a quick beer.

We got to the show about 2:10pm and got a great seat even though the place was packed. I was pleasantly surprised at the show. I had considered skipping this show but am now glad we didn’t. All of us enjoyed it. Dude loved the diving and the animals, Drama Queen and I loved the animals and the acrobats of the “birds”.

After the show we slowly made our way to the exit with Drama Queen earning her name. I picked us up some popcorn on the way out. Yum. It sure was good. I took the long way so we could see the dancing fountains.

We shuffled across the parking lot and back to the resort. Ah rest time......

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Since the last installment was short I got 1, part 3 ready!


After hanging out in the room resting our feet for 30 minutes we decided to hit the pool. That resort had a really nice pool and it had a pool bar which I had to try. I just realized I don’t have any pictures of it. Oops.

The kids had fun playing in the pool while I enjoyed a very expensive frozen margarita. I tested the water before getting my margarita and it was just right - not too warm, not too cold.

Just as I was finishing my first drink, the clouds rolled in and the thunder started. So everyone had to exit the pool.

We played a couple of games of foosball that Dude won but it didn’t clear up so we went to our room for a rest. The kids told me know they were too old to nap so they played video games while I took a quick nap.

Drama Queen decided her crocs would be fine shoes for the evening so we finally headed back to SeaWorld at 5:15pm. We stopped by Turtle Point and watched the turtles, stopped at the Dolphin viewing area and watched the Dolphins play along with about 100 of our closest friends ,

We stopped at the Alligators and Manatee rescue area. We saw Manatees in the wild at one of the Florida State Parks a few years ago and the moms had babies with them. It was wonderful.

This manatee is floating upside down which I thought was funny.

After the Manatees it was nearly time for Shark’s Underwater Grill.

We were looking forward to this. Dude really wanted to eat with the sharks so I was glad I could make this happen for him easily. We were checked in with no wait so my plan to have supper at 6pm seemed to have worked. The restaurant wasn’t crowded. They weren’t even ½ full.

After 10 minutes, our server finally showed up. I always keep an eye on my watch for this because I believe a server should be with you within minutes of being seated unless the restaurant is crowded. So it didn’t start well.

We enjoyed looking at the Shark Tank while waiting though so the kids didn’t realize how long it really was. Once we had our drinks, we placed our orders.


I chose the filet mignon, Drama Queen chose the kids hamburger I think, and Dude chose the chicken BBQ. He loves BBQ. He also ordered an Oreo milkshake. The bread arrives at the table and it was delicious. We just loved it.


It was a good thing we had the bread since it was 30 minutes before we got our food. I had already had to flag down our server for a drink refill for Drama Queen and I and get Dude a different drink because the Oreo milkshake was so gross it was undrinkable. I tried it and couldn’t stand it. So I was getting annoyed.

The server blamed the wait on the fact that I had ordered a medium well steak. I don’t believe that is true because I can grill a bigger piece of filet mignon medium well at home in 20 minutes but I behaved myself and didn’t say that to her.

When the food arrived she dropped it off - never to be seen again until I chased her down to get more another soda refill. At that point I was seriously annoyed. Dude’s food was awful so he couldn’t eat it. I had a taste of Dude’s and it really was awful.

At least Drama Queen and I liked ours.

When she brings the check – she never asked if we wanted dessert – I asked for the manager. He showed up promptly. I told him about our issues – the milkshake, Dude’s horrible supper, the bad service and he immediately refunded the milkshake and Dude’s supper and offered to get him something else at no charge.

But I was over the service issue and thanked him for the offer but we had to decline, paid for the rest and got outta there.

So while the ambience was great, the service was horrible and with the Dude’s horrible food, I don’t know that I’d ever want to eat there if we ever get back to SeaWorld again. We stopped at CS and got Dude a kids chicken fingers so he’d get some supper on the way to Shamu Rocks.

Filet Mignon:

So at this point it’s 7:20pm and we knew we wanted to see the 8:30pm Shamu Rocks show so we headed in that direction. We got there about 7:30pm and waited in line with many, many other people.

I picked us up some cotton candy, popcorn and drinks so when they started letting folks in at 7:50pm we were ready. Dude had scoped out the seats he wanted earlier in the day so he led the way. They were perfect for us.

Nearly dead center, higher up. Just like we prefer. : I chatted with a nice family in front of us for a bit and agreed that we don’t know how anyone can see the majority of the shows in one day if they are taking a break in the day. I those who can do it.

When the cameras came on and scanned the audience, there was a large tour group who started chanting and cheering to get up on the screen. The camera panned to them and they settled down right after they had their few minutes of fame. Some of the folks the camera person chose were pretty funny. Shamu Rocks was sooo great.

Only one of the pics that I took turned out. Between the darkness and the flashing lights of the show it didn't surprise me. My little Cannon Powershot SD850 IS couldn't handle it.

Dude was wishing we had gone the night before so we could have seen it twice. It was his favorite show. Drama Queen loved it too. This show was a total hit for us all.

After the show, we headed over to Wild Arctic. It was only a 10 minute wait so we hopped in line for the helicopter ride to the Arctic. I wasn’t sure if Drama Queen would like it so we just told her the ride was about Polar Bears.
She caught on quickly that it was more than that but luckily she loved it.

Afterwards we saw the sleeping Polar Bear and the Beluga Whales. At this point Drama Queen was fading fast. Lots of yawning and starting to say she’s tired. She should've taken a nap when I did. Silly girl.

So I gave up my hope of seeing Mistify at 10:45pm, went through the annoying package pickup. I'll be mentioning more about this in the next segment of the trip report. By 10pm we were back in our room getting ready for bed and packing the bags to leave the hotel in the morning.

 

[alabamagirl]

Loving your report! DH and I are going to SeaWorld for New Year's Eve this year. I am excited because I haven't been there since 1994!

A few questions for you if you don't mind.

Where did you get a printout of the show schedules for SW? Do they post this on their website somewhere?

We are also staying at the Renaissance. Do you remember how much p/p the breakfast buffet is?

What is on your filet?? I'm sure it was good, but it looks like lasagne.

Thanks, and I can't wait to read the rest!

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I found the show schedule on the SeaWorld website. There's a section that says calendar and when you click on a date it pulls up the show schedules. I did have to dig for it but it was worth the effort to find it. It's the best part of the confusing website. Oh and it wasn't there until 2 weeks before we needed it.

It was some sort of melted cheese on the Filet Mignon. I think it made it taste even better! I love cheese.

I can't remember how much the breakfast buffet was right now but I do have the receipt so I'll check it later and add it.

I was hoping to add another part of the TR tonight but I can't get into photobucket again. I think my laptop is annoying me on purpose.

This was my first ever trip report so I'm glad someone is enjoying it!

 

[raph_b]

Brilliant report - One of the best I've read on these boards

You're kids sound like great fun!!

 

[eblondie]

The Renaissance Hotel really is nice isn't it! I stayed there a few years ago and loved the ease of getting to Sea World.
I was thinking about eating in the Sharks' Underwater Grill but but not so sure...wonder if that bad service was a one off?

 

[eblondie]

I found the show schedule on the SeaWorld website. There's a section that says calendar and when you click on a date it pulls up the show schedules. I did have to dig for it but it was worth the effort to find it. It's the best part of the confusing website. Oh and it wasn't there until 2 weeks before we needed it.

It was some sort of melted cheese on the Filet Mignon. I think it made it taste even better! I love cheese.

I can't remember how much the breakfast buffet was right now but I do have the receipt so I'll check it later and add it.

I was hoping to add another part of the TR tonight but I can't get into photobucket again. I think my laptop is annoying me on purpose.

This was my first ever trip report so I'm glad someone is enjoying it!

I've just looked at the schedule...unfortunately it only goes up to 7th September at the moment.

 

[alabamagirl]

I found the show schedule on the SeaWorld website. There's a section that says calendar and when you click on a date it pulls up the show schedules. I did have to dig for it but it was worth the effort to find it. It's the best part of the confusing website. Oh and it wasn't there until 2 weeks before we needed it.

It was some sort of melted cheese on the Filet Mignon. I think it made it taste even better! I love cheese.

I can't remember how much the breakfast buffet was right now but I do have the receipt so I'll check it later and add it.

I was hoping to add another part of the TR tonight but I can't get into photobucket again. I think my laptop is annoying me on purpose.

This was my first ever trip report so I'm glad someone is enjoying it!

Thanks for the info! MMMM....cheese on filet. That does sound good.

I am glad to hear so many good things about the Renaissance. I made our reservations yesterday!

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I've just looked at the schedule...unfortunately it only goes up to 7th September at the moment.

I remember they only put it up for a couple of weeks in advance. I had to stop myself from looking at it all the time because I really wanted to get the show schedules.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Thanks for the info! MMMM....cheese on filet. That does sound good.

I am glad to hear so many good things about the Renaissance. I made our reservations yesterday!

You'll love the Renaissance. The people working there were so nice, the beds were extra comfy and the pool was wonderful.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

The Renaissance Hotel really is nice isn't it! I stayed there a few years ago and loved the ease of getting to Sea World.
I was thinking about eating in the Sharks' Underwater Grill but but not so sure...wonder if that bad service was a one off?

I sure hope that it was just a bad service day, otherwise I don't know why anyone would want to go back there.
I was glad the manager was helpful - so many are not nowadays.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Our final morning at SeaWorld -

Since we were checking out today, I got up at 7am – ugh - and hauled the majority of the luggage to the car after I got ready while the kids slept on. Those lucky kids. I really would’ve loved to sleep in. I had to promise Drama Queen that I wouldn't post the picture of her sound asleep in the bed. And it was such a cute picture too. Oh well.

After that fun, I woke up the monkeys and we decided to eat breakfast in the room using the snacks I’d brought. Luckily the fruit cups were perfect for this as were the Vienna Finger Cookies. Yum.
We also ate the raisins from yesterdays lunch. Plus I had some Sunny D orange juice in our cooler – the one problem we had was the mini fridge didn’t keep things cool enough so I used our little cooler to keep the drinks cold.
Normally I would’ve said something to the resort about the fridge but we weren’t staying long so I didn’t bother. That was a perfect quick breakfast.

I had the great shoe debate with Drama Queen again since she had decided her crocs weren’t comfy enough for her to wear all day so she chose to wear her sneakers this morning. And by the way, I was wearing my Keen
Venice H2’s which were very comfy. Dude chose to wear his New Balance sneakers.

We finished loading the car and then I proofed our resort bill which was perfect and checked us out using the phone system. We could keep our car in their self parking lot all day so we just left it there and went over to SeaWorld.
Unfortunately we didn’t get there until 9:15am so it sure was crowded to enter. Tons of folks were hanging out at the entrance trying to figure out where to go. Not us though. We were on a mission.

I wasn’t sure if I should be because we were leaving SeaWorld or since we were heading to Universal. I chose

We knew we wanted to see Clyde and Seamore, Pets Ahoy, the Penguins, and feed the Sea Lions and, if we could, squeeze in another Wild Arctic ride because we wanted to see the Polar Bear awake. Plus the kids liked the Wild Arctic ride.

We decided we couldn’t make the 10am Clyde and Seamore without running so we decided to see a later show and go to Wild Arctic first.

There was a 10 minute wait so again we did the Helicopter ride and headed to the Polar Bear. Yeah –the Polar Bear was awake and moving! I haven’t seen one of those in years so it was fun to see.

We glimpsed the Walrus swimming around and watched the Beluga whales for a long time. They are so graceful. The GA Aquarium has them but it’s just too crowded so I don’t enjoy going there. I didn't get any decent pictures of the Beluga whales. Even with the aquarium setting on my camera, they were moving just a bit too fast.

Drama Queen decided she wanted her souvenir to be a stuffed Polar Bear. So I bought that for her and decided to carry it around the park since I didn’t want to deal with package pickup again.

In the souvenier shop was this cool guy. I tried to edit this so it would be lighter but it looks like it didn't work.

I had promised Drama Queen we could go to Shamu’s Happy Harbor for her so we headed there next. The timing was perfect. There were only a couple of other families. So she and Dude rode the Ocean Commotion and Shamu Express and she rode the Jazzy Jellies and Sea Carousel. At this point, all of us were getting hungry even if it was only 11:15am so we headed to the Hospitality Deli. What a great choice. We all got food and desserts we liked. I can’t remember what Dude chose but I do remember he ate every bit, Drama Queen got a salad with grilled chicken and I got a club sandwich.

I chose the cheesecake for dessert which I shared with Dude. I also got a free beer sample.

I would make a terrible food critic. As long as it's simple, we'll like it.

After lunch we headed to Shamu’s Underwater viewing area. It was so crowded you couldn’t really see well so we left there quickly.

At this point it was getting close to the 1pm Clyde and Seamore show. We didn’t want to miss it so we hurried on over. We ended up with decent seats. Before the pre-show, there was a large tour group clapping and chanting away but when the preshow started they quieted down.

Dude groaned when the Mime came out. He’s not a Mime fan. Within minutes both kids were giggling away. It didn’t take long for the whole audience to start laughing. I can't believe I didn't take a picture of the Mime. I was too busy laughing with everyone else. We all loved this show.

We went over to the Penguins after this and enjoyed seeing them play. Since we were there before 3pm the lights were on. They are currently on arctic time so the lights were only on from 11am – 3pm. Dudes favorite penguin -

This guy was kinda cute:

Then we fed the Sea Lions. I picked up the kids 2 trays of fish each at 7.00 a tray. They had fun feeding the Sea Lions and trying to keep the fish away from the aggressive birds. Dude said it was a fun challenge. There were a ton of babies which Drama Queen was excited about.

We hit a few stores on our way to the 3:30pm Pets Ahoy show. I picked up a few souvenirs and Dude decided he wanted to a Shamu Beach Towel. He chose the one with all the fireworks in the background.

But as we headed to the Pets Ahoy show, the weather began to turn on us. It had been overcast all day. When the announcement came to take cover immediately, we were between places so I pulled out our dollar store ponchos and we made a beeline to the nearest store. Those ponchos actually held up. It got really nasty – very windy, thunder, lightening and it just poured.

When we got undercover at a souvenir shop Drama Queen sat on the floor, hugged her bear and just cried because she was scared. She didn’t even want to hold onto me. Poor thing. Dude wandered around the store for a bit and then came to hang out with us while the storm raged on.

When it finished about 40 minutes later we tried to make it to Pets Ahoy but didn’t get there in time for the show because one walkway was blocked off and we had to go all the way around. We had just used that walkway a few hours before so I don't know why it was blocked off.

Since Dude was the one who wanted to see this show I told him we could stay for the 5pm show if he wanted. He decided it was ok to miss it so we decided to call it a day and head on out to the Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Studios.

On the way out, we went out of our way a little to pet the stingrays at Stingray Lagoon. I loved their velvety feeling but it creeped out Drama Queen. I was surprised to find I had no pictures of petting the stingrays. I’d thought I’d taken some. Hmmm.

I've got some final thoughts on SeaWorld that I'll post in a day or so. I've got to finish writing them up.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Final notes on SeaWorld in July:
We had a great time at SeaWorld and going bagless worked great for us. We aren’t huge flume or coaster fans so we were able to skip the 2 big rides which gave us extra time for wandering.

Body Glide is great. We put it on our feet every morning and nobody got any blisters. It didn’t stop Drama Queens feet from getting tired though.

The package pickup was a problem. We had to wait in a long line to pick them up and then they couldn’t find one of them. It took about 20 minutes for them to find it so I think I’ll just lug the stuff around SeaWorld next time.

Eating lunch early is the way to go. If you eat before 11:30a, there are no lines anywhere. After 11:30a it was so crowded at the lunch places you couldn’t move.

Taking breaks during the heat of the day sure worked for us. We were less grumpy and got in some pool time that we wouldn’t normally get.

There is some construction going on but I don’t know what it was for. I did take this picture of it.

I’d avoid the area around Journey to Atlantis if you aren’t riding it. For some reason that area got really congested early and seemed to stay that way all day.

We saw a lot of Tour Groups but we would go in the opposite direction each time so we managed to avoid them.

We didn’t have time for Aquatica this trip. I’d really like to try it sometime. It looked really fun.

I’m very impressed with anyone who can do SeaWorld in one day. They closed at 11pm every night we were there and Drama Queen just couldn’t last that late. I’m glad we were able to do as much as we did. It was a great park to visit for us and I hope to go back someday.

And now I've got to get cracking on my Universal Trip Report.

 

[alabamagirl]

I enjoyed your TR! Not many people post theirs on here. I can't wait to go to Sea World in December.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I'm glad you liked it. I noticed there weren't many SeaWorld Trip Reports and thought it might be fun to do one.

You need to do one when you get back!