We got up the next morning and headed to Sea World. Wed be meeting up with Judys sister (DSiL from my $5 TR), her son (DN from my $5 TR) and daughter (didnt come with them when they visited us during the $5 TR, so I guess Ill call her DNiece, not to be confused with Denise who I dont know because thats not her name). We all found each other in the parking lot and made our way into the park.
I have a receipt that says we bought some child sunglasses at 9:05 am inside the park. I have no idea which kid we needed them for, but I'd guess James, who has trouble keeping track of his possessions and probably couldn't find his sunglasses when we were packing for the trip.
At long last, I had some photo opportunities.
Flamingos.
Our group, except me of course, taking the picture. DNiece, DSiL, Lauren, Marlene, James, Judy, and DN.
Arent the kids cute, four years younger than in my $5 TR?! And look at James, with his shorts hiked-up like somebodys grampa.
Some flamingos are escorted in front of us. Those are the girls up there near the flamingos. Their legs aren't much bigger than the birds'.
I hadnt prepared for touring Sea World like I would a Disney park, so I hadnt researched the rides and I really had no agenda. Soon we decided to try our first ride. We happened upon a ride called Journey to Atlantis. It was a flume-ride that appeared to be something similar to Splash Mountain. We figured the girls could handle it, but werent really sure about James. We decided to give it a shot. While in line there were TV sets posted periodically that hyped the ride and they said things like Wet. Dark. Scary. Dark and scary were not good. Then they said, Wetter. Darker. Scarier. Judy and I looked at each other, wondering if we should take James out of the line. Did we? Nah. Again we thought, well lets try it. Who knows, maybe hell like it? I have a niece who loved Tower of Terror at age five, and just laughed the whole time.
We got in our boat, which could fit two people per seat, so James rode with me. We were off and soon went into a pitch black tunnel. This was really not good. James grabbed my arm with a death grip and started crying. At one point I thought he was going to try to climb out of the boat and I literally had to hold him in. We finally got to the big drop and he screamed his head off. He was absolutely horrified. I've never seen him so scared, before or since. That ride could not end soon enough for poor James. After that, he was done with rides. We had made a terrible choice for a first ride for him. For the rest of the trip wed have a terrible time getting him on anything, including shows, if the auditorium looked too dark. Ooops.
Later in the trip we met up with one of Judy's PChef friends and found out that they were at Sea World on the same day and made the same mistake we did, taking their youngest child on Journey to Atlantis.
Link to next chapter
Throw in some freshly grated asiago.... Yeah, baby!!
I also saw a link in there for an even older TR (sans pictures though
), so I'll have to go to that after this one. Anyway, I've read through the MNSSHP. I thought it was funny that you ate a grilled cheese after making your way through the maze at Shades of Green. I now understand the fruit bat reference in your last installment on your current TR. I loved the Amish Caveman costume.
Did anyone like the ride?
Wow, that was a tear-jerker. But it was so cool that you were able to correspond with the mother after you got back home. And, I'm kind of glad I'm coming into the story a little later on so that I don't have to wait to see the happy outcome that is in your signature. 
I've actually only been to Sea World Orlando once. It was the same trip as my "high school seniors invade the MK" trip. We went to Sea World the first day and the Magic Kingdom the last. I remember a few of the shows and that I thought San Antonio's version had better stadiums. I wouldn't mind going back again though. I'm sure a lot has changed in 20 years.
