May 4, 2009
The Sandbar is located pretty close to the Shark Encounter exhibit. On our way we see what appears to be a big fish tank in front of a small stadium area. Only... in this particular fish tank there were 2 people in it... a guy and a girl. They seemed to be diving down to the bottom on the tank and looking for things. It turns out to be "Pearl Dive", where, for a price (don't remember how much), you can have one of the divers pick out an oyster and then have the oyster opened. You get to keep the pearl from the oyster and can have it turned into jewelry. DD was absolutely fascinated with the divers and kept asking if she could go in the tank with them! Well... being the DIS Dad that I am, I kindly inquired to the nearest worker if it would be OK to throw DD in the tank for her own oyster. Still not sure why he walked away... shaking his head... I thought it was a valid question, ya know? HAHA! Anyway... here is DD posing with the divers:
Just around the corner from Pearl Dive is Sky Tower. This was decided to be a must-do item... and since it is right next to the Sandbar we go ahead and check it out. Here is DD and DW walking toward the entrance:
OK... here's a little information for those who are interested in the Sky Tower. If you do not have an annual pass, it will cost you $3 to ride. Fortunately for us, we all had passes and were able to ride for free. I found this description to be pretty accurate of the ride -
SeaWorld - North End: Sky Tower. Not much to add except that I probably would not have experienced the ride if I had to pay $3 a person. Here are pics from the ride:
Back side of Pearl Dive from the Sky Tower:
The lagoon, including the flamingo paddle boats:
Shamu Stadium:
This one shows the Renaissance hotel across the street from Sea World... and is where the bus stop is located:
Manta!
Kraken!
Here's a view of Aquatica behind the Journey to Atlantis ride:
I'm sure in one of these pictures you could make out Spaceship Earth or even Space Mountain. It was definitely interesting to see the area from that vantage point in the sky. As we were descending, I happened to notice there were trains running around the Manta coaster! I had read about the coaster before leaving on the trip, but there were no notices about a soft opening or anything. As far as I knew, the ride was still in progress of being built. Would have to check this out later. The ride has come to a complete stop and we were cleared for disembarking.
Hungry. That's what DW is now. You know what that means? Yep.... time to eat. I've learned over the years that when the alert is sounded, there is a limited amount of time to get food into the mouth of "the hungry one" before a split personality appears. This grace period is usually just long enough to rally the troops in the correct direction and immediately travel quickly to the destination. Any attempts to thwart this effort will be met with extreme countermeasures such as yelling, kicking and/or throwing things. OK... so it's not quite THAT bad. And luckily we are right around the corner from the Sandbar. Another point we had to consider for today's visit to Sea World is the fact that we would have to pay for meals out of pocket. We thought that by having hot dogs and drinks we would come out pretty cheap. Ummm... not so in this case. The same size dogs you can get at 7-11 for $2 cost about $7 here. In all we spent just over $25 for 3 dogs and a drink... which we shared. We were not pleased. But... we should come to expect this at a theme park, right?
We even enjoyed some entertainment while sitting at the tables. Seems a friendly lizard-couple decided to take a friendly stroll along the edge of the eating area... stopping occasionally to perform a few dances and show off their stuff. One thing led to another... and suddenly we are faced with the x-rated version of the show. Before DD could start asking questions... we promptly finish our "meal" and head out. Not before I grabbed some quick shots of the actions first:
All righty then... moving along... it was really starting to get hot out at this point. I think we were all starting to get agitated and in need of some A/C. BUT... I had already made it clear that I want to at least check out what was going on with Manta. So... plan is... check out Manta, then go see an indoor show. Sounds like a good plan, right? Let's go!
The Sea World map was a little confusing. The entrance to Manta seemed to be just around the corner from where we were... but we were having trouble finding it. You know that conversation you have with your spouse when driving... and you realize you've made a bad turn somewhere? You have the map in front of you and you're mumbling "... stupid thing says it's RIGHT HERE..." all the while your spouse is yelling "JUST STOP AND ASK SOMEONE!" Yeah... we were there. The first worker I stop was clueless. I might as well asked her where the DIS Board was located. OK... slow, deep breaths... we can get through this. DW is starting to lose it... if there is one thing that will fire her up fast than a ragin' cajun is bad customer service. The next worker is a little better... he is at least able to point us in the correct direction for the entrance to the ride. A few minutes later and we are at the entrance. DD is too small to ride... so we stop yet another worker to find out if they do a "child swap" of any sorts. "Umm... I think so. Oh yeah... uh... go up to the exit and talk to the guy in the cage." I should have known at this point that this couldn't possibly work out ok... but we try it anyway.
DW heads up the exit and I start my way through the regular line. Turns out they are having the soft opening this day. The line seemed to be long, but the guy in front of me said it moves pretty quickly. The queue area was fascinating! They have aquariums set up throughout the line and also have a big aquarium that have manta rays swimming around. OH! and there was a water fountain at the beginning of the line! What a great idea! Although... I suppose if you drank a lot before the ride and there was a long wait you'd might regret it. It took about 20 minutes to get through the line, and I figured if I'm riding this thing, I'm riding in the FRONT! So while I'm waiting, I then remember that DW should be by the exit somewhere... but no... she is not. Don't know what that means yet... but I'll find out once the ride is over.
If you have no idea what roller coaster I'm talking about, visit this web site and they have a short video of it...
http://www.ridetheflyingray.com/manta/ This is one SWEET ride! This was the first coaster I've been on that has you laying down on your belly! Very smooth and I love the inverted loop that takes you on your back. Really is an incredible experience. I was grinning from ear-to-ear as we pulled into the station.... then... about 10 feet from where we are SUPPOSED to stop... the train stops. And it doesn't move. I look up and I can see the control booth... which has about 4 people in it... shaking there heads... looking at clipboards. This can't be good. Now imagine being strapped into this chair... laying face-down... for about 10 minutes. That's how long it took these people to figure out what was wrong to get us off the train. Very uncomfortable.
As I'm walking down the exit ramp I am trying to figure out what happened to DW and DD. Found them hanging out at the very end of the exit area sitting on some rocks.... and DW does NOT look happy. She found out that they DO have a child swap process... and you are issued a card upon exiting the ride. You then hand the card to the person who is waiting to ride next. But guess who didn't get the card? Yeah... Muah. Didn't really matter at this point because DW was beyond consoling and just wanted to leave... so... we did.
Found these guys waiting for pictures as we were heading out:
Well... we lasted until about 3:30pm that day at Sea World. There is still much to be seen there. DW did say that if DD ever wanted to go back, we would. If we do, I'll be sure to make a plan, because I certainly do not want to have another park day end like that again.
We get on the LYNX bus and start heading back to a REAL resort location. As luck would have it, the same family we met that morning was on the bus already! This made DD very happy and the two girls picked up right where they left off. DW and I were deciding what to do next. It was during this time when I was checking out the bus route map that I figured instead of going all the way back to the TTC, we could instead get off at DTD and grab some dinner there. This made DW very happy... as she's been wanting to eat there again. The bus stops at the Marketplace... at the corner of Buena Vista Dr and Hotel Plaza Blvd... right in front of Earl of Sandwich. It was a very short walk to EOS... a hundred feet at best. And that's exactly where we got our next meal from. Excellent food for those who are looking for a counter service meal. I don't recall what we ate, but I do remember DD knocking over her newly filled cup of fruit punch... and over the floor. Those kind of incidents always make for a good time getting to know the folks in the restaurant! HAHA! It was all good.
OK... we are almost done with this day... but have one more stop before the end of the night. I'll get you there ASAP... I know that has been ONE LOOOONNNGGGG Trip Report!
Up Next: Day 7, Part 4:
"It's always nice to meet new friends"
Don & many more! What time is the 
The Dads are ready to party 
Hey, look a squirrel! 
