Sea World

After a restless night at the La Quinta Inn we ventured to Sea World. The day before we saw that they had an all day meal plan and since we were going to be at the park all day long we decided to go for it. It was $130 but with park food costs we easily saved money. In fact, lunch alone would have almost cost that much.

We arrived at Sea World at 10am and the weather was already HOT. We watched the Blue Horizon's show first. Go figure all the seats in the wet zone were empty.  Jack wanted a front row seat. We explained to him that he would get wet. We sat up higher, he didn't care if he got wet.

 We all loved watching the dolphins flip and soar through the air. And sure enough, they soaked the audience. Jack quickly joined us up top after he got wet!

I wonder if the dolphins think it is funny to splash people. From above, it is amusing watching those down below getting soaked.

 

We enjoyed the show esp the part with the dolphins. They did another act with birds and acrobats, it was still enjoyable but the dolphins are really what everyone wants to see. I also love watching the dolphins push the trainers through the water. THAT would be a cool job!

 

We then went to the dolphin observatory. The kids stood right in front of the big window and watched the dolphins swim.

 He even posed with us for a picture!

 To our delight, the trainers got in the water and did tricks right in front of us too. Lexi and Lilly and I were in the right spot at the right time, after each trick, the trainer gives the dolphin a fish. She asked Lexi if she wanted to feed the fish to the dolphin. How cool is that. She also got to pet the dolphin. Talk about being the right place at the right time!

 We did a lot of walking, ate a lot, drank a lot (esp Lexi she had to go to the bathroom every 5 minutes) and really enjoyed Sea World.

 Jack at 7 years old is almost as tall as a baby dolphin!

 Before the Sea Lion/Otter Show, we took a break in the shade.

 We loved this show too. We all loved when they danced to Gangam Style. Gangam Style video here if you'd like to watch.Those Sea Lions have got moves! We watched this show twice, the animals in the 2nd show missed lots of their tricks. It was nice to know that animals can make mistakes too.

 Flamingo's. The females and males each had different color tags on their legs, it was neat to see that the flamingo's were paired up with other flamingos. I forgot how long their legs and necks are. It was fun watching them.

 Another favorite show was Shamu the Killer Whales. Yep, Julie you are right, the trainers don't swim with these guys any more. They are big animals! The last show we had good seats based on the height issue with the helicopter ride. It was fun to have a premier seat. Jack really wanted to get wet but we opted for higher seating. Good thing because these guys throw a lot of water. 

 And at the end they waved goodbye to one of the trainers who is taking a different job in a different field. It would be awesome to be a dolphin or killer whale trainer. I wonder what they have to do to be a marine biologist at Sea World. I'm sure it is a job everyone wants!

 We left Sea World when it closed. We tried to grab one more treat on the way out but they shut the lines down, probably so all of us all day eaters wouldn't do just that! We hunted for the perfect souvenirs. Maddy got beluga whale earrings, Jack got a turtle and Lexi got a shamu bubble gun.

 

We really enjoyed our time at Sea World. We were able to hit the whole park. We also spent time at the Sea Rays. No pictures tho and the kids really were chicken and didn't want to feed them the fish that we bought. Oh well, they also had a Sesame Street water attraction, big jungle gym and rides. We did spend about an hour there before hitting the last Shamu Show. They are building a water park and really would like you to come and spend 3 or 4 days with them like you to at Disney. The rest of our trip was so busy we didn't go back and take advantage of our 7 day pass but felt like we saw everything.

 

The kids really loved Sea World it definitely is something to do another time for sure!