FL- Sea World

You can't really go to Florida, Them Park Central, without doing ANY parks.  But I didn't want to do Disney.  And I didn't want to stand in endless lines.  Sea World seemed like a good option because even though Ryan and I have been, my kids had not.  And there are shows and "exhibits" instead of just rides with lines.  I thought it was perfect.  Temperature was perfect too!

Here are the pictures from the dolphin show.  Dolphins are my favorite!! I want one as a pet.  How do I get a job at Sea World?  Without fear of death by whale?

The whale show is cool to me as well just because whales are so unique and awesome.  But I know they don't enjoy performing the way that dolphins do so it makes me feel bad for them.  I guess Sea World is getting rid of all their whale shows in another year or two so we were glad we got to see it one last time.  We chose to stay up high and out of the "splash zone".  My zoom lens still let me get some good shots.  And we got some phone shots too.

The Sea Lion show was my favorite when I went years ago.  But this skit wasn't my favorite.  I mean, the sea lions are still awesome, I just didn't like the "story" they went with here.

There's a little ride that takes you to the penguin exhibit.  They have a lot of different kinds of penquins.  They are cool animals too.  We have some at the zoo in Idaho Falls but they are always boring and they don't have a lot of space.  These were fun to watch.

Here's the shark encounter, the beluga whale, the huge sea turtle, some stingrays, etc.

 The dolphin nursery was really fun.  They didn't look very small, but they were playful!!  There were a few of these windows that kids could crawl down in and watch them swim.  The dolphins loved the attention and would come up to them many times.  It was also right next to where we got some giant ice cream cones / bowls (in a whale bowl that we got to keep). 

The cool thing about Sea World is that they do have rides now.  Like three or four pretty thrilling, funny rides.  But the lines for these rides were super short, I suppose because most people come to Sea World for the shows.  So the older kids got to go on some rides.  Ryan went with them for the most part, but Kylee and I got to go on the Ray one.  It was really neat.  You sit in your chair and they lock you in.  Then before you take off, your seat shifts so that you are laying face-down, soaring like a ray does in water.  It was fun.  But Dylan saw how it worked while we were waiting in line and he said, "NOPE!" And took off.  So he waited for us at the end.  I think Ryan offered him money to try it at the end, and he did, but he said he didn't like it.  That's part of the reason he was so cranky in the last family picture (see the end of this post).  Also, it was late and he was tired and we had walked a LOT already that day.

Kaden's favorite part of Sea World was the TRAIN!!  There was a park area for younger kids, which was cool but it's one of those that are big with many exit points which makes it impossible to keep track of where your kid is going.  Sadie took off for awhile.  I knew she was around there somewhere so I didn't completely panic, but she got nervous for a bit trying to find me.  Kaden just went on the train over and over and over.  Sadie went with him for awhile.  At the end, after Dylan was all tired and cranky and refusing to walk any further, I told him that Kaden needed him to ride the train with him (because he was too little to ride alone).  And because he is a good brother and loves Kaden so much, he came over and rode that train 10 times, even lucky enough to get the conductor's seat a time or two.

We were all worn out by the end.  Dylan wasn't the only one.  I had been carrying my camera bag that has to be close to 20 lbs.  And I carried Kaden for a good amount of time as well.  And when everyone else took off to do rides that the younger two couldn't do, I also carried our bag full of waters and snack.  This happened at some of the other places we went on this trip as well, but I think Sea World was the hardest on my back.  I started getting shooting nerve pain down the side of my lower back when I was running especially.  I had to go get an adjustment when I got back home and she said I was WAY off.  It's just so easy to carry things on your right side because it's stronger and more comfortable.

We were happy with Sea World!  It was a good time.