conan617
10-27-2011, 12:27 AM
Let me start off by apologizing for taking longer to get this out than originally planned. I had a trip report put together, but it was short and so many details were left out. Instead I am opting to post my detailed journal and hope you will excuse my weak writing style and the fact that some of the details contained within are very pedestrian to most of the readers on INTERCOT. Anyway, thanks for reading….here we go.
Cast
Me – the nervous Dad and narrator
Kelly – the Mother of my beautiful children
Matthew – age 11
Mara –age 7
Pretrip report link
http://www.intercot.com/discussion/s...d.php?t=184956
9/24/11
The main plan for today is SeaWorld. The weather this morning is bright sunlight with lots of humidity. We’re out the door just before 9 AM and sweating before we reach the car. The trip to SeaWorld is very easy since it is right across the street from Discovery Cove. We drove right past it yesterday so it was easy to find. We are parked almost as far away as we could have been parked (this is becoming a trend). As we passed through the turnstiles, I picked up a map and noticed that the show times were conflicting and scattered across the park. Today was going to require a lot of walking, planning and the heat was already a factor.
Kelly started to get cold/flu like symptoms and we’re pretty sure she had a fever on top of the sweltering heat. I’m sure she was miserable all day, but didn’t complain at all. We attended the Dolphin and Whale show then checked out the sting ray pool and the dolphin interaction exhibit before we made our way half way across the park to the dolphin nursery. The nursery was interesting and a marine biologist gave us some interesting information on how baby dolphins are cared for in the first few months. The heat started getting to Matthew and Kelly so we walked slowly across the rest of the park towards the killer whale show and stopped to get drinks along the way.
The killer whale show was really cool but the shows only last a few minutes and then you have to trek half way across the park for the next show or activity. I don’t think the walking would have been a problem and in fact the kids and Kelly had no issues walking the many miles throughout our trip, but the blazing sunlight and sweltering heat started to takes its toll on all of us about noon time. After the killer whale show, we made our way to the shark encounter exhibit. The exhibit is very cool, but today the best part of it was that it was inside and air conditioned. The exhibit is very interesting, but we all thought that the exhibit was similar to the aquarium at the Mall of America and felt the Mall had a very slight edge over SeaWorld.
The penguin exhibit was close by (and also air conditioned) so we walked through. This exhibit was similar in feel to the shark encounter, very cool (pun intended) but the penguins at the Milwaukee Zoo were just as impressive. The park didn’t seem to have the same luster for Kelly and me as it did when we visited years ago. I don’t know if it had to do with the heat or not, but I think that when we saw SeaWorld years ago, the park was one of a kind and now a lot of the exhibits are in other areas.
The next show we wanted to catch was the Clyde and Seymour show and we wanted to get there early to see the mime. We had about an hour before the show started and saw that there was a booth for Mara to get her hair braided and near the booth was a bungee bouncing trampoline that Matthew wanted to try. Kelly and Mara waited and got Mara’s hair braided, while I waited with Matthew at the bungee bounce. Kelly and Mara finished about 5 minutes before it was Matthew’s turn. We all watched Matthew bounce higher and higher and cheered him on. We tried to get him to do a flip but he was content to just keep bouncing.
We made our way into the Clyde and Seymour Theater about a half hour before show time as we wanted to watch the preshow entertainment from the mime. The mime before the show was really funny and the kids enjoyed all of his antics. The Clyde and Seymour show was also entertaining. Clyde did a few actions that weren’t in the script and the trainer did a good job of getting him back on track. The overall show was very good and after the show we checked out the sea lion exhibit before we made the trek (half way across the park) to the Pets Ahoy show.
Pets Ahoy is a trained dog/cat/bird/pig show and all the animals have a little task that they had to perform. The show was really cute and Mara loved all the animals. She waited after the show was over to go and pet the puppies. The Pets Ahoy show was the last show we were able to get in due to scheduling and park hours so we made our way towards the exit.
The kids picked up a few souvenirs on the way out and then we were back to the car. We had seen a Dave and Buster’s while driving to Universal the other day and thought it would be fun to get some dinner and play some games. We managed to park the car, but the place was packed so even parking took 10 minutes. Once inside, we got on the wait list for a table (about a half hour wait) and the day finally caught up with all of us. By the time we got our table, we decided to just eat and head back to the resort. The food was ok and the games looked like a lot of fun, but the heat and days events had taken their toll.
Back at AKL, the kids went swimming while Kelly and I grabbed a Pina~ Colada at the pool bar. The kids swam until about 8PM and then we were going to get some rest as we have a big day planned for tomorrow. On our way out of the pool area we came across a location that had night vision goggles for viewing the animals on the savanna. None of us had ever used night vision goggles and it was really incredible looking out at the savanna. I was able to see a giraffe and a roan antelope. Our plan was then to stop by the market place and get some post cards and stamps before heading to the room, but right outside the marketplace was a few of the cast members with drums and African musical instruments. They were organizing a parade and asked if Matthew and Mara would like to join. Of course they would! The kids learned the song that they would have to play and sing and then the parade went around the lobby. After the parade, the cast members talked a little about life in Africa and talked to the kids about the Big 5 animals. When the presentation was over, the kids received certificates of participation in the parade. Considering that we were going to go back to the room right after swimming, we managed to stretch the night out another hour and a half. Luckily, Kelly had ducked into the Marketplace and picked up the post cards before the parade started. We were finally back to the room and off to bed. Tomorrow is Matthew’s Birthday!
Cast
Me – the nervous Dad and narrator
Kelly – the Mother of my beautiful children
Matthew – age 11
Mara –age 7
Pretrip report link
http://www.intercot.com/discussion/s...d.php?t=184956
9/24/11
The main plan for today is SeaWorld. The weather this morning is bright sunlight with lots of humidity. We’re out the door just before 9 AM and sweating before we reach the car. The trip to SeaWorld is very easy since it is right across the street from Discovery Cove. We drove right past it yesterday so it was easy to find. We are parked almost as far away as we could have been parked (this is becoming a trend). As we passed through the turnstiles, I picked up a map and noticed that the show times were conflicting and scattered across the park. Today was going to require a lot of walking, planning and the heat was already a factor.
Kelly started to get cold/flu like symptoms and we’re pretty sure she had a fever on top of the sweltering heat. I’m sure she was miserable all day, but didn’t complain at all. We attended the Dolphin and Whale show then checked out the sting ray pool and the dolphin interaction exhibit before we made our way half way across the park to the dolphin nursery. The nursery was interesting and a marine biologist gave us some interesting information on how baby dolphins are cared for in the first few months. The heat started getting to Matthew and Kelly so we walked slowly across the rest of the park towards the killer whale show and stopped to get drinks along the way.
The killer whale show was really cool but the shows only last a few minutes and then you have to trek half way across the park for the next show or activity. I don’t think the walking would have been a problem and in fact the kids and Kelly had no issues walking the many miles throughout our trip, but the blazing sunlight and sweltering heat started to takes its toll on all of us about noon time. After the killer whale show, we made our way to the shark encounter exhibit. The exhibit is very cool, but today the best part of it was that it was inside and air conditioned. The exhibit is very interesting, but we all thought that the exhibit was similar to the aquarium at the Mall of America and felt the Mall had a very slight edge over SeaWorld.
The penguin exhibit was close by (and also air conditioned) so we walked through. This exhibit was similar in feel to the shark encounter, very cool (pun intended) but the penguins at the Milwaukee Zoo were just as impressive. The park didn’t seem to have the same luster for Kelly and me as it did when we visited years ago. I don’t know if it had to do with the heat or not, but I think that when we saw SeaWorld years ago, the park was one of a kind and now a lot of the exhibits are in other areas.
The next show we wanted to catch was the Clyde and Seymour show and we wanted to get there early to see the mime. We had about an hour before the show started and saw that there was a booth for Mara to get her hair braided and near the booth was a bungee bouncing trampoline that Matthew wanted to try. Kelly and Mara waited and got Mara’s hair braided, while I waited with Matthew at the bungee bounce. Kelly and Mara finished about 5 minutes before it was Matthew’s turn. We all watched Matthew bounce higher and higher and cheered him on. We tried to get him to do a flip but he was content to just keep bouncing.
We made our way into the Clyde and Seymour Theater about a half hour before show time as we wanted to watch the preshow entertainment from the mime. The mime before the show was really funny and the kids enjoyed all of his antics. The Clyde and Seymour show was also entertaining. Clyde did a few actions that weren’t in the script and the trainer did a good job of getting him back on track. The overall show was very good and after the show we checked out the sea lion exhibit before we made the trek (half way across the park) to the Pets Ahoy show.
Pets Ahoy is a trained dog/cat/bird/pig show and all the animals have a little task that they had to perform. The show was really cute and Mara loved all the animals. She waited after the show was over to go and pet the puppies. The Pets Ahoy show was the last show we were able to get in due to scheduling and park hours so we made our way towards the exit.
The kids picked up a few souvenirs on the way out and then we were back to the car. We had seen a Dave and Buster’s while driving to Universal the other day and thought it would be fun to get some dinner and play some games. We managed to park the car, but the place was packed so even parking took 10 minutes. Once inside, we got on the wait list for a table (about a half hour wait) and the day finally caught up with all of us. By the time we got our table, we decided to just eat and head back to the resort. The food was ok and the games looked like a lot of fun, but the heat and days events had taken their toll.
Back at AKL, the kids went swimming while Kelly and I grabbed a Pina~ Colada at the pool bar. The kids swam until about 8PM and then we were going to get some rest as we have a big day planned for tomorrow. On our way out of the pool area we came across a location that had night vision goggles for viewing the animals on the savanna. None of us had ever used night vision goggles and it was really incredible looking out at the savanna. I was able to see a giraffe and a roan antelope. Our plan was then to stop by the market place and get some post cards and stamps before heading to the room, but right outside the marketplace was a few of the cast members with drums and African musical instruments. They were organizing a parade and asked if Matthew and Mara would like to join. Of course they would! The kids learned the song that they would have to play and sing and then the parade went around the lobby. After the parade, the cast members talked a little about life in Africa and talked to the kids about the Big 5 animals. When the presentation was over, the kids received certificates of participation in the parade. Considering that we were going to go back to the room right after swimming, we managed to stretch the night out another hour and a half. Luckily, Kelly had ducked into the Marketplace and picked up the post cards before the parade started. We were finally back to the room and off to bed. Tomorrow is Matthew’s Birthday!