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We left Small World.
And hiked across the way to Peter Pan. Next to no wait here.
I tried taking pictures on the ride, but they are all really bad. It’s just too dark and you move too fast to focus on anything if you do get a sliver of light.
We then worked our way over to Dumbo. Of course I took a few shots along the way.
We had a short line to wait in and I shot a few pictures again.
While in line the CM told us to come back at 2:45ish to ride. The characters ride Dumbo at night before the park closes. It sounded like an awesome plan….but we were already starting to get tired and it was only 1:40. I wasn’t sure if we could last that much longer.
Before we knew it, it was time to pick our elephant….of course Claire picked PINK!
It was too dark to take pictures of the construction
And then I had Claire get a picture on the Dumbo outside of the ride.
We saw Goofy by the carrousel and got in line.
I wanted to do Haunted Mansion. Claire was unsure. I told her it was all pretend and just think about that while we rode.
We headed that way!
As we got there, we noticed a large group (well large for that time of night) walking up as well. We ended up right in front of them. They seemed like a fun group, but they kept saying how spooky this was going to be. Of course they were joking, and I made sure Claire knew that so she wouldn’t back out on me.
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We were led into the stretching room and Claire’s eyes were wide open. I think it’s been at least 3 years since she’s been on here, so I don’t think she remembered anything from any previous rides.
I held Claire close to me and kept reassuring her it was all pretend. She seemed to be OK though.
The part where you get a ghost hitchhiker was different. I guess they have done something different, but I don’t know what (or if it’s done yet). But we enjoyed it still, though I can’t remember exactly what they did different there this time around. (My memory is fading after a few months time) I do know it looked like construction there and had a big screen over the area. I think the hitchhikers were just standing there waving their thumbs or something. Maybe someone else can help jog my memory.
The good news is that Claire did fine!
I asked Claire of she wanted to leave now and she said no way. She still needed to ride the Carrousel. Ok then! So we headed back that way. The whole time she talked about how brave she had been on Haunted Mansion and how she just kept telling her mind that it was all pretend and it wasn’t scary then. She liked it. BUT, I’m not sure she would run back to go on it again anytime soon! LOL!
We got to the Carrousel and we had just a small wait. Basically waiting it for it to stop to unload the guests on and then it was our turn. I asked the CM for the Cinderella Horse. I was told it’s no longer there. It was taken away for refurbishment. She suggested another “special” horse. We looked for it and couldn’t find it at all. It was not where she said it was. So she restated again where it was, and we looked. Nope, nothing special at all! The horse was about the ugliest one on the thing! So we asked again, in the meantime a very pretty horse had been taken. I am wondering if that was the one she meant, though it wasn’t in the area she had said. This time she walked us to the horse, the same horse we had looked at. Claire got on it, but there was NOTHING special looking about this horse at all.
While we went around, I took a few more shots.
After the wonderful spin on the Carrousel we saw Donald was out by Mickey’s Philharmagic, so we went over to see him.
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We strolled over to the sword in the stone and Claire decided to take a try at it. Now I was 99% sure it wouldn’t come out at such a late hour, but I guess you never know. Claire was determined to get it out. She even asked if I would help her try after it wouldn’t release.
You can almost read her thoughts!
“lets give this a try”
“I wonder if anyone else around here knows how to do it?”
“Ok, I need to put my whole body into it”
“Come ON! Pull out!”
“Must….Come…Out!”
By this time she had asked me to come help her, but I told her I wasn’t any stronger and it wasn’t meant to come out for us.
At this point we debated on staying. It was now 2:30. We would have to wait at least 15 more minutes for the characters to come over to Dumbo. Honestly we were sooooo tired and sore. I had been up for a good 20 hours now and Claire wasn’t too far off on that number either. Every muscle ached. I could feel every step I took and all the stair climbing I had done on the cruise was catching up to me. We made the decision to leave. I hated to do it, but I just couldn’t go any longer. And of course we still had to walk all the way up front AND out to the bus stop yet.
So off we went. And yes, I still took a few pictures along the way.
And we stopped for a few photopass as well.
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You can see by the time on the clock that we were about to turn into Pumpkins! It took us close to 15 minutes to walk up towards the front. We were exhausted, but we still stopped for more pictures.
The camera got packed away then. As we walked out of the park, everyone would say “Good Bye Princess” to Claire She was riding in her royal carriage, just like a Princess should, but she didn’t reply to anyone. I would say think, and sorry, she’s very tired, and they would say back “I can see that”. Well after about the 3rd “good bye Princess” I looked over at her to tell her to say thank you. I now knew why there were no replies. She was out COLD! He head was flopped onto her chest and she was just zonked out totally. It had happened in about 2 minutes time. I guess the day had caught up with her.
We headed out to the bus stop and a bus was loading right then. I got her up and told her she had to walk onto the bus and she did while I carried the stroller on. She sat down and went right back out. And her head did the bob the whole way back. I tried to hold it in place the best I could so she wouldn’t get whiplash. Some people were laughing at her because she looked so funny.
We soon arrived back at Pop and I got her up again and she made it off the bus and sat immediately in her stroller. She mentioned she was very thirsty, and I told her I would get her something after we got back to the room.
She slept for the long hike to our room. I know if I EVER get this location again, I WILL ask to be moved. It was so far out. For one night it was OK for us, but we like to be much closer to the action.
We got back to the room and Dad was having a fit that we were out so late. He was sure something happened to us. Mom had told him we were fine and knew what we were doing.
I got Claire undressed and ready for bed. She started crying. It was late and she was tired. She said she knew she was beautiful, but needed to have her hair taken out because it was too tight on her head. I was shocked. Last trip she wore the hairstyle for a WEEK. I actually took it out one day and washed her hair and put it back in.
I was a bit sad to take it out, but it made her happy to have feeling on her head again. LOL! I told her it was OK, she was still beautiful without it.
She told my Dad all about her encounter with Chip and Dale before she went to bed then. She was so excited about it.
I grabbed our mugs and ran up to the food court with out thinking. Yes it was locked up tight. DANG IT! So I hike all the way back to the room again, not such a happy camper at the moment. Grabbed some money and got a couple of drinks out of the vending machine. Claire was sound asleep by then, but I knew it would be good to have something there for her in case she woke up dying of thirst.
I soon was off to dreamland myself.
It was a wonderful day. We had a few mishaps, but nothing major. We woke up on the Dream and went to sleep in Disney World. Who could ask for more!
And that concludes day 5! We still have 2 more fun filled days of vacation!
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Day 6 ~ April 4th, 2011, Monday
Another early day for me. I don’t know why I can’t sleep, but why try and fight it. I believe I didn’t actually lie down till 4 AM the night before.
I didn’t write down what time I got up, but I know my first picture was taken by 8:30. I am pretty sure when I got up I showered before going out, so I would say I had to be up no later than 8. Yeah, that would equal about 4 hours of sleep.
I grabbed my mug and went up to get a refill. I took pictures along the way, and also called Skip to see how things were going at home.
And a look across the lake at Art of Animation.
I then headed back to the room to make sure the family was starting to stir. Also we had to be packed AGAIN! We were moving over to Residence Inn near Sea World today. In the future, I don’t know if the money we saved going there (it was free with my Moms rewards points) is worth the moving. It became tiresome. And I have just found that I really like being immersed in all things Disney while staying on property.
My Dad got up and tried tip toeing around so Claire could sleep longer. My Mom let him know that a bomb could go off and Claire wasn’t going to budge. LOL!
As I packed I plugged in my camera battery into the outlet under the table. I had 2 batteries for my SLR and one was pretty low, so I thought I would give it a quick charge so it would be ready when needed. I also gave my phone a little extra charging as well. My phone seems to love to eat the power! I charge the heck out of it and it seems to die fairly quickly when you use it a lot.
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It finally came time to start getting Claire up. My plan was to wash her hair this morning. She had all that gel in it from the day before. Claire had other ideas about waking up, and I have to say, I don’t blame her. She was up very late the night before.
I would’ve let her sleep longer, but we had a very important breakfast to attend. I knew when I made this ADR, that it was going to be really pushing it to get there, but I also knew it was going to be well worth it.
We were going to 1900 Park Fare. A breakfast with characters….and not just any characters, one we REALLY wanted to see…..Mary Poppins!
Claire finally got moving and it was now getting late. Dad was loading the van with everything not needed at the moment as I got Claire moving. It was now too late for a bath or hair wash. That would just have to wait till tonight.
Claire was cranky and actually complained when I put her dress on. She didn’t understand how special her dress is and thought she would rather go in just regular clothes today. I am pretty easy going when she wants to change out of costumes, but this time I didn’t give in to her way. She ONLY had to wear this dress to breakfast and then she could take it off…forever if she wanted to.
I kept watching the clock and started to get a little panicky. I struggled with putting on Claire’s boots and I think the sweat was pouring off me at this point. Sometimes getting a 6 year old dressed is a major workout.
I did a VERY quick look around the room as I stood to leave and rushed out the door. That is NOT how I usually leave anywhere. I am one of those people who usually looks under the beds, under tables in drawers, in the shower, etc. before I leave. I just didn’t have the time and I soon regretted not taking that extra look around.
My Dad has a sarcastic since of humor and soon was joking with Claire on the way over to Grand Floridian. Claire, not being in a chipper mood at the moment, was NOT happy with is comments. I don’t think he understood the deal with dressing up for a breakfast at all either, nor just how special her dress was.
As we approached Magic Kingdom, I got confused about which lane I was supposed to be in for the resorts. I asked at the booth and they told me to cut ALL the way across and follow that road on the other side. That was a treat, but I did it!
Soon the Grand Floridian was in sight and Mom Oohed and Ahhed at the sight of it. She declared this was a place she most definitely wanted to stay at someday.
We still had time to spare for our 10:45 ADR. Yes, we made it!!!
I pulled to the gate and the CM working was kind of snooty. I gave him our name and told him where we were going. He acted like we just weren’t good enough or something. He asked if we wanted to Valet park. I said no, just the regular lot would be fine. He told me to follow the signs then. I did. DUMB mistake. I strongly suggest paying the extra money and using the Valet parking. We kept driving and driving and soon came back around to the road. We saw that regular parking was across the street. We almost went back around to Valet, but we didn’t want to deal with Mr. Snooty again.
Now on this day, my body ached the worst! It hurt to even think, that’s how sore I was.
So this walk to 1900PF seemed like 100 miles away. Plus with the walk, I started to worry once again that we would be late.
As we walked up to the entrance one of the CM’s standing there told Claire that she was the most beautiful girl he had seen all day. My Dad started to eat this up. I told Dad then that the dress Claire was wearing was a creation of mine. This dress was not sold at any stores and a very rare thing to see at Disney.
Claire on the other hand scowled. I think she was a bit embarrassed by the attention, but she soon got over that.
We made it! And checked in right on time. We asked if we could add a 4th to our table. (Remember I had only made ADR’s for 3 people, because it was supposed to be Skip, Claire and I) They said yes, gave us a pager and we went out to the lobby. Mom looked the place over and again ooh and ahhed. I wanted some pictures of Claire.
She kept giving me silly faces and poses.
Soon our buzzer went off and we went back to the check in area.
We had some pictures taken before going in. They really liked Claire’s dress and made such a big deal over it. They did say there was another girl as Mary Poppins inside already too. What are the chances that we show up wearing a Mary dress and someone else is too. LOL!
I did buy the pictures. I just had to have them. And then we had photopass access to all they took.
We were then led back to our table and guess what? We were seated right next to the other little Mary Poppins. And I have to say her dress was very cute as well. I think I like Claire’s better, but I might be bias. Claire’s was full, while the other girls was more straight lined, but still very cute.
I don’t know what it is about 1900 PF, but we always seem to have the worse service here. Nothing super terrible, but just SLOW. If you need something, it seems to take forever to find your waitress. We had slow service again this time around, but we still had a great meal.
Claire got her autograph book out and waited for someone to come see her.
I went and got her some food so she could get started and warned her to be careful and not spill on herself.
Soon our first friend came around.. One of my all time favorites…Winnie the Pooh!
Alice was next!
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Tigger was next and he was great fun!
I almost felt we were slightly rushed with the characters. It wasn’t bad, but not the best we have had.
We had a little wait so I took a picture of Claires waffle. I guess it was too cute to eat.
Then came the lady we had been waiting for and interaction was great!
I was bummed this one came out so blurry.
Claire was very shy throughout the whole meet. She would nod her head. We couldn’t really hear what they were talking about, but it seemed they were enjoying themselves.
Claire had a lot of pictures with her mouth wide open.
Mary was so nice. She said they had a wonderful conversation and Claire just kept nodding, but she didn’t think Claire actually spoke at all. LOL!
Claire was over the moon with the meet. And my Dad thought Claire was so beautiful standing there with Mary.
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The Mad Hatter made it to our table. I have heard how fun he can be, but he wasn’t. I don’t know if it was because we had such a late ADR and he was tired or if he just wasn’t into tricks today, but he was rather boring.
Claire was a little intimidated by the Mad Hatter. At first she had said she wouldn’t want a picture with him or perhaps only one with someone else in the picture with her. I was surprised because she had gone to the Wonderland Tea Party last trip and just LOVED the Mad Hatter then. She did eventually warm up to him and we got the best smiles out of for these pictures.
After the characters rolled through I finally made an effort to eat. I had only gotten a little bit at this point and time, though Mom and Dad were pretty much finished. I got more watermelon for Claire and I dove into what I wanted.
While up at the buffet I ran into the Mom of the other Mary Poppins. I told her how cute the dress was and asked if she made it. She had a friend make it for her. She then went on to tell me about how “some lady” also sells them on ebay for over $300. LOL! I told her I knew “that” lady and she does an excellent job.
I finished up eating and the characters all came around one more time. The place was emptying out now. We said hi to them and Claire talked a bit, but I didn’t pull the camera back out for more pictures.
It took awhile to settle our bill. Mostly because out waitress kept disappearing. At one point I had actually asked another waitress for ketchup, because we couldn’t find ours.
I have to say I left her a very minimal tip, but more than she deserved.
We then set off. I wanted to take some pictures of Claire outside. I wasn’t sure how the mood would be, (she can be iffy about getting posed pictures) but she did let me!
We told her to pretend she was flying like Mary.
I tried to get her to pose with the nice CM who had commented on her beauty on the way in, but she refused to.
We took her over to the cars and carriages to have pictures too. We got a lot of not so nice faces. Also it seemed to be the same idea for others and we had a hard time getting shots without someone else in the background. I would try to be courteous of their shots, but they didn’t always repay the favor.
I wish she had a better smile in this one and then it would’ve turned out pretty good.
Dad had been walking around a bit and quickly came over excited. He said he had found a Mary Topiary (which I knew about) and Claire MUST have her picture taken in front of it!
I think I took like 10 pictures here, but the light was awful…too bright, and Claire had awful faces. And then for some reason just about every picture either cut something off or was tilted one way or the other. LOL!
Back over to take pictures by the car.
Claire was done with photos at this point and time so we made the LONG hike back to the car. I did take time to stop and smell the roses though!
One last look back as we make our way to the car.
I could tell this was going to be a long day already. My body was NOT holding up well. I was so sore from all the walking. The worst was the bottom of my feet. I walk hard and ruin shoes all the time, I also get blisters easily and have wide feet. Luckily I didn’t get blisters this trip, but it felt like the bottoms of my feet were bruised. I did a stupid thing too. I rotated shoes that day and wore more of a sandal shoe type thing. They have no cushion in then and later in the day I was regretting this.
We got loaded into the car and made our way over to Residence Inn to check in. Our plan was to check in fast and head straight over to Sea World. Didn’t quite work out that way though.
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We found our way easily enough and got off at the correct exit. As we approached the Residence Inn, I actually passed the road. As we went along with the flow of traffic through the light I realized it and pulled into a parking lot and made my way over to the correct road. As we turned around I made the comment that I really couldn’t see the traffic light well. When I had to make my left turn onto the correct road, again I noticed the light was so dim that I basically couldn’t see it. Traffic wasn’t bad and when I saw that no one was coming, I made the turn.
We pulled into Residence Inn and I was going to go and check us in. Dad was talking about his bathroom schedule again and said he would go in to use it after I got the all clear. I was going to take Claire into the bathroom and change her and we were going to go straight to Sea World then. Not even bothering to take our bags to our room.
Of course when I jumped out of the van again I forgot to put in park. I quickly caught it and said a few choice words. I don’t know why I had such a heck of a time getting this thing in park. LOL!
I went in and noticed that the door was propped open and the sliding doors were not working. It hit me then. Power was out in this area. No wonder I couldn’t see the traffic lights.
I walked in and asked if the power was out and they said yes. They also said they couldn’t check us in without power but took my phone number and name and said they would call us as soon as they could. I let them know that we were going to Sea World and would be back later then. I noticed that they still had a few emergency lights on, so I asked if we could use the bathrooms. They said yes, there was a little light in each one. I ran back out to the van and let the family know what was going on. Claire jumped out and we found her clothes to change her into. Dad made a beeline for the bathroom.
The bathroom was still pretty dark, but still enough light to actually get changed if you weren’t in a stall. Claire worried that someone would come in and “see” her. I assured it if someone did come in, it would be a girl. We got all dressed and then made a potty stop ourselves. The lights Popped back on as we were finishing up. Claire and I went to the desk and they were able to check us in at that point.
We headed back the van and waited for Dad…and waited…..and waited…..and waited.
I guess I took this picture while waiting because it’s the next one on my card.
Finally Dad emerged. We did the old joke (and disgusting joke at that) of “Did everything come out ok?” ….Well, no it did not!
This is going to be a little graphic, and I will write it as delicately as I can, but it is hilarious as well.
Dad came out and said the Men’s bathroom didn’t have any light. The emergency light had died. So he came out and asked a maintenance guy where another bathroom was. I questioned this right away. “You can’t go to the bathroom in the dark?” Dad said no, it was pitch black and couldn’t see his hand in front of his face….again I thought what do you really need to see….just go! LOL!
So he was directed to another bathroom. Again, the lights were out. So he came out and told the guy it was too dark in there as well. So the guy asks Dad if he would like him to shine a flashlight over the top of the stall while he went. And Dad said yes…..
OK, here I stopped him again….. “”What kind of guy offers to hold a flashlight while another guy is going to the bathroom?.. .and THEN what kind of guy says YES!” Well I guess I just found out!
So Dad proceeds to tell us how once he got in there the launch sequence became interrupted. He couldn’t go with the guy standing on the outside of the stall….well DUH…I could’ve told you that. So Dad told the guy it wasn’t going to work and came back out.
I have to say my Mom and I are dying with laughter at this point and time. I think we had tears streaming down our face. Claire even found it funny.
Dad thought we were crazy for laughing. He was mad now because he missed “his” time and things would be messed up now. And it was. He couldn’t go for a couple of days after. We began joking around each time he came out of a bathroom, asking if he was able to put in the launch code again, etc. We kept using space terms for everything and cracking ourselves up. Yes, we are happy with cheap and disgusting insults at my own Dads expense. When we got home I relayed the story to both of my sisters and both stopped me in the story at the same time “What? Wait, HUNH? Tell me you’re joking, He said yes to having a guy shine a flashlight while he went? AND what kind of guy offers to do that?”
He said the lights finally came on and he gave it one more try, but by that time it was too late!
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We drove over to where our room was located and took out our bags and went to the elevator. For some reason Dad just looked at us like a deer in headlights and totally missed getting on the elevator. Mom was worried he would get lost and have no clue where to find our room. So Claire and I went back down to see if he was waiting. He wasn’t and I assumed he took the other elevator. When we got to the room, he was there, so I guess he found his way.
We freshened up a bit. I was feeling very tired at this point. I mentioned that for dinner this evening I wanted to do something very quick and get us to bed early. Mom said fine, but no fast food. I could already envision that we would be up later than I wanted to be.
I don’t know why we ended up taking our time, but for some reason I started looking at my pictures and organizing my cards. I realized one of my CF cards was missing. The one from the first few days. ….. With a LOT of cruise pictures.
I searched my camera bag, I searched my laptop bag…..I just couldn’t find it. I was panicking. Dad made some sarcastic remark about what a shame it would be for me to lose my millions of pictures. I said “it might not mean a lot to you, but to me it’s very important”. I was on the verge of tears (lack of sleep), so I grabbed Claire and took her down to the van. I was going to take a look through and see if it fell out. I looked and found nothing. I just sat on the van floor with the side door open, looking out and feeling so awful. I had my camera bag with me and I opened it up again, and low and behold that stupid card was there. In the spot I had already looked 3 times!!!! I was relieved and mad at myself.
We went back up to get Mom and Dad and told them the card was found. Mom said she was so happy because I would not be a very pleasant person to be around if it wasn’t found…and that is probably true….
We loaded back up in the van and FINALLY made our way to Sea World.
It was close to 2 PM before we got to Sea World. I had wanted to get there earlier than that. I knew time was limited there. The park was closing early that night for a private party.
We had absolutely NO wait to get into the parking lot. We paid and found a fairly decent spot not too far away. We headed up and presented our tickets and went in.
The sun was hot and bright and I was tired. I took a lot of pictures, but sometimes I wonder why I took some and why I didn’t take some of other things…like the entrance? LOL!
I did get this, and I believe this is when you walk in.
Dad was on a mission to buy a new hat. The hat he had with him wasn’t very airy and his head was sweating. So we got that right away and worked our way into the park.
These are some of the 1st shots I have from Sea World.
We took a look at the map. This park layout was very confusing to me. We used to have a Sea World in Ohio and it was much easier to navigate. Of course I had been there several times growing up, so I was used to it as well.
We looked at the time guides and found that coming in the afternoon is not a good choice if you want to watch shows. Most of them are on in the morning with very limited showings in the afternoon. I decided we should head to the Sea Lion/otter show. This looked to be very similar to what they used to have in SW Ohio and my older 2 always loved this show, so I figured Claire would too.
I guess I took this in route.
We headed that way, pretty much getting lost on the way over and then climbed the MASSIVE hill to get to the seats. Yes, my feet were starting to scream at this point. I told the family to keep going and I was behind them and would call if I got lost. It kind of became a joke that day about how sore I was. I really think it was mostly due to shoe choice.
I took a quick shot.
Claire was thirsty and we still had time so I headed out and got some drinks.
I made it back with plenty of time to spare and started to take some pictures.
I took this one on my phone and sent it off to facebook.
I zoomed into another stadium across the way, I think it might be Shamu Stadium.
There is a pirate mime that comes out before the show. He is HILARIOUS. He will ask people how many in their party, but miming of course, and then act like he is going to seat them, only to lead them out to the exit on the other side. He did all sorts of funny things and I thought my Dad was going to fall over from laughing. I took this REALLY short video. I don’t know why I didn’t take more or why I didn’t get anything good.
Soon it was time for the show to start. It was good. Very similar story line to the one they used to have in Ohio, but a few things were changed or added. Claire was in awe. She had never seen a show like this and really enjoyed it.
Here is some short video of the show.
This otter kept running through and he was hard to actually capture on film. I would always see him last minute.
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I finally got that Otter!
This part was funny. The guy was reaching into the hole to chase after the Otter. A hand comes out the other hole to make it look like his. Only the guy had his sleeved rolled up when he stuck his hand in and didn’t have green trim. I assume this was not a mistake, but part of the fun. And it was funny. So he mentions how it was weird as he though he had his sleeve rolled up and pulls it out and checks and then the hand comes out the next time with the sleeve rolled up.
The show was over then and we loved it.
My Dad is a big fan of shows, so immediately he pointed out another show…the dolphin show… and said lets hurry over there. I didn’t think we would have enough time to make it, but he insisted we did.
We headed over to that stadium. Claire became the map holder and shouted out directions. Now I don’t really think she had a clue, but we pretended like she was giving us correct info. (I still was holding a map as well.)
We made it over to the correct stadium and it was pretty packed. We found some open seats up towards the top and settled down. I looked back and Mom and Dad had decided to sit a few rows behind us and over a bit.
As we waited for the show to start I looked over the schedule. I saw another show that would be starting shortly after this one, and I did NOT want to see it. At least at that time. I wanted to do other things besides shows. So I told Claire that we would go find the dolphins next because I was sure Adda and Papa would be heading to the next show. She said OK, and it sounded like fun.
Soon the show started. I have to say I was not a fan of this show. I wanted all dolphins and this had a lot of divers in it and other performers. It was much to long and the music was about to put me to sleep. Now they were good at what they did, don’t get me wrong, but that was not the kind of show I was looking forward too. The Sea World in Ohio used to have a fabulous Dolphin show, and that is what I thought this would be like. I felt like the dolphins were not really much of a feature here. They focused more on the people.
It didn’t stop me from taking a lot of pictures though. And I was lucky enough to have a nice pole in my line of shot!
It was so hard to get the dolphins in mid air. I never knew where they were under water and they would just all of a sudden appear in the air. And then I would get them as they were going down, or cut half the bodies off from turning and shooting to quick.
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I am leaving for Disney on Sunday!  
I will also be gone most of the day on Sat. I am working on another update, but I may not get it up before I leave. I will be finsihing this TR thoguh when I get back and hopefully start another one on this trip as well. 
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Have a great trip!!!!
Julie
Next Up:
Summer 2018... WE ARE BACK!!!
2 families
4 teenagers and Larry
Taking on the parks!
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 Originally Posted by princessgirls
Have a great trip!!!!
Julie
Thanks! In 24 hours I wil lbe on my way to the airport!
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The divers came out next. They were pretty cool, but again, not what I was there to see, so it kind of irked me.
They also randomly released birds. Again very hard to capture with the camera, especially since I usually never saw them till too late. LOL!
Finally some more dolphins!
Finally I got a picture with several dolphin “mid flight”!
The finale had lots of stuff going on and more birds flew around…which I pretty much missed, and soon it was over.
Claire and I sat and waited for the place to clear a bit before working our way to Mom and Dad, but they worked there way to us. Sure enough, Dad said he wanted to go to another show, the one I figured he would try for. I think it was diving? Or something like that. I told him we would separate, as Claire and I were going to go and see if we could feed the dolphins. Claire then started crying. She said Papa would get lost without her reading the map for him. Mom said she could come with them and be the map reader. She was Ok then. I felt betrayed by my own little girl!!!!! LOL!
I did let her know that I was going to the dolphins and if feeding was open, I was doing it. There may be no other chance for her to do it, and she was fine with that.
We handed Claire a map.
And took off on our separate journeys. We were going to meet up later for the last Shamu show of the day.
I stopped and sat on a bench to rest and call Skip. Today was HOT. I mean MEGA hot. It was definitely the hottest day of the trip. Now this could also feel that way because at Sea World you are outdoors all day, not many inside things to do, so you really notice the heat.
Skip and I talked about the weather and he warned me that tomorrow was supposed to be rain in Orlando again. I told him I had seen that, but was hoping it was a short rain. Of course, because he wasn’t with us, he was giving me gory details of how awful it was going to be, and how much rain was coming. LOL!
He was having a hard time at home with his one brother. The brother works for him and is not part of the business. He hated working for Skip and his other brother and things were getting tense. He has since quit and things have been much quieter and running smoother now.
After I was done talking to him, I talked to a few people sitting near by. Some were from the area, while others were on vacation like us. Everyone was worried about the rain and even the locals said it was probably going to be a strong rain the next day….darn it! I asked one guy if he knew where the pick a pearl spot was.
Claire’s note this morning was this. She also received a coach shaped pearl cage, and one for me as well.
I figured we could do the pearl pick either here at Sea World or at Epcot tomorrow.
The guy told me where it was and I was still clueless. LOL! I wasn’t sure we would have time anyways, but this experience seemed more fun. They actually dive in a tank for your pearl at Sea World.
After talking a bit, I headed over to the dolphin feed area, which was very close. They were selling food and feedings were going on! YAY me!
I bought my stinky fish and got in line. I chatted with a Mom and her DD while waiting. The little girl was so cute and I knew if Claire had been in line, they would’ve become instant friends.
Soon we were let in and they gave us directions.
I took a little video while they were giving them. One thing they told us that we couldn’t set our fish tray on the wall as the dolphin would come and take the whole tray off and eat them. LOL!
After the instructions, we began feeding them!
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Feeding time began. We were warned not to leave our tray of fish on the ledge, as the dolphins would come along and take the tray and all and eat it and then your feeding experience would be over.
This little guy was watching and I tried to get a picture of him.
I got a tap on my shoulder and received two slips of paper with a code. That meant they had taken pictures of you while you were feeding.
It was then that I noticed my battery was running low, so I just switched to my point and shoot since I had already gotten several dolphin pictures.
The feed was pretty much over now, so I went to the kiosk to enter my codes and see my pictures. It kept saying invalid and I asked a Worker and she said sometimes it takes a bit to load, so just come back in a bit. OK, so I went off to the side to change my camera battery and then it hit me….I left the battery charging in the room at POP! And we had checked out!!! How could I be so stupid? So I called the Disney line and got transferred to someone who could help…yeah right. They said lost and found had just closed at 4…and I believe it was now 4:15. They couldn’t do anything till the next day and they gave me a number to call.
I called the number right away and got some run around, but eventually was connected to a very nice CM who actually tried to help me. She said if Mousekeeping found it, it would be turned in and taken over to the resort lost and found. I would have to wait till 9 the next day to know for sure if they had it. I asked if there was a way to have someone check the room and after I asked several times, she did say she would send someone. I felt so panicky. I was pretty sure it had been found, but what if it hadn’t. I wasn’t about to NOT have my SLR for the last day. I had that awful feeling in the pit of my stomach…and what made it worse was because I did such a stupid thing and never double checked the room before we left. I didn’t care so much about the battery. I still had 1, but I just couldn’t charge it.
The CM told me she would call me back if it was found in the room and if not to call a certain number at 9 AM to see if it had been turned in.
I hung up with her and tried my luck with the picture Kiosk again. It now told me that my code was expired. So I went to the desk where you pay and had them look them up. Well the 1st picture wasn’t even of me. It was the lady next to me and I wasn’t in the picture what so ever and the 2nd…well lets just say it was one of the worst pictures ever taken of me. LOL! I did NOT purchase it.
I headed out and started making my way over to the Shamu Stadium. The CM called and let me know that it was not found in my room. She was really nice and I really appreciated her help. My Mom also called to let me know they were getting seats for the Shamu show and they would wave to me when I got there.
It was a very long walk, and I took a few pictures on the way over.
These were the pinkest Flamingos I have ever seen.
Did I mention it was a LONG walk over to Shamu stadium? It was and my feet were screaming. But I kept going. At one point, Mom called again to be sure I was on my way.
I have to say I find Sea Worlds layout confusing. I even said that to my parents at one point in time and my Dad said he found it much easier to navigate than Disney…go figure. But of course he had Claire’s map reading skills to get him around.
I did finally make it to the stadium and I couldn’t find them, so I called and we kind of talked each other through the people and I saw them waving. I went up to take my seat, but Claire insisted sitting next to Dad, so I moved down a bit next to Mom and we waited for the show to start.
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The big news before we set sail on the Dream was that the whale that had killed a trainer had finally been let back into the show. I was a little leery on this. I don’t see why it had to be let back in. I thought I had originally heard that this whale wasn’t in many of the shows to begin with and I didn’t get all the hype about this. I personally think the whale should’ve not been let back in the show…I don’t think it should be put down, or anything like that, but they have had trouble with this whale in the past, which to me means he is just meant to interact with humans.
The show started and right away I can tell you I was not super impressed. Again I am used to Sea World Ohio when they used to get in the tank and the show was fabulous. I wasn’t a fan of the storyline, and I had read many others didn’t care for it either, but that wasn’t to matter much longer, because I think a few weeks after they premiered their new show.
The whales are impressive beast though. There was also a baby (though he wasn’t very baby looking. LOL) and he was so cute, sticking next to his momma. I took some very short video clips and pulled out the SLR and used some of the last of the battery left.
video…
More video…and remember, I am NOT very good with video; I usually make myself motion sick when I watch it. LOL!
There’s the baby!
I think this is the baby as well…isn’t she tiny. LOL! She was born in Oct, so that would make her about almost 6 months at the time.
I have done some research on some of the whales since our trip. I am amazed at how many are still “wild”, meaning they were actually captured years ago, many from Iceland area. The Mom of the baby was one of the captures and I think she is 34 years old. I think she has had 7 calves. The father of that baby is the one who killed the trainer, I think his name is Tillikum, and he was also captured and it sounds like at times he was given only a small pen to stay in (not with Sea World, but another park) I believe he has fathered something like 10 calves. Sea World FL also had one that could only interact with Tillikum as she was very aggressive (and I believe she was born in captivity). She has attacked other whales and even her own calves. It was kind of funny, but they say she is now on birth control so she can’t have any more since she has tried to injure all her children. She has since then gotten pregnant one more time and died last summer with a stillborn birth complications.
Tillikum is the biggest whale in the entire world in captivity. I believe he is 12000 pounds. (pictures of him later)
And then we had an unscheduled guest appearance. LOL!
Spinning Shamu! He didn’t light up like the spinning Mickey’s do though. LOL!
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The bad boy came out next. Now they didn’t say it was Tillikum, but we ‘knew’. All the trainers got off the stage and platforms and came to the ground in front of the tank. This guy was HUGE and he knows how to throw some water, as you can see in this video.
You can hear a little of Claire squealing in the background. I think she was actually saying something about wishing she was in the rows that were getting wet…I on the other hand am very thankful we were up high!
Like I said before, I have done some research on the whales since I have been home. It’s kind of depressing. I can’t believe the number of whales that are performing that were actually captured. I guess I assumed all were born in captivity now. (they no longer can actually go out and capture them anymore) And it’s really sad, as many whales they first captured lived a very short time. Some only days. And they would actually kill other whales while trying to get to the babies they wanted to capture. And I didn’t know this, but only 1 whale was actually named Shamu. And then one was called Baby Shamu, but I don’t think it lived very long.
Many whales that are born in captivity don’t live very long lives either. For a long time they could get them born, but they would die with in a few days. Now they do live longer, but still a lot seem to dye much earlier than they do in the wild.
And then I researched good Ol “Free Willy” and that is a very depressing story. Basically the movie story of him being in a seedy marine park with a tank too small was the truth. He was very sick and not till after the movie was he taken to another park and was able to gain weight and get some of his health back. But as you may or may not know, he was set free, near Iceland, but didn’t want to be free and swam to Norway and tried to interact with Humans. He ended up dying.
OK, enough depressing whale stories. It was nice to see the show, and I will not be doing depressing research again after watching something like this.
One more of the big guy!
The show ended and we decided to just sit back and let the place empty a bit before trying to fight our way out. But that didn’t last long. Claire had to go potty….NOW! So I told Mom and Dad that we would go and find them later. We fought our way down, but I wasn’t familiar with the area. From the map I had, I thought I knew where the bathrooms were, but I actually went the wrong way and couldn’t get to them once I got outside.
I headed towards the Happy Harbor and figured there had to be some there. And there was! Disaster was averted and Claire felt much better.
Now for the task of finding Mom and Dad. We hung around the area and took some pictures while waiting. I believe Mom called me and they eventually made their way to us.
Mom and Dad joined us. I think it was about 6:30 now and the park closed at 7 for a private party. Dad was on a mission to leave NOW. I told him we would walk the long way back and do some browsing and shopping. That got a bit of grumbling, but I had the car keys. LOL!
We stopped off and made a few purchases. I got Claire a keychain that she picked out that looked liked a flipflop. Mom bought Claire some bracelets to give to the girls in her class. I think they were 2 for $5 and we got 10. We should’ve gotten an extra packet though. Claire wore hers that day and then put it back in the bag. When we got home, I sent all of them to school with her. There are 9 other girls in her class. Well Claire gave them all out and then one to the teacher, which I told her NOT to do. But it was my fault as well, as I didn’t specifically tell her that her bracelet was still in the bag either. One girl in her class lost hers right away, so the teacher gave hers to her. Claire came home and told me about it, and then I had to break the news to her that her bracelet was in the bag as well, and now she didn’t have one. Of course that produced a lot of tears. Actually a bit of a tantrum. I told her next time we go we would get her one again. I think that is one of the reasons she keeps asking to go back to Sea World.
My goal was to find a small Shamu plush for Claire, but so far all we could find were ones that talked (or made some sort of noise), ranging in the $25 price. That was more than I wanted to spend. So we kept looking.
Mom did a bit more stopping than us in the shops (Dad was thrilled, LOL) and I took a few pictures while we waited on her.
I saw this guy, and he looked so cute, so I took a few pictures. We had seen squirrels all day, and I kept joking that it was the same one following us around because we looked like such a fun family. Dad thought it was dumb to be taking a picture of a squirrel and as soon as he said it, another lady came up and took one too.
We found a rather big store closer to the entrance to the park and that had a small Shamu. Claire gave it lots of love and was happy. I believe Mom started going crazy here too. I think she bought some stuff for Paige, maybe a t-shirt and shorts. We left the store with a little less money in our pockets, but happy. I was sad that we had to leave already; I really missed a lot of the park. There were parts I had said were must dos that I never even saw, let alone have the option to do. There is always next time!
A few departing shots!
We made the walk out to the van and got situated. We decided to head back to Residence Inn and ask where a Best Buy was near by. I don’t like Best Buy at all. I think they are usually over priced, and I really don’t like that they are always pushing warranties on you. I actually bought my first computer from them many years ago and got the warranty, but when I brought it in to be fixed, everything they said “would” be covered was not. Since that time, I actually pretty much boycott them if possible. I do know they have gotten better over the years though. I chose Best Buy though, because I knew they would be the best chance of finding a charger for my battery. I didn’t want to jump from store to store looking and hoping to find one. Remember, I wanted it to be an early night. HA!
We took off out of the parking lot and I went to turn left. Dad swore I was going the wrong way. I told him no, our Hotel is just over that way, you can almost see it, we’re so close. Nope, I was wrong and he was right….in his mind. I went with my way though. And I was right. We were just around the corner basically and in no time we pulled up to the front of Residence Inn. I jumped out and went up to the desk and asked for a near by Best Buy and if there were places to eat near there as well. The guy gave me directions, and also named a few restaurants in the area. One he named was the Cheesecake Factory. I had never been there, but I have read some reviews of it, and it sounded great….just what I would like. I hopped back in with the family and suggested that to them. Mom said fine, but Dad said he ate at one in Chicago once and wasn’t thrilled with their version of cheesecake. I guess we kind of ignored him. LOL!
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We started out of RI and quickly realized that there wasn’t an on ramp to the expressway for the direction we wanted to go….something the guy at the desk didn’t mention. Oh well, we just kind of followed the highway till we found one. Soon we found the Mall (which I am having a blank on the name right now). I parked and ran into Best Buy while the family sat out and waited. I think Claire wanted to come along, but it would’ve just slowed me up.
I asked a worker where I could find a battery charger for the battery of a Canon 50D. He helped me look and we found one….the VERY last one they had……and the price…..drum roll please!................ $70.00….yep, it was that much. I asked if a battery came with it too, and he said no, but it was a double charger and could do 2 batteries at a time. It also had attachments to do several kinds of batteries, none of which I own. And it also could be charged in your car as well. So to put it lightly, it came with a bunch of cords and attachments……...which for me means more things to lose. LOL!
I sucked it up and paid for it, of course with tax it came up even higher. And of course, as luck would have it, I had to wait in line forever. There were 2 registers open and both had troubled customers. One was doing a bit of arguing about something, while the other was having some sort of problems with how she wanted to pay, so it was rang up, then canceled out, rang up partially then she used the wrong credit card, canceled again, etc.
Finally I was checked out and I ran back to the car, with a grumbling Claire waiting for me.
I think Mom about fainted when I told her how much it was. I think she felt bad, but there was nothing I could do, I needed it and I wasn’t sure my other had been found.
We drove the quick drive over to the mall and I dropped the family off at the Cheesecake Factory. I went in search of a parking spot. This Mall was hopping and open spaces were far and few between. I did finally find one though. And I seem to notice a pattern throughout Florida. The parking spaces seem much narrower than I am used to in Ohio. I squeezed her in a spot with very little room to actually open doors. I then opened up that million dollar charger and found the correct attachments and started charging the battery I had with me.
I was happy now that I had one battery on its way to being charged for the next day. I grabbed my point and shoot and went in the restaurant to find the family had already been seated.
We browsed the menu….which was more like a book. I swear, it was like 20 pages. So hard to make a choice, but we knew Cheesecake was going to be ordered for sure. We figured we would take that back to the hotel with us. Yes, we were looking at Dessert first….Nothing wrong with that!
I decided on pizza. Mom wanted to share, and that was fine by me. She also wanted quesadillas, so we decided to share those as well. Note to self…that was way too much food!
I think Dad had a steak. I didn’t take a picture of his. I have to admit again, that the lack of sleep was catching up to me, and I would forget to take pictures sometimes, or the camera was becoming heavy! LOL!
The bread was REALLY good here. Claire was going to town on it, and would yell at us if we went for some. We asked for more and some went back to the room with us as well.
Our quesadilla after we had already started to attack it.
It was good. Not the best one I have ever had, but still very good.
Claire went with the corndog and fries. She loves corndogs (after all it is in the hotdog family) and really enjoyed this meal.
Our pizza arrived and we attacked it before I even thought to take a picture. It was very good.
We boxed up half of the quesadilla and the pizza and received our cheesecakes to go. We were stuffed, and I couldn’t even imagine how we were going to eat those wonderful desserts. And sadly I never took a picture of them. I got Reeses Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake Cheesecake and it was fabulous and rich. Dad got UltimateRed Velvet CakeCheesecake™ and Claire got strawberry cheesecake. All were great, though it took us 2 days to eat them!
I don’t know what this cost. Mom paid for us all. I offered to pay the tip, but she told me not to worry about it since I had just spent some money (much more than I wanted to) at Best Buy. I was very happy to try this place. I wish there was one close to me. I will definitely try to find one in my travels in the future.
After we were super stuffed (and Dad actually loved his food), we rolled out and back to Residence Inn.
Well coming back I missed the exit for Sea World because it was NOT the exit for our hotel. And sure enough there wasn’t an exit for our hotel, so I got off at the next one. My Dad was having a fit. Why did I miss the one, we should’ve known from when we left there wasn’t an exit from that direction, etc. I asked him if he had to be anywhere at a certain time, and he said no, then I said, why care about it. We will just take a nice leisurely drive through Orlando and see the sights and in the mean time work our way back to the hotel. LOL!
And we did make it!
I had kind of hoped to take Claire for a quick swim before going to bed, but it was pretty late at this point, (I think around 9:30 or 10) so we skipped that idea.
We got her bathed and a good hair wash and got her into bed. But she was FULL of energy. I couldn’t believe it. The room we got here had a bedroom with 2 queen beds and then the living room/kitchen area. (I did eventually take pictures of it)
My Dad was watching TV and my Mom and I went down to start some laundry. I couldn’t believe she was still hopping around in the room when I came back up, so we shut the door on her and told her she had to sleep and she went out then.
The laundry was washed and Mom and I each threw our loads into the dryer. It was taking forever to dry. I had just had it for the day. Again, I had very little sleep the night before, so I was running out of gas fast. I told Mom that I was just going to leave my laundry in the dryer till morning. There were many dryers and I highly doubted someone would need the one I was using in the middle of the night.
I hit the sack and went out fast. I think it was around midnight then. The beds were very comfy here as well and I slept like a rock!
And that is the end of Day 6. Only one more full day left……Boo Hoo!
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