After grabbing a bit of breakfast at the hotel, we headed over to Sea World. I had purchased our tickets over the internet, and Tom paid an extra $5.00 for premium parking, so we were literally in the park within 15 minutes of leaving our hotel.
There’s a new area in the park called Sesame Street Bay Of Play. There was 1 ride tame enough that the whole family wanted to tackle it: spinning teacups!
Anheuser-Busch owns Sea World, which means you can visit the famous Clydesdale horses,…
… the donkey from the 2004 campaign, I Was Born A Donkey,…
… and drink beer from aluminum bottles.
Insider Tip: If you see something you like at any of the shops throughout the park, buy it. The Gift Shop at the park’s exit has limited/general items that pale in comparison to the souveniers offered throughout the park.
Doesn’t this little fellow look like a baby orca? It’s actually a dolphin!
Insider Tip: The Commerson’s Dolphins can be found near the Journey To Atlantis water ride. Even if you don’t want to go on the ride, be sure to walk over to view these adorable mammals.
Journey To Atlantis
The kids tried Cotton Candy for the 1st time.
I got bug-eyed in the shark tunnel.
Never again.
Here’s a duck that has spent too much time with the flamingos.
Would you believe me if I said she stood that way for hours?
Here a Bat Ray approaches to be pet.
By far, the most fun was watching the orcas from the glass-enclosed walkways behind Shamu Stadium. Here I’ve photoshopped 2 pictures together to give you an idea of this prime viewing area.
From the walkway, we were able to watch the graceful whales interacting with their trainers.
Whales 3 & 4 were swimming, then being fed handfuls of fish by their trainers. Soon our attention was drawn to the Shamu Stadium audience which was applauding and encouraging splashing from Shamu. Whales 3 & 4 entered the show, giving the audience a thorough soaking!
Tidbit: Shamu was the name of the first Orca brought to SeaWorld San Diego in the 1960s. Seven Orcas live in the San Diego park: Corky, Kasatka, Ulises, Orkid, Sumar, Nakai, and Kalia.
Although we didn’t take any photos, I have to give the Calypso Bay Smokehouse high marks for the delicious bbq ribs & chicken lunch!
One of the low-lights of the day was standing in line to get our pictures taken with Cookie Monster, only to be told he was taking his last picture. The kids and I posed anyway, and I photoshopped him in.
This was the first vacation that we didn’t bring the kids carseat/strollers. Since they had to do their own walking, they ran out of steam around 3pm. Prior to leaving the park, we visited the orcas one last time. I snapped these odd but somehow intriguing photos of a trainer at work.
Another day at the office!
I hope you enjoyed seeing this day at Sea World as much as I enjoyed showing you! I’ll try to post our final day of vacation soon.
