I'm finally getting this Sea World trip uploaded! Let's pretend it hasn't been almost a month since we went. :) During Tate's spring break he had to coach Monday - Wednesday so he only had Thursday and Friday off so our full week of vacation got changed to a short weekend trip but it was so worth it.
Thursday we left for Austin to visit Tate's aunt and uncle and to watch his cousins baseball games.
Friday we left for San Antonio to meet his mom, Janis, aunt, Detra, and another cousin, Killian, for our fun Sea World adventure. That night we went to the Shops at La Cantera. Surprisingly we bought nothing! This was the trip I went specifically to Nordstroms to get Brylee a pair of Natives but they don't come in half sizes and they were either too big or too small. They are so light and comfy (looking) and I was a little bummed she didn't get some. We ate dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and went back to the hotel to get the kids asleep for their big day.
Saturday - Sea World day! Brylee and Killian were so excited! They couldn't stop talking about the whales and dolphins and sharks that they were going to see! It was a little chilly that morning but ended up being a perfect day. The park opened at 10 and we got there about 15 after. It wasn't packed at all. It had rained there the week before and there was a chance of rain that day so we figured people didn't want to be crazy like us and brave rain. Guess what? No rain! We were in and out of line in less than 10 minutes. Now, on to the good stuff.
First up, the 'mingos'. They were right as we walked in and immediately caught the kids attention.
On to the Azul show. This is the one with the Beluga whales and dolphins. Janis and Detra took the kids to get some seat while Tate and I got some snacks. Brylee had to have her cheetos. :) This show was complete entertainment! They had acrobatic performers going in and out of the water, trainers swimming with the whales and dolphins and a funny guy (who was actually one of the swimmers) that both kids kept an eye out for. This show was so much like I remember it being when I was a kid. So fun.
Haha Brylee was telling Tate to pay attention because he was watching her.
We had to stop and feed the ducks.
Time for lunch and, of course, some watermelon.
Tate and I rode the Great White. We love roller coasters and this was our first one to ride together! Aww. ;) Lucky for us we didn't even have to wait in line.
While we did that, everybody else went on to the reptile exhibit. We played a couple games at the boardwalk. Tate won a Ninja Turtle for Killian and Shamu for Brylee. Those were great fun to lug around. Ha!
And we saw the Penguins. There were two that were playing with each other. They chased each other in the water and on the ice and then one pushed the other into the water and he rocked back as if he was laughing. I wish I had it recorded. They are such funny animals.
After that it was time to see the One Ocean show with the Orcas. They are such beautiful animals! And so huge! I remember seeing them many years back but just seeing them up close again... gosh! So pretty. This was a great show too but I remember, or at least I think I do, the trainers actually being in the water with the whales. Maybe I'm crazy. :)
Next was another roller coaster for Tate and I, the Steel Eel while everybody else got a snack. We saw the alligators and poor, sweet B passed out.
We walked around the kids park, which I thought would be so much fun for Brylee but I didn't want to wake her. Killian did not seem interested at all. We made our way over to the dolphin cove. I patted around the water a bit (which you aren't supposed to do, FYI) and got some of the dolphins to come up to the surface. We stood around and listened to a trainer talk about them and how these were just babies.
Brylee woke up and was a bit cranky but nothing the bubbles Moo-Moo (Tate's mom) got couldn't fix. Bubbles = happy kids!
Last we hit up the shark exhibit and the coral reef. Brylee loved watching the sting rays.
Out of everything we saw that day, she would tell you that the mingos were her favorite. Silly girl. Killian said the funny man from the dolphins and the whales. Oh, and another thing different were the Clydesdale horses and dalmatians! I remember the stables by the dolphin cove and seeing the horses there and they weren't. The stables were there but only used for restroom purposes. Bummer. Speaking of Clydesdale's, did you know Budweiser is retiring the horses from the commercials to attract a younger crowd. What? Why? I'm part of that 'younger crowd' and I love the Clydedales and Dalmatian commercials. I saw it on GMA a while back. Sad deal.
Now, tips for Sea World, some we learned the hard way.
1. Bring a stroller with a basket. We brought two small umbrella strollers and they were great for size but I missed having a basket to put things in, like our Ninja Turtle and Shamu!
2. Wrist bands for food! I think they were like $30 each and they are all you can eat and drink and drink (with the exception of a few things). We only got two of them and Tate and I would get enough food for the 6 of us. It was genius! The first "snack" we got were 2 pizzas, 2 waters, chips, lemonade and a turkey leg and already we would have spent the same amount of money had we just payed for them. Totally worth it!
3. Map out your show times! We didn't do this and should have. What we did was okay but having 2 little ones you want to make sure you have good seats and since we didn't really plan out the shows we had to find seats for all of us.
4. Don't sit in the rows marked 'splash zone' if you don't want to get wet! During the One Ocean show the whales do splash and they can obviously splash pretty far. There were people in front of us throwing fits, one girl even crying, because they got wet. Read the rows, folks! We sat in the second to last row in the splash zone and even then my shoes and legs got wet.
Hope you enjoyed a recap of our Sea World adventure!
Leah :)
