|
Adding to their autograph collection, Shamu happily signs and the posses for pictures. Though record hot temperatures continued to make the days extremely hot, Sea World was a nice change of pace from the other theme parks.
|
Of course heading to the Shamu show first started the day the right way. Dennis may not have known what the "Soak Zone" was, but he quickly found out as he watched those below him get wet by Shamu's landings and fin splashes.
|
|
Though the "Soak Zone" only covered the first 14 rows, big Shamu's tail splash went well into the top section demonstrating just how powerful he is. Despite ruining one video camera a few years ago due to a sea water splash, Greg still attempted to tape in the soak zone until he saw this splash. After that he quickly moved up to continue taping.
|
Besides seeing Shamu, the kids enjoyed to penguins too but their favorite, as always, was playing in Shamu's Happy Harbor--a multi-level playground including wet tunnels, net climbing and rope slides. Jan's favorite was the clysdales where she go to see their stalls up close and a baby and mother horse.
|
|
The antics of the "Clyde and Seyemore" show always makes Preston laugh as the sea lion copies the performers and the otter steals everything on cue.
|
Holding us all in laughs, watching the sealion kiss the performer was one of the funniest scenes. The other performer made sure that the sea lion had a fresh batch of fish to act as a mint before the kiss.
|
|
At Shamu's Happy Harbor, Brooklyn climbs the rope slide hanging at the top proving she can climb just as fast as Preston.
|
Though the polar bears were awfully sleepy and not very playful, they were still fun to see.
|
|
Terrors of the Deep provides a great view of sharks as you walk underneath them in a glass tunnel while they swim all around you.
|
Greg's greatest disappointment of the trip came here when he discovered the previous Baywatch Ski Show had been changed and the Baywatch Babes were no more. Though not a complete loss, he found himself seated in the Mt. Dew section of the new Intensity Games.
|
|
Atlantis, the new water raft ride of Sea World, had a 90 min. wait so we decided to skip this time. Part of the Sea World deal though includes a second day free so we plan to go back Thursday or Friday to ride.
|
Despite tons of sun screen, Monday's trip to Blizzard Beach still resulted in some burns. Dennis never thought about his ankles were he usually wears socks, but that evening we discovered they were extremely red, proving that when you use sun screen, it really does work.
|
|
The hecticness of our vacation pace was easy to forget in the lazy river where Grandma and Dennis just floated along relaxing. With or without a tube, the river simply moves you along taking around the entire park.
|
Contributing to it's Alpine ski theme, chair lifts provide a nice trip up the mountain and an alternative to the 88 steps it takes using the manual method. Of course there are 127 steps to get up the backside of the mountain to which there is no alternative. Two climbs up was Grandma's limit.
|
|
Coming in for a wet landing, Preston tries his favorite from last year, the T-bar drop. Though it was fun, his favorite this year was simply the wave pool now that he was a good swimmer.
|
|
Please only submit once...