Day 12: SeaWorld

Summary: No big summary to cover today, SeaWorld was on the cards for today but unfortunately it didn’t really happen for us so we were all a bit gutted, Ann most of all. Patrick did manage to track down his movies he wanted which meant that today wasn't a total write off. Onward and upward.

Woke the kiddos up with Terrorvision - Perseverance because they sing about Whales and Dolphins (Whales and Dolphins, yeah!) and followed up by Killer Whales - Sounds for Sleep which they did not enjoy at all (good one to remember). And that’s because today is SeaWorld day (well you knew that because it’s it the title but whatever).

I was also a wee sneaky Shamu and booked the Dine with Orcas for Ann because she just loves them. This time around we need to remember NOT to ride the rollercoasters after lunch (it was not a pretty sight).

SeaWorld is just down the road from us so 10 minutes in the car (and 20 minutes trying to find the car park) so we got there just after opening. This place has changed A LOT since we were here last here’s lot of new rides and mostly big rides too.

Got into the park and picked up a huge bottle which give you free refills all day (and the bottle had an orca on it obvs) and then set off into find our first ride. We would miss some of the shows in the morning as it would clash with lunch so aimed to hit the Orca, Dolphin & Sea Lionshows in the afternoon. They also have a river rapid ride which claims to have the worlds tallest river rapid drop!

Headed to Manta first but there were no crew at the line which was odd so we arranged to come back. Then onto Antarctica to ride the penguin ride with little Puck only to find out they are replacing it with a new ride that hasn’t opened yet. Oh no it’s been a bit of a false start but looking forward to lunch with the Orcas.

You may get wet

Infinity Falls - you know the worlds tallest river rapid ride, it was right next to the Orca encounter and where we had to be for lunch. Ann asked if we should go on it before lunch as we had some time to kill and I said no because we wouldn’t want to be wet whilst eating lunch. And then the question came… are you sure? Now I should really listen to my gut sometimes. I looked at the ride and thought well doesn’t look like you get THAT wet.

Morgan Freeman (as the narrator): Well people, unfortunately Gerry wasn’t right on this occasion, they did get wet… they got very wet indeed.

Yeah it was a wet one, glad I put my rain cover on my camera bag! It was excellent though and we all decided to go back on it later in the day. Absolutely drenched we sheepishly joined the rest of the pristinely dressed and dry people waiting to dine with the Orcas.

Best laid plans

Sat down and waited for the scheduled Orca show to finish next door. Ann was so excited she couldn’t wait and she kept trying to peek over to see the killer whales next door.We were told they’d have a little rest before joining us and were all served a lovely salad to start of with. Next was a choice of pasta, chicken, salmon or short rib. Went for the short rib and the rest were divided between chicken and salmon. It was very nice indeed and probably the freshest and lightest food we’ve had yet. I got some glances from Robert suggesting he may have chosen the wrong option but our lovely server Trinity asked if we wanted seconds and both the boys jumped on it. They have been absolute machines at eating this holiday - ah to be young and have fast metabolisms.

After lunch was over it started to rain. Light at first, and then heavier and we were told there would be a delay. No problem it was nice to just sit and dry off some more as the rain battered down outside.

And then CRACK! The thunder rolled and it was LOUD! More time passed and it wasn’t getting any better. We already had two apologies about the delay and it wasn’t looking good. And then the announcement came that they were cancelling the show. Absolute suckerpunch and Ann was completely devastated. And not only that with the inclement weather, all rides and shows ground to a standstill. We headed over to guest relations to see what they could do, essentially we had been on one ride and had lunch but with the Orcas a no show and no guarantee their main show would be back on we couldn’t really do anything. There was a long line at the desk and we waited about 45 mins to speak to someone. After a bit of to and fro-ing we managed to get a full refund as it was hitting 4pm and we hadn’t really done anything worthwhile. They had offered us a return day and even to do another Dine with the Orcas but we had a really full schedule that we can’t really alter now. And besides with Ann being so upset I don’t think she could face coming back so soon. So we headed for the exit acknowledging that most of the day has been a bit of a wash out.

The Criterion Collection

Now Patrick had been asking me about ordering some blu ray movies from Barnes & Noble as their sale had started but it turns out our local one didn’t have the ones he wanted. He found a store that did though which was a little further away so we plugged in the address in the GPS and set off to get them. Turns out this Barnes & Noble is in city of Orlando itself which we’ve never been to before so was a little daunting. It’s times like these we’re glad we opted for the car instead of taxis. Journey wasn’t too bad in the end and when we go there though the Barnes and Noble was massive. The previous Barnes & Noble that I had also described as massive was like a wee tiny baby compared to this one! The sale was 50% off all items in the Criterion Collection so he was a happy boy and he also somehow roped me in to getting The Princess Bride (which was part of the collection). It had a large board games library too and some Barnes & Noble unique game variants so picked up an exclusive version of Parks - a game I’ve been wanting for a while.

On our way home we stopped off at Walmart for a resupply of breakfast bars and other sundries and then grabbed a quick Pizza buffet before we heading home (all the while it was still raining). Ann and myself both physically and mentally drained from today so good we got an early night. No real photos to shout about today either but hoping to have a better day tomorrow at Universal/Islands to finish up anything we still had to do.

Todays Stats

- Step Count: 10.5k
- Total steps: 212.7k
- Total miles: 90.5 miles