Since I have a Fun Pass and I chose a motel stay about 3 blocks away, I was able to spend a lovely day at
SeaWorld not "on-a-dime", as they say, but actually FREE! I walked to the park to avoid the $15 parking fee (gasp) and ate at McDonald's prior to arrival. I saw some guests eating their own sandwiches and snacks brought into the park in
their backpacks and such. How ghetto! Just wait 'till you're done with the park or eat ahead of time like I did. Man, I know the economy is bad but don't ghetto-
fy the sacred
exhorbinently-priced atmosphere of our area theme parks by setting up a picnic with your family. Use a public park for that! Really!
It was a weekday and during the tourist "off-season" so it was not very packed. If I was
hankerin' to ride any rides, I could have gotten on with little wait time, But the only coaster-
ish ride I can still comfortably ride would be this, pictured above..."Journey to Atlantis". It's a great themed indoor/outdoor flume ride, but though these
brave souls shown here opted to find it suitable weather to plunge down a steep slope and get soaked with water, I didn't. It was about 68 degrees.
Brrrr, downright
wintry to a native.
The park was, of course, decked out for the season. Here's a decorated tree by the entrance. Ooooh! Ahhhh! ;)
Penguin Encounter is an interesting little walk-
thru exhibit. The guys live in a
controlled environment which mimics temperature and seasonal conditions of the Antarctic at the time. Since it's late spring right now there, the light in the exhibit reflected what it would look like near the South Pole, right about now. I'll take their word for it. I'm not about to fly down there to check it out.
They are currently running a show called "Blue Horizons" at the Whale and Dolphin Theater replacing a more "edutainment" show they used to run. It's nice with the music and choreography, incorporating both sea mammal and avian performances (as well as the land mammals known as humans). This show, like the new "
Believe" show at
Shamu Stadium gets a little too "Disney" IMHO though. If I wanted Disney's manufactured drama I'd go see it, just a few miles down the road.
These guys made me wait them out for 20 minutes to get a good shot. I had to watch their movement patterns in their "habitat" an artificially-created and sustained "seashore" but I finally got my pic. They're sea lions BTW,
in case you were wondering.
See,
what'd I tell ya...5 minute wait time for Manta, the newest coaster here. Of course I'd already ridden it a few
months ago so I didn't need to ride it again. Actually, I felt too chicken to try it alone;)
What theme park here doesn't have its obligatory flamingos? Hello...it is, after all, Florida!
Since I have a Fun Pass and I chose a motel stay about 3 blocks away, I was able to spend a lovely day at SeaWorld not "on-a-dime", as they say, but actually FREE! I walked to the park to avoid the $15 parking fee (gasp) and ate at McDonald's prior to arrival. I saw some guests eating their own sandwiches and snacks brought into the park in their backpacks and such. How ghetto! Just wait 'till you're done with the park or eat ahead of time like I did. Man, I know the economy is bad but don't ghetto-fy the sacred exhorbinently-priced atmosphere of our area theme parks by setting up a picnic with your family. Use a public park for that! Really!
It was a weekday and during the tourist "off-season" so it was not very packed. If I was hankerin' to ride any rides, I could have gotten on with little wait time, But the only coaster-ish ride I can still comfortably ride would be this, pictured above..."Journey to Atlantis". It's a great themed indoor/outdoor flume ride, but though these brave souls shown here opted to find it suitable weather to plunge down a steep slope and get soaked with water, I didn't. It was about 68 degrees. Brrrr, downright wintry to a native.
The park was, of course, decked out for the season. Here's a decorated tree by the entrance. Ooooh! Ahhhh! ;)
Penguin Encounter is an interesting little walk-thru exhibit. The guys live in a controlled environment which mimics temperature and seasonal conditions of the Antarctic at the time. Since it's late spring right now there, the light in the exhibit reflected what it would look like near the South Pole, right about now. I'll take their word for it. I'm not about to fly down there to check it out.
They are currently running a show called "Blue Horizons" at the Whale and Dolphin Theater replacing a more "edutainment" show they used to run. It's nice with the music and choreography, incorporating both sea mammal and avian performances (as well as the land mammals known as humans). This show, like the new "Believe" show at Shamu Stadium gets a little too "Disney" IMHO though. If I wanted Disney's manufactured drama I'd go see it, just a few miles down the road.
These guys made me wait them out for 20 minutes to get a good shot. I had to watch their movement patterns in their "habitat" an artificially-created and sustained "seashore" but I finally got my pic. They're sea lions BTW, in case you were wondering.
See, what'd I tell ya...5 minute wait time for Manta, the newest coaster here. Of course I'd already ridden it a few months ago so I didn't need to ride it again. Actually, I felt too chicken to try it alone;)
What theme park here doesn't have its obligatory flamingos? Hello...it is, after all, Florida!