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A Day at SeaWorld

After an enjoyable and relaxing Day at Discovery Cove, I headed back to Windsor Hills Resort and began planning for the following day.  I had been to SeaWorld as a child and was really looking forward to going back as an adult, so I decided I would spend day two exploring SeaWorld.

As I walked into SeaWorld I was surprised by the ambiance of the park.  Similar to Discovery Cove, the entrance is lined with beautiful plants and palm trees and you can’t help but feeling as if you stepped into a tropical paradise.  I grabbed a map of the park and headed straight to the sky tower.  The 400 foot tall Sky Tower is a six minute capsule ride that gives you a bird’s eye view of the entire park and slowly rotates the whole time.  On a clear day, you can actually see as far away as downtown Orlando!  After exiting the ride, I began roaming the park stopping to check out the vast amount of exhibits SeaWorld has to offer.

The highlight of the day for me was visiting the dolphin cove and the sea lion exhibit.  SeaWorld’s dolphin cove is one of the largest interactive dolphin pools in the world and home to a pod of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins. The underwater viewing area was, in my opinion, the best part of this particular exhibit and allowed me to capture several amazing pictures of the intelligent mammals.  The sea lion exhibit, although nothing particularly special about it, was another highlight for me as they are one of my favorite animals.  I took several pictures of the lazy sea lions lounging around and spent a good amount of time simply observing their behavior. 

SeaWorld’s rollercoaster, Kraken, is Orlando’s tallest and fastest coaster and consistently ranked as one of the worlds top 10 coaster by ride enthusiasts.  I was excited to take on Kraken as I am a big fan of rollercoaster’s, but was incredibly disappointed when I found out that it was shut down for the day for mechanical repairs. 

After a few hours of walking around the park, I was getting tired and hungry and stopped for lunch at Sharks Underwater Grill.  I was impressed by the variety of food the restaurant offered, especially the amount of healthy choices on the menu.  As I sat and ate lunch, I glanced over show times for the various performances held throughout the day.  I had heard that “Believe”, featuring Shamu, was SeaWorld’s best show and a must see while I was visiting.  Sadly, my timing did not match up with the show times so I settled on going to “Seamore and Clyde Take Pirate Island.”

I had a few hours to kill before the show began, so I continued on foot checking out all the exhibits SeaWorld has to offer.  From sharks to penguins to turtles, SeaWorld has it all and you can easily spend an entire day at the park and still not fit in all there is to do!

Jordan

Add comment March 7th, 2008

SeaWorld’s Animal Rescue Team to release Manatee

Seaworld Orlando will release “Snap” - an 8 foot long sea cow, back into the Sebastian River in Sebastian on Friday at 10:15 a.m. Rescued a year ago and suffering from pneumothorax - air trapped in the chest cavity - Seaworld’s rescue team rehabilitated “Snap” with antibiotics and helped her gain 220 pounds. She now tips the scales at a healthy 930 pounds.

Having been to Seaworld several times so far this year, it’s easy to forget that they are a working rehabilitation and learning facility. Seaword’s Rescue team, on call 24/7, responds to call of injured or stranded animals and provides life saving care with the ultimate goal of releasing their ‘patients’ back into the wild.

Add comment June 7th, 2007

A day at Seaworld - I love coasters …

I visited SeaWorld Adventure Park last week with my wife and two children. I have a daughter 13 and son 10. We live in Celebration, FL so we have the good fortune of being able to visit the parks often.

We got to SeaWorld and went directly to Kraken. The wait said 30 minutes so we got in line. I use to love roller coasters but the older I get, the less I like them. And, I would classify Kraken as an “extreme” roller coaster. I would strongly recommend it to all roller coaster enthusiasts as there are no less than three 360 degree loops along with twists and turns that will give you a good adrenaline rush. As I said, when I was younger, I would have ridden Kraken time and time again because it is an incredible ride but once is good enough (my kids went for a second time as once was not quite good enough for them). Another fun thing that the kids like to do is to make a goofy face when SeaWorld takes your picture on the ride. The photo is taken right after the first 360 degree loop so you see some pretty funny pictures of people freaking out. However, my kids have ridden it so many times that they are able to look like they are bored, while everyone else has their mouths wide open with excitement or fear.

We did not have time for Believe - the show with Shamu nor the Clyde & Seamore show that features sea lions. I have seen both of them before and they are both fantastic. However, the Clyde & Seamore show needs updating. It is basically the same show that has been going for the last decade. I highly recommend Believe. This show was totally updated last year and is outstanding.

The other show that we attended was Blue Horizons that features dolphins and birds. Again, SeaWorld has done a great job with this show. The dolphins jump so high into the air doing flips, it is amazing. I did not realize how fast Dolphins can swim, it is so cool to see them dart around in the water. At one point, two dolphins take their nose and push one of the trainers about two feet below the surface of the water. The trainer extends one arm straight out as he is being pushed through the water at a fast pace - it was really neat. The trainers also ride the dolphins, one on each foot. The birds, mostly cockatiels, add a special touch as they fly above the audience.

All in all, SeaWorld is one of the best parks in Orlando and is my favorite of choice.

Add comment June 4th, 2007