Sea World December 28th

Going in to our trip, I had heard may good thing about Sea World and really wanted to try going. However, since we had been so kindly given Disney tickets for Christmas, we were not going to get additional tickets to another theme park. By fate, while Emily and John were at the pool on Thursday afternoon, there was a person that had left over Sea World tickets and offered them to John.

On Friday morning, got ready and were off to Sea World by 9. When we arrived, it was just time for the park to open, so we were able to get a close parking space and walked into the park. The first area we went to contained sting rays. John touched them and Emily really enjoyed looking at them. Ansley and Bailey were also very interested in seeing them. On the way out the sting ray area, they had a separate area for the baby sting rays that we looked at. After the sting rays, we came upon the dolphins. They offered the opportunity to feed the dolphins and we were in luck to come at one of the feeding times, so Emily and I went through the line to purchase fish to feed the dolphins while John and the little ones were routed around to the other side of the dolphin pool. After getting our fish, Emily and I went to one of the sides of the dolphin pool and waited for the dolphins to swim up to us. Emily and I would hold the fish up and the dolphins would come get then out of our hands. When they swam up, I petted them. Emily was a little unsure about touching them, but towards the end, she decided to try. After the dolphins, we went to the penguin exhibit and then by the sharks, on the way to the Shamu show. When we got to the show, the little ones were tired, so Emily and I went in and found a seat on the second row. It was perfect, although we were in the splash zone. While we were waiting for the show, the offered ponchos and I got one for Emily. The show was very impressive and Emily was amazed to see the whales jumping in the air and the trainers riding on the tip of the whales noses while jumping out of the water. However, when the whales started going around and splashing the audience, Emily wanted to move higher up. After moving up, we finished watching the show and then went to meet John and the girls. We met up and while I changed the little ones, John and Emily went to visit the Sea Lyons before lunch. For lunch, we found a neat outdoor cafe that served BBQ. It was really the best food we had at any of the theme parks. After lunch, we headed to the kids play area where John and Emily rode the merry go round and went in the big play fort that was made up of tunnels, ropes, and slides. After the play area, Emily and I went to ride the balloon ride and while John, Ansley, and Bailey played in the fountain area. Emily and I went over to the fountain and the girls played for a while before we headed out.