Day 3: Monday, December 22, 2014
I woke up early, with still swollen tonsils, but much more rested than the day before. I got ready and was downstairs at the Sea World desk a minute before it opened at 7, to get my quick queue and my discount card.
Side note, I know Sea World is a controversial place right now. We all have to come to our own conclusions whether we are comfortable visiting there or not. I weighed my choices heavily, but in the end, past experiences with the park, facts about what they do for conservation and their animals CURRENTLY, and actions that they are taking moving forward made me comfortable with visiting the park. I respect that not all share my opinions; I hope that others will respect the fact that I made an educated choice that was appropriate for me.
Quick Queue is Sea World’s version of Fastpass. For regular day visitors, it costs money. If you stay at one of the Sea World partner hotels (and there are several, from several of the major chains), it’s free, as long as you get to the desk before their supply for the desired day runs out. I was a little hesitant about availability, given that it was Christmas week, and I was going to the desk the day of, rather than the day before, as I had on a previous (April) trip, but it turned out, the concern was not necessary. There was ample availability. The lady working the desk was very chatty, so we chatted while she did up the paperwork. The whole process took maybe 10 minutes.
Once I had my quick queue, shuttle schedule (free shuttle buses are provided between the partner hotels and Sea World/Aquatica), and discount card (10% off all food purchases and 10% off merchandise purchases over $50 at certain stores), I went back to the room to finish getting ready for the day.
The partner hotel buses run roughly once an hour, rather than all day long like at Disney. I used it a couple years ago but I decided that on this trip it might be safer to suck it up and pay the parking fee, rather than be stranded at Sea World longer than I was up for.
I’m used to Disney, where everything opens way before the park opens. So after breakfast in the hotel lobby, I hopped in the car around 8:20, and drove the couple blocks to Sea World, arriving shortly before 8:30. I found a handful of cars in line at each parking lot booth, all of which were still closed. It made for some good people watching, as apparently EVERYONE needed something out of the back of their car in the time they were waiting to get into the parking lot. It got comical to the point where I expected people to pull out camp chairs and have a party. Seriously, even the kids were climbing out of the cars.
The booths opened about 8:45 (the park opened at 9). Once they opened, the line moved quickly, and pretty soon I was parking in the very first row in the parking lot. I grabbed my backpack and headed for the gate. I already had my ticket; I had bought a combo SW/BG ticket at AAA before I left NH. Their price beat even Sea World’s discount rates. In case anyone was wondering, AAA is WAY more than just a roadside assistance company.
Bag check was cursory at best, and then the ticket reader was frustrating. They use a barcode scanner, and it just didn’t seem to line up right. But, eventually, I made it into the park, stopping to take some pictures along the way.
Once the pictures had been taken, I joined the line to really enter. They let you a little ways in, and then hold you until the park truly opens at 9. Before they let you in, they play the national anthem, which is nice.
Once we were allowed deeper into the park, I beelined it to Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin. This one is fairly new, and has been known to post absurd wait times, so it seemed best to get it out of the way first. I basically walked through the queue. When I got to the merge point, I selected the “wild” version of the ride. There are two versions, “wild” and “mild”. The ride vehicles for mild stay stationary (no spinning or bouncing) as they move through the ride. The “wild” side of life spins and bounces slightly. There’s really nothing wild about it, but there is movement. Don’t be scared to do the “wild” side. And it doesn’t improve wait times to do “mild” because it’s RIGHT before load that you make your choice.
Anyway, for a ride that was hyped for a LONG time before it opened, this was VERY short, and not that great. It’s cute; you follow along with an animated penguin. But it’s not that great. Then when you unload, you’re in roughly 30 degree air, to look at real penguins.
After taking a few penguin pictures and watching them for a few minutes, I escaped the cold (it’s December, I have MONTHS of that ahead of me!), and headed outside to explore this newly redone area a bit before Turtle Trek opened.
After a few minutes we were directed into the theater for the movie. I have to say, this was REALLY well done. Perhaps not the most interesting for kids, but I thought it struck a nice balance of educational and interesting. And having seen brand new turtle hatchlings make their first trek to the ocean a few years ago at Vero Beach, I was able to really connect with this.
After Turtle Trek, I wandered through the park, taking pictures on my way to the other side of the park.
It was time to do the Polar Express experience. For those who have been to Sea World, this is the Wild Arctic ride, with overlays and a new video, all themed to the Polar Express.
This is where I expected to have to use my Quick Queue. Turns out I didn’t need to. It was still early enough, and everyone was still on the roller coasters I guess. I only had to wait about 10 minutes before I was in the simulator.
The Polar Express theming was excellent. When the simulator component was over, we exited into the “North Pole”. This is where the beluga whales swim. They had put up a HUGE Christmas tree, and had Santa available for pictures.
When I was done with the Polar Express, I walked over the Shamu Stadium, which was nearby to catch the first Shamu show of the day. It always amazes me how much the trainers appear to love their job, and how in tune the whales are with their trainers.
After the show, it was time for lunch. I went over to Voyagers Smokehouse. The line was pretty long, but it moved quickly. I got the smoked chicken with french fries and sat down to eat. The chicken here is served still on the bone. I was about halfway through eating, when I turned the chicken over and dug into the other half. This is where I stopped eating. Smoked chicken is often pink, but this seemed a little too pink. I really hope this doesn’t cause issues.
Since I had done everything I wanted to do in the park until evening, I decided to go back to the hotel for a bit. I considered driving over to Disney to see the Comedy Warehouse holiday special at Hollywood Studios, but in the end decided to do that after Busch Gardens the next day. I really needed a nap.
I got back to the hotel just in time for my stomach to let me know that finding the pink halfway through the chicken had not been soon enough. Because that’s definitely what I wanted considering I was still on the Advil every 4 hours routine for the tonsils.
Eventually I was able to take a much needed nap. I woke up feeling somewhat refreshed, and decided to attempt the evening at Sea World.
I drove back over to Sea World and found a parking spot easily that was still an easy walk to the front gate. I was surprisingly hungry, so I went over to Spice Mill, where I was able to get a sandwich. No more smoked chicken for me! I didn’t eat a whole lot, but I ate enough.
After this, I wandered to the back of the park. Sea World recently introduced beach trash art to the park. They’ve collected thousands of pounds of beach trash, everything from water bottles to flip flops, and have created art out of them. It’s very impressive.
Also impressive was the line for the first Christmas show of the night: O Wondrous Night. This is a live nativity show...live camels, etc. With my allergies, I was perfectly content to NOT go sit in a theater with live animals, so the ridiculously long line (think most of the park guests in one line), did not upset me the way it upset some others.
I wandered the park a bit, exploring the decorations as the sun went down. As the sun started to go down, they opened another section at the front of the park that was ALL Christmas. There were music groups, decorations, and lots of Christmasy treats.
Once I’d explored the decorations quite a bit, I walked back to Shamu Stadium for the nighttime Christmas show. This combined Christmas music (including one song done live), Christmas projections on the screens, lights on the water, and, of course, the whales. As much as I like One Ocean (the daytime show), the Shamu Christmas Miracles show, was infinitely better.
After the Shamu show, I decided to kill some time and do the SkyTower. This is a big revolving tower that rises up into the air, spins around a few times so you can get a view, and then goes back down. I’ve done this several times during the day, but never after dark. It was really neat, but picture taking was not doable. After the SkyTower, I watched one of the Sea of Trees performances. There are dozens of artificial Christmas trees throughout the “lake” in the middle of the park. They are covered in Christmas lights, and look beautiful. Every half hour or so, after the sun goes down, the lights on the trees dance to music. It was very well done.
From here, I moved over to Bayside Stadium for the last two shows of the night. By now, I was tired, so I had no problem sitting and waiting for awhile for the shows to start. First up, was the ice show, Winter Wonderland on Ice. That’s right, an ice show in Florida. It was surprisingly good.
After the ice show, there was a brief break, and then Holiday Reflections started. This is a fireworks and fountains show. It gave Disney a run for their money. VERY good.
Once Reflections was over, I joined the masses exiting the park. I was remembering pure chaos leaving Sea World after fireworks a few years before, but this time, I was able to leave the parking lot relatively easily. Maybe because I was driving this time instead of mom? Whatever the difference, it was a good difference, and I was back at the hotel fairly quickly, and ready to collapse into bed.
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