San Diego - Day 2

Friday was our SeaWorld day.  There are three things I really appreciate about SeaWorld.  First, it's only open 10am-5pm.  Squeezing every minute out of a day at Disney World is exhausting when the park is open for 15 hours.  But getting your money's worth out of 7 hours at SeaWorld?  Much more doable.  I'd rather pay half the price of admission and spend half the time at the park, thankyouverymuch.

The second thing I appreciate is that it is decidedly not crowded.  The closest things to crowds we experienced were at the dolphin training session (where I had to actually put a little effort in to get the kids close enough to touch the dolphin at the end) and at the shows (and there aren't very many shows, so it's no surprise that everyone in the park gathers at the same times).  We had very short lines (if any) for rides and for food and were able to see pretty much everything we wanted to see.  (It's good to reserve one attraction for the next visit, right?  I'm talking to you, penguins.)

Third, I love that it has such a great variety of attractions.  How fun to visit a place that's 1/3 amazing animal entertainment, 1/3 theme park, and 1/3 interactive aquarium.  Also, the (reasonably priced) food is actually pretty good.

SeaWorld, you get my vote.

Cat's piano teacher strongly advised her to do some practicing while we were on our trip.  So this was the first of two mornings when Cat did a little bit of practicing.  On a beautiful piano.  Located in the hotel restaurant.  If I didn't feel bad enough about making her practice while on vacation, having her do it in such a public place really did the trick.  But I compromised by allowing her to do the very minimum.  She only went through her pieces once or twice each, so that she wouldn't forget anything.  It didn't take very long and she played very quietly.  But a few people walking by did compliment her, so that was nice.

Upon arrival at SeaWorld we fell victim to the oldest trick in the book: bog visitors down just inside the entrance.  The kids LOVED the touch tanks with the Southeast Asian dead-skin-eating fish and the sharks.  It took some convincing to move on into the substance of the park.

The dolphin training session began right after we arrived, so that was our first stop.  It was really cool to be close to the tank, learn how the trainers work with the dolphins, and try using the same hand signals.  At the very end, Jack and Luke even touched a dolphin.

(Jack with the red sleeve.)

Then the Dads took the big kids to ride roller coasters while Amy and I took Luke and Sawyer to the Sesame Street Bay of Play to ride some rides and play in the enormous playground.

Since there was pratically no line, the older group got their fill of roller coasters - to the point
that the Dads weren't interested in riding anymore and the kids kept going without them.

We met up at the dolpin show, which we all loved.  A special guest at the show was a Pilot Whale (which is actually in the dolphin category, like Killer Whales).

Then we spent some time exploring, riding some more rides, and eating lunch before the Killer Whale show.  We saw crabs and an octopus, rode on the swings, went on the 4D Arctic ride, and saw Beluga Whales.  The Killer Whale show was both very interesting (much more educational than the last time I was at SeaWorld) and incredibly impressive.

I really wanted to ride on Shipwreck Rapids even though the weather was just barely on the chilly side, since I really like those types of rides.  It took some convincing, but eventually everyone decided to go.  We figured that even if we got wet, the park would be closing before long so we wouldn't be freezing for very long.  The one who was the most worried about getting wet was Amy, but she declined my windbreaker and faced the rapids like the strong and brave woman she is.  Can you guess who got the most wet on the ride?

The last part of the day included the stingray touch tank (we were there for a while!), checking out the shark and sea turtle viewing areas, and the always hilarious sea lion/walrus/otter show.  Jack really wanted to take me on the Manta roller coaster, and Luke wanted to try it, so we rushed over there just before closing time and were the only three on the ride.  The operator even included a special message to Jack over the loud speaker, telling him to enjoy his ride.  Jack had been saying that he wanted to ride in front but started to change his mind when we were getting on.  I convinced him that he should do it, while I rode right behind him with Luke.  I'm glad I talked him into it - he loved being in the front and it was a great way to end the day.

That night we took advantage of the hotel's supervised children's area and let the younger kids play video games, watch movies, and do arts and crafts while Cat joined the adults at the hotel restaurant for dinner.  Win-win-win.