Part 10 – Tuesday 5th June 2012.
So far, our weather has been pretty much perfect, as you would expect for Florida in late May, early June. Today saw the end to that, unfortunately.
Today’s agenda starts with SeaWorld. It may be the umpteenth time we’ve been, but some of our gang are here for the first time, so rainy day or not, we’re going to do the shows. Armed with maps, schedules and enthusiasm we trek straight over to Shamu Stadium to get good seats. In fact we’re a bit early and the stadium isn’t even open yet, but we join a queue, sorry a line, at one of the gates, and manage to get some good seats when it opens. The Shamu show is still spectacular, but it certainly lacks, in my opinion, the absolute WOW factor of the show as it was prior to the tragic incident in Feb 2010. As per our last visit, this is as close as the trainers get to the whales:
I got the impression that the show has been heavily padded out with music and video presentations, requiring less contribution from the whales. I had a fanciful notion that a job advert for whale trainers may say “must have masters degree in marine biology. Good rhythm and dancing experience essential”.
Whatever, it’s still remarkable watching whales do this:
Next stop is the Clyde and Seamore show, another firm favourite of ours, especially the pre-show entertainment. The weather is getting worse, and the show start time passes with no sign of our favourite mime, or indeed Clyde or Seamore. Eventually a pirate pokes his head out and announces that they will wait for the storm to pass over before the show starts. And 15 minutes later he says the same. All the time we’re all sat there listening to the same pirate song played over and over again. It’s like being trapped on that Pirates of the Caribbean ride all over again! Then this guy becomes the most unpopular bloke at SeaWorld
when he announces that the show has been cancelled, please come back later in the day, blah blah etc. Oh well, at least we were sat under a roof in the dry for a while. On the way out of the stadium I ask a steward where the mime guy was, and she replies that he would have had all his makeup washed off by the rain. I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be funny, or accurate. Either way I’m disappointed.
We take more shelter in the Nautilus Theatre (spelt Theater) to watch the A’Lure, The Call of the Ocean show. I can highly recommend this show, and even more so on a wet day!
Next stop, the dolphin stadium, and the weather is improving, by which I mean the thunder is subsiding and it actually stops raining. The Blue Horizons show is thankfully only delayed by about ten minutes whilst they confirm the storm is moving away from the park. This show is awesome. It is so much more than a dolphin show, although they do steal the show!
The aerial acrobats, the free-flying birds, the high-divers, this show is so busy it’s hard to take it all in, and personally I think it has surpassed Shamu as the best show in the park.
Aha, I’ve hit the photo limit, read on (if you can cope with any more).......
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