Dad's Taxi Keeps Rabbiting On and On - Part 10

[Dads_Taxi]

Part 10 – Tuesday 5^th 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).......

[Dads_Taxi]

Part 10B

We lunch in Voyagers Smokehouse, where Georgia is disappointed to find that kids’ meals are no longer served in plastic Shamu-shaped lunch boxes that can be re-used, but in boring cardboard boxes. Oh well, it’s grub. I confuse the family by having a chicken salad – I think Sweet Tomatoes may have corrupted me.

Back to the Sea Lion Stadium we go, and Hooray, people are being made fun of ! :

This bloke is brilliant, there’s a great article on him, well actually on the three guys who play the role, on the Orlando Sentinal website. Worth a read if you like the show.

It’s the same old jokes in the Clyde and Seamore Take Pirate Island show, but they’re good jokes, and as long as you’re not on the receiving end of them, who couldn’t find this show entertaining.

So far today the rides have been closed due to the proximity of lightning, but the day is cheering up, and the kids are desperate to go on Manta, which is a new ride since our last visit, and also Kraken, which Lydia is avoiding since she ended up spending a day at a medical centre in agony, on her 21^st birthday sadly, having suffered whiplash on this ride a few years ago.

Manta proves a hit, they love it, but as they race into Kraken we hear the announcement that has been resounding around the park all day, that the ride is closed. Not wanting to give up their place in the queue, my lot ask a staff member how long does he reckon it will be closed for, to be reassured that they’re just trying to recover some dozy kid’s shoes that have shot off his feet! The ride closed announcement has done them a favour, the queue is suddenly gone, and once the kid is reunited with his footwear my gang are straight on the ride.

Another new attraction since our last visit to SeaWorld is TurtleTrek. This is a 3D, 360 degree cinema-type show, in which you watch the progress of a newly hatched turtle through the turtle’s eyes, starting inside the egg, and leading right up to her going back to her birthplace to lay her own eggs. It is not unlike one of the old 360 degree projections where you stand within a dome and the images are projected all around and above you. I wasn’t alone in finding it a little claustrophobic, and anyone feeling bad was asked to just quietly leave. I was extremely impressed both with the content and the quality of presentation of this show. Give it a try, but be prepared to feel slightly nauseous!

Time to go, but we did want to say bye to the dolphins first.

I think if asked to pick my favourite park, prior to this trip I would have said SeaWorld. It takes my breath away watching the incredible shows, and I am constantly asking myself “how the heck do they train them to do that?” Sadly our day at SeaWorld this year was a bit of a damp experience, and it wasn’t through sitting in The Splash Zone. I’m still going to go back though!

We have been looking forward in anticipation to tonight’s dinner for several weeks – tonight we descend on Cheesecake Factory. On arriving at Mall of Millenia, we make a beeline for their reservations desk, and they look agog at the eleven of us. A table is reserved for later in the evening, so we cruise the mall, and try not to get distracted by the smells of food wafting from the food court. Georgia loves Justice (that’s a kid’s clothes shop, she’s not a small protector of the people) so I find myself sat outside Justice for an inordinate amount of time whilst she tries on possibly every outfit in the shop and Mrs Dad’s Taxi makes an ever increasing pile of clothes on the counter, awaiting the attention of my credit card.

And so, laden with more shopping bags, we reconvene at Cheesecake Factory, where we enjoy a fabulous meal, as expected, and leave with many bags of dessert to go! This is a great holiday.

[eagleydo]

[clap][clap]Great report, as usual, think I might go back to the first one and work my way through again.

[Lyn]

Great report as usual, we were there in June and had lots of rain, we waited and waited for a Shamu show to then be told the show was cancelled.

[davealsop]

Great report! Sea World has always been one of my favourite parks. Love the mime fellas and the Clyde & Seamore show. Never seen the dolphin show before but will be sure to check it out when we get over there!

Do they still do the evening shows & fireworks/laser thing?

[Lizb]

Another great report, I have to agree The Blue Horizons show is the best, love it.

[Lyn]

Great report! Sea World has always been one of my favourite parks. Love the mime fellas and the Clyde & Seamore show. Never seen the dolphin show before but will be sure to check it out when we get over there!

Do they still do the evening shows & fireworks/laser thing?

They still do the evening shows & fireworks but only during the summer, they also do the evening shows at peak times such as Labour Day, Thangsgiving etc.

[Laurel Oak]

Great report and photograhs.

[DisneyPrincess]

Dave i have to say i LOVE reading your trip reports!! We had the same soggy experience last trip - though it was in Epcot. I must admit we have been put off the park a little because of it

[Lyn]

Nothing could put my lot of Epcot.