SeaWorld – The Traveling Maker

Day 8 and 9 – 10/14/2022 and 10/15/2022

The next 2 days we spent at SeaWorld. There was so much to do here that we concentrated primarily on the shows and animals and very little on rides. In fact we only rode 2 rides.

Day 1:

The first day here was fantastic. The sky was overcast so it wasn’t nearly as hot. It was pretty muggy but still very comfortable. And later in the day when the sun did appear there were plenty of shady spots where we could sit and rest.

Shark Encounter

First stop was the Shark Encounter. Outside they had a couple pools with various sharks and rays.

Then we went inside and got to go through the glass tunnel and see various fish and sharks.

Infinity Falls Ride:

As soon as they opened the rides we quickly went to the Infinity Falls ride to try to get in as short a line as possible. Well it worked. With the Express Line pass we were on a boat within minutes. The ride was a blast. We basically rode on a round boat that goes through a bunch of rapids. Then at the end it goes down a big drop and soaks everyone inside the boat. We only had a mother and her 2 children in the boat with us so we had plenty of space.

Waiting Around:

At this point it was getting near the time to do our Killer Whale (Orca) Up-Close Tour so we headed to the meeting point and sat and waited for the tour to begin. There were some egrets begging for food and the waiting area was really nice.

Killer Whale Up-Close Tour:

This is where the Killer Whale Up-Close Tour began. We had quite a long walk but they took us into the areas behind the scenes where they work with the orca’s. They showed us how the feed and medicate them when there is something wrong. They showed us how they train them and gave us all kinds of information on what they eat, how much, how much they weigh, and a lot more.

One very interesting fact is that they are maternal. They have one female leader of the pod who makes all the major decisions. The other orca’s will look to her first before doing almost any behavior. If she gives the approval then they will do it. I bet human women wish it worked this way for them huh? Too bad it doesn’t. The world might be in better shape.

Lunch:

Once we finished with the orca tour it was about time for lunch. So we went looking for food. After we got the food we sat in that spot where we waited for the tour to eat lunch. While eating lunch we had a little beggar egret come up to Curt begging for some food. Even though Curt knows it’s naughty he felt really bad for the poor starving bird and gave him a couple chips.

Flamingo Cove:

After lunch we had some time to kill before our next tour, which was the Dolphin Up-Close Tour. So we went walking around looking at what we could. We went by the Dolphin Nursery and the Flamingo Cove.

While walking around, we passed by some fun “tall dancers”.

Dolphin Up-Close Tour:

Next it was time for the Dolphin Up-Close Tour. This was quite fascinating. We got a few pictures at the start but they wouldn’t allow us to take pictures or videos while doing the tour as the dolphins have a habit of grabbing phones and making play toys out of them.

Like orca’s, dolphins are maternal. They are extremely playful and intelligent. They are mammals so breathe air like we do. They have a blow hole in the top of their head that they can open and close at will. So they will surface, take in a breath of air and then close the blow hole to dive for up to 30 minutes.

Journey to Atlantis Ride:

Since we had finished both our up-close tours for the day we decided to go ride the only other ride we were interested in, the Journey to Atlantis. This was another boat ride where we floated through a beautiful display that looked like the lost city of Atlantis. At the end of the display we went down a big drop that soaked everyone in the boat. Then we went back up a big ramp and did a smaller drop that had a high speed curve and then splashed us again. It was so much fun although Debby was not pleased that I “got her on another rollercoaster”.

Unfortunately they wouldn’t allow us to have our phones out so we couldn’t get any video or pictures while actually on the ride.

Under Water Dolphins:

We really wanted to see the Dolphin show at the end of the day so we had some more time to kill. So we walked around and looked at some more of the animal exhibits. We went to the dolphin underwater display where we could see the dolphins swimming around under the water.

Dolphin Adventures:

Finally we got to the Dolphin Adventures show. This was a show where we got to see all the various fun and exciting dolphin tricks and behaviors. They came and took a little girl that was sitting behind us up and she was able to participate in the show. When they asked her questions she had some of the most funny answers. Like “Where are you from?” and the answer was “My house”.

We had reserved seats that we paid extra for. We were quite excited to sit and watch the show in the reserved seats until we saw where they were. We said screw it and sat in normal seats right next to the pool in the splash zone. It was so much better. See the reserved seats at the top of the picture with the blue banners?

Then the dolphin show started and was so much fun. At one point some snowy egrets tried to join the show.

This concluded the first day. It was an extremely busy and fun day. According to my watch we took over 15,000 steps. That helped with the 5 ice cream bars we ate for dinner that night while we watched another beautiful sunset.

Day 2:

This day we only had a single up-close tour so decided to spend the rest of the day watching the remaining shows and the other animal exhibits that we missed the day before. So today was the seal show, the orca show and the beluga whale up-close encounter.

Manatee Rehabilitation Area:

We had some time to kill before the beluga up-close tour we had scheduled. So we decided to walk around and look at some of the exhibits we hadn’t seen yet. We started off with the Manatee Rehabilitation Area. Such fascinating and huge animals.

Alligators:

There was also an exhibit of alligators that we walked by.

Jewel of the Sea Aquarium:

Next we went to the Jewel of the Sea Aquarium. It is a beautiful aquarium with various fish, jelly fish and glass bottom floor to see fish swimming below.

Pacific Point Preserve:

Next stop was the Pacific Point Preserve where they had all sorts of wildlife that inhabits the Pacific Ocean. This included seals, sea lions and various birds.

Lunch:

It was now lunch time so we started looking for something to eat. We passed by two places we really wanted to try out but unfortunately both were closed. So we had to settle for something a little less crazy. One was Road Kill Hot Dogs stand and the other was Crawling Cravings. Curt especially wanted to try the Grasshopper Tacos.

Beluga Whales Up-Close Tour:

It was finally time for the Beluga Whales Up-Close Tour we had scheduled. They took us behind the scenes to see how the beluga whales were trained, fed and medicated. We got to touch and feed them. This was the highlight of the entire vacation. But dang that water was cold.

While it was entertaining to think we were getting the whale to perform, it’s pretty obvious here that the whale was performing for the trainer and not us. All our fingers are pointing different directions. We would have had that poor whale so confused.

Here we were getting the while to do some interesting sounds.

This was really fun. We all pretended we were casting a fishing line and reeling it in. The whale started swimming toward us while making a noise that sounded like a fishing reel being reeled in.

Of course petting a beluga whale is something most people will never have the opportunity to do. It was so cool. Their skin is a little rubbery and very squishy.

Here we put a fish down in the water and waved it for the whale to see. She would then come up and use suction to suck the fish right out of our hand. And yes that water is really cold.

And our big performance.

Here she spun a circle while shooting water out of her mouth pretending to be a sprinkler.

Of course feeding her was so cool.

Waving final goodbye.

Wild Arctic:

After the beluga up-close tour we walked around and enjoyed the Wild Arctic area. It was a re-created Arctic Research Station built around two sailing ships which are trapped in the ice. The story surrounding the ships are taken from the 1845 expedition of Captain John Franklin and his ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror.

Sea Lion & Otter Spotlight:

Next we went to the Sea Lion & Otter Spotlight show. It was a hoot. The otters were so cute. They kept running in and out of the vending machine.

Orca Encounter:

Once the seals show was over we had to hightail it across the park to the orca area to see the Orca Encounter show. This was such a fantastic show and we were sitting dead center right in the splash zone. They are such amazing animals. It was definitely a great way to end the day.