So I pretty much had this blog done (continuing to knock out these last Texas blogs) and then all of the sudden it was gone. Blogger just erased it which made me want to cry. So here goes attempt number two....
Tuesday was the day I was MOST looking forward to of our San Antonio trip. It was SEA WORLD day!! I saved it for the last day so that the anticipation could build. And I was worried Monday would be too crowded with it being Memorial Day (and it looked like rain). I had really talked it up with Lyla, but I think in reality I was more excited!! I LOVE Disney. I know Sea World is not Disney, but I knew for sure it would give us a taste of what Disney would be like with Lyla. Disney is totally my happy place. We went all the time growing up, my parents actually celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary there. I am all about the beach and the lake as well, but if I could choose, we would be at Disney every year for vacation!! It is just SO INCREDIBLY magical and it just makes my heart so happy. Cannot WAIT to blog about our first Disney experience. Sea World did not disappoint and it made me so excited to get to Disney with my family.
I bought the tickets ahead of time, I wanted to waste no time standing in line. The park was open from 10am-5pm and you better believe we used every.single.minute!! It was about a 15 minute drive from our hotel, which again, perfect location. That morning looked like rain for sure (see the dark clouds behind us in the picture below??), but once again, NO RAIN! It could not have turned out to be a more perfect day. I mean, Texas heat is no joke, so the fact that it was once again overcast and cooler the majority of the day was awesome! It was even hot and sunny by late afternoon and the sunscreen had to come out. We got to the park, no problem. Paid for parking and the parking lot was nearly empty, so our walk to the front gate was short. And there ended up being no line at the ticket counter as well. We basically walked right in. We of course brought the stroller today and we packed lots of food, snacks and drinks for Lyla. Lyla did awesome in the stroller and pretty much sat in it all day as happy as can be!
Ready to get in and have an awesome day!!
Our first stop was the Cannery Row Caper show featuring Seamore and Clyde, the Sea Lions. Sea World is all about the shows. There are rides, but Lyla was not big enough to ride most of them, so I knew that the shows would be our main thing for the day. Each show only shows a couple of time through out the day, so I knew we needed to catch this one first to be able to make all the shows for the rest of the day. We made it just in time and still got great seats. Little did we know our great seats were in the splash zone, so we did get a little wet. Did not make that mistake the rest of the day.
Waiting for the show to start. Going to the aquarium so often, I think, really prepared Lyla for all the shows we saw today. She loved watching all the animals perform and sat still through each one. At the end of each show she would say "Next show, momma! Let's go to next show!!". She was so excited all day for what came next! She also loved holding the map and telling us which way to go.
This show was cute.
There was even a walrus.
More interested in checking out the animals after the show than taking a picture with me.
After the show, we went and checked out the seals. Lyla loves going to the zoo and aquarium and looking at all the animals, so seeing all the animals at Sea World was perfect for her!
Checking out the seals.
This one loved posing for pictures!
There were flamingos and other birds which we had to stop and check out.
There were ducks to feed as well. So we bought a handful of duck food and Lyla had a blast feeding them.
Still checking out the ducks with daddy.
Next up was the One Ocean show. This featured the one and only Shamu! You can't go to Sea World without seeing this one. We were a little early for it, so it was perfect timing for a bathroom break and a snack while we waited. Along with being a fun park for people to visit, Sea World also does tons of marine research and animal rescue, which I think is cool. This show talked a lot about all the work they do, and what we as responsible humans can do to help our oceans out as well.
This Shamu had 6 orca whales I believe including a baby!!
This show was awesome as well and probably my favorite of the day.
Again, we had great seats, safely out of the splash zone....
....boy do those splash zones get soaked!!
These animals really are so amazing to me. Lyla loved it of course!
Next up the Azul show. This show featured Beluga whales, Pacific white-sided dolphins, exotic birds, and acrobatic performers. This show was so fun and high energy. We fed Lyla while we waited for the show to start. This show actually had pre-entertainment which was great for keeping Lyla entertained!
During the show, one of the trainers had to come out and stop the show because on of the dolphins was not cooperating. She explained that they only use positive reinforcement when the animals do what they are supposed and they ignore the animals when they choose not to listen. I love how they do not force these animals to do something they do not want to do. It took a few minutes, but the dolphin decided it was ready to go and the show went on.
The beluga whales are some of my favorites to watch at the aquarium. But I decided during this show that they are not "show animals" at all!
We could go down after the show and meet some of the acrobats. Lyla was not sure about them.
Adam and I started to get hungry for lunch and there was a break in our schedule between performances, so we decided to stop for lunch. Lyla wanted popcorn for lunch, so being the cool parents we are, we said ok! We decided to eat at an all you can eat pizza, pasta and salad bar called Rosita's Cafe. We paid as we walked in, but opted not to pay for Lyla since we figured she would not eat anything. It was nice to get in the air conditioning, since it was beginning to get hot outside. Of course after I got my food, Lyla decided to eat a slice of my pizza, which made us feel like we needed to pay for her. But she only ate one piece, a piece I would have eaten, so our guilt went away and we did not worry about it.
After lunch, we mapped out our afternoon, so that we could make sure to hit everything else we wanted to. Lyla did awesome skipping her nap and was a happy camper the entire day. Next up was the Boat and Water Ski show. This one was fun as well. I am telling you, there was not one boring show and Lyla loved each of them.
There were neat boat, ski, and wakeboard tricks.
Lyla wanted to go up and meet the cast after the show. She gave everyone a high-five.
Picking up the stroller, which that was easy as well. Each show had a stroller drop off and made me feel good about taking a stroller to Disney as well and leaving it.
Next we headed to the Penguin Encounter. Lyla was not a fan. It was basically a dark walk through where you could look at the penguins. For some reason she was not in to it, so we walked through it quickly. I did not take any pictures since it was so dark.
We did find a penguin character to take a picture with on our way out though.
Walking to our next destination. It looks like we are matching today :)
Our last show of the day was in the kid's area. They had the Sesame Street characters and they had a dance party. This was so cute. I wondered how she would do with the actual characters and it could not have gone better! She LOVED them and loved meeting them. She walked right up to the front of the stage and stayed there the entire show. Adam had to take a work call and I stood back. She loved watching them. See if you can spot her white bow.
After the show they took Elmo in to a "special" room to take pictures with the kids and Big Bird was in there as well. We followed him over and ended up being second in line to meet him. Once we got in there, they told me I could not take my own pictures, only they could, but that we could buy them. Umm, I don't think so. That is one of the MANY things I like about Disney, they will take pictures for you ALL day long with their cameras and put them on a card for you, but they also will take pictures for you with your camera. So needless to say, no picture of Elmo.
No worries though, the rest of the cast was outside waiting and she got to meet everyone and spend as much time with each one as she wanted. They were all so sweet and there was no wait.
Meeting Abby.
And Grover!
Cookie Monster.
She LOVED Zoe. I think it was her necklace and her bracelets she was wearing. She did not want to walk away from her.
Rosita, I think is the name of this one.
We walked passed the alligator pond. They weren't very exciting so we did not spend much time with them.
Then we headed to check out the rides in the kid area. We had finished seeing all the shows and knew we wanted to stop and see the dolphins, but they were on the way out, so we spent a little more time in this area. They had a HUGE play place for the kids, but there were so many kids and HIGH structures to climb on that I was nervous to let her play in it by herself. They also have a splash pad, but I did not really feel like dealing with her being wet, so we bypassed those things.
We stood in line for a little ferris wheel type ride. I chose to ride this one with her and it was really miserable. It took FOREVER. Each little bucket had to be unloaded and reloaded with each ride. And the sun was BLAZING hot at this point. Once we got up to the front of the line, we were the first to be loaded on. So we had to wait for all the others to be loaded while baking in the sun. Would not choose to ride this ride again.
Literally we spent more time waiting to be loaded and unloaded than we did actually riding the ride. Not worth it.
Adam took her on the carousel. Thankfully they were able to walk right on and it was shaded, so it was much more enjoyable for them.
After the rides, we stopped at the dolphin petting pool to check out the dolphins. The wall around the pool was so high, it was hard for Lyla to reach down and actually touch the dolphins. So it did not end up really being fun. There was a place where you could buy fish to feed the dolphins, but it was 15 minutes before the park closed, and we wanted to get an ice cream treat for ourselves!
I made the mistake of only buying one frozen lemonade for Lyla and I to share, thinking about how close it was to dinner time. Umm, that girl did not want to share it for anything and it caused the ONLY meltdown of the day. I ended up letting her have the majority of it, but ate the last little bit and she fell apart! Lesson learned, at Disney, we WILL each be getting our own snacks so that no one is unhappy!! We also stopped in the gift shop so that Lyla could pick out a special prize and I could get an ornament for our Christmas tree. We do not normally just buy her things every time we are out, but I felt like on special occasions/trips like this, she should be able to have a special treat. She picked out a Shamu stuffed animal, which she still sleeps with and I picked out our ornament.
We headed to the parking lot as the meltdown ensued, but once we got to the car and got the air conditioning going, everyone was happy again. We ran through the Panera drive-thru to pick up dinner and take it back to the hotel. We knew with no nap, Lyla would be ready for bedtime early. We ate, put her to bed and relaxed with another movie. Our feet were SO tired, we were glad to just relax the rest of the evening.
We had a late check out the next morning, but Adam had to get up early to do some work, so Lyla and I slept in and then got up, ate breakfast and got packed up to head back to Fort Worth. It was such an awesome time of just being together as a little family. I love these moments together and am SO glad we got time to have this trip. We needed it after being away for so long. And we still had several FULL days ahead of us before heading back to Atlanta!
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