Monday, January 27th: SeaWorld, continued
We were starting to feel the need to get something to eat, so we decided to head over to the Pretzel Kitchen for our first meal on our all-day dining plans. We knew it was one of the first restaurants at the park to open for regular service aside from the sole location that offers the continental breakfast each day, but it also happens to be one of our favorite places at the park to dine because you can get some different fare there than the typical theme park line up of burgers, fries and pizza. We strolled up to the restaurant entrance just as they opened the doors at 10:30 am.
It smelled SO GOOD. Because they were just opening up for the day, they were literally pulling everything out of the ovens so the scent of fresh cooked pretzels hung deliciously in the air. I think I gained 5 pounds on that incredible scent alone. It makes deciding on what to have so hard when it all looks and smells sinfully delicious!
We were there so close to opening, in fact, that they didn't have their side item (which is freshly made kettle chips) ready yet, but we didn't want any anyway. That was just a tad too greasy for our first meal of the day. The staff seemed to feel bad that they couldn't offer us the complete entree but we assured them it was just fine. We grabbed a couple of drinks, made our pretzel selections, redeemed our all-day dining purchase print-outs for arm bands and settled in to enjoy our late breakfast.
Steve had the stuffed pretzel burger and I had the pretzel dog. My preference would have been the pizza pretzel but unfortunately those weren't done baking yet either, and I didn't want to wait (my stomach was begging for something by that point and the pretzel dog was a very suitable second choice). The pretzels were hot, dense and chewy so they were very, very filling.....definitely no kettle chips needed! Steve literally inhaled his burger, which was packed FULL of ground beef and super fresh: he is still raving about the freshness and taste as I am typing this entree. Definitely getting these items fresh baked is the key to max enjoyment.
Fueled and feeling ready to tackle the day, we wrapped up breakfast and headed to Sesame Street to see if we could catch a visit and quick photo with Elmo and Cookie Monster. That early in the day, Sesame Street was almost a ghost town.
Inside the meet-and-greet studio, we found a very short line for photos and ended up waiting behind only 4 or 5 other small groups. While we may feel a bit awkward waiting in line between all the young families, let me tell ya.....that awkwardness disappears when its our turn to spend time with the characters. 30 seconds in Elmo's presence and 40 years instantly melts away.
Cookie Monster was equally as sweet, and we took full advantage of the opportunity for hugs with our favorite blue friend.
After the meet and greets, we stopped at the Photokey desk to have the pictures put on our card, and asked the photo staff if they knew whether Oscar the Grouch would be meeting anywhere for photos today. Steve LOVES Oscar, and casually mentioned to me on the way to the park that morning that he would love the chance for a picture with the loveable curmudgeon.....so I was determined to make that happen if at all possible. The photo desk staff looked baffled with the question, and fumbled out a long reply about the fact that he doesn't generally do meet and greets, blah blah blah. I was a bit disappointed but not super surprised, because it was a weekday in slow season so I knew the likelihood was less than if we had been there on a weekend. We thought we'd take a stroll around anyway to see if any other characters were out and about, so we headed out the side door once our Elmo and Cookie pics were successfully added to our Photokey account.
And guess what? Look who was literally RIGHT OUTSIDE the door. At that exact moment.
Steve's inner child was rejoicing. This made his day more than he'd ever care to admit.
As we wound our way around that section of the park, we also caught sight of our favorite big yellow bird....so of course we had to stop for a hug and a picture!
You know what was super adorable, though? There was an older couple who had a service dog at the park, and we heard them explaining to a few of the SW Ambassadors that he was in training and working on being socialized in a variety of situations. They brought him into the line for the Big Bird meet-and-greet (immediately in front of us) and he calmly posed for the cutest picture EVER. While Big Bird was a hit with the little ones, that precious doggo was a close second!! Seriously soooo sweet!
More to come!