Saturday, August 30th
..Seaworld, continued.
One thing I should mention about this day is that I took hardly any photos (well, hardly any based on my customary photo volume). A couple of things factored into this scenario: one, I took more than 250 on the day we won the VIP tour, so I already had a ton of pictures many of the park features, shows and rides. Two, I took my small camera (instead of my bulkier, larger one) to cut down on the stuff I had to carry around all day, but neglected to change the batteries before departing. I also failed to toss a spare pack of batteries into my sling bag
(didnt even think about doing so, as I always carry spare packs in the camera bag for my larger camera). Not long after arriving at the park, I started to get a low battery warning. In hindsight, I should have purchased a package of batteries at the park, but my thrifty side screamed out a big fat NO knowing that I had piles of them back at the villa. In one regard, it was rather nice not having the camera in hand all day (kind of freeing, you know?) but I regretted getting so few photos after the fact. Alas, I did squeeze in a few pics here and there, plus we bought the CD again at the end of the day, so I have enough to give you some visuals of our activities.
After experiencing Antarctica and getting our photos taken, we opted to take a break for lunch with our all-day dining passes. We all opted for Voyageurs
Steve had a craving for a salad:
while I went with the brisket.
Steve gave the salad rave reviews, and was grateful for a lighter option in the head of the afternoon. Of course, he also helped me finish my brisket platter (of which the meat was fantastic
.tender, flavourful, no grizzly stuff running through it
..so yummy
). We also splurged on another piece of chocolate cake each....you know, just to help get the value out of our dining plan
. The kids had been directed through a different line, and the restaurant was busy enough that we couldnt get a set of 4 seats together initially, so I have no idea what they ended up having to eat. My guess would be burgers or chicken.
With lunch behind us, Jake and Sweetie requested that we stop to play a game or two before hitting up our next attraction. Sweetie had spied the Sea Spray game, which she excitedly told me was her favourite (where you fire a water gun at a target and compete for first versus your opponents) so we gave them some cash so that they could play a couple of times.
As the only competitors, she had a big grey dolphin in hand within a couple of games:
Jake had purchased Sweetie a pink killer whale from Seaworld following our visit on the Wednesday, plus she had the stuffed dolphin from our cabana package at Discovery Cove. This, then, made stuffie #3 (whoops, on second thought, it was officially #4
..she also had the plush bee from Jakes efforts at the hoops game earlier that week). Packing up to go home was going to be an adventure
.
Following the dolphin capture at the Sea Spray game, we headed to Wild Arctic as it was another one of our must-dos for the day. You may remember it was one of the attractions we missed on the last visit. Arriving at Wild Artic, we had our choice between the mild and wild sides. We had rode this simulator before, during our Christmas trip in 2012 when it was rethemed to the Polar Express for the Christmas Celebration, and had no problems on it whatsoever. So we opted for the wild ride and we were boarded virtually immediately.
Bad, bad idea.
Steve and I sat in row 1, which we were told offered the least amount of motion of all 6 rows. Jake and Sweetie opted for row 3, figuring it was a good middle ground
. not too tame, not too jerky.. By the time the ride concluded, all 4 of us were feeling a tad green and suffering from massive motion headaches. While Polar Expresss wild was completely bearable, this was awful
. We felt so icky afterward that I didnt get a single photo of this attraction
.not one. We sat for a few minutes outside in the fresh air until such time as we felt we were no longer going to die, then moved on. But for Steve and I, it took quite a while for us to get back to normal. That Wild Arctic really messed with the old noggins.
Passing by Shamus Happy Harbour, Sweetie spied the Shamu coaster and casually mentioned to Jake that she thought it looked adorable. Sensing that was his hint that she wanted to ride it, he took her hand and they hopped into line (she protested weakly, saying she didnt want to look silly riding a kiddie ride, but was secretly delighted that he wasnt taking no for an answer). Steve and I sat in the shade while they waited for their turn on the coaster.
Apparently, Jake had been teasing her mercilessly as they stood in the queue, saying he was scared silly about such a wild and crazy ride. Screaming like a girl as they swooshed around the turns and curves, Sweetie had had enough of his foolishness and this is the ride photo we ended up with:
Sigh. Hes such a doofus sometimes
.
Strolling by the Sea Carousel, all three of my crew inquired as to whether or not I wanted to hop aboard. Heck ya! Who doesnt want to ride a giant fish? I put my self respect in the cubby along with my purse and I hopped aboard the mightiest sea creature I could find, right behind the kindergarteners and their parents. Jake, Steve and Sweetie, good sports that they are, all followed suit. I left the camera buried in the cubby out of courtesy. Not the kind of photos you want your college friends seeing on your Facebook page, thats for sure.
With our all-day dining passes, we popped in to the restaurants a dozen times throughout the day for freshly chilled bottles of water, a lifesaver again on yet another day of stifling summer sunshine. For the second time, we would drink our plan value in water bottles alone, and thats not including the cups of lemonade, lunch, dinner and snacks that we consumed. Definitely good purchases once again.
Other than the evenings special Shamu show, the only other absolutely-must-not-miss-it attraction for us was Journey to Atlantis. Strangely enough, despite this being our 4th visit to SeaWorld since 2012, poor Steve had never managed to experience this ride. Once it was closed for its annual refurbishment. Once it was too dang cold to get wet. Once we just didnt seem to find the opportunity to squeeze it in. So today, it was MANDATORY
. Steve-o would not be disappointed again this time. Meandering our way leisurely around the park (and enjoying all the visual awesomeness along the way
..its such a gorgeous place with so much to look at! This was definitely a different pace than our VIP tour day!), Journey to Atlantis was the next item on our itinerary.
More SeaWorld up next!
You did ICE! at Gaylord Palms last year, right?
Had to escalate to a supervisor then a senior supervisor 
.
We replaced our Bell services with cable many, many years ago now and I haven't missed them one bit. I hope you get your issues sorted out without acquiring too many grey hairs in the process!!!
.
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. We agreed to meet up at the front of Journey to Atlantis in a half hour or so, if not before.
.
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. Not ashamed to admit it. After a year of planning and two weeks of near perfect excitement and experiences, it was almost over. 
