9 December

On Friday we took a Disney break and headed to Sea World for the day.  I'd gotten a great deal on passes earlier in the year and I thought it would be fun to do something different.  I'd never been to Sea World in Orlando and so I was eager to try it out.  Well, it was kind of disappointing.

To start the day I had to try out the crazy Manta roller coaster with Ethan.  To begin the torture they buckle you in and then turn you until you face the ground.  Then you get to "swim" around like a Manta.  Fun, fun.  Ethan loves coasters, but no one was really up to riding with him.  Manta was my sacrifice.  It wasn't too bad, but I wasn't eager to ride again.

Then we headed to the back of the park to visit the sea lions.  The boys were feeding them when a bird swooped in and snatched a fish out of Tanner's hands.  That pretty much ruined the day for him.  The WHOLE day.  That meant it pretty much ruined everybody's day since he just couldn't seem to snap out of it.

Anders was good to chill in the stroller under the safety of the covered pavillion.  Tanner was good too.  No evil fish-snatching birds here.

The older boys all tried out Journey to Atlantis.  This one actually looked fun to me, but I didn't want to wait in line for it again so I skipped it.

A highlight of the day was the very pretty grounds.

It was fun to watch the dolphins play in the water.

Anders and Ethan both liked them a lot!

Then came the unfortunate sting ray incident.  Ethan was feeding the sting rays (which have had their stingers removed) when one came along and "bit" him.  The Sea World employee said that this has only happened to a few people and she refered to it as a "kiss" but I'd say it was pretty unpleasant based upon Ethan's reaction.

The poor guy just wasn't the same after that and it apparently caused him some degree of pain.  This day just wasn't getting any better.

We had a hard time getting Tanner and Bradon out of the stroller for much of anything.  I didn't think there were as many marine exhibits as there are in San Diego.  The dolphin show, however, was incredible!  There were dolphins, birds, acrobats and it was great.

The boys did light up in Shamu's play place and they rode Shamu's roller coaster several times.  Anders found a fountain at Shamu stadium that he enjoyed playing in.

Following is a picture of Manta.  I thought I took a picture!

We did get to enjoy a ride on the Polar Express and that was a good time.

To close the day Ethan wanted to try out the roller coaster Kraken.  This time Brian was the victim.  After the ride was over Ethan couldn't believe that Brian had kept his eyes shut through most of the ride.

Ethan, of course, thought it was awesome.

Although there were some happy points during the day I don't think we'll be rushing to visit Sea World again anytime soon.  We would have done better to just take the day off and enjoy the pool at the resort.  Lesson learned.