Here we all are just before we left the condo (the girls still had no clue where we were going!)
Our tour started at 10am and we joined another family of four and a guy and his teenage son. Our tour guide, Alma, was absolutely great! We started out by walking through the park and catching some of the animals along the way. Here are Kyleigh's favorite birds, flamingos!!
Did you know they are pink because of the shrimp they eat??
We made our way to our first experience, feeding dolphins! Keeping the girls from going over the edge of the feeding pool was the goal here! We each got a carton of fish and they swam right over to us. We fed them and got to rub them as well. It was awesome!!! Kyleigh was a little scared to touch them, but Reece of course reached right out! It was also great because we got to skip the line on the tour and did not have to wait in line in the very hot sun. We also got to feed the sting rays, which was weird because their mouths are on the bottom of their bodies and you had to hold the fish in between two fingers at the bottom of the tank and they would suction them up. Really strange feeling!!!
All smiles there at the ray pool
After this we went to our first show of the day which was a dolphin show. These performers are amazing. It was a really beautiful show and we all had a great time. After that, we were led to THE MANTA. Sigh. This was my first roller coaster. It laid you on your stomach and it was suppose to mimic the way manta rays "fly" through the water. I have to admit as nervous as I was, it was a blast!
Trainer floating with one of the most beautiful animals I have ever seen
We saw another show with sea lions after this which was really cute and also got to walk over and feed them too. By this time, it was lunch, which was also going to be a special treat because part of the VIP package was lunch behind the Believe show, where the trainers would bring back a killer whale after the show and you would get to see right beside your table some of the moves they were working on. This was just great and the food was really good too!
Sea Lion show
We went after lunch to the penguin encounter to check out some of sweet little penguins they had and then to our last show, Believe.
At the previous shows, we had been sat up high with great seats to see the whole show, but we all asked on this one to sit in the "splash zone". They had reserved us seats in the center front.....and I mean center front! There was a rail in front of us and if I would have stood at it during the show, I could have reached out and touched the trainers and the whales. It was UNBELIEVABLE!!!! When the show started and the whales and trainers came out, I was just overwhelmed by the whole thing. I am such a dork and I cannot believe I am admitting to this, but just seeing those animals close enough to touch truly brought a tear to my eyes. These people were doing what they loved to do everyday. The show itself was fantastic....then they showed everyone the hand symbol for splash. We were all set, thinking it was going to be a small one. We saw him moving around the ring, splashing his tail and everyone in the stands. Then he went under water....and his head came up right in front of us! We were looking right into his eyes....maybe 5 feet from this gorgeous creature! At that point we were snapped out of our trance as his tail came down and GALLONS of 54 degree salt water came all over us!!!!! We were so wet! That is a memory I will never forget, looking into the eyes of that beautiful animal was truly something that touched me.
Right in front of our eyes! No zoom required!!
Your mouth would be wide open by this point!!
After that was a couple more rides, the Krakin (which Bobby and his mom rode) and Journey to Atlantis, which everyone rode.
There are so many things to take from SeaWorld, but the experiences we had with the animals were something I know we all really enjoyed and appreciated. Seeing those dolphins and killer whales up in the air just takes your breath away. We ate at Shark's grill that night after the tour and left the park about 8:30. What a great day! Take my word for it, if you have the chance to go to SeaWorld and you can do the VIP tour, don't pass it up!!!!!
Savings
Lowes employees get a 20% discount on SeaWorld tickets!
What was your favorite thing??
Brandi: "The entire VIP tour was my favorite. I didn't have to constantly worry about planning out the next ride/experience or rushing from one thing to the next to get a seat. It was all taken care of and we could really take it in and enjoy it."
Bobby: "The Krakin, the dolphin show and the Believe show"
Kyleigh: "Journey to Atlantis"
Reece: "my sea world trainer barbie"
Anything to avoid/dislikes?
No! The whole day was great!!
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