Our first off-World day was dedicated to SeaWorld. We were up relatively early, had a couple of our Disney snacks for breakfast and were on our way. We had our GPS with us, but I wound up following the signs after a certain point, since I think the GPS was trying to take us to some staff entrance. For those of you using/renting a GPS in Orlando, just remember, they’re not perfect. If you see a sign that says go left and your GPS says go straight, it’s probably best to go left.
The entrance procedures for SeaWorld are basically the same as Disney, scan your card, give your fingerprint, go in, but it seems to take longer for some reason. Maybe it’s because we had one of the tickets you print online, but it wouldn’t read it properly. A staff member came over and punched some stuff in and it let us through. We headed over to the tour desk to check in for the ‘Exclusive Park Experience’ we had signed up for: the Beluga Interaction Program. While checking in, we were asked if we wanted to add the photo package, but opted out after we were assured we could buy it after the fact. Once we were checked in, we had some time to kill, so we went to check out the park.
Last time we were here, I think we did Kraken, then spent almost the entire rest of the day at the dolphin tank. Oh, and we saw the sea lion show. So this time, we wanted to do more. We did Kraken again (paid some money to store our camera), then Manta (paid some more money to store our camera), then wandered a bit. Kraken was as we remembered, decent, but nothing special. Manta was better, but still left something to be desired. I think Manta was when I saw the real difference between Disney and not-Disney. When we got to the front of the line, I asked about that, wondered if they just had one train running, or if the ride was longer than I thought. The girl running the ride said it was just one train, and that they were supposed to open another, but engineering had been called over to Kraken since it was down. I wasn’t mad or anything, and the explanation seemed valid since there had been some major rain, and I know rain can cause major issues with some coasters. But after she told me this, she started yelling across the track to her colleague, with me standing next to her, about how much she hated people asking her why there was only one train, and why the line was so big, etc, etc. I understand the frustration of dealing with the public, it’s what I do all day, but you don’t yell about it while those customers are around, you wait until you can voice your frustrations out of the public eye.
Anyway, on to our tour. We met up at the designated spot, and found out there was one other girl on the experience, so it was a pretty intimate experience. We were taken to get wetsuits and boots since we would be in a water area. The suit they gave me was a touch big, but no big deal, I wouldn’t actually be swimming. After 20 minutes or so, the girls finally came out (Rin said the other girl took forever to get her wetsuit on), and we were off to the animal enclosures. We saw the small enclosure where they keep seals before introducing them to the rest of the pack, we saw the food prep area, we saw a replica Beluga skull (which looks a lot different than you’d expect) then learned a bit about the Belugas we’d be meeting. Turns out the three we would be interacting with (or maybe just two of them, I can’t remember exactly) all came from Marine Land, a park in Niagara Falls that I used to visit a lot when I was younger.
We went out into the beluga area, Rin and I with one trainer and the other girl with her own trainer. There were also two trainers there doing ‘recall’ to keep the third beluga from getting jealous.The three whales we met were Aurek and Klondike (both males), and Maple (female). The first one we met (Maple) is the only one I can distinguish from the others, because she was insane. She’s still relatively young compared to the others, and is still learning what sounds she can make, so she likes to make noise constantly. It didn’t matter what we were doing, she’d squeak, and scream, and make fog horn type noises, and generally just be loud. It’s kind of neat, watching them make different noises, since the big ‘dome’ on their head is what helps them make different noise. Because the dome is mostly fat deposits, they can move it around, and then make different noises. So as she’s doing all of this, her head is constantly shaking back and forth, making the dome on her head wobble.
While she regaled us with her songs, we did different behaviours/tricks with her, like waving, rolling onto her back, swimming out then coming back, etc. It’s all stuff that the whales naturally know how to do, but the trainers teach them to do it on command to help with things like checkups. We had the chance to work with the other two whales as well, doing similar actions, seeing what they felt like, noticing the difference between colouring on the older two as opposed to Maple, etc. I should mention for anyone thinking of doing it, it’s very cold in the habitat, since they’re arctic animals. You also do get a bit wet (or sometimes a lot), which adds to the chill. At the end, the trainer gets the whale to splash you then give you a ‘kiss,’ and then the interaction is done. I’d say we were in the habitat for about 20-30 minutes or so. Much longer and I likely would have been an ice cube.
When you head out to where the original guide left you with the trainers, she has a warm face towel for each of you, and escorts you back to the change rooms to get dried off, wash your hands (since you feed the whales while you’re interacting with them) and get changed. I suppose you could shower too, since there’s one available, but I didn’t bother. Once everyone is changed, it’s back into the park, and you’re once again free to roam around.
We checked out a few more exhibits, then decided to have lunch. I think the place we ate at was called Mango Joe’s. Something I didn’t like about SeaWorld is that each Quick Service place serves something different. A couple of them had something I wanted, and a couple had something Rin wanted, but neither of them appealed to us both. And all of the places are far enough apart that it would be almost impossible to get one item from one place, and another item from someplace else. We settled for this place, since I could deal with having Chicken Fingers again, and Rin wanted to try their Chicken Wrap.
The place is set up ‘cafeteria style,’ where you grab your tray, and go down the line telling each person what you want. We wound up with the Wrap for Rin, Chicken Fingers for me, a giant dill pickle, and a single fountain drink. There was no seating in the ‘restaurant’ and limited seating outside, but there was some covered seating a dozen or so steps away. Sadly , it started pouring while we were getting our food, so by the time we made it to the covered seating area, our food was a touch damp.
My chicken fingers were acceptable, but really, how can you mess up chicken fingers? The fries that came with them weren’t the best ever, but they weren’t bad. Rin, on the other hand, simply hated her wrap. There was just nothing good about it, and she wound up sharing my lunch. At Disney, the portions are so huge that this wouldn’t be an issue, but here, I was a bit sad to see my food taken away from me.
Oh, and while the dill pickle was giant, it had almost no flavour. It was closer to a juicy cucumber than an actual pickle.
Final Thoughts
Am I Glad I Ate Here? - I had no major issues, but Rin likely isn’t glad she ate here.
Would I Go Back? - Probably not.
Rating: Me - 6/10
Rin - 3/10
Cost - $21.66
Something of interest for those of you who may be spending a day at SeaWorld, they have an All Day Dining Deal. It starts at $13.95 for kids and $29.95 for adults, and includes most of the Quick Service places as well as a couple of sit down/buffet meals.
After lunch, we headed over to the Sea Lion area. Something we had noticed all day, and continued to notice, was that something about the park just felt off. As if it was never quite finished. Maybe it’s just because we had spent so much time at Disney that we had become jaded, but even comparing it to what I remember of Canada’s Wonderland in Toronto, this just didn’t feel as finished.
Anyway, at the Sea Lion enclosure, we decided to feed the Sea Lions. I believe it was $5 for a tray of about 5 fish. We walked around the enclosure, tossing to random Sea Lions, and had a couple follow us, or appear as if from nowhere when they realized we had fish. When Rin threw the last fish to her Sea Lion, a bird deftly swooped in and snatched it. I actually had the camera on sport mode, so got the whole thing frame by frame.
We spent some time at the Stingray Pond again, feeling the stingrays as they swam past, but decided not to feed them. And we checked out the Dolphin Pool too, but there were so many people, we decided not to stay long. We planned to watch several shows, but the only one we saw was Blue Horizons. Rin and I both really enjoyed this show. It was a good mix of story, theatrics, animals and birds, and acrobatics. We had hoped to see One Ocean as well, but we missed the showing we were headed to, and would have had to wait another couple of hours to see then next one, and I just didn’t feel like hanging out at the park for that much longer. It was honestly starting to depress me. That, and we had a dinner show to get to.
So, as we were leaving, we decided to check out our pictures from the Beluga Interaction. Rin really liked hers, so we decided to get it. We had been told it was $50 to add the photos when we checked in, and that was the price whether we purchased the package then, or later on. When we went to buy them now, the price magically increased. We said that we were told it would be $50, no matter when we bought them, and they eventually agreed to bring the price down. Rin wanted me to have some pictures too, but the packages were so similar (since most of the pictures included both of us anyway) that I couldn’t justify spending another $50 for another Cd with like 3 different pictures. So, we tried to find out if we could get it cheaper if we only got the pictures that were different. This wasn’t possible. We asked if there was anything else we could buy, the answer was no, we had to buy all of the pictures for $50, or none of them. Apparently this doesn’t work the same way as a PhotoPass. So, we decided just to get the pictures on Rin’s CD. She still really wanted a picture of the Beluga kissing me though, and wasn’t too happy.
As the CD was being burned, the girl helping us went in to the back room, came out a few minutes later, and offered us a printed copy of the Beluga kiss picture for $10. I think this is the best deal we could have hoped for, so we took it. It turned out really nicely, and slightly redeemed SeaWorld for me. I still don’t think I’ll be back any time soon. Unless maybe we go specifically to do one of the Interaction Programs, since we enjoyed the Beluga one so much.
So, we headed back to the hotel to freshen up, Rin gazed longingly out the window at Hogwarts, and we were on our way to Sleuths Mystery Dinner Theatre for a night of murder, mystery and.... munchies!
The last time we were at Sleuths (in 2008), our meal wasn’t that great (our own fault for choosing meatless lasagna), and the table we were at wasn’t that interested in talking to us, presumably because we were too young and immature (they were all significantly older than us). However, the show and cast was good enough to make up for all of that, so we wanted to go back.
This time, I got a coupon from Restaurant.com, which brought the price down a bit, and we ordered Cornish game hen instead of the ghastly lasagna we had last time. We arrived, and were the first people seated at our table, directly in front of the stage. Much better seats than last time. Score. The next couple to get there were an elderly couple from the area who are regulars. The staff all recognized them, and they were great conversationalists. Next up were an African-American couple, who each ordered Sweet Tea. This prompted me to ask exactly what Sweet Tea is, since I’d never heard of it, and it’s advertised everywhere. This prompted a rather hard to follow, but hilarious, conversation about ‘The South’ and some restaurant called Mama Nems. Eventually, we came to the realization that sweet tea is almost what we call Iced Tea.
Last but not least, two guys our age came in. They were there for a horror convention in town, and I talked with them at length about the different festivities going on that weekend, including a Zombie Walk that I wish I’d known about in advance.
The show was just as good as last year (we made sure to see a different show this time), with the ending being just as convoluted, but the meal was infinitely better. The bread to begin with was delicious, and the game hen was juicy and flavourful. I don’t have any other Cornish game hen to compare it to, but I liked this one. Rin had the same thing and liked it as well. She especially liked the fact that it came with stuffing, which she doesn’t get much since I don’t like it.
Final Thoughts
Am I Glad I Ate Here? - Yes. Rin and I both really enjoy dinner shows of any kind, and this is the best mystery one we’ve been to.
Would I Go Back? - Yes. Honestly, it’s not the meal that makes this place, it’s the show. But the meal is good enough to keep me coming back.
Rating: Me - 8/10
Rin - 8.5/10
Cost - $88.90
It was fairly late after the meal/show was done, so we just headed back to the hotel, watched a bit of tv and went to sleep. Or did we go to DTD and meet partypa? It’s all just a blur at this point, the days started melding together once we left Disney. No, I’m pretty sure we just slept, because I had considered going to HHN for a bit, but decided against it. Bad call.
The entrance procedures for SeaWorld are basically the same as Disney, scan your card, give your fingerprint, go in, but it seems to take longer for some reason. Maybe it’s because we had one of the tickets you print online, but it wouldn’t read it properly. A staff member came over and punched some stuff in and it let us through. We headed over to the tour desk to check in for the ‘Exclusive Park Experience’ we had signed up for: the Beluga Interaction Program. While checking in, we were asked if we wanted to add the photo package, but opted out after we were assured we could buy it after the fact. Once we were checked in, we had some time to kill, so we went to check out the park.
Last time we were here, I think we did Kraken, then spent almost the entire rest of the day at the dolphin tank. Oh, and we saw the sea lion show. So this time, we wanted to do more. We did Kraken again (paid some money to store our camera), then Manta (paid some more money to store our camera), then wandered a bit. Kraken was as we remembered, decent, but nothing special. Manta was better, but still left something to be desired. I think Manta was when I saw the real difference between Disney and not-Disney. When we got to the front of the line, I asked about that, wondered if they just had one train running, or if the ride was longer than I thought. The girl running the ride said it was just one train, and that they were supposed to open another, but engineering had been called over to Kraken since it was down. I wasn’t mad or anything, and the explanation seemed valid since there had been some major rain, and I know rain can cause major issues with some coasters. But after she told me this, she started yelling across the track to her colleague, with me standing next to her, about how much she hated people asking her why there was only one train, and why the line was so big, etc, etc. I understand the frustration of dealing with the public, it’s what I do all day, but you don’t yell about it while those customers are around, you wait until you can voice your frustrations out of the public eye.
Anyway, on to our tour. We met up at the designated spot, and found out there was one other girl on the experience, so it was a pretty intimate experience. We were taken to get wetsuits and boots since we would be in a water area. The suit they gave me was a touch big, but no big deal, I wouldn’t actually be swimming. After 20 minutes or so, the girls finally came out (Rin said the other girl took forever to get her wetsuit on), and we were off to the animal enclosures. We saw the small enclosure where they keep seals before introducing them to the rest of the pack, we saw the food prep area, we saw a replica Beluga skull (which looks a lot different than you’d expect) then learned a bit about the Belugas we’d be meeting. Turns out the three we would be interacting with (or maybe just two of them, I can’t remember exactly) all came from Marine Land, a park in Niagara Falls that I used to visit a lot when I was younger.
We went out into the beluga area, Rin and I with one trainer and the other girl with her own trainer. There were also two trainers there doing ‘recall’ to keep the third beluga from getting jealous.The three whales we met were Aurek and Klondike (both males), and Maple (female). The first one we met (Maple) is the only one I can distinguish from the others, because she was insane. She’s still relatively young compared to the others, and is still learning what sounds she can make, so she likes to make noise constantly. It didn’t matter what we were doing, she’d squeak, and scream, and make fog horn type noises, and generally just be loud. It’s kind of neat, watching them make different noises, since the big ‘dome’ on their head is what helps them make different noise. Because the dome is mostly fat deposits, they can move it around, and then make different noises. So as she’s doing all of this, her head is constantly shaking back and forth, making the dome on her head wobble.
While she regaled us with her songs, we did different behaviours/tricks with her, like waving, rolling onto her back, swimming out then coming back, etc. It’s all stuff that the whales naturally know how to do, but the trainers teach them to do it on command to help with things like checkups. We had the chance to work with the other two whales as well, doing similar actions, seeing what they felt like, noticing the difference between colouring on the older two as opposed to Maple, etc. I should mention for anyone thinking of doing it, it’s very cold in the habitat, since they’re arctic animals. You also do get a bit wet (or sometimes a lot), which adds to the chill. At the end, the trainer gets the whale to splash you then give you a ‘kiss,’ and then the interaction is done. I’d say we were in the habitat for about 20-30 minutes or so. Much longer and I likely would have been an ice cube.
When you head out to where the original guide left you with the trainers, she has a warm face towel for each of you, and escorts you back to the change rooms to get dried off, wash your hands (since you feed the whales while you’re interacting with them) and get changed. I suppose you could shower too, since there’s one available, but I didn’t bother. Once everyone is changed, it’s back into the park, and you’re once again free to roam around.
We checked out a few more exhibits, then decided to have lunch. I think the place we ate at was called Mango Joe’s. Something I didn’t like about SeaWorld is that each Quick Service place serves something different. A couple of them had something I wanted, and a couple had something Rin wanted, but neither of them appealed to us both. And all of the places are far enough apart that it would be almost impossible to get one item from one place, and another item from someplace else. We settled for this place, since I could deal with having Chicken Fingers again, and Rin wanted to try their Chicken Wrap.
The place is set up ‘cafeteria style,’ where you grab your tray, and go down the line telling each person what you want. We wound up with the Wrap for Rin, Chicken Fingers for me, a giant dill pickle, and a single fountain drink. There was no seating in the ‘restaurant’ and limited seating outside, but there was some covered seating a dozen or so steps away. Sadly , it started pouring while we were getting our food, so by the time we made it to the covered seating area, our food was a touch damp.
My chicken fingers were acceptable, but really, how can you mess up chicken fingers? The fries that came with them weren’t the best ever, but they weren’t bad. Rin, on the other hand, simply hated her wrap. There was just nothing good about it, and she wound up sharing my lunch. At Disney, the portions are so huge that this wouldn’t be an issue, but here, I was a bit sad to see my food taken away from me.
Oh, and while the dill pickle was giant, it had almost no flavour. It was closer to a juicy cucumber than an actual pickle.
Final Thoughts
Am I Glad I Ate Here? - I had no major issues, but Rin likely isn’t glad she ate here.
Would I Go Back? - Probably not.
Rating: Me - 6/10
Rin - 3/10
Cost - $21.66
Something of interest for those of you who may be spending a day at SeaWorld, they have an All Day Dining Deal. It starts at $13.95 for kids and $29.95 for adults, and includes most of the Quick Service places as well as a couple of sit down/buffet meals.
After lunch, we headed over to the Sea Lion area. Something we had noticed all day, and continued to notice, was that something about the park just felt off. As if it was never quite finished. Maybe it’s just because we had spent so much time at Disney that we had become jaded, but even comparing it to what I remember of Canada’s Wonderland in Toronto, this just didn’t feel as finished.
Anyway, at the Sea Lion enclosure, we decided to feed the Sea Lions. I believe it was $5 for a tray of about 5 fish. We walked around the enclosure, tossing to random Sea Lions, and had a couple follow us, or appear as if from nowhere when they realized we had fish. When Rin threw the last fish to her Sea Lion, a bird deftly swooped in and snatched it. I actually had the camera on sport mode, so got the whole thing frame by frame.
We spent some time at the Stingray Pond again, feeling the stingrays as they swam past, but decided not to feed them. And we checked out the Dolphin Pool too, but there were so many people, we decided not to stay long. We planned to watch several shows, but the only one we saw was Blue Horizons. Rin and I both really enjoyed this show. It was a good mix of story, theatrics, animals and birds, and acrobatics. We had hoped to see One Ocean as well, but we missed the showing we were headed to, and would have had to wait another couple of hours to see then next one, and I just didn’t feel like hanging out at the park for that much longer. It was honestly starting to depress me. That, and we had a dinner show to get to.
So, as we were leaving, we decided to check out our pictures from the Beluga Interaction. Rin really liked hers, so we decided to get it. We had been told it was $50 to add the photos when we checked in, and that was the price whether we purchased the package then, or later on. When we went to buy them now, the price magically increased. We said that we were told it would be $50, no matter when we bought them, and they eventually agreed to bring the price down. Rin wanted me to have some pictures too, but the packages were so similar (since most of the pictures included both of us anyway) that I couldn’t justify spending another $50 for another Cd with like 3 different pictures. So, we tried to find out if we could get it cheaper if we only got the pictures that were different. This wasn’t possible. We asked if there was anything else we could buy, the answer was no, we had to buy all of the pictures for $50, or none of them. Apparently this doesn’t work the same way as a PhotoPass. So, we decided just to get the pictures on Rin’s CD. She still really wanted a picture of the Beluga kissing me though, and wasn’t too happy.
As the CD was being burned, the girl helping us went in to the back room, came out a few minutes later, and offered us a printed copy of the Beluga kiss picture for $10. I think this is the best deal we could have hoped for, so we took it. It turned out really nicely, and slightly redeemed SeaWorld for me. I still don’t think I’ll be back any time soon. Unless maybe we go specifically to do one of the Interaction Programs, since we enjoyed the Beluga one so much.
So, we headed back to the hotel to freshen up, Rin gazed longingly out the window at Hogwarts, and we were on our way to Sleuths Mystery Dinner Theatre for a night of murder, mystery and.... munchies!
The last time we were at Sleuths (in 2008), our meal wasn’t that great (our own fault for choosing meatless lasagna), and the table we were at wasn’t that interested in talking to us, presumably because we were too young and immature (they were all significantly older than us). However, the show and cast was good enough to make up for all of that, so we wanted to go back.
This time, I got a coupon from Restaurant.com, which brought the price down a bit, and we ordered Cornish game hen instead of the ghastly lasagna we had last time. We arrived, and were the first people seated at our table, directly in front of the stage. Much better seats than last time. Score. The next couple to get there were an elderly couple from the area who are regulars. The staff all recognized them, and they were great conversationalists. Next up were an African-American couple, who each ordered Sweet Tea. This prompted me to ask exactly what Sweet Tea is, since I’d never heard of it, and it’s advertised everywhere. This prompted a rather hard to follow, but hilarious, conversation about ‘The South’ and some restaurant called Mama Nems. Eventually, we came to the realization that sweet tea is almost what we call Iced Tea.
Last but not least, two guys our age came in. They were there for a horror convention in town, and I talked with them at length about the different festivities going on that weekend, including a Zombie Walk that I wish I’d known about in advance.
The show was just as good as last year (we made sure to see a different show this time), with the ending being just as convoluted, but the meal was infinitely better. The bread to begin with was delicious, and the game hen was juicy and flavourful. I don’t have any other Cornish game hen to compare it to, but I liked this one. Rin had the same thing and liked it as well. She especially liked the fact that it came with stuffing, which she doesn’t get much since I don’t like it.
Final Thoughts
Am I Glad I Ate Here? - Yes. Rin and I both really enjoy dinner shows of any kind, and this is the best mystery one we’ve been to.
Would I Go Back? - Yes. Honestly, it’s not the meal that makes this place, it’s the show. But the meal is good enough to keep me coming back.
Rating: Me - 8/10
Rin - 8.5/10
Cost - $88.90
It was fairly late after the meal/show was done, so we just headed back to the hotel, watched a bit of tv and went to sleep. Or did we go to DTD and meet partypa? It’s all just a blur at this point, the days started melding together once we left Disney. No, I’m pretty sure we just slept, because I had considered going to HHN for a bit, but decided against it. Bad call.
No comments:
Post a Comment