Sunday, April 25th: SeaWorld, the conclusion (LOL....it’s about time!!
)
After wrapping things up at the pretzel toss game, we strolled over to Shamu’s Happy Harbor.
While we were admittedly just about the only people in that section of the park without at least one small child in tow, we were not deterred: I have a soft spot for the Sea Carousel, and my guys were happy to indulge me. Thankfully this area is not only for the young, but also the young at heart
. As it was in the balance of the park, this area was also unbelievably uncrowded and the carousel was a walk-on and running literally at one quarter of its available capacity.
We walked around for a little bit, taking in some of the various attractions that the park boasts for the wee folks. I don’t normally like to take a whole bunch of pictures of the little kids area when I don’t have a small child of my own, but since there were so few people milling about, I thought it was a good time to grab a few shots. This part of SeaWorld is so adorable, and I can just picture us bringing our grandbabies here to play someday.
LOL, I can just picture Poppa Steve training those wee kidlets to love the games like he does
.
After our foray through Happy Harbor, we decided to make Wild Arctic our next stop since we hadn’t visited that attraction since August 2014. On our Christmas visit a few months prior, it was converted (as it is each holiday season) to the Polar Express experience. While I much prefer this ride as the Polar Express, Wild Arctic is also worthy of a ride....especially when it ends with visits with sea lions, beluga whales, and walruses!
My only complaint is that the ride, which simulates a helicopter flight over the frozen Arctic tundra, makes all three of us ridiculously nauseous if we partake of the motion side (lesson learned in August 2014...and we paid for that decision for hours afterward
). It’s odd for Steve and Jake to suffer from motion sensitivity (they can ride coasters without batting an eyelash), but this one really messed us up for some reason. Both sides of the attraction were a walk-on (literally a completely empty queue!) so we all voluntarily and wholeheartedly agreed on the non-motion “walking tour”......just to ensure we all felt as awesome for the rest of this day as we had up until that point.
It was a good choice. We were fit as fiddles as we headed into the animal viewing areas to check out the awesome creatures housed in Base Camp.
Unfortunately for this report, the lighting in this attraction is very, very dim....and the animals are surprisingly active. Those two conditions added together make for some pretty dismal photos unless you carry a much more elaborate camera than I do to the parks. I would have loved to have shared some pictures of the ENORMOUS walrus and the breathtakingly beautiful beluga whales, but my grainy and blurry photos didn’t do either of them justice. So you’ll have to take my word for how awesome they were....or better yet, plan to visit SeaWorld on a future trip so you can experience them for yourself
.
A crowd pic:
......and a shot of base camp:
We exited to the gift shop.
The topiary garden is just between Wild Arctic and Shamu Stadium, so we walked through there before heading back across the bridge. I know I have said it before, but the SeaWorld gardens are just so amazing.
Our energy was starting to fade fast at this point. We had walked what felt like a million miles and hit just about every must-do on everyone’s list for this first SeaWorld day. One of the only things left on today's SeaWorld wish list: Jake wanted to pick up something special for his beloved Nan and requested that we stroll through the shops at the Waterfront to see if he could find just the right item to take to her. Since there were no other specific attractions that anyone wanted to hit, that’s where we headed next.
This is easily my favourite shopping area in the whole park. One store runs into the next that runs into the next, and while each little sub-store has its own distinct focus.....together, they have almost everything
.
We milled about the stores for a bit and found some GREAT stuff to buy (with our 25% off discount card applicable to all items, wahoo!) and then decided to grab dinner on the all-day dining plan before dragging our weary bodies back to the resort. In the interest of trying something new, we headed to the Expedition Cafe at Antartica....we had never eaten here before on any of our previous visits, and the menu looked intriguing.
The Cafe was set up in three different and distinct stations: American, Asian, and Italian.
There was a large display at the end of the ordering area which showcased how you would grow food in places like Antarctica where soil was largely unavailable. It was rather interesting and went along great with the theming.
Once you ordered and received your meals, you took them to Penguin Hall where there was ample seating themed to an Antarctica base camp: complete with camp decor and the “Antarctica radio station” playing over the speakers for guests.
Just by fluke, all three of us ordered from each of the different stations. Steve had the fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy and biscuits from the American station (sadly, there is no photo of his meal....how did that happen?
) while I had the orange chicken and fried rice from the Asian station:
Jake opted for the Alfredo pasta from the Italian station:
Each of us had cookies as our dessert selection (which were oddly limited at this location). In fact, unless I’m remembering wrong, I think cookies were the only dessert side from which to pick here
.
The entrees themselves were hit or miss. Jake loved his pasta dish....it was hot, fresh, and quite tasty. My orange chicken and rice was good: not fabulous, but quite acceptable considering this was not your neighbourhood Chinese restaurant. Steve’s fried chicken entree was a bust: the chicken pieces were meatless and overcooked, the mashed potatoes were cold, and the biscuit was dry. I encouraged him to take it back but he was happy to eat the little bit that he wanted and share off of Jake’s and I’s plates as well (we all had way more food than we needed or wanted, especially after the guys eating pizza from Seaport mid-afternoon). By this point in the day, I dare say we were almost too tired to eat anyway
.
After dinner, we were all ready to call it a day. As we headed out of the park, we stopped at Adventure Photo to have the “magic” elements from some of the morning pictures added to our account (having learned from experience on previous visits that the magic is not automatic):
...and then we shuffled ourselves to the car. It had been an incredible day, but we were
exhausted.
Back at the resort, we dropped our weary bodies into the hot tub and enjoyed a long, leisurely soak under the stars. We all headed to bed at a reasonable hour, as plans for the following day called for a full day at Universal Studios....Jake’s first visit there in more than 4 years.
A full day of fun at Universal Studios.....and our first Butterbeer of the trip!
... is coming up next!
That check-in experience was a doozie though. You are much kinder than I would have been. I'd have been at the main check in at 12:30 after being turned away by the VIP folks. 
Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip and see more yummy food pics!!!
25eels! Glad to have you reading and joining in the chatter 
Steve will most definitely want another kick at the cat.
. Maybe I just timed our visit during some sort of annual refurbishment?
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to everyone reading along.....I am always grateful for those who choose to spend their leisure time perusing our vacation memories. We are officially one week back from our most recent adventures in Orlando, so its high time a report gets (finally) underway
. I certainly can’t say that we are settled in and organized yet (we are now in the midst of some minor home renovations, so life is more chaotic now than before we left!) but we’re coming along. It’s a process, albeit often a slow one.
. They love sports, theme parks, big thrills and food. I am more of an “experiences” kind of gal....as I told a friend last night, as a general rule I don’t like to be shaken, spun, dropped, startled, dangled, surprised, or perched at precarious heights. I also don’t like loud noises (cue the yawns, LOL!). But somehow, we always manage to find that perfect mix of things to do that satisfies everyone’s vacation wish list. The Disboards contributors and my awesome Florida friends are always a big part in my planning successes. Thanks to the many other trip reports here on the boards, I often come off as a genius in my fellows' eyes. These reports can be the most excellent way to share some pretty nifty ideas.
I certainly could not have seen that milestone coming when we were planning our first (and supposedly "once in a lifetime") Orlando expedition in 2009.
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: we never lost sight of how many incredible experiences were a direct result of their unbelievable kindness. Our initially "basic" trip was nothing short of EPIC.
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More to come soon!
. We've actually had it a bit dry for this time of year. Steve and I went for a walk earlier tonight and there were several folks watering their lawn. We could use a shower or two to help keep everything green 
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