It rained all night long on Tuesday night, but by Wednesday morning, it was all done. That was a really good thing for us, because SeaWorld was our only option today. Because of the passes we had bought, we had to go to SeaWorld today, or not go at all.
It was a little weird to think that it was Christmastime. SeaWorld did a lot more for Christmas than Legoland did, I think, but still, being in San Diego where the weather was beautiful and warm, and the beach was a nightly visit for us did not put us in the Christmas spirit. It's not like it made us angry or want to act like Scrooge or something, but we didn't really feel much like singing carols or anything either. Except maybe that Hawaiian carol.
My wife's intel on the best ways to experience SeaWorld said that the shows were the best part, so you should schedule your day around them. We got ourselves a program, and did just that. The first show wasn't all that spectacular. It was the pets show. Cats, dogs, birds, and the like did some tricks for us. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't impressive either. Although, the fact that they were able to get cats to do anything at all was a surprise. In my experience cats can't be bothered to stop loafing about and despising people to do anything.
We saw the sea lion show, which was pretty cool, and more interesting strictly based on the fact that you don't see them every day like you do your loathsome cat. And they're cute and fun as well.
After the sea lions,we went to the dolphin show.
My wife made us
hurry to the dolphin show stadium, because she wanted to get a good
close seat. One much better than the one we'd had for the sea lions. But
when we arrived in the stadium, the first ten rows or so were marked
off as the "splash zone". If you sat there, you could expect to get wet.
It had rained the day before, and all night long as well, and the
clouds hadn't gone away. It was still a pretty chilly day. Getting wet
was not on my list of things I was after. I know that most visitors to
SeaWorld would love it, because most visitors to SeaWorld come in July.
But us crazy Ankleviches always pick December as our month to attend theme
parks. So, the water features are kind of unattractive to us. She insisted we sit at the front nevertheless, so I trepidaciously parked my
rear on a bench, and started prepping my jacket as a shield to hide
behind.
The dolphin show was my favorite of the day. The things those dolphins could do were pretty amazing. There were also pilot whales that took part in the show. At least I
think there were. I didn't really see, because I was hiding behind my
jacket.
It started to seem like we might avoid getting wet, despite being front and center in the splash zone. The dolphins had splashed and soaked most everywhere except where we were sitting. But our time did finally come, right before the big finale.
Lastly, we went to the orca whale show. That's the show that takes place in Shamu Stadium. I assume that Shamu himself is long dead, mostly because if he wasn't, I'm sure they would have pointed him out again and again to us during the show. They did have a whole pod of orcas though. It was neat to see such humongous creatures leaping into the air like that, but beyond that, there was little of note to that particular show. The dolphins are much more nimble and impressive than the orcas.
Now that we'd seen all the shows, though, we were free to do whatever we
wanted, and what everybody wanted was to ride the Manta. The Manta is
SeaWorld's roller coaster. So, we headed in that direction.
I've mentioned more than once the rain from the previous night. It may
have made the dolphin show a sketchy proposal, but all in all, it really
worked in our favor. Because it had rained, SeaWorld was probably half
as full as it would have been at any other time. Because it was half
empty, we got really lucky with things that we probably wouldn't have
experienced otherwise.
Example number one: on our way to the Manta, we came across a woman
wearing what was perhaps the most outlandish (and ugly I have to add)
outfit that I've seen in some time. Immediately, I tried to steer clear
of this person. But she made eye contact, and started heading our way.
What was in store for us? I was afraid to find out.
This woman, it turns out, was part of SeaWorld's Surprise Squad, and the
awful outfit was the unfortunate woman's uniform. Here's a picture I
lifted off the SeaWorld site of the outfit. Truly hideous, right?
I think she zeroed in on me because I was holding a really cute two-year-old in my arms. They informed us that it was SeaWorld's 50th birthday this year, and in honor of that, they were giving surprise gifts to the people that come to attend the park. They asked Little what his favorite animal that he had seen today was. He was shy, and we had to coax and answer out of him. At last, he admitted that the orca whales that we had just seen in the last show we were at were his favorite.
They dug around in their bag, and pulled out a stuffed animal of an orca whale, and gave it to him as a gift. For the rest of the family they had coupons for a free popcorn and a free fountain drink for each of us. That was cool, because we never would have paid the astoundingly high price to buy them.
We moved on, and rode the Manta. Little was too small to ride, though. So, I stayed with him at the pool where you could pet manta rays. I was probably too fat to fit on the ride anyway. We went around, reaching for them as they passed, and petting their slick skin. Then we came upon an area where all the rays seemed to be clustered in a big group. At first I thought that was weird, but then I realized that someone had bought food, and was feeding it to them, and that's what they were falling all over each other to get. Little and I watched, and commented about it, when suddenly the guy with the food offered one of the little fish they were feeding them with to Little.
"Does he want to try?" he asked.
"Wow, thanks," I said. I guess when you're a cute two-year-old, people are often moved to do things for you.
The man told us how to feed them, and Little bravely stuck his arm in, and waited for the rays to converge. You had to hold your arm deep enough that the manta rays could come overtop of your hand (because their mouth is on the bottom), and then they would suck the fish out of your hand like a vacuum. Not sure how much Little liked that, but as soon as it happened, he jerked his hand out of the water, abandoning the feeder fish to its fate.
It was so fun that I knew that I had to have everyone else try it too. As soon as they came back from the roller coaster, I bought some food, and gave everyone a chance to try it. It was five dollars for five little feeder fish, which seemed like an astronomical price to me, and made me appreciate the man who gave Little one of his all the more.
Each of us got the chance to have a fish sucked from our grip by a fish that was so strange looking it might as well have been an alien. And pretty much without fail, we all reacted like Little did that first time, jerking our hand from the water as quickly as we could.
SeaWorld has been in San Diego for fifty years, and, just like the zoo, I visited SeaWorld in 1982, when I was eight years old...just a few years after SeaWorld opened, I suppose. I sure am getting old. One of the few things I remember from our day at SeaWorld thirty-two years ago was the SeaWorld Sky Tower.
It's not really anything all that impressive, just a big room that goes up into the sky, and rotates slowly to give you a view of the surrounding area in San Diego. But it stuck in my mind nonetheless. We all piled in, and took a ride on it.
After that, we headed over to the Bayside Skyride.
It was the same thing as the one they had at the zoo yesterday, except
that you had to take it on a round trip journey, since the far end of it
was all the way outside of the park. You rode it out, then turned
around and came right back to where you started from.
Leaving the sky ride, I spotted a person who appeared to be an employee of the park walking along with a head of lettuce in her hand. This seemed weird, but weird brought to mind the Surprise Squad and the free stuff they gave us, so I sort of headed in this woman's direction, just in case she was looking for someone to give something to.
It turned out that my instincts were correct. The woman walked up to me, and asked if me and my family would like to help her feed the sea turtles. Again, the half empty park really worked in our favor on this day. We were led over to a pond off the side of the Shipwreck Rapids ride, and we got to toss leaves of lettuce down to the turtles that were kept there.
It was another really neat experience for us. It was starting to feel like SeaWorld was catering especially to us and us alone. After that we headed over to some of the little kid rides that we had skipped when we were making sure that we didn't miss any of the shows.
At this point, it was starting to get late. The park closed at six o'clock, and it was five already. The sun was setting and we didn't have much time left. There was one big ride left that we hadn't tried, The Journey to Atlantis. It was another one of those rides that was all about getting you wet. Basically, it was just like those old-fashioned log rides that they have at every amusement park everywhere. You get on a boat, float around for a while, then drop off a great big hill and splash down at the bottom getting all wet.
I wasn't interested in getting wet, and Little was too small to ride, so the others went on that ride without us. The lines were so short that they were able to go on several rounds very quickly. And while they did that, Little and I went to check out Christmas town.
We found there was the SeaWorld mascot, Shamu, dressed as Santa Claus, and I took Little's picture with him. Further into town was the real Santa Claus. Because the park was so empty, there wasn't even the shortest of lines to wait in to see him. Little and I walked right up, and took our picture with him. And Santa gave Little a candy cane too.
In Christmas town, they had a place where you could go sledding. They'd piled up a bunch of shaved ice to make a sledding track. A novelty in San Diego, I suppose, but no big deal to us. Since we had time to kill, though, I took Little in and let him try it.
We met up with the others, and before we left, we went on one last ride. It was the Wild Arctic ride. It's one of those simulator rides, where you watch a movie while sitting in a vehicle that moves you around to simulate movement. Not particularly impressive, but afterward we walked through the display areas where they had a beluga whale in one tank, a polar bear in another, and a walrus in another. I was pretty amazed by the size of the walrus. That thing might as well have been a whale, it was enormous.
You exit this ride through the Wild Arctic gift shop. The people working the gift shop thanked us for coming, and just before we left, they called us over and handed us a box.
"Here," the man said, "a special gift from SeaWorld. Thanks again for coming."
It just seemed like too much. Once again, another free gift. It almost felt like they'd only opened the park that day as a special gift to us as well. Inside the box was a SeaWorld Christmas tree ornament. It was a great finish to a great day.
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