About 6 months ago I found out that the Seaworld tickets Antoinette bought last Labor Day weekend were actually season passes when she asked me if we were heading back to Seaworld again this year and I told her probably not. At that point, she advised that we were wasting the season passes we had that would expire on Labor Day. What? Turns out the tickets we had from last year were good for as many visits to Seaworld as you like within that 12 month period, so if we could scratch together a quick visit, we could take the boys back again for free.
Of course I immediately started throwing together a quick trip since Orlando is just a couple hours down the road and found a perfect little resort called Caribe Cove. Rentals here were $85/night for a 2/2 condo in a resort just 10 minutes from Disney with a nice pool, etc. So we booked it for 3 days and began planning a trip that would include a couple days at Seaworld and a day at Disney.
The day finally arrived and after work, we loaded up the truck and headed down, arriving at the resort around 11 PM. At check-in, it turned out that our dates were off and the guy at the front desk told me that we couldn't get into the property until tomorrow. After a little discussion, I realized he was right and I was wrong and somehow I had screwed up the dates. After a little more "discussion", he agreed to let us just check-in immediately and we found our room with paint cans in it and TV's on. After the paint guy picked up his supplies, we finally had a chance to get settled in, grab something to eat, and watch the end of the football game while we got the boys ready for bed.
Our first day out, we were up early to hit the resort pool before the crowds arrived and got there with only 5 or 6 people laying out. The pool was fairly small, but plenty big when there were only a handful of people. It also had an infinity edge that overlooked a small lake, which added a nice touch. We spent a little time there since we are in the process of teaching Billy how to swim and didn't want to miss a weekend of working on it. Afterward, we headed back to get changed, eat something, and then head off to Seaworld.
Our last visit, we missed the dolphin show, so we planned around that and making sure we got good seats for the Shamu Rocks night show. For some reason, Billy took a fascination with maps on this trip, and when we sat down once inside the park, he and I each had a map to look at to determine what route to take to see everything we wanted to see.
We made it just in time to head over to the previously mentioned dolphin show and despite showing up late, wound up with pretty good seats. The show was a little disappointing. More trapeze acts than actual dolphins, but there were some pretty interesting parts when they released what felt like 30 green parrots that didn't just fly by on one pass, but instead kept circling the inside of the stadium over and over and over again, just over your heads. Another pretty interesting part was when some giant bird that seemed about the size of a condor just soared right over everybody's head. Overall, the dolphin show at the Georgia Aquarium was better than this one, but moving on...
We continued making our way around the entire park, stopping to see the dolphins inside the aquarium room, got the kids on the carousel, saw all of the animals are the various exhibits, and even stopped at some ride about a 4D experience called Turtle Trek. Wow!!! If you are clausterphobic, take a pass on this one. They usher you into this place in massive groups of what seems like 200 people packed into a room about the size of a small Conference Room with one wall that is a giant aquarium. Couldn't tell you what was in it though because I was too busy being pressed up against the glass. Then they open the doors and you think you are going into the ride/show/etc. Wrong. Instead, you move to the next room just like the first room, only to make matters worse, they pack you in and close the doors to the previous room, so now you are officially packed in like rats. People are coughing in your face, etc. Not a pleasant experience. Finally, you make your way into the ride, which was actually pretty cool. You get a pair of 3D glasses and walk into a planetarium style room with no seats (that part isn't cool becuase you've been standing in each room so far for 20 minutes per room). When the show starts, you are immersed in a total 3D environment where the movie is playing all around you to make you feel like you are the turtle. Overall, it was pretty neat and we were even able to keep the glasses on AJ's head for the first time in one of these.
Before the night was through, we headed over to Shamu's stadium for the main event. Having been to this show before, we decided to pack up everything that couldn't get wet and get seated early so we could sit in the "Splash Zone" this time. We were one of the first people in line and when they opened the stadium, we moved quickly to the front row and found ourselves sitting right next to the landing platform where the whale comes out of the water. For the next 30 minutes, the whales, which were out of the tank, continuously swam right past the front of the tank, about 10 feet from us, even having the entire pod stop right in front of us and face us as if they were staring at us while we were staring at them. Pretty cool.
When the show began, we locked everything up (so pictures are at a minimum) water tight, and watched as the whales started rocketing out of the water. Pretty much worth every cent for an admission ticket to Seaworld by itself. Seeing the speed and power these things possess on something so big is pretty impressive. The seats we had proved to be perfect as the largest whale (presumably the current Shamu) came out of the water and laid on the platform less than 10 feet from where we were sitting. If the whale could've turned sideways, it felt like we were close enough to get slapped in the head by his/her tail. I strongly recommend that if you ever go to Seaworld, you plan your entire day around getting to this show early and getting good seats.
At the end of the day, we decided that rather than doing two days at Seaworld, since we saw everything the previous day, we would spend the next day (Labor Day) at Disney and then head home a day early, stopping and spending the day at Daytona Beach for the day. So on the second day, we woke up early and headed over to Disney for the day. Driving into the park, traffic seemed a little light, but we didn't think much of it. We got parked, took the tram to the gate, picked up our tickets, entered the park, and headed over to the ferry boat. On our 15-20 minute ferry ride to the park, the attendent told us that the census count was pretty low in the park that day. It was hot, but he didn't think that was the issue.
Once inside the park, we were kind of shocked. Nobody was there. It was fairly empty from what you would expect of Disney World. Again, we stopped to pick up some maps and of course, Billy needed his own. After walking past Goofy and Daisy Duck, just to remind us that we were at Disney, we took our long walk toward Cinderella's Castle and stopped along the way for some Family photos. And then things got a little weird...
We began heading to the rides, based on what we had to see, but when we would get to the rides, nobody was there. We were walking right through lines like we were the only people in the park and at the end of the line, just jumping right onto the rides uncontested. We could've ridden the Buzz Lightyear ride 100 times if we wanted to. In the roughly 10-12 hours we spent at the park, we rode everything we wanted to ride and some twice. Here's the list:
Haunted Mansion (actually had a small line)
Mickey's PhilharMagic 4D twice (temps were over 100 degrees, so perfect for some AC)
Buzz Lightyear twice
Dumbo
Astro Orbiter (worst nausea inspiring ride in the park)
Hall of Presidents (AJ hated this and pretty much talked over all of the Presidents)
Jungle Cruise
Magic Carpets
Winnie the Pooh twice
Peter Pan
Pirates of the Caribbean
Swiss Family Robinson Tree House (really stupid)
Tomorrowland Speedway twice (boys barely made the cut)
Tomorrowland People Mover three times (best and most relaxing ride in the park)
How many times are you going to go to Disney World, see the parades, and still get on 20 different rides (in total)? And we had a couple meals while at the park, took a couple stroller naps, and somehow made it through the day before taking the ferry boat back. Labor Day was definitely the day to go to Disney.
At the end of the day, we got back to the resort, took the boys to the pool again the following morning, loaded up the truck and headed off toward Daytona Beach. Before Daytona, we stopped in Port Orange, just outside of Daytona, to visit some botanical garden we read about that used to be a dinosaur amusement park and still had some of the giant dinosaur statues there. We figured the boys would like it and they did, but the farther into the park you got, the thicker the trees and natural vegetation, and on a really hot day, the muggier, stickier, and more bug filled it got. Before leaving, we stopped to get some pictures next to one of the largest oak trees I've ever seen before and also get some pictures from the remnants of an old sugar producing plantation.
Last stop before the end of the day was for lunch and then a stop at the far southern end of the island about 20 minutes south of Daytona Beach. There is a lighthouse park at the far southern tip, so we ate our packed lunches there under a pavillion and then took the boys out to the beach before heading back to Jacksonville for the day. Quite an eventful time. Pictures are at a premium from this trip, but I've saved some pretty crazy pictures from this weird light show that played out on the castle at Disney before the actual fireworks show. We stopped on the bridge to see it and actually had a great vantage point, catching nearly the entire 10 minute show from start to finish. Words cannot explain this one, so I'm going to incorporate a bunch of it into the video from this trip so you can see it for yourself. It's pretty crazy stuff.
Pics and video will be posted shortly.
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