Park #4 - Sea World

On December 31, we went to Sea World - our fourth amusement park during our vacation.

We were debating on whether or not to make the trek back to San Diego for a visit to Sea World. Chuck and I had started feeling sick and wasn't sure if we could handle one more day dragging the kids around. We decided to do it for Leland's sake because she LOVES Sea World so much. Our passes expired at the end of the year so this was our last chance to use them.

Well it was all worth it - As we were driving up she saw the towers and remembered we were at "Shamu's house". She was so excited. We went straight to the Shamu show. Since we were cutting it close to it starting there was few choices left of where to sit. Chuck ended up finding us a spot on the 2nd row right in the center. This was the closest we had ever sat. If you've ever been to Sea World you will know that sitting close has its drawbacks. Sure you get a great view, but you also risk getting soaked by the "Shamu Slam". My Eagle Scout of a husband was prepared of course and had packed our ponchos, so we were ready. And we needed them.

Leland's face during the show made the drive all worth it. When the video started she got very starry eyed and couldn't be made to look away. Then when Shamu came out, she was so excited, that we looked at each other and both said, "I'm glad we came."

We also decided to take advantage of some things we had never done while at Sea World - the dolphin feeding. We never seemed to be there at the right time for this. We thought Leland would enjoy this, but boy were we wrong. She wanted nothing to do with the dolphins up close. She was fine just waving to them from a distance. Chuck was able to feed and pet the dolphins, which was neat.


Leland loves Dora the Explorer so she was is heaven walking around the park with her map trying to decide where to go next. It was so cute.

We had a great day. We also saw the Sea Lion & Otter show, the dolphin show, the penguins, polar bears, and walrus. We were so glad that we were able to do so many fun things during our Christmas vacation and take advantage of our annual passes. We can't wait to go back.