Day 2 was all about Sea World! We were pretty happy that it didn't open until 10, so we were able to eat breakfast and get ready without too much of a rush. The first thing we did when we got to Sea World was find the dolphin feeding. All Birdy wanted to do for her birthday was to feed a dolphin.
When we planned this trip, I didn't make the connection that the entire rest of Texas was also on Spring Break. Everything was SOOO crowded and it was a good thing we headed to the dolphins early. They only feed them certain amounts at certain times (which makes sense, otherwise you have chubby dolphins) and according to the lady in line in front of me, the wait in the afternoon was something like 2 hrs! DMP took the kids to see the sharks and coral reef nearby, and I waited in line. I took the video below of the dolphins bobbing up and down to check if there were people with food yet!
When it came down to it, the girls were a little to scared to touch the dolphins, but the had fun feeding them and Birdy got her birthday wish!
This sea world was a pretty equal mix of thrill rides, kiddie land - Sesame Street-themed "Bay of Play" and ocean exhibits. We were a little disappointed that it didn't seem to have as many ocean animals and exhibits compared to Sea World San Diego, but we still had a lot of fun- it was just different than what we were expecting.
I just love this picture of the boys on the carousel at Bay of Play. Also, I think it is cool that we managed to color-coordinate Bear with the Bay of Play- right down to his shoes!
Bear was in heaven- he LOVED watching birds (called "babies") and fishies. He could have stayed in the coral reef place all day and just watched the fishies swim around. He also learned they word "ray" and "shark".
Here is Birdy with a Mommy and Baby seal (brown fuzzy thing behind the Mommy). Also, notice how I wrote my phone number on her arm. No fancy temporary tattoos or bracelets for us! All the kids really liked the penguin exhibit, where they could see all kinds of penguins hanging out and swimming around.
We did go to three shows and they were awesome. The first was Azul and it was a great show with acrobats, birds, belugas and pacific white sided dolphins. It was easily the best show- better than Shamu! We went to the comedy show "Cannery Row" that had sea lions, an otter and a walrus. It was really funny, especially because the animals weren't cooperating that day and the trainer/actors had to keep ad-libbing to make up for them! We didn't go to the new Shamu show "One Ocean" because it conflicted with Azul, but we did go to the evening show of Shamu Rocks. It was great and DMP and I were glad to skip the special-ness that is the typical Shamu show.
The girls were really excited that there were a bunch of rides in the Bay of Play that were perfect for them- not to 'babyish" but not to scary, either.
The girls DESPERATELY wanted to get wet in the Bay of Play splashpad/fountain play place, but we weren't prepared to deal with soaked kids all day (how was I supposed to know it would be hot in mid-March?). Next time we'll come prepared to get wet!
When we got back to the hotel, the kids found super-special surprise Shamu bags waiting for them (thanks Grandpa!
We had a good time at Sea World, but I don't know that we'll be in a huge hurry to get back. There weren't as many animal-related exhibits as in San Diego, and everything was REALLY far away from each other- there was so much walking (like 10 min) from one place to the next. The fact that we were there with the entire rest of Texas might have also had something to do with it, too!
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