Calleigh had been so excited to see Shamu since we told her we were going to Seaworld. For weeks before the trip she would randomly shout out to us "Who are we going to see? .. Shamu, Shamu, Shamu!" It was adorable.
The instant we arrived in Florida she wanted to go and see Shamu but we managed to get her to wait one more day as it was already 3pm and after a long drive all we wanted was some food and a soft bed!
As I mentioned in the previous post (you can read it
here) we stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn as part of a Seaworld package so our tickets were included in the hotel stay. We were thrilled to find out that Seaworld was just a 5 minute walk from the hotel so we didn't have to drive and pay for parking.
That morning we had breakfast at the hotel and then planned to walked across to Seaworld. Before we left we picked up our complimentary express passes from the lobby and a nice lady gave Calleigh a Seaworld backpack with a Shamu teddy inside- she loved it!
When we got to the park it was so quiet. We did have to wait about 10 minutes for the park to open but it didn't bother us. Our first stop was going to be Dolphin Cove but unfortunately it was closed for renovations. I was really gutted as I always loved Dolphin Cove when I went as a kid. Nevertheless we didn't let it bother us too much so we moved on to the new Antarctica and took Calleigh on her first ride of the trip, Antarctica- Empire of the Penguin. It was still early so there was no queue and we went straight in. We took the mild ride as Calleigh was too small for the wild ride. It was a gentle ride that followed the life of a little Penguin called Puck. At the end of the ride we exited through the Penguin enclosure. Calleigh loved watching the penguins but we couldn't stay too long as it was so cold in there and Calleigh was shaking like a leaf!
We then made our way to the Dolphin Theater to catch the dolphin show- Blue Horizons. After we had sat down we were informed it was going to be a bit of a different show as the dolphins were not co operating very well and the trainers couldn't go in the water with them. It was still a great show and Calleigh was in awe watching the dolphins jump out of the water!
After the show we went to see the Sea Lions. As we were stood there watching them from behind the glass I asked Calleigh if she wanted to get some fish to feed them. She said yes after she had finished finger painting. I was so confused about this answer until I saw her with her finger in large pile of white bird poo! "Noooo Calleigh!! That's poo!" I shouted. Even after we had washed her hands she went on about it all day, looking at her finger and talking something about poo haha!
So anyway we fed the Sea Lions, Calleigh's attempt only made it to one of birds that hang around that area and after that she didn't want to do it anymore.. The birds were kind of aggressive!
We then made our way to Shamu Stadium, stopping for a drink and a snack on the way. When it was time for the show we took a seat in the reserved seating section (another perk from the hotel package) safely away from the splash zone! Calleigh was so excited and it was great to see her joining in with the crowd and all the ooohs and ahhhs when the Orcas jumped. Her favorite part of the show was when two of the whales kissed each other, she still goes on about it now.
After Shamu we took Calleigh to see the Polar Bears after the Wild Arctic ride. These were another animal that she was really excited to see, but sadly we were informed that the last one had passed away a few months back. We did still get to see the Beluga Whales, the seals and the huge Walruses! Calleigh was amazed by how big they were. One of them was just hanging by the glass, bobbing up and down out of the water, and Calleigh happened to notice his.. er.. bits. She asked me if it was his belly button or if he was doing a poo. Not wanting to explain what it really was, especially in front of an audience, I settled with his belly button. To which she told me how big and cute it was haha!
We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around and enjoying the warm sunshine. We picked up some bits at the gift shops and lastly we saw the Turtles and the Manitees.
By four we were all knackered and started our walk back to the hotel. Calleigh was talking about it all night and kept saying we will go again tomorrow.
She had such a great time!
