Sea World
Greetings to everyone.
Now in Orlando, we had tickets to Sea World. We thought it would be something Xavier would like while not overwhelming him, and he could still get his afternoon nap.
A nice secret to this park is buying your parking permit on-line prior to arriving. You get to park up close to the entry gate, and it's cheaper. Rebecca did just that. We parked under some of the few trees in the lot, grabbed our packs and Xavier and headed in.
Rebecca also reserved a stroller, but after the zoo yesterday we learned two things. The first was that Xavier refused the stroller, so it carried our stuff, but never him.
The second was having a stroller made it more difficult to move around the park; it was an unnecessary encumbrance. Our first order of business in the park was to get our $15 back (that, by the way, paid for half our lunch).
Xavier did not find the park that interesting. He was bored by the dolphins (we did not pay for the privilege of getting four and a half minutes of petting the animals. He may have enjoyed that).
He did like the various aquariums. The sea turtles held his attention as did being able to crawl into the viewing area of one of the tanks. Guess who is folded up like a pretzel on the floor in the cramped tunnel and lifting Xavier up into the viewing area.
The web site and several signs in the park itself advertised you could pet a penguin. We have been excited about that since reading it on-line. It was one of the highlights we expected to experience in the park.
We found the penguin exhibit. We stood in line (the same line was both for the ride and the exhibit). We watched the animated propaganda film. We took the shortcut to the exhibit and bypassed the ride. After fifteen minutes, finally, we were through!
Stepping through the doors and into the sub 30 degree exhibit, all of us dressed in light shirts and shorts, we saw the penguins. They were very active. Diving, swimming, leaping from the water, posing for pictures. We walked up and down the exhibit, watching the birds and looking for the ones we could pet.
We met a mother with her four year old looking for the same thing. She also read the web site and saw the signs. We found no place where penguins could be touched. I decided to ask one of the staff. After all, we had come all this way and we were amped for Xavier to pet a penguin.
"Oh, yeah. You can do that behind the scene if you want to pay for that tour" was the answer. We did not pay; it was already too late in the day and the cost was not trivial, nor the timing convenient.
Xavier did enjoy the killer whale show with Shamoo. He liked the splashing and the whales jumping. It kept his attention the whole show.
As an editorial note, the show was so much better forty years ago. A lot more action then, as well as a lot more tricks by the animals. And, forty years ago, there was none of the "One Ocean, One People" world view the show spent its energy trying to convince the audience to embrace.
All of us were growing tired. We found a shaded area, bought some ice cream and took a few minutes to relax before returning to the hotel. At least Rebecca and I relaxed. Xavier thought the squirrel behind us needed to share his ice cream. The squirrel did not agree, but Xavier insisted and kept the animal cornered for a while.
When the squirrel at last managed its escape, Xavier turned to the sparrows in the bushes to share his ice cream with. They had the same reaction as the squirrel. Finally, he decided to share his ice cream with himself.
